By: Cameron Mays, Class of 2025
When I made the decision to attend The George Washington University about four years ago, I never expected GW basketball to become one of my biggest obsessions by the time I graduated. I have always played sports and been a fan of professional sports teams throughout my life, but I didn’t grow up rooting for a college team and I knew that GW wasn’t a sports-centric school. Looking back at the last few years of being a student, a WRGW reporter and a GW basketball fan, I want to reflect and offer some thoughts for the future of the program.
A quick note to start: I’m focusing on men’s basketball because I spent the most time and energy covering the team, but I still have extensive thoughts on and care deeply about the GW women’s basketball program and other sports.
The Beginning of My GW Basketball Journey
It all started during my first semester at GW in November of 2021. I don’t know why I decided to go to that first game – my friends and I probably just didn’t have anything better to do. When I walked into the Smith Center on that Wednesday in November and watched GW take down soon-to-be D3 Saint Francis in a close 75-72 win, something funny happened that I didn’t plan and could have ever predicted—I never stopped coming back.
Days later I made the Metro trip up to College Park to hang out with some friends at Maryland and watch GW face off against the Terrapins. Still a casual fan at that point, I can now pinpoint where I became hooked. Three and half minutes into the second half with GW trailing 37-32, James Bishop pulled down a rebound and heaved a full court pass to Joe Bamisile, who then levitated, threw down an incredible windmill dunk and immediately started talking to the Maryland student section. Even though GW lost, I was impressed with how the team fought against a nationally ranked opponent (although Maryland would finish the season nowhere close to being ranked) and knew I was in it for the long haul.
GW finished that bumpy season with a first round exit in the Atlantic-10 Tournament, which led to the firing of head coach Jamion Christian and the hiring of the then-Miami assistant Chris Caputo. Some guys left, including the player who I credit with jump-starting my GW basketball fandom, Joe Bamisile. More players came in to take the places of the departures and a core group, headlined by James Bishop and Brendan Adams, chose to return to Foggy Bottom.
This is not to recount every person who came and went during my time at GW, because that would take many pages, but to acknowledge what must be acknowledged. During my time I watched 36 players take the court for GW, a large number over four years. Some I really liked, others turned into antagonists and some I’ll struggle to name in a few years. Regardless, I rooted for all of them and I hope that in the moment they gave GW their all. More on this later.
Joining WRGW to Do Something Productive
I joined WRGW in my second year of school, ahead of the 2022-2023 season. Initially, I just wanted to find a more productive outlet for my GW basketball obsession than constantly detailing the latest news to my friends, but it quickly became more than that. While my first year of GW basketball was pretty involved, WRGW took my involvement to new heights. Joining a community of people who were just as dedicated as me and were desperate to elevate GW athletics gave me confidence that as long as there were students continuing to carry the athletics torch, eventually we would be rewarded.
Besides the on-court performances that season, which included an electric win against South Carolina, some devastating and questionable losses in Hawaii, a litany of conference wins in overtime and another loss in the first round of the A-10 tournament, WRGW taught me how to call games on the radio, write game recaps and blog posts and interview players and coaches. All of these were incredible experiences that I am grateful for and over the next two years, I continued to improve my abilities as a reporter while building relationships with other WRGW members and members of the larger GW basketball ecosystem.
While I can’t speak for other schools, having a team and an athletics department that understood the importance of student media and gave us access was key to maintaining our interest in the teams we covered and ultimately improved our work. I don’t have much interest in translating my WRGW experience into a career in journalism or the wider sports world, but my experiences are central to maintaining my interest in GW athletics post-graduation.
The Last Dance
The 2023-2024 season was largely forgettable after several injuries derailed the season so I’ll skip ahead. I would be remiss, though, to not mention the end of James Bishop’s exceptional career, Garrett Johnson’s shooting ability and Darren Buchanan Jr.’s young leadership that season. Throw in a few great wins against George Mason and VCU to start conference play (apologies for hitting so many “Caputo-isms” at once) and I’m already forgetting the last-place finish.
During this past season, my final season as a student and WRGW member, I spent a lot of time asking myself why. Why do I care so much? Why have I made GW basketball such a big part of my life? When we beat Dayton by 20, it’s easy to answer that question. When we lost by 13 to the MAC-bound UMass, it’s a little harder.
