What should we expect this season?

I had some time to kill at Union Station this morning, so I leafed through the Athlon Sports college basketball preview, which picks the GW men to finish 10th in the Atlantic 10. Two years removed from that magical 27-3 run, Karl Hobbs returns only one (Reece Rice) of the top nine scorers from that fabled squad. The team also loses three starters from a year ago in Carl Elliott, Dokun Akingbade, and Regis Koundjia, who combined to account for 39% of GW's scoring, 46% of its rebounding, and 51% of its assists.

So what are realistic expectations for this year's Colonials?

There are a lot of question marks heading into the 2007-2008 campaign. Can Rice step up and become the type of player who takes games over? He's had some brilliant performances (at Xavier and against UNC-Wilmington two years ago, and at Rhode Island last season come to mind), but he has also been inconsistent at times, disappearing on the offensive end for long stretches of games. Reece will be the go-to guy for the Colonials; how will he adapt to being keyed on by opposing defenses? Rice is a natural scorer, but you have to think he will need to light up the scoreboard this year if the Colonials are going to compete.

What about the young guns? Travis King and Damian Hollis made significant contributions as freshmen a year ago. This season, it will be a pair of guards (Xavier Alexander and Miles Beatty) and big men (Jabari Edwards and Joseph Katuka) who will be thrown into the fire. Can they make the jump to Division I play? Katuka and Edwards might be the most important, considering the lack of muscle in the post (although Rob Diggs did gain 15 pounds over the last year). Has Hermann Opoku developed as an interior player at all? Can Noel Wilmore finally become the long-distance assassin anyone who has ever watched him in pre-game warmups knows he can be?

Carl Elliott is going to be difficult to replace in a number of ways: he was the go-to guy down the stretch, the most talented defender, the quarterback on the offensive end, and the team leader. Rice figures to be the guy who gets the touches in late-game situations, but who is the most reliable defender on this 2007-2008 edition of the Colonials? As of now, there doesn't seem to be a shut-down perimeter player. King will take the helm at the point position, but he's going to have to improve his numbers (78 assists, 59 turnovers) if the Colonials are going to be a force in the A-10.

However, it is a pair of transfers in Cheyenne Moore and Wynton Witherspoon who may be the most intriguing to watch. Moore has all of the tools to be a special player, often compared to Danilo (J.R.) Pinnock with a better outside shot by people around the program. However, Moore was disappointing in his first season in the buff and blue, clearly hampered by the leg injury which forced him to miss 16 games. If he is healthy and able to work into the flow, then watch out. Witherspoon, a Virginia Tech transfer, is a swingman who could play a big role in Hobbs' scheme. Moore and Witherspoon are the types of high-flyers who would have fit in perfectly with Pinnock, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, and company. If they each live up to their potential this season, the Colonials should be in good shape.

It's going to be an interesting campaign. Does hobbs go back to the helter skelter style that gave opposing teams fits, or do they stick to the slow-it-down strategy that was more effective last year? This squad has a lot to figure out as it embarks upon another season. I'll make my predictions over the next couple of weeks, but somehow despite all of the question marks, I think GW will find itself in the top half of the conference once it is all said and done. The talent is certainly there, it's just a matter of realizing that potential.