Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, parents, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The A-10 Tournament is taking place this week in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from DC with an interview of GW pep band teaching assistant Matt Brooks about his radio shows and how he thinks the Revolutionaries will do tonight.
You are from Ridgefield, CT: what made you choose GW? I really wanted to study political science, and GW has an excellent program. I knew that I wanted to go to a city school and with GW being in DC it is the perfect match.
You are majoring in political science: how did you choose that subject? It was an interest I had during high school: my high school years from 2016-2020 were quite eventful in the world of politics so I figured that I would pursue it in college.
You are a senior: what is the post-graduation plan? My plan is to work in politics in DC, be it in government/policy. If I do not end up staying here, then I will probably move back to Connecticut and work for my parents’ small business.
You are the Teaching Assistant of the GW Foghorns Pep Band: what does that role involve? Our band is almost entirely student-run. I run rehearsals twice/week, choose the set list, recruit people to join the band, and bring the energy wherever we may be. We want to sound as great as we can, so I try to select music that people enjoy listening to and figure out new ways to get the crowd involved. We are as 1 of the heartbeats of the game, and the job of the TA is to lead that effort.
You play the French Horn: how long have you been playing it for, and what is your favorite song to play? I played the trumpet when I was younger but switched to French Horn/mellophone during high school. I really enjoy playing “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd.
You are a big college basketball fan: which team besides your own should we keep an eye out for this month? It is hard for me because I lock in on the A-10 all season long, but I also try my best to keep up with the power conferences. I heard that Auburn is better metrically this year than UConn was last year. Tennessee is also good so I think those 2 might go far.
You run some radio shows on GW’s student station (WRGW): what kind of shows do you do? I started out doing music shows with different curated playlists, but now I host the “George’s Army” show with our sports director Abe Rothstein. We talk about the basketball team from a fan’s perspective and discuss how the games went and how the student section is doing.
How does your school decide who gets to go to the A-10 tourney, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? We have about 50 members in our band and will take 29 students and our director to the tourney. It is based on a # of things: seniority matters, and everyone is expected to attend at least 1 of the men’s/women’s tourneys. Instrumentation also matters so that you can build the band correctly, and we also just ask what people want to do. The whole season builds up to this, not just for the players but also for us. It is the last run for myself and my fellow seniors: it gets very emotional toward the end of the season because you never know when that final loss is coming. Most years we do not win the A-10 title but this year we are not half-bad. We pour in a lot of hours and make many sacrifices to be here. There is so much to do on campus at GW and so many ways to spend your time in DC, but the people who join the band make the choice to devote most of their time to the band. We are very invested in the band, so it means a lot to play on a national stage. We feel like we are the most hyped band in the A-10 and want to show that to everyone.
UMass also contracted with your band to perform on their behalf yesterday: how does that work? The rules require each school to have 19-29 people at the arena performing music. If you do not have a band or do not want to send your band to the A-10 tourney for whatever reason, you can contract with a different college or even a local high school. We showed up yesterday, played for UMass, and even got some t-shirts!
Any predictions for your game tonight vs. Fordham? I like our chances. I was expecting to play Rhode Island because a #15-seed has never won the A-10 tourney, so emotionally I am a little worried about Fordham. There was a devastating triple-OT home game last season that did not go our way…but I know that we are a much better team this year. We have a much tighter defense than Rhode Island so I will be very excited if we can face GMU on Friday, since it is very hard to beat a team 3 times in 1 year.
