Pinnock announced his intention last month to enter the June 28 draft but had not hired an agent, allowing him to return for his senior season if he withdrew by June 18.

"I support his decision, and I wish him all the best in his pursuit of a career in professional basketball," Hobbs said.

Pinnock averaged 14.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.5 steals for the Colonials, who went 27-3 and 16-0 in the Atlantic 10.

Junior guard Carl Elliott is also an early-entry candidate, but he has not hired an agent or said whether he will withdraw.

Hollis, a 6-foot-8, 192-pound swingman from J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs, FL near Ft. Lauderdale, averaged 22.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 4.0 blocks per game as a senior under coach Clarence Flemming. The Trojans posted an 18-9 record during Hollis' senior season. Taravella was the district runner-up his junior season.

"We are pleased to get a player of his stature and talent level from such a heavily-recruited area," Hobbs said. "He has terrific size, shooting ability and ball-handling skills. We expect him to make an immediate contribution to the program because he has the ability to play three different positions. I think the thing that separates him is his ability to make the three-point shot. For GW fans, he is like a combination of Mike Hall and Omar Williams. He is very disciplined and has a great work ethic both on and off the court."

Hollis was named to the Class 6A First Team All-State for boys basketball by the Miami Herald on April 12. A versatile player, Hollis has played all five positions in high school.

Hollis has already played one game at GW's Charles E. Smith Athletic Center as a member of the U.S. All-Stars in the Capital Classic on April 13. In that game, he came off the bench to score four points on 2-5 shooting and grab six rebounds. He also had three blocks and a steal in 18 minutes against a team of local high school all-stars.

GW (27-3, 16-0 A-10) is coming off the best year in the program's 92-season history. GW became just the fourth team in the 30-year history of the A-10 to go undefeated in the league and won its first-round game in the Atlanta Region over UNC Wilmington for its first NCAA Tournament victory in 12 years.

As the NCAA continues to tighten restrictions on unregulated preparatory schools and high-school diploma mills, one university is taking matters into its own hands.

The athletics director at George Washington University has told coaches to expect increased scrutiny from the university’s admissions office when they recruit athletes from schools that are not regulated by state agencies, according to an article.

A Post investigation this spring found that, over the past several years, George Washington had recruited several men’s basketball players who had attended an allegedly phony high school to push up their grades and gain admission to the university. Some of those players helped the Colonials to a top-10 national ranking this past season.

In addition, a faculty committee plans to recommend this week that the university’s admissions office not provide “rubber-stamp admissions” for athletes and that faculty members give no special assistance to athletes once they arrive on the campus.

In the next few weeks, the NCAA plans to release a list of preparatory schools with dubious academic programs. Students who have attended those schools will not be allowed to participate in college sports unless the NCAA rules that individuals’ transcripts from the schools are valid

It remains to be seen whether or not his burden academically and athletically at Hargrave Military Academy -- located in Chatham, Va. -- will be even heavier next winter.

Payne, who averaged 13.3 points and 6.5 rebounds while helping the Patriots reach the Class AAA state championship game, has decided to forego his final year of high school basketball in favor of joining Hargrave.

The 6-foot-4 Payne was considered among the top juniors in the Mountain State despite being overshadowed this past season at GW by seniors Chris Long -- who finished third in state player of the year balloting -- and Andrew Payne -- the older brother of Cameron. Andrew Payne will be attending Washington & Lee, which is located in Lexington, Va. Long, however, has not finalized his college plans.

Cameron Payne, who won't turn 17 years of age until May 11, figures he could play two years at the prep level.

"College coaches start coming in to watch you work out and practice the first of September," said Cameron, a third team All-State selection as a junior.

"They come pretty much every day. The basketball can maximize my potential."

Hargrave begins practice Aug. 29 and scrimmages Oak Hill Academy (Va.) on Oct. 24, more than three weeks before West Virginia high school teams can begin practicing.

There are several other attractions of playing at the prep school level, according to Payne, including having several Division I prospects as teammates.

According to Hargrave's Web site, 10 of the 13 players on the team's 2005-06 roster will either play Division I this season or have been signed by D-I schools including Vernon Macklin, a McDonald's All-American, who is headed to Georgetown.

"I spoke with (Vernon) Macklin," Payne said.

"It was good enough for him to give up his senior year. He realized he needed help and that's where he went."

Also, Payne will be coached by former Marshall assistant Kevin Keatts, who was an assistant under former MU coach Greg White from 2002-04 before returning to Hargrave where he spent four previous seasons as an assistant and head coach.

