Reinhart does have a pair of seniors who have been and will be the pillars to build around in Foggy Bottom.  Post Joe Holup and swing man Corky Devlin have been studs for GW from day one and will hopefully continue for one more year.  6’6” Holup is a scoring and boarding machine but will be hard-pressed to keep up his numbers if he is to man the center position again this year.for the Colonials.  Holup has averaged double figures in both points and rebounds all three years for GW but having to guard guys five or six inches taller is not what he signed up for.  Reinhart will try to take some of the pressure off his workhorse and move him to the four spot.  That means he will have to replace his main man in the post and he will have some more than willing underclassmen ready to step into those big shoes.

 Juniors Mike Zagardo, Kevin Peter Hall and Clyde Burrell all got a taste of the fun down in the paint last year and one of them is the likely replacement and starter at center for Reinhart who is definitely going bigger.  Zigardo is 6’10, Burrell is 6’11 and Hall is a mammoth 7’2 but all of these bigs have some work to do to be near the kind of skill level in the paint especially offensively of their predecessor in Holup.   Zagardo has the best chance as he can score some but he must also beat out bullnecked sophomore Mike Brown for the spot.  That will not be easy as the 6’10 Brown (same height as Zigardo but much broader) comes off as a thug but is more skilled than he looks and will at least split time unless the rumors are true of some big fellas coming to town. 

There have been some rumblings that new Assistant Mike Jarvis has landed a few projects from overseas who have the number one requisite ingredient to be a basketball player.  Size!  Speaking of size Devlin is a big two guard who has been playing way too much of his minutes at the three but that might change this year.  Devlin, at six five, has played the three to make way for fellow senior Jon Feldman who at 5’11 is not your typical shooting guard.  Feldman can flat light it up as he showed a couple of years ago when he outscored Jerry West 42 to 40 in a game typical of those high scoring Reinhart teams.  Played in the old ‘Tin Tabernacle’ before the Colonials built the Charles E Smith Athletic Center (a much more suitable 5000 seat arena) the Colonials beat the Mountaineers 97 to 93 with no overtimes or no three point line.  Reinhart still loves to run his vaunted fast break but the game has changed and as good as Feldman is offensively he will be hard pressed to stay in the lineup trying to guard the likes of 6’6 Jim Paxson of Dayton or the incredibly athletic 6’2 Sihugo Green of Duquesne.  Reinhart is loyal to a fault and probably a good reason his teams have fallen off recently but the message is clear from above that if the Colonials don’t improve this year (they finished dead last in the A-10 last year) this will be it for Reinhart. They have even brought his heir replacement down from Boston to sit by him, recruit and mainly give this team a defensive structure in Jarvis. 

Ironically the guy who recommended Jarvis is one of Rainhart’s first star pupils in Red Auerbach who has taken over running the Celtics and trying to turn them into a contender running the same style fast break he learned from his coach backin the 30’s.  These Colonials will still run but the plan is to be able to defend and board a bit better and that means Holup and Devlin move to new positions and the ultra-popular Feldman is probably destined for being instant offense off the bench.  Who will replace him is yet to be seen but there are rumors the Colonials have some real stud two guard freshmen who are not only bigger but can really light it up from the perimeter.  Gene Guaralia fits his name about as well as can be said here without offending anyone but will give up his starting job to Holup at the four and become part of the group fighting for minutes.  Don’t count out Guaralia for minutes as he is as tough as it gets and is famous for his ability to protect teammates from other team’s aggressive play.  Just ask Auerbach about that.  Junior Walt Szczerbiak will start once again at the three and he is a gifted inside/out player who was part of All-Star team that played this summer in Europe and is supposedly much bigger and better for the experience.  Let’s hope so as this team needs more consistency on the wings.  We know some good things came from this trip as Szczerbiak bonded with some kids over in Europe who are now coming this way and might be the future for the program! 

Juniors Pat Tallent and John Holloran will battle it out for the point guard with both being better scorers than passers.  Tallent is part of a Kentucky family that has matriculated this way after brother Bob left the Kentucky Wildcats after his junior year when he and Adolph Rupp got into some heated words.  Bob ended up in Foggy Bottom and his brothers Pat and Mike (but which one plays Kate) followed though neither are as ‘talented’ as their eldest brother!  Bob has some eligibility left over after sitting out a year but his main goal is to become a coach and as much as Jarvis seems to be next in line don’t count this kid out.  And if Reinhart does not find somebody to run this team don’t be surprised to see a three-guard set with this much tallent around Foggy Bottom.

Senior guards Bill Telasky, Bucky McDonald and Joe Lalli (when he is not on the baseball diamond) and junior Ronnie ‘Boot Scoot Boogie’ Nunn will battle for playing time as Reinhart has some decisions as all of these cats can score a little.  Speaking of competitions, junior Mike ‘Battle’ is an undersized post player at 6’6” who will battle all night long and showed last year he could hang with the best when he outplayed Julius Erving as the Colonials beat UMASS in February.  He is more suited to the four and the position is now taken so he has a long, dare I say it for a third time, battle in front of him for playing time but I would not bet against this warrior!

 Fellow Juniors Lenny Baltimore, Haviland Harper and especially high flying Les Anderson (he does have a 37 inch vertical jump and his dunks are out of this world) will get a shot at playing time but none of these guys are over 6’7 and this team needs more size though Anderson at six four will battle Szczerbiak for PT from the opening bell.  What this teams needs more than anything though is a point guard who is quick as hell, really defend and run a team.  Anyone out there fit that bill?  They do not need to be tall!  A couple of 3 point shooters won’t hurt but as of right now to say this team is going to get out of the basement is a long shot.  The changes will help but unless Reinhart (and Jarvis) have brought in some of the aforementioned needs and a couple of blue chippers this year in Foggy Bottom will be one of ‘constant sorrow’ for the fans of the Colonials!