Big George, Raspy Elmore and Trailer Trash: The GW Preview

I have a love/hate relationship with GW. First off, it's practically the same exact school as BU in almost every way. I live about 3 blocks from the Charles Smith Center, and I've seen more GW games over the past 2 or 3 years than any other college besides BU. I've got plenty of friends who attended (Facebook lists 37, but even that might be low), a few past girlfriends, and I have a healthy respect for all things Colonial.

LOVE: Froggy Bottom Pub - the site of our biennial DC BU Alumni happy hour when BU comes to play GW in basketball.

HATE: The "G-G-G...G-DUUUB" chant at their games.

LOVE: Coach Karl Hobbs. He's basically Dean Elmore's clone, but a LOT better at basketball and a raspier voice. Seriously, which is which?!?? (OK, you can tell... but it's close.)




HATE: "Big George" the retarded-looking 12-foot tall mascot, and "Little George" the extremely creepy-looking 6-foot tall mascot. And for some reason a hippo. However, I'm hearing rumors that one or both George mascots will be getting an overhaul this season, welcome news indeed.

LOVE: The ladies of GW who visit McFaddens for Trailer Trash Tuesday $1 beer night.

HATE: The dudes of GW who visit McFaddens for Trailer Trash Tuesday $1 beer night.

The game should be a very good one. We haven't had much luck against them lately - as Matt Whitrock has noted, GW has won the last 4 matchups by 13 points each time. GW is way down again this year, and we're up. Last year, GW beat us (despite 100 screaming BU fans) but lost to both Binghamton and UMBC - that cannot happen again.

Over in enemy territory, the guy at GWhoops.com does a better job of breaking down the BU lineup than I ever could (find "Next: Boston U." on the lefthand side). He's right about the Terriers' front line, but I think he undersells BU's tremendous defense and the ability of Holland and Lowe to completely take over a game.

GW has insanely athletic big men, especially compared to us. The best Colonial is Rob Diggs, who has murdered us in the past few meetings. The other guy on the team that I like is Damian Hollis - he's got a good inside-out game and always seems to be dominating when I watch GW. He can also thrash down a nasty dunk. The problem with Hollis is he always looks like he's asleep. I'm hoping the Hot Dog can make a sign or a chant to that effect. GW is pretty weak on the perimeter and we have a major advantage there, however if you leave him alone Noel Wilmore will sink a 3-ball at the worst possible time.

It'll be interesting to see how Wolff will use the freshmen to combat GW's advantage down low. An article in the Freep today said Wolff might even start O'Brien today! I think all BU fans generally agreed that we thought we'd have a lineup like this:

G Morris
G Lowe
F Wolff
F Holland
C Brittain

If O'Brien starts (in place of Wolff? Brittain?), that would be an interesting way to shake things up. Oh, and the High Roller mentioned it yesterday, but for those out of town, the game will be streamed on the 'net - you have to pay for it but whatev.

My prediction for the game: BU 73 GW 65

[UPDATE] And we have our answer on the starting lineup question. According to the Hot Dog, Scott Brittain will not play tonight due to a concussion sustained in practice this week. This hurts when going up against a team with such a huge inside presence. Look for freshman Jake O'Brien to take Scott's place, with Vlad Sirutis and fellow frosh Jeff Pelage getting serious minutes as well.