WASHINGTON — The George Washington Colonials paid tribute to a GW basketball legend Wednesday night.
The school honored former Colonials power forward/center Pops Mensah-Bonsu during George Washington's game against Dayton.
Mensah-Bonsu played for the Buff and Blue from 2002 to 2006.
The highlight of his career was when the Colonials went 16-0 in conference play during the 2005-06 season. George Washington was ranked as high as 6th in the AP Top 25 poll that season.
For Mensah-Bonsu, he never envisioned a night like Wednesday.
"You never anticipate, or realize these things are happening until they're going on," said the 2006 First team All-Atlantic 10 member. "For GW to recognize me, and to honor me, is a big deal. It wasn't really about me while I was here. I came in with a class of guys, there was coaching staff, there was other operations staff that were here to help me along the way. I'm just appreciative of everybody that played a part in my career while I was here."
As for what the former Colonials power forward/center misses the most, it's the atmosphere at the Smith Center.
"It's not the biggest arena, but it can get very loud," said Mensah-Bonsu. "It can get real exciting in here. I just miss those times when somebody would get a dunk, I guess I can say me, but would get a dunk and get the crowd going. They're throwing things around, and they've got the foam hats and the fingers. It was a special time"
The current Colonials team lost to Dayton 72-66. George Washington's record dropped to 5-10, 1-1 in the A-10.