While the story of George Washington’s boys basketball season remains largely untold, it’s already been at least somewhat of a memorable campaign for the Patriots.
GW will carry a 14-2 record into Friday’s matchup with Hurricane, and though the Patriots have dropped two of their four most recent outings following a 12-0 start, they remain among the state’s elite teams and expect to contend for a Class AAAA championship.
Less than a month ago, when GW improved to 8-0 at the time, veteran head coach Rick Greene notched his 500th career victory as the Patriots handled Spring Valley, 68-55.
“I didn’t get it; we got it,” Greene says. “That’s a program thing. I’ve had great players. I haven’t hit a jump shot since 1971, and I didn’t hit a lot of them then. I’ve had great assistant coaches. Our alumni are super supportive in a ton of ways.
“I appreciate it that a lot of people have contacted me. I sincerely do. But that’s a program achievement, not a one-person achievement.”
Greene’s head coaching journey began in 1986 and initially lasted through 1989, before he pursued opportunities as a men’s basketball assistant coach at University of Charleston and West Virginia Tech.
Greene returned to GW in 1998 and has been with the Patriots since, now in his 30th season as head coach and with a career record of 506-178. Of the Patriots’ four Class AAA championship teams, Greene was a player on one and head coach of the most recent three (2011, 2018 and 2021).
“He has a fine-tuned, well-oiled machine that he probably teaches them at a young age, from the time they’re in third or fourth grade, so by the time they get to GW, they don’t have to think,” Parkersburg head coach Bryan Crislip says. “They just play. If you can just play and not have to think, it makes the game so simple.
“He does a great job with it and I told our kids, he’s been there for 29 years and won 500 games. That’s almost 18 wins a year. The guy knows what he’s doing. He’s a great coach.”
While aware and appreciative of the notable accomplishment, Greene says his mentality to look ahead in favor of think back remains unchanged. It’s an approach Greene says was instilled in him from former GW head coach Fred Aldridge, who helped guide the Patriots to their first title in 1971.
“I can’t say I don’t think about it,” Greene says. “But you have to flush it just like a big win and the next day you have to be ready to go for the next game. Learn from it and do what you have to do, but you have to play the guys in front of you.”
The Patriots suffered recent setbacks to Kanawha County rivals South Charleston and Capital but are otherwise unbeaten. They earned a quality 65-62 win Tuesday over Ashland Blazer (Ky.), and have six regular-season contests remaining to try and round into postseason form. After taking on the Redskins, matchups await at Jefferson, in the Mountain State Athletic Conference Night of Champions, at Nitro, at Morgantown and against Parkersburg South.
A balanced attack and quality mixture of strong production inside and on the perimeter have been to the Patriots’ benefit.
The focal points of the Patriots’ attack are 6-foot-6 senior Ben Nicol and senior guard Brendan Hoffman.
Nicol, a left-hander and Ohio signee, is plenty comfortable away from the basket and does much of his damage outside despite his surplus of height. Hoffman is the team’s top scorer, a crafty ball-handler who can present problems for the opposition with his ability to get to the basket and score in the mid range.
With junior sharpshooter Dawson Lunsford, junior guard Ashton Gute and two other 6-6 players to accompany Nicol in freshman Noah Lewis and senior Brandon Dennison, Greene’s team has plenty of options surrounding their top offensive duo.
“They run a motion offense that has cutters all day long, which then gets your guys chasing and they get the mismatch they want to penetrate, and they have shooters all around,” said Crislip, whose Big Reds’ squad fell to the Patriots last week, 68-36. “Are you jumping to the ball and are you there ready to help? If you’re not jumping to the ball, they’re cutting for a layup. But if you help too much, they have shooters spacing the floor and then they make shots. It’s a matchup nightmare.”
Greene believes much of his team’s success starts from the mentality of Nicol, who two seasons ago made a game-winning jump shot in the final seconds of a state title game to lift GW over Morgantown. Nicol was a Class AAAA first-team all-state pick last season after averaging more than 13 points, and sometime within the next two months, will devote his basketball attention toward preparing for the Division I level.
“He’s first team all-state and I think he’s a candidate for player of the year, but what kind of kid he is, if he scores six points, it doesn’t matter,” Greene said. “You cannot tell in the locker room. He’s all about the team and winning and it’s nothing about me. That is a unicorn anymore in this society.
“We’ve probably had more of that attitude than most, but he’s exceptional. Sure he wants to score 30 like anybody, but he really doesn’t care as long as we win. It’s very refreshing to coach that.”
With the challenges that await over the remainder of the regular season, includin two teams that played in last season’s AAAA final, Greene hopes to see the Patriots peak down the stretch as they seek a trip to the state tournament.
“Defensively, when we’re in our matchup [zone], we have to talk and switch people off a little bit better,” Greene said. “When we move on offense, we’re really good, but we’re inconsistent at it. More than anything else, just areas where we’re inconsistent and we have to have smaller spurts of being inconsistent, and keep getting better that way.”