{"id":77738,"date":"2015-12-21T16:33:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T16:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=77738"},"modified":"2023-04-12T21:37:52","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T21:37:52","slug":"sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  Colonials Rising"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Without question one of the top turnaround success stories on the NCAA basketball court belongs to Head Coach Mike Lonergan and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gwsports.com\/sports\/m-baskbl\/gewa-m-baskbl-body.html\">George Washington men\u2019s basketball program<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After a highly successful tenure at Vermont, Coach Lonergan\u2019s Colonials posted back-to-back 20-plus win seasons for the first time since 2006-07 and have gotten off to an incredible start in the 2015-16 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>After consecutive seasons of NCAA or NIT post-season entries, anyone thinking of a letdown this year has been sadly mistaken.<\/p>\n<p>George Washington came out in mid-November and provided the nation with one of college basketball\u2019s first big losses to a team ranked in the top 10, with a 73-68 win over Virginia.\u00a0 The Cavaliers were the sixth-ranked team in the country at the time of that contest.\u00a0 The Colonials continued their dominating performances by winning ten of its first 11 ball games (a perfect 8-0 at home), with many victories coming by a double-digit margin.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Lonergan\u2019s guidance has led to a resurgence among the Colonial fan base and an extra level of excitement to his team\u2019s contests at the Smith Center.<\/p>\n<p>We had the opportunity on \u201cRCN SportsTalk\u201d to talk with Coach Lonergan about his GW men\u2019s basketball program, their previous years\u2019 successes and about his team\u2019s hot start to the current season.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qxaEbmJvhEE\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Before coming to George Washington, Coach Lonergan had great success at Vermont. His teams compiled a .700 or better winning percentage in four of his last five seasons and qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2010 (overall record 25-10).<\/p>\n<p>Before this season started, George Washington had two players<strong>, <\/strong>Patricio Garino and Kevin Larsen, named to the All-Conference Second Team, with Garino also named to the A-10 All-Defense Team.\u00a0 The Colonials also were picked by A-10 experts to finish in the top four spots in the league this winter<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pre-season Atlantic-10 Poll<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Dayton (12 first place votes) \u2013 352 total points<\/li>\n<li>Rhode Island (8) \u2013 347<\/li>\n<li>Davidson (6) \u2013 329<\/li>\n<li>Washington (1) \u2013 285<\/li>\n<li>VCU \u2013 277<\/li>\n<li>Richmond \u2013 262<\/li>\n<li>Saint Joseph\u2019s \u2013 194<\/li>\n<li>Bonaventure \u2013 177<\/li>\n<li>La Salle \u2013 164<\/li>\n<li>Massachusetts \u2013 142<\/li>\n<li>Duquesne \u2013 113<\/li>\n<li>Saint Louis\u201496<\/li>\n<li>George Mason \u2013 52<\/li>\n<li>Fordham &#8212; 45<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Colonials are looking to continue their current four-game winning streak through the holiday season, with some intriguing match-ups on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Upcoming Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dec. 22<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 at DePaul<br \/>\nDec. 29<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 at UCF<br \/>\nJan. 3<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 vs. Fordham*<br \/>\nJan. 6<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 at Saint Louis*<br \/>\nJan. 9<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 vs. Duquesne*<br \/>\nJan. 12th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 at UMass*<br \/>\nJan. 15<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 at Dayton*<br \/>\nJan. 22<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 vs. Rhode Island*<br \/>\n*Atlantic-10 Conference games<br \/>\n<strong><em>All home games are played at the Smith Center<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We hope that basketball fans check out the Colonials in action as they\u2019ll look to have a number of exciting match-ups coming up over the next few months.\u00a0 Also, keep checking back to the \u201cSportsTalk Shop\u201d and the \u201cRCN SportsTalk\u201d show for more great guests and insights on this winter\u2019s NCAA basketball season.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without question one of the top turnaround success stories on the NCAA basketball court belongs to Head Coach Mike Lonergan and the George Washington men\u2019s basketball program. After a highly successful tenure at Vermont, Coach Lonergan\u2019s Colonials posted back-to-back 20-plus win seasons for the first time since 2006-07 and have gotten off to an incredible&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[588,365],"class_list":["post-77738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop","tag-george-washington","tag-ncaa-basketball"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: Colonials Rising - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: Colonials Rising - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Without question one of the top turnaround success stories on the NCAA basketball court belongs to Head Coach Mike Lonergan and the George Washington men\u2019s basketball program. After a highly successful tenure at Vermont, Coach Lonergan\u2019s Colonials posted back-to-back 20-plus win seasons for the first time since 2006-07 and have gotten off to an incredible...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-21T16:33:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-12T21:37:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Colonials Rising\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-21T16:33:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-12T21:37:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":464,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"George Washington\",\"NCAA Basketball\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Sports\",\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\\\/\",\"name\":\"The SportsTalk Shop: Colonials Rising - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-21T16:33:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-12T21:37:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/sportstalk-shop-colonials-rising\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. 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