Coach Hobbs will write a blog bi-monthly going forward, however here is a recap of the 2006-2007 season.

Hello fellow GW coaches, players, members of the Colonial Army, students, faculty, fans, friends and family. First of all, I want to thank all of you for your unwavering support all year long and for showing up at the Smith Center and supporting us as we searched for our identity. This year was deemed a rebuilding year and your support of this year's team was crucial to our development. My staff and I, thank you for being on the journey with us.

Last season's team, the 2005-06 squad, was a team of destiny with strong character and a will to win. I can remember being in the huddle during a close game or even an overtime game and the laughing and swagger these guys displayed was truly amazing as they were supremely confident about the outcome. As the season went on, we would get every single bounce of the ball, break or call as the basketball gods were truly in our corner. However, I am a firm believer that the harder you work, the more breaks you earn. The overall 27-3 record along with the perfect A-10 record is something I will never forget and I hope those player will never forget how hard they worked and how much fun we had during the entire season.

Going into this season, I had no idea what this team was capable of doing. During the summer, I told my staff if we win 19 or 20 games and get an NIT bid, I would be extremely happy and consider the season a success. We had only one returning starter in Carl Elliott. Maureece Rice, who by the way won the A-10 Sixth Man of The Year Award and is the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia High School Basketball history, was returning and is very talented offensively. In the frontcourt we were very thin and had no experienced players. Last year, Regis Koundjia showed flashes of greatness in his limited role; however he was coming back from off-season shoulder surgery and had never played significant minutes in our program. Dokun Akingbade, who was a fifth year senior with no real playing experience, was being counted on to anchor the middle for us this year. Rob Diggs, a talented rising sophomore, who just spent a year of battling everyday against, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Mike Hall and Omar Williams in practice, was going to get the opportunity to contribute significantly however we as a staff were uncertain about his physical toughness. Freshmen are like freshmen, you never know what you are going to get from them. Playing at the collegiate level is a huge adjustment for them with the intensity of practicing everyday, the demands from the coaching staff, handling the rigors of going to class and a much tougher course load than they are used to and adjusting to being away from home and handling college life.

The season started with our non-conference schedule. We got off to a good start going 5-0 with a chance to give our younger players significant minutes to determine different combinations that could play well together. Our first real test was on the road at Providence. A chance for us to play a Big East team that was big and physical on the road in a hostile environment. We got off to a good start as I remember the game went back and forth. We had the lead at halftime 41 - 40, and shot the ball well in the first half hitting 9-of-13 three point attempts and our guys competed very hard. In the second half, their size and strength took over and just wore us down. They pulled away from us over the last 10 minutes of the game. As a coach, I was pleased with our effort against Providence but disappointed the game got away from us down the stretch and ended our 22 game regular season winning streak which at the time was the longest in the nation dating back to last season. However, as a young team, we had to rebound and get mentally prepared for the BB&T Classic as we were going to play Virginia Tech, a tough ACC team that was playing well at the time.

We have always played well in the BB&T Classic and so as a coaching staff we felt good about our chances. I think our guys get hyped about the opportunity to compete against local schools in this event. Against the Hokies we got off to a slow start. As a young team I felt our nerves were rattled playing at the Verizon Center in front of a huge crowd. Our experienced players were anxious and trying to do too much and as a result we were down by nine at halftime 38-29. Naturally I was upset at halftime, I told the team to relax and trust each other and pick up our intensity on the defensive end. We started the second half on a 13-0 run as our defensive pressure was relentless and our guys were trusting in the system. Down the stretch, the game went back and forth. Carl Elliott hit two big free throws to put us up one with just a few seconds left in the game. Virginia Tech had a chance to win it at the buzzer but missed a shot as the horn sounded. GW won 63-62 and that was a big-time win for a young inexperienced team searching for an identity. Rob Diggs played well scoring13 points but more importantly he gained a lot of confidence against a good team in Virginia Tech. Regis Koundjia had a monster game collecting a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and was the heart and soul at the top of our pressure defense.

Our next big test came about 10 days later as we headed out to the West Coast to play Southern California in the John Wooden Classic. This was our first nationally televised game of the season and I felt we were ready for the challenge. We headed out to California a day earlier that usual so that we could get adjusted to the time change and the guys could take advantage of the weather and scenery. I personally enjoyed the time spent with the legendary John Wooden. I consider him one of the top coaches in all of basketball not just for his great coaching on the court but for his concern for the development of his players off the court. He was sharp as a tack and I was thoroughly impressed with his knowledge of the college game today. What an honor it was to spend a few hours with him and the other great coaches who were participating in the Wooden Classic.

The game against USC could not have started off any better for us. We were able to build a double digit lead and maintain it throughout the first half as we lead 29-16 at halftime. Our pressure and changing defenses were very effective during the first half and our guys were competing at a high level. With the start of the second half, we scored the first seven points to build a 20-point lead and then we begun to struggle. I think we missed two or three lay-ups in a row and they went down the other end and converted on three point shots or lay-ups and we fouled them for conventional 3-point plays. Their crowd, who had been quiet for most of the game, really started to come alive and gave them confidence. We stopped doing the things that helped us to be successful in the first half. The game got close and, as a young and inexperienced team, we lost our poise down the stretch and ended up losing, 74-65. Our guys executed and carried out the game plan perfectly in the first half. With 15 minutes left in the game we became a different team. This is the game that haunted me all season and I thought it would really cost us in trying to get into the NCAA Tournament.

