George Washington University Athletics
1999-2000 Outlook
10/20/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
There are a lot of changes in store for the 1999-2000 edition of GW men's basketball. The Colonials men's basketball team, under the direction of head coach Tom Penders and his staff, has concentrated on a more domestic recruiting base with less emphasis on the international student-athlete.
"GW is located in one of the best recruiting areas in the country," Penders said. The high school coaching and level of competition that players receive in the greater Washington and Baltimore area is second to none. It only makes sense to concentrate on this very fertile area. If a young man wants to go to school and be in or near a great city, I can't think of a better place than GW and Washington, DC. I feel very confident that we can attract some of the very best local players to our great University."
Penders' greatest challenge this season will be to find replacements for the irreplaceable Shawnta Rogers (20.7 ppg, 6.7 assists, 3.6 steals) and the very-difficult-to-replace Yegor Mescheriakov (17.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg). Penders does, however, welcome back the team's third-leading scorer from last season in shooting guard Mike King (15.1 ppg). Now a junior, King will be looked to for a leadership role as one of the team's primary scoring threats.
"It's Mike turn to step up and be a leader," Penders said of his star guard. "He doesn't have to carry the team but he's going to have to show the younger players the consistency it takes to be a winner. Mike has been there."
A second returning starter from last season is power forward Patrick Ngongba. A 6-8, 238-pound physical specimen, Ngongba has become a reliable rebounder with the ability to score. Ngongba has improved steadily over the last two seasons after spending 1995-96 on the Colonials' bench as an observer.
Last year, Ngongba was the team's second-leading rebounder averaging 5.6 rebounds a game and his scoring average increased from 4.3 ppg (as a freshman) to 7.0 points a game last season. He will have plenty of help this winter.
Supporting King and Ngongba will be 6-8 junior Antxon Iturbe. Iturbe (5.0 rpg) joined the Colonials in the eighth game of the season after recovering from a stress fracture in his foot. The Colonials were 4-3 prior to Iturbe's return and posted a 16-6 record with the burly Spaniard in the lineup.
Senior Francisco de Miranda (4.9 ppg, 14 blocks) and sophomore Albert Roma (15 blocks) also figure to be steady contributors in the middle.
Although they are very different types of players, de Miranda, Roma and Iturbe can combine to give Penders an outstanding trio of low-post players who will give GW a decidedly different look than in the past.
GW's "most improved player" as a sophomore, the 6-9 de Miranda personifies the trend toward quicker, more finesse-type post players. He is active around the basket and possesses the athleticism to finish an ally-oop or shoot from a range of 15 feet.
By contrast, Iturbe looks as though he could play in the NFL. The 6-8, 250-pound forward possesses the basketball savvy to position himself for rebounds and easy put-backs.
Roma, GW's tallest player at 7-feet, was asked to play the role of rebounder and shot blocker while presenting a disruptive force in the middle last season. He will be given additional responsibilities this year. With proper weight training and game experience, the coachable Roma will take his place alongside Yinka Dare and Alexander Koul as another in GW's line of strong centers in recent years.
Other key returnees include sophomore Jason Smith, junior Valery Khamenia, and seniors Sam Anyan and Mark Lund.
Of the four, Smith saw the most playing time last season. He is a rangy 6-8 forward who is still growing. Smith appeared in eight games last season before an abdominal hernia was discovered. The subsequent surgery to repair the hernia sidelined the Boston native for the remainder of the season putting his promising career on hold. Smith played alongside Roma at the Winchendon School where the pair led the team to a two-year record of 51-12. Smith averaged 13 points and seven rebounds a game at Winchendon.
The senior class, made up of Anyan, de Miranda and Lund, will be better suited to contribute this season following three years of experience. Anyan and Lund are walk-ons who are out to prove they can play at the Division I level.
Dorien Brown, a sturdy 6-3 guard from New Jersey, appeared in 19 games as a freshman last season. Brown, whom Penders' staff recruited at Texas, is the first Penders-recruited player at GW. Although he averaged just 6.3 minutes a game, he provided some late-game heroics with a crucial three-pointer at Rhode Island in a pivotal A-10 road victory.
Four newcomers will bolster the Colonials for the '99-2000 season. Junior college transfer Bernard Barrow, a 5-foot-8 point guard and a native of Harlem in New York, played the last two seasons at Kilgore Community College in Texas. He averaged 8.7 points, 3.4 steals and nearly nine assists a game last season. His size and speed will remind Colonials fans of Rogers, but Barrow is an accomplished point guard and leader in his own right.
A pair of highly-touted local standouts are expected to contribute immediately. Chris Monroe, a 6-3 "power guard" and SirValiant Brown, a 6-1 slasher, will combine with Barrow to make up Penders' first recruiting class at GW.
Monroe, like Dorien Brown, is a solid 6-3 and 220 pounds of rebounding muscle. He has already played in Smith Center when his nationally-ranked Good Counsel squad split a pair of showdowns with crosstown powerhouse DeMatha High last winter.
Val Brown is a slender but quick, ballhandling wizard who once scored 35 points for Lee High School in a Virginia state playoff game. Brown and Barrow will vie for time at the point in place of the departed Rogers.
The fourth newcomer is walk-on Arthur Andrews who practiced with the Colonials throughout last season but did not participate in games. Andrews, who goes by Andy, is a 6-6 forward from Avon, CT, where he averaged 17 points and eight rebounds at Avon Old Farms as a senior.
The 1999-2000 schedule is not yet complete but rest assured GW will again be pitted against some of the elite teams in the nation as well as the full complement of Atlantic 10 Conference schools.
The Colonials make their first trip to Alaska when they compete in the Top of the World Classic hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Joining the Colonials there will be defending NIT champion California, Houston, Indiana State, Texas Christian, Montana State and '99 NCAA Tournament surprise, Oklahoma.
GW and Maryland will again serve as co-hosts of the fifth BB&T Classic Dec. 4-5 at the MCI Center. The Classic features 1998 Big Ten Conference champion Illinois and Seton Hall. Over the past four years, this two-day event has raised more than 2 million dollars for the Children's Charities Foundation of Washington.
Smith Center will host key A-10 games against East Division foes Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and Temple while visiting Fordham, Massachusetts and St. Joseph's. GW also has non-conference match-ups with Siena, UNC Charlotte and American at Smith Center while taking on Clemson, Ohio, Old Dominion and Bradley on the road.
Penders and his staff are reshaping the GW program. With three starters returning from last season, the Colonials must fill a pair of large voids in order to defend their West Division title. Since last year's premature exit from the NCAA Tournament, everyone associated with the Colonials basketball program is intent on making a triumphant return to-and winning in-the NCAA Tournament in 2000.
