The George Washington Revolutionaries men's basketball team represents George Washington University in Washington, D.C. They play their home games in the Charles E. Smith Center, an indoor arena that is also shared with other George Washington Revolutionaries athletic programs. The school's team currently competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The former name of the team, the George Washington Colonials, was changed in May 2023 to the current name.
The head coach is Chris Caputo, a former University of Miami coach, and the official dance team for the team is the GW First Ladies.
History
20th century Mike Jarvis was hired as head coach in 1990. Led by Yinka Dare, the Colonials received an at-large bid to the 1993 NCAA tournament, the Colonials first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1961. GW advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to the Fab Five Michigan team (which later vacated its wins due to NCAA rule violations).
The Colonials would also make NCAA Tournament appearances in 1994, 1996, and 1998 under Jarvis. Jarvis would leave the school in 1998 to accept the head coaching position at St. John's.
The school then hired recently fired Texas head coach, Thomas Penders. Penders would spend three years at GW, before resigning amidst accusations of NCAA rules violations.
21st century On May 2, 2001, the university hired Karl Hobbs, who spent eight years as an assistant coach at Connecticut, as head coach. In 2004, Hobbs led GW to back to the national stage, defeating ninth-ranked Michigan State and No. 12 Maryland in back-to-back games to win the 2004 BB&T Classic. That year, the men's basketball team went on to win the Atlantic 10 West title and the Atlantic 10 tournament, earning an automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA tournament. The team received a No. 12 seed, losing to No. 5 seed Georgia Tech in the First Round.
The team began the 2005–06 season ranked 21st in the Associated Press poll, reaching as high as sixth in the polls and closed out the year ranked 19th in the nation. With a 26–2 going into the 2006 NCAA tournament. They received an at-large bid to the Tournament as a No. 8 seed where they came back from an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat No. 9 seed UNC-Wilmington. However, in the Second Round, they lost to Duke, the top overall seed. J. R. Pinnock was drafted in the 2006 NBA draft and two other Colonials from that team played in the NBA. Pops Mensah-Bonsu played for the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Toronto Raptors and Mike Hall played for the Washington Wizards.
The 2006–07 basketball season was considered by manyExpress: A Publication of The Washington Post to be a rebuilding year for the Colonials after graduating their entire starting front court and losing Pinnock to the NBA. Coach Karl Hobbs and Senior guard Carl Elliott led the team to a 23–8 record, winning the 2007 Atlantic 10 tournament, once again earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Colonials received a No. 11 seed and lost to No. 6-seed Vanderbilt.FOX Sports on MSN – College Basketball – Recap
The Colonials would struggle the next three years and after finishing the 2010–11 season with a record of 17–14, capped by a disappointing 71–59 overtime loss to Saint Joseph's in the conference tournament, Karl Hobbs was dismissed as head coach.
On May 11, 2011, Mike Lonergan, former head coach of Vermont, was hired to replace Hobbs.
The 2011–12 basketball season, Lonergan's first with the Colonials, resulted in a 10–21 record (5–11 in Atlantic 10). By the 2013–14 season, Lonergan had rebuilt the program and finished third in the Atlantic 10 with a 24–8 record (11–5 in Atlantic 10). The team received an at-large bid to the 2014 NCAA Tournament, its first NCAA Tournament since 2007. They received a No. 9 seed in the East Region and would lose to Memphis in the Second Round (formerly known as the First Round).
The Colonials regressed the following year, finishing 22–12. They did, however, receive a bid to the NIT where they defeated Pittsburgh before losing in the second round to Temple.
In 2016, the Colonials again missed the NCAA Tournament and again received a bid to the NIT. This time the Colonials would defeat Hofstra, Monmouth, and Florida to reach the NIT final four at Madison Square Garden. In the NIT semifinal, they defeated San Diego State to advance to the championship game. In the championship game, they cruised to the NIT championship with a 76–60 win over Valparaiso.