Regardless of those questions that often swirled around in my mind, I was all in whether I was in the booth or the stands during the games. Competing hard in the A-10 and winning a game in the A-10 tournament for the first time in my GW career was something to celebrate. The emergence of Rafael Castro as one of the top players in the conference, Trey Autry as a new team veteran and a knock-down shooter and Christian Jones as the floor general were victories this year I believe will translate into something even greater next season.
Considering the Hard Questions About GW Basketball
I initially wanted to title this section “Answering the Hard Questions,” but I realized I probably don’t have many answers– just ideas.
The first question is one I asked earlier—why do I care? It seems like the heights of GW’s basketball glory days are realistically behind us, but that doesn’t deter me. Whenever I talk about GW basketball, I often have to remind people that yes, we are D1, yes we play in a relatively good conference, yes we were a nationally ranked team for multiple stretches in the 90s and 2000s and yes we actually won the NIT not too long ago. Having to constantly advocate for the team and explain why I care only makes me want to see success more.
While this isn’t the entirety of why I care, I think part of it is pretty simple and I will raise it as more questions: if I’m not going to be a fan of GW basketball (and athletics as a whole) then who will be? Do GW’s student-athletes not deserve support just because they compete at a school that is apathetic to their pursuits? Does the institution as a whole not deserve people who are genuinely invested in it – both to cheer for its successes and scrutinize when it comes up short?
In an age where attention spans are fragmented and limited and accountability in key places of society is hard to come by, GW needs people to take an interest. I don’t expect everyone to be as unabashedly fanatical as I am, but I want more than anything for students and alumni to have some pride in where they came from. Again, this includes cheering for GW’s wins in athletics and otherwise, as well as pushing for change when it doesn’t meet expectations.
Another common refrain of mine is that GW students criticize the lack of school spirit without realizing that they are the school. It’s easy to get caught up in that thinking, but it’s also easy to break free from it. Some students think every school is like the SEC or Big 10 in terms of school spirit and they let it affect their view of GW without realizing those are the exceptions, not the rule. School spirit isn’t just huge football stadiums and obnoxious frat guys, it’s attending your friend’s a capella concert, going to your department’s academic discussion and taking forward the education and values you gained into the world after you graduate. I think one of the best embodiments of this spirit is Jonquel Jones (despite being a professional athlete) and I am always filled with pride whenever I see her mentioned in association with GW.
The Dysfunction of College Sports
Getting off my school spirit soapbox, the state of college basketball is something I have also thought a lot about in recent months. As I mentioned earlier, I watched 36 players play for GW and part of that number was before the current iteration of the transfer portal. I’m not sure I can add anything new to the discourse, but I do fear what the new changes will do to the foundation of what it means to be a college athlete, especially for the vast majority who are not at high-major athletic programs and the even greater percentage who do not play football or men’s basketball.
I’m not a purist in the sense that I believe entirely in the idea of “student first, athlete second,” because I don’t think that was ever true for the revenue sports, but the damage needs to be contained. Whether that equilibrium is achieved through new NCAA regulations, Congressional action, or a splintering of college sports and conferences, many things would be better than what is currently happening now. I’m in favor of football breaking off to be governed separately, but there are trade-offs to that as well.
The outcome will most likely be determined by the power conference schools and will almost certainly screw over schools like GW, but overall, there must be changes that lead to sustainability for the revenue of schools of all sizes and the college experiences of athletes. All I can hope for is that as few athletes as possible are negatively impacted by the eventual restructuring.
Bringing it Back to GW
As I finish up this article, it already feels way out of date; the 2025-2026 season has already begun in some fashion. After locking up a core group of returners, GW landed a solid group of transfers to put the team in a great position for the upcoming season. The hype we’ve received is exciting and a little frustrating since it’s happening right after I graduated, but I can’t wait for November to roll around. This distraction is an issue when I’m still trying to write a reflection article about previous seasons.
Others have endlessly discussed it, but the nature of the game now is transitory. It’s hard to be a fan of a mid-major team, and even more difficult to be a fan of an individual player, yet I will continue to do both against my better judgment. I care too much. Besides, to stay grounded in life, everyone needs something they invest too much energy in and will always end up hurt by. For me, that thing will continue to be GW basketball.
I look forward to moving to new seats across the court in the Smith Center, becoming a grumpy old-timer on the message boards, and most of all, watching GW come back to prominence. No matter what happens to GW or college sports as a whole, my final message is simple and is what I wrote when I signed my name on the WRGW studio wall as I left for the last time:
“Go GW!”
