Saturday will mark the first time that the GW community can cheer on the George Washington University men’s basketball team with a pennant that could represent the new moniker. As the GW men wrap up their home schedule at 4:30 p.m. against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) at the Charles E. Smith Center, the stands will be filled with fans waving one of 10 moniker options being considered by the university. At the start of next season, GW teams will have the new moniker written across their uniforms.
Fans Saturday can show their support for which of those 10 options—Ambassadors, Blue Fog, Catalysts, Fireworks, Independents, Monumentals, Revolutionaries, Sentinels, Squad or Truth—announced Feb. 15 that they’d most like to see as the school’s new moniker. As they enter the Smith Center for the nationally televised contest between the GW and VCU, fans will have the option to grab a pennant with the name they prefer.
Faculty, staff, alumni and friends can purchase tickets for Saturday’s tilt here.
Attendance at GW men’s basketball games is free for students with a valid GWorld. The student entrance to Smith Center is at 23rd and F Streets, and the student seating section is located in sections 102 and 103, as well as 201-206, of the Smith Center.
The in-person activity will mark the final days of the “First Impressions” phase of “Moniker Madness,” a series of activities that will give students, faculty, staff and alumni opportunities to provide multiple rounds of feedback on the moniker options and help narrow down the list further. Throughout this first phase, a random sample of the GW community were invited to participate in an online survey about their perceptions of GW and various moniker options. The rest of the community was invited to participate in a brief online activity giving their initial impressions of the 10 moniker options, rating each on positivity scale. The online activity will close at 5 p.m. on March 6.
After evaluating all the feedback from the “First Impressions” round of activities, GW will narrow the options further and then launch a new round of community feedback.