However, the Colonials could not build on their NIT success as the school fired head coach Mike Lonergan on September 16, 2016, after an investigation found him guilty of verbally and emotionally abusing his players.
The school named assistant coach Maurice Joseph interim coach for the 2016–17 season. The Colonials finished the 2017 season 20–15, 10–8 in A-10 play and received a bid to the College Basketball Invitational where they defeated Toledo in the first round before losing to UIC.On March 27, 2017, the school removed the interim tag and named Maurice Joseph full-time head coach.
Joseph was fired after the 2018–19 season. He had an overall 44–57 record (.436) at GW including 21–33 (.389) in the Atlantic 10.
On March 21, 2019, former Siena head coach Jamion Christian was hired as the new head coach. Christian accumulated a 29–50 record in three seasons and was let go.
On April 1, 2022, longtime George Mason and Miami (FL) assistant Chris Caputo was hired as the new coach.
Postseason
NCAA tournament results The Revolutionaries have appeared in the NCAA tournament 11 times. Their combined record is 4–11.
1954 First Round NC State L 73–75 1961 First Round Princeton L 67–84 1993 No. 12 First RoundSecond RoundSweet Sixteen No. 5 New MexicoNo. 13 SouthernNo. 1 Michigan W 82–68W 90–80L 64–72 1994 No. 10 First RoundSecond Round No. 7 UABNo. 2 Connecticut W 51–46L 63–75 1996 No. 11 First Round No. 6 Iowa L 79–81 1998 No. 9 First Round No. 8 Oklahoma State L 59–74 1999 No. 11 First Round No. 6 Indiana L 88–108 2005 No. 12 First Round No. 5 Georgia Tech L 68–80 2006 No. 8 First RoundSecond Round No. 9 UNC WilmingtonNo. 1 Duke W 88–85OTL 61–74 2007 No. 11 First Round No. 6 Vanderbilt L 44–77 2014 No. 9 First Round No. 8 Memphis L 66–71
NIT results The Revolutionaries have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) seven times. Their combined record is 7–6. They won the NIT championship in 2016.
1991 First round South Carolina L 63–69 1995 First round Ohio L 71–83 1997 First round Michigan State L 50–65 2004 First round Virginia L 66–79 2015 First roundSecond round PittsburghTemple W 60–54L 77–90 2016 First roundSecond roundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal HofstraMonmouthFloridaSan Diego StateValparaiso W 82–80W 87–71W 82–77W 65–46W 76–60 2026 First roundSecond round Utah ValleyNew Mexico W 79–78L 61-86
CBI results The Revolutionaries have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) two times. Their combined record is 1–2.
2010 First round VCU L 73–79 2017 First roundQuarterfinals ToledoUIC W 73–69L 71–80
CBC results The Revolutionaries have appeared in the College Basketball Crown (CBC) once. Their record is 0–1.
2025 First round Boise State L 59–89
Coaches
The Colonials have had 27 coaches in its history including two seasons with two head coaches.
