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 Danilo Pinnock leads the Colonials into the NCAA Tournament Thursday night at Greensboro, NC. |
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#8 GW to Face #9 UNC Wilmington in Thursday's NCAA First Round
March 16, 2006
Wednesday Practice Photo Gallery
#8 George Washington (26-2) • 16-0 Atlantic 10 Conference
Games 29, 30 • NCAA Tournament • First and Second Rounds
Dates: Thur. & Sat., Mar. 16 & 18, 2006 • Time: 7:10 pm (EST)
Location: Greensboro Coliseum (23,745) • Greensboro, NC
Radio: WMET 1160, WAGE 1200 AM (Byron Kerr)
TV: CBS (Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner)
GW's All-Time NCAA Tournament Record: 3-8 (.273)
GW COACH: Karl Hobbs (Connecticut `85)
Record at GW: 90-55 (.621) 5th season
Atlantic 10 Record: 48-32 (.600) 5th season
Career Record: 90-55 (.621) 5th season
Hobbs' Record in the NCAA Tournament: 0-1
Thursday's First Round Game:
Eighth-seeded GW takes on 9th-seeded UNC Wilmington in today's first-round game in the Atlanta Regional. It marks the highest seed GW has ever received.
• GW is coming off a 68-53 loss to Temple in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 Championship on Mar. 9 in Cincinnati. That loss snapped the nation's longest winning streak at 18 straight. The No. 14/11 Colonials (26-2, 16-0 A-10) are having a historic year and the best season in the 92-season history of the program.
A Closer Look at UNCW and the Greensboro Bracket: GW has never faced UNC Wilmington. The Colonials are tied, 13-13, in the all-time series with Duke and GW leads Southern, 1-0, after defeating the Jaguars in the 1993 NCAA Second Round at Tucson en route to the Sweet 16. UNC Wilmington (25-7) earned an automatic bid by virtue of winning the CAA Tournament over Hofstra on March 6. The Seahawks enter the NCAA Tournament on an eight-game winning streak and are led by T.J. Carter, an 89 percent free throw shooter, who averages 13.3 points per game and Beckham Wyrick's 5.4 rebounds per game. This marks the Colonials' third back-to-back appearance in the NCAA Tournament. GW made back-to-back appearances in 1993-94 and 1998-99. In the 2005 NCAA Tournament, 12th-seeded GW lost to 5th-seeded Georgia Tech in the first round at Nashville. GW is 2-6 all-time in first-round games. Its last first-round victory came in 1994 against UAB. George Washington enters the `Big Dance' with its highest seed ever in it's ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
• GW defeated Charlotte on Mar. 4 to cap a perfect 16-0 A-10 record, marking only the fourth time in the 30-year history of the Atlantic 10 Conference a team had gone undefeated in league play. GW's two losses are the fewest in Division I.
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• GW's win over Charlotte Mar. 4 also extended GW's single-season record for most victories with 26, shattering the previous record of 24 which has been accomplished twice before (1953-54 and 1997-98). GW clinched its second straight A-10 regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the A-10 Tournament with a 78-67 victory over Fordham Feb. 25 at Rose Hill Gym.
• GW has never faced UNCW. The Colonials are tied, 13-13, in the all-time series with Duke and GW won its only meeting with Southern after defeating the Jaguars in the 1993 NCAA second round at Tucson en route to the Sweet 16.
• Pops Mensah-Bonsu suffered a slight tear in his left meniscus (knee cartilage) during the Feb. 22 La Salle game and has undergone successful arthroscopic surgery He missed the final three games of the regular season and the A-10 quarterfinal but is expected to be available for today's first-round game.
Next Game: The winner of today's first round game advances to the second round to play the winner of the #1 Duke vs. #16 Southern game at 1:10 pm (EST) Saturday. The game will be televised on CBS and aired live in the Washington area on WMET 1160 AM, WAGE 1200 AM as well as via www.GWsports.com.
GW's History in the NCAA Tournament: GW has an all-time record of 3-8 (.273) in the NCAA Tournament. The Colonials enter the 2006 NCAA Tournament as the #8 seed in the Atlanta Regional. GW's most recent appearance in the NCAA Tournament was last year when they fell to Georgia Tech in the first round at Nashville, TN. Prior to that, GW appeared in the 1999 NCAA Tournament under former coach Tom Penders. That squad fell to Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers in Orlando, FL. Prior to that, #9 seed GW lost to 8th-seeded Oklahoma State in the 1998 NCAA first round at Lexington, KY. GW also made the 1996 NCAAs as the No. 11 seed in the West Region. That year, GW squandered a 17-point lead midway through the second half and lost to 6th-seeded Iowa in the first round at Tempe, AZ. Before that, GW competed in the 1994 NCAAs where it won its first-round game over UAB, 51-46, before falling to to 2nd-seeded UConn, in the second round at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Current GW coach Karl Hobbs was an assistant on that UConn team led by Donyell Marshall.
GW's W-L record in the NCAA Tournament by round:
First Round: 2-6
Second Round: 1-1
Regional Semifinal: 0-1
TOTAL: 3-8 (.273)
