The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 154 is George Washington basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of George Washington basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 4
- Bids: 11
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 13.3
- Bids per season: 0.10
- AP Polls: 74
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 7
- Conference Players of the Year: 1
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 7
- Conference tournament titles: 5
- NIT titles: 1
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on George Washington basketball
We are back in the A-10 for No. 154, a George Washington basketball program with just 13.3 wins per season in DI, but a lot more history than that would suggest.
The program has been playing for well over 100 years, and the first sign of a promising program was under head coach William Reinhart. From 1935-42, and again from 1949-66, he went 319-237, won two SoCon regular season crowns, and took them to the NCAA Tournament in 1954 and 1961. They were ranked at different points in his tenure, including top 10 rankings in 1953-54, 1954-55, and 1955-56. The 1953-54 squad featured a pair of 20 points per game scorers, with Joe Holup also averaging 18.6 rebounds per game. He and Corky Devlin would star on the 54-55 squad as well, with Holup’s senior year the following season. He had a historic year, averaging a ridiculous 25.0 PPG and 23.2 RPG – one of the few college hoopers to ever average 20/20 for a season.
The 1960-61 GW team made some weird history, going 9-17, but winning the SoCon for an automatic bid to March Madness. They were 6-16 before taking down Virginia Tech, The Citadel, and William & Mary to punch a ticket to the big dance.
The Revolutionaries wouldn’t go dancing again until 1993. Head coach Mike Jarvis came to town in 1991, staying until 1998, but bringing GW to four tourneys. The ’93 tournament team made the Sweet 16, taking down 5-seed New Mexico and 13-seed Southern to get there. They’d make the round of 32 the following season.
The first year without Jarvis, GW went back to the tournament under Tommy Penders. He only stayed three seasons, but Karl Hobbs took over in 2001 and continued the tradition, taking GW to March Madness in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The 2005-06 team was ranked as high as sixth in the nation at one point, making a brief run to the round of 32. At 27-3, five players averaged double-digits, including Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who had a very brief NBA career. Unfortunately, being an 8-seed in March meant meeting Duke in the second round.
Mike Lonergan took them dancing in 2014, which was their last time making it to the NCAA Tournament. In 2016, they went 28-10, winning the NIT, but also Lonergan’s last season. He was fired after allegedly being verbally and emotionally abusive in practice.
Unfortunately, in the 10 seasons since, GW hasn’t had a great run of things. They’ve had two 20-win seasons, but just one other winning season. To be fair, the last two seasons have been winning seasons under Chris Caputo, so that does show some potential. It is a proud program, hoping to be relevant once again.