OverallConference Name YearsRecord Pct.Record Pct. Note J. Kramer1906–087–12.368First collegiate basketball team organized in the District of Columbia. No Varsity1909–12 Slitz Schlosser1913–144–17.190 Nathan Dougherty1914–155–9.357 George Colliflower1916–179–18.333 Goesbeck & Murphy1917–185–6.455 No Varsity (WWI)1919–20 Brian Morse1921–2316–27.372 Jack Dailey1924–258–14.364 James Lemon1926–2712–16.429 Maud Crum1928–2913–14.481 Joe Mitchell1929–309–7.563 Jim Pixlee1931–3222–9.710 Ted O'Leary1933–3426–9.743 Jim Pixlee & Logan Wilson1934–3514–6.700 Bill Reinhart1936–42, 1950–66319–237.574 Southern Conference tournament Champions 1954, 1961; NCAA Tournament 1954, 1961 Arthur "Otts" Zahn1942–43, 1946–4745–21.682 No Varsity 1944–45 (World War II), Southern Conference tournament Champion 1943 George Garber1948–4937–15.712 Babe McCarthy1966–676–18.250 Wayne Dobbs1968–7031–45.408 Carl Slone1971–7454–48.529 Bob Tallent1975–81102–84.548 Gerry Gimelstob1982–8558–55.51331–33.484 1981–82 Season in Eastern Eight Conference, 1982–85 Atlantic 10 John Kuester1986–9050–91.35520–52.278 Mike Jarvis1991–98152–90.62876–52.594 NCAA Tournament '93 (Sweet 16), '94, '96, '98; NIT '91, '95, '97 Tom Penders1999–200149–42.53828–20.583 NCAA Tournament '99 Karl Hobbs2001–2011149–115.56474–70.514 NCAA Tournament '05, '06, '07; NIT '04; CBI '10; Atlantic 10 tournament champions '05, '07; Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions '06; National Coach of the Year Finalist 2005–06 Mike Lonergan2011–201646–45.50623–25.479 NCAA Tournament '14; NIT '15, '16 (Champions) Maurice Joseph2016–201944–57.43621–33.389 Interim head coach in 2016; named full-time head coach on March 27, 2017 Jamion Christian2019–202229–50.36717–26.395 Chris Caputo2022–present52–46.53123–31.426
Notable games GW 97, No. 5 West Virginia 93 – February 17, 1960
After falling to the Mountaineers earlier in the season, an announced crowd of 6,400 watched the Colonials host Jerry West and the nation's fifth-ranked basketball team. Despite giving up 40 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists to West, GW Athletic Hall of Famer Jon Feldman exploded for a career-high 42 points on 17–25 shooting to stun West Virginia.
GW 111, No. 12 Syracuse 104 (OT) – November 16, 1994
The Colonials were invited to participate in the pre-season NIT at Manley Field House at Syracuse, and though they gave up a last-second three-pointer to allow the Orangemen to send the game to overtime, the Colonials controlled the extra period to secure the win on national television.
GW 78, No. 1 UMass 75 – February 4, 1995
President Bill Clinton joined the Colonials at Charles E. Smith Center when John Calipari and the top-ranked Massachusetts Minutemen came to Washington. Kwame Evans scored 27 points, including his 1,000th and fans rushed the court as the Colonials scored their first-ever upset of a number one team.
GW 78, No. 18 Xavier 73 – OT, January 14, 1998 The Colonials hosted James Posey and the 18th ranked Musketeers at the Charles E. Smith Center. After trailing most of the game, Xavier took control of the game midway through the second half. GW forward Yegor Mescheriakov sprained his right ankle jumping for a rebound and limped off the court with 16:32 remaining. Without its leading scorer, and with Koul on the bench with four fouls, GW sagged. With GW's offense sputtering, Mike King entered the game and rescued the Colonials. King scored eight straight points and tied the game at 63–63. The clock then showed all zeros and the GW men's basketball team trailed 18th-ranked Xavier 68–66. King, a freshman playing his third collegiate game after achieving academic eligibility, calmly made two free throws - sending the game into overtime and the Smith Center into a frenzy. In the overtime, King continued his heroics scoring 8 of GW's 10 points in OT to a 78–73 win over Xavier.
GW 77, Xavier 74 – February 27, 1999
With the Atlantic 10 West Division Title on the line in the final game of the regular season, the Colonials hosted the Xavier Musketeers. Seniors Shawnta Rogers and Yegor Mescheriakov were playing their final home games. Despite missing a game-winning three with five seconds left Rogers received a pass following a Mike King rebound and broke the 74–74 tie as time expired to win the game and the division. The Colonials would later receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament under first-year coach Tom Penders.
GW 96, No. 11 Michigan State 83 – December 4, 2004
GW 101, No. 12 Maryland 92 – December 5, 2004