Colonials Will Try to Turn Back Clock vs. Heels

DALLAS, March 24 -- If not for the eerie comparisons linking their NCAA tournament game Sunday night against North Carolina with the teams' encounter 10 years ago, the George Washington Colonials would have been able to go about their business this past week without any distracting flashbacks.

The similarities to GW's stunner over the Tar Heels in 1997, though, have been almost impossible to ignore.

Then like now, GW was a fifth seed, North Carolina a No. 1, and they met in the round of 16.

Then like now, the Colonials went undefeated in the Atlantic 10 during the regular season only to lose to Saint Joseph's in the conference tournament, while the Tar Heels were coming off an ACC title.

Then like now, GW entered the encounter following a mild upset win while UNC was coming off a second-round struggle.

Then like now, both teams enjoyed a season that included extraordinary winning streaks (the Colonials won 22 in a row in 1997 and 19 straight this year; the Tar Heels had 15- and 24-game runs, respectively).

For the GW players, however, it is silly to draw parallels to something that happened when they were still pushing the ball at eight-foot baskets.

"When you talk to them about it, you see that '10 years ago? I was in elementary school' look," said Colonials assistant coach Tajama (Abraham) Ngongba, the star of the '97 squad. "You definitely get that reaction, but then part of it is also very inspiring and they ask what it was like and what the team's approach was back then.

"I told them that overall we feared no one. It didn't matter who were playing. And you're starting to see that with this team. They are fired up. They don't care who they are playing."

The Colonials (28-3) will need to welcome all elements of the past and present to repeat their long-ago feat against the Tar Heels (32-3) and advance to Tuesday's Dallas Region final against second-seeded Purdue or No. 3 Georgia at Reunion Arena.

GW Coach Joe McKeown has tried to steer the attention away from the '97 game, but even he has welcomed it to some extent.

"It's a new generation, a new era too, so we don't really talk about it much," McKeown said. He then paused and added, "but it would be great if it happened again; it was a great year."

While the players have no memory of what unfolded 10 years ago -- a victory over the Tar Heels before a season-ending loss to Notre Dame in the region final -- they have a hard time forgetting their 24-point loss to North Carolina two years ago in an NCAA second-round game in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Like the differences between now and '97, much has changed since that more recent showdown.

"This may be the best team that [McKeown] has had at least in a long time," Tar Heels Coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "They're experienced and their guards are very good. They're just an excellent team."

Despite playing in a second-tier conference, the Colonials are accustomed to playing elite teams from major leagues. Their only regular season losses were to Maryland and Tennessee, and they beat Georgia early in the year and Texas A&M on Monday in Los Angeles.

Nonetheless, they felt slighted when they were given a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament and seemed irritated by talk this week that North Carolina has a clear path to next week's Final Four in Cleveland.

"All year we've been kind of flying under the radar," McKeown said. "That's okay with me. It gives me another piece of ammunition with my team to say, 'Hey, people don't respect you maybe, they don't think you are as good as you are.' "

Guard-forward Kenan Cole, the team's only senior, said: "We use it as motivation only to a certain extent. Regardless of whether we get the recognition, we're still going to go out and play our style of basketball and we have confidence in what we can do as a team."

The Colonials also like the idea of facing the Tar Heels on a neutral court after being eliminated in three of their past six tournament appearances on the opponents' home court.

"We always wanted to get back to this point -- and we had teams good enough to get back -- but we always seemed to play in someone's else gym," Athletic Director Jack Kvancz said. "Joe's got a good group here and he's got them playing really well right now."