The GW men’s and women’s basketball schedules have been released for the 2000-01 season. The schedules feature St. John’s University and the University of Tennessee for the men, and the defending-champion University of Connecticut Huskies for the women.
Men’s Head Coach Tom Penders and the Colonials, who return all of last year’s starters including SirValiant Brown, Chris Monroe and Mike King, will face former coach Mike Jarvis and the Red Storm in the weekend BB&T Classic Dec. 2. GW will face either Maryland or the University of Michigan in the consolation/championship game on Dec. 3.
The men’s team will also battle Tennessee in the first round of the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic in Honolulu Dec. 27-30. GW faces two undetermined opponents at the Classic, which includes University of Detroit, University of Iowa, St. Louis University, Texas A&M University, University of Hawaii and Manhattan College.
GW, which finished 8-4 at the Smith Center last season, will host non-conference games with the University of Richmond and Providence College in December. The team will play home and away games against Atlantic 10 opponents Temple, Xavier, Massachusetts, Fordham and Duquesne. The Colonials will host St. Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure and La Salle and will travel to Dayton and Rhode Island.
The A-10 Championships will take place March 7-10 in Philadelphia. The NCAA 2001 Final Four is at the Metrodome in Minneapolis March 31-April 2.
Joe McKeown’s women’s basketball team graduated Elisa Aguilar, but returns Petra Dubovcova, Kristeena Alexander and will feature transfer forward Elena Vishniakova. GW could face 11 NCAA tournament teams from last year and many teams from November’s Preseason WNIT, including the University of Texas, University of Virginia, Louisiana Tech University, Purdue University and Tulane University.
The Colonials might also get a shot at Rutgers University Nov. 26 at the Coca-Cola Classic championship game if GW defeats Washington State University and if Rutgers defeats the University of Vermont.
Regardless of GW’s opponent that weekend, the Colonials will only have a few days to prepare for their biggest game of the season – a battle against national champion UConn at the Hartford Civic Center Nov. 29.
GW’s December non-conference home games include match-ups with Iowa, Towson and North Carolina State universities, with road games at Georgetown and Seton Hall University.
The Colonials, who were a perfect 15-0 at the Smith Center last season, open their A-10 season at home against rival Xavier Jan. 6. It will be the team’s first meeting since Xavier defeated GW to win the A-10 Tournament in March. GW will travel to Xavier Feb. 4.
GW will also play home and away games against St. Joseph’s, Duquesne, Massachusetts, Temple and La Salle. The team will host St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island, and will play road games at Fordham and Dayton.
The Colonials, who made it to the A-10 finals game and the second round of the NCAA tourney last season, look to head to the A-10 tourney in Philadelphia (Nov. 2-5). The Final Four will take place March 30 to April 1 in the Kiel Center in St. Louis.