We headed into conference play with an 8-3 record. As a coach I felt like our team was beginning to develop an identity and our young guys started to understand our system and made great strides to implement our on-the-fly adjustments during games. Part of my coaching philosophy is to try and take advantage of mismatches as we are coming up the floor. This requires our players to think quickly and be able to react to what I see on the floor.

We got off to a 6-1 start in conference and headed to Rhode Island for a game to determine first place in the A-10 Conference. The game was hard fought and back and forth between both teams. The crowd was loud and gave their team a big boast. However, down the stretch we were able to execute and hit some key free throws to clinch an 82-78 victory.

As with any young inexperienced team, it's tough handling prosperity. We were all alone in first place as we headed out on a two game road trip. We played at Dayton and at Saint Louis. Both games were there for the taking but our guys did not step up to the challenge. As a coach it was very frustrating to see our guys not put forth the effort needed to win on the road in a hostile environment. In the Dayton game we were out-toughed down the stretch and the Dayton players wanted it more than our players. We ended up losing, 84-69. In St. Louis we were up 11 points in the first half and then they just beat us badly on the boards and out-toughed us during the last five minutes of the game to beat us, 63-53. We then proceeded to lose our next two games to Xavier and Saint Joseph's. A four-game losing streak and I didn't know if we would win another game.

As coaches we met to analyze game film and determine what we were doing wrong and what we needed to do to correct it. I thought we were ready to turn the corner and possibly crack the top 25. However this past losing streak exposed some of our weaknesses and thus we had to go back to basics and fundamentals.

I began to challenge every one of our guys in practice in terms of who had the toughness to rebound the basketball and the willingness to do the dirty work on the defensive end of the floor. We had a few mean, tough and spirited practices and guys were really getting after each other as a few skirmishes broke out in practice. Additionally, we needed our experienced players to have a sense of urgency and realize that their season could be over quickly if they did not respond to the challenge. As a staff, we talked about how our program was established and the principles implemented to build our foundation, that's what we needed to get back to. Defense and rebounding has always been our calling card and we needed all 15 guys to commit to doing that if we were going to get back on track and salvage our season. The seniors and young guys responded to the challenge and began to accept responsibilities on the defensive end and started to trust each other. We went on to win our last five regular season games and finished with a 20-8 record.

We headed into the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament playing pretty well and as the No. 3 seed. I felt if we were going to get to the "big dance" we had to win this tournament to get the automatic bid. Although we had won 20 games, I thought the loss against USC really hurt our chances to get an at-large bid. As we began to prepare for post-season play, I told the team that we had to adopt the mindset of win and move on or lose and go home and the season ends. Our first game was against Saint Joseph's, against whom we split two games in the regular season, each team winning at home. I thought we would have a slight advantage because Saint Joseph's had to play and win the night before and we would have fresher legs. Our pressure defense was terrific, we forced 21 turnovers and won 58-48 and advanced to face Saint Louis in the semi-finals. I thought our guys would be pumped up to face Saint Louis who beat us in the regular season. As a coach, I was hoping they would rise to the challenge, and they did. Again, our defensive pressure was relentless as we forced Saint Louis into committing 20 turnovers and won, 60-40, to advance to the championship game to face Rhode Island. This time I must admit I was a bit nervous as URI would be seeking revenge against us after we beat them in the regular season. We got off to a good start in the championship game taking a 14-4 lead before the game became very physical. Once again, our defensive pressure kept them off balance and we executed down the stretch of a tight game to win, 78-69, and punch our ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, which, by the way, was the first time in school history this feat had been accomplished. I was so happy for this team because of the obstacles and adversity they overcame throughout the season. We experienced the ups and downs that a young and inexperienced team goes through during the year but down the stretch they really believed in our system and trusted each other on the court.

The GW Athletic Department hosted a pep rally for the team at Smith Center and we watched the NCAA Selection Show to see where we were going and who we were going to play in the NCAA Tournament. When they announced GW as an 11th seed and heading out west to play Vanderbilt, the place went crazy with cheers and support. We were quickly inundated with lots of local media asking us about the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. I just wanted our players and coaches to reflect upon the great season we were having and how fortunate we were to have the opportunity before us.

We chartered a plane to Sacramento as we did not have much time to prepare. I thought we had a few good days of practice and we were able to watch a good amount of film on Vanderbilt. On game day, we got to the arena in plenty of time and went through our normal routine. However, during the announcing of the starting lineups, the PA announcer introduced one of our injured players who didn't make the trip as a starter for GW. Right then I thought it was a bad omen for us as we were about to do battle. As the game began, we got off to a slow start and Vanderbilt shot the ball well from the start. We tried to use our pressure defense; however they were about two steps ahead of us on every play. We were trying to make up the deficit too quickly and lost our poise and could not put the ball in the basket. We were down at half 45-20 and could not recover or even get back in the game and ended up losing 77-44.

As a coach you are really disappointed that your team did not perform well on the national stage. But as I reflect back on the entire season, I thought we had a solid year and overcame the ups and downs of an inexperienced team to perform well during February and March to win the A-10 Tournament and earn a NCAA Tournament berth. I was really proud of our three seniors Dokun, Regis and Carl as they provided great leadership down the stretch. As a head coach, I could not be prouder of Dokun Akingbade. He entered our program as a walk-on and made a huge sacrifice last year by red-shirting to return and be a major force for this year's team. Regis Koundjia was hurt all year but never complained about an injury. He practiced and competed everyday and was the heart and soul of our defensive pressure all season. Carl Elliott leaves our program as the winningest player in GW history and will have the opportunity to pursue his dream of playing in the NBA. These guys will be surely missed but not forgotten in the GW basketball program.