George Washington University Athletics
Williams Named Basketball's Team MVP for 2005-06
4/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC -- George Washington senior Omar Williams (Philadelphia, PA) was named the Colonials' Most Valuable Player at the 2006 Men's Basketball Awards Banquet Wednesday at Charles E. Smith Athletic Center on the GW campus. Williams' 12.0 rebounds per game in GW's two NCAA Tournament games led the Colonials in the postseason. Sophomore Maureece Rice (Philadelphia, PA) received the Most Improved Player Award and freshman Rob Diggs (Brandywine, MD) was named the team's Rookie of the Year. The team awards were determined by the GW coaching staff.
Three players each took home a pair of awards. Senior Mike Hall (Chicago, IL) garnered the Rebound Award for the fourth straight year after averaging a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game and the 6-8 senior also won the Academic Achievement Award. Junior Carl Elliott (Brooklyn, NY) was awarded both the Defense Award and the Assist Award while Rice won the Free Throw Award in addition to his Most Improved Award. Rice also was the 2006 Atlantic 10 Conference Sixth Man of the Year.
Junior Danilo Pinnock (McDonough, GA) was awarded the Virginia Ogilvy Steals Award for most steals on the team. The award is sponsored by and named after the late Virginia Ogilvy, wife of Lester Ogilvy, a long-time GW Basketball supporter. Pinnock's 2.4 steals-per-game average led the Atlantic 10 Conference. Senior Pops Mensah-Bonsu (London, England) won the Strength & Conditioning Award while junior transfer Regis Koundjia (Bangui, Central African Republic) was the recipient of the Desire Award.
George Washington was the 2006 Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season champion and had the best season in the program's 92-season history. GW posted a 27-3 overall record and a perfect 16-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference becoming only the fourth team in the 30-year history of the A-10 to go undefeated in league play. GW won its first-round game in the Atlanta Region over UNC Wilmington for its first NCAA Tournament victory in 12 years.
