George Washington University Athletics
GW Hosts 2006-07 Basketball Media Day
11/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC -The George Washington University men's basketball team held it's annual Media Day early Thursday afternoon, with numerous local media in attendance. Head Coach Karl Hobbs and red-shirt senior forward Dokun Akingbade were on hand to answer questions and provide insight regarding the men's team and their 2006-07 that just began.
Wednesday night, in an exhibition, the Colonials downed Augusta State by a final score of 81-72. Their regular season officially kicks off next Friday, Nov. 10, when they travel to Boston University to take on the Terriers at 7:00 p.m. GW will play its first game at home on Nov. 14, a 7:30 p.m. contest against Dartmouth.
Quotes from today's Media Day:
Karl Hobbs:
On Cheyenne Moore:
"At this point, he's still out indefinitely. Obviously, it's a tremendous blow for us. Because we lack a lot of depth, this team, so losing anybody is a big loss. Obviously, losing him, at this early juncture in the season is tough to deal with."
On the backcourt:
"We shifted from being a very tall, athletic, long team, to a more guard oriented team. And I feel that's the strength of our team. Obviously with Carl [Elliott] and Maureece [Rice], they're two of the most experienced guys on the team, and they're gonna need to really kinda carry us. And hopefully they're up to the challenge."
On the past season's success and if it helps in making a schedule:
"No, it doesn't. In fact, it makes it, to some degree, a little more difficult. In terms of scheduling, its probably one of the most difficult things we have to do. Because you try to play a certain number of home games, trying to play quality opponents at home, and at the same time, you don't want to play all your toughest games on the road. The scheduling part is real challenging."
Season's goals:
"At this point, our goals are always the same. We have the Atlantic 10 Championship title and we always want to defend that. Our goal is to try to get to the NCAA Tournament, of course. That's where we'd like to be. This school's never gone to three NCAA Tournaments in a row, and that's a goal that we're chasing."
On the young team:
"The last time we've had this number of inexperienced players was four years ago. This is the least experienced team I've had since that first recruiting class. This is a new beginning for us. To rebuild, to start all over again, so to speak. The only difference is that we've won a little bit."
"I would easily say that Travis King, in time, is going to be a terrific college basketball player. I really believe that [Damian] Hollis as well, is going to fit in the Mike Hall-mold. You guys didn't get a chance to see Hermann [Opoku] play a whole lot, but he's going to be a very good player. We like our freshmen. We think they're going to develop and become good players."
On the Atlantic 10 Conference:
"I see every team in the league as our competition. I don't see any easy games on our schedule whatsoever. But, I think this will be the most parity we've has in this league in quite a long time. I think we are the least experienced team. I think we have a couple of preseason Top 25 teams, in my opinion, in Massachusetts and Xavier. This year's gonna be really tough. I think this year's gonna be a toss-up in terms of who's gonna win the league.
"If we can finish in the top four in the league in rebounding and defense, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll be a tournament team."
On sitting out last year as a red-shirt:
"It prepared me mentally by watching the other seniors. I'll know what to do this year. I learned how to perform under pressure - they all had experience."
On what he has to do to be effective:
"Just come in and do whatever coach asks me to do. Play defense, rebound mostly. Provide leadership to the younger guys on the team."
On replacing the three guys from the backline who left last year:
"Basically, my goal is to provide leadership. To provide low post defense. And also be a person in the middle on rebounding. I have to be vocal this year."
On what he worked on last year:
"I worked on my body a lot. I gained 17 pounds over the summer and now I'm up to 220 lbs. Also, I worked on my low-post moves. A lot of jump hooks. A lot of short jumpers."
On if he's noticed a change in attitude about GW basketball:
"There's been a lot of change the past six months. A lot of people were surprised. A lot of people didn't know where GW was. We don't have a football team, so they didn't know we had a basketball team either. It was good to put GW on the map. [But] last year's over. We need to focus on this year and make some more history."
