Sports Talk: Colonials Are a Pleasant Surprise

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IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE a rebuilding year. When you look at the George Washington Colonials on paper, you see a roster with many young, inexperienced players. In fact, this team was picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 by the media and the league's coaches.

Yet the buzz is back in Foggy Bottom, and the Colonials (15-4, 6-1 A-10) are perched atop the conference standings. Their play so far this season has fans thinking optimistically. But can they really win the A-10 title and make it back to the NCAA Tournament with a team sporting twice as many freshmen (6) as seniors? Veteran leaders, such as senior guard Carl Elliott and senior forward Regis Koundjia, think so.

"I think we are definitely going to be in it at the end," Elliott said. "Though we have a younger team and it is going to take more this season to win the A-10, I believe in this team."

Koundjia agrees: "We have a young team, but we play hard and I don't think anybody can stop us."

The test might come over the next few weeks. After eking out at 72-68 win at Rhode Island on Saturday, the Colonials have two more away contests this week — at Dayton on Wednesday and at Saint Louis on Saturday — before heading home to host the consensus preseason conference favorite, Xavier.

Though he admits he's been pleased with the play of his young team, head coach Karl Hobbs says it's still too early to tell where they will finish in the conference.

"We have to wait for the smoke to clear," Hobbs said. "We have a few key games coming up over the next two weeks, but all we have to do is to continue to play hard and who knows what will happen."

This post was written by Express contributor Drew Rifkin
Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post