The decision wasn't easy for Payne, who will be passing up his senior season and the opportunity to be the returning leading scorer on the Patriots, who lost to Huntington last March in the Class AAA title game.

"I was kind of skeptical at first," Payne said. "Then, when I visited I just liked it.

"Everything is so close. I sleep on the top floor, I just go downstairs to each lunch then go across the street to play basketball.

"We talked to the academics adviser, the president of the school and you seem very wanted there."

The prototypical big guard is a hot commodity in college basketball these days, and George Washington University might have landed one of Florida's best.

Taravella 6-8 swingman Damian Hollis is expected to make his commitment to George Washington official when he signs a letter-of-intent next week, according to his father, Essie Hollis.

Hollis, a left-handed guard/forward, was selected to the All-State Class 6A first team after averaging 22.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists this past season.

In nabbing Hollis, Colonials, whose surprising run in the NCAA tournament was halted by top-seeded Duke, reportedly beat out Florida Atlantic, West Virginia, Seton Hall, Nebraska and UAB, among others.

Hollis, who has a wide shooting range, showcased his versatility playing all five positions during his high school career, but he is projected to get most of his minutes in college at the guard and wing positions

Such is life when you're one of four out of 3 million contest entrants to pick all the teams in this year's Final Four: LSU, Florida, UCLA and ... George Mason? George Mason?

Yep, he called it.

And how 'bout this: The software test engineer wasn't blindfolded, throwing darts or picking out of a hat when he made his selections and put the 11th-seeded Patriots, winners of zero NCAA tournament games before this season, on the last line in the Washington bracket.

He insists there was a method to his March Madness.

Well, sort of.

"I got them confused with George Washington," Pleasant conceded Monday, after he'd been identified as one of the final four in an ESPN.com contest.

The 46-year-old, who lives in Bellevue, Neb., said he had watched George Washington in a couple of games earlier this season and liked what he saw. The Colonials, not the Patriots, were going to be his long shot pick. Confusion reigned.

"I was filling in my bracket on the job and trying to do it pretty quick," he said. "When I got done, I said, 'Was that George Mason or George Washington?"'

Turns out, it was George Mason, the first 11th seed to make the Final Four since 1986.

George Mason, the Colonial Athletic Association commuter school in Fairfax, Va.

George Mason, the mid-major team that beat the big boys - Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut - to shock the college basketball world and show that, yes, there's still a place for the most unlikely of underdogs on the grandest stage in a sport that has become a multimillion-dollar business.

"I thought, for sure, some Cinderella team would be in it," Pleasant said. "So why not them?"

For the record, after he realized his George Mason "mistake," he filled another bracket out with George Washington making it all the way through the Atlanta Regional.

That one got crumpled up long ago.

The one with George Mason is worth framing. It is, almost literally, a one-in-a-million.

After the first weekend of the tournament, he was tied "for something like 250,000th place."

But his Final Four teams kept advancing and the favorites kept bowing out.

According to statistics provided by ESPN, 1,854 of the 3 million brackets had George Mason making the Final Four.

Of those, 284 picked the Patriots to win the national title.

Pleasant was not, however, one of those 284.

His predicted champion is Florida.

"I've always liked Florida," he said. "But now, I kind of wish I'd picked George Mason to go all the way."

It was a game between two "overs."

UNC-Wilmington is good but felt overlooked. George Washington is good but is said to be "overrated."

So how did it go?

To overtime, of course.

UNCW "exposed" George Washington in the second half as the Seahawks jumped to an 18-point lead with 11 minutes left.

Then George Washington showed the strength behind its top-10 ranking by storming back to force overtime and win 88-85 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Afterward, GW coach Karl Hobbs was using another "over" word, calling his team an "overachiever."

The problem is that the overachiever with only two losses and the most wins in school history now must face top-ranked and No. 1-seeded Duke in the second round.

The only "over" for George Washington may be "it's over."

Or is it?

Conventional analysis would say that any team that struggles so mightily with UNCW is no match for Duke. And perhaps the struggle itself will make George Washington even weaker in the second round.

Still, the Colonials are a danger for Duke. GW wasn't happy it didn't get seeded higher than No. 8.

Duke isn't happy about stepping into what should be an easy second-round game and finding a team that's 27-2, especially after the Blue Devils struggled some with No. 16 seed Southern.

But GW's ranking and record aren't what should worry Duke. What's impressive is the way GW plays.

Hobbs calls it "share the game." The Colonials rotate the ball on the perimeter and look for their big man, 6-foot-9 senior Pops Mensah-Bonsu inside.

When Mensah-Bonsu isn't open or on the bench (as he was for 18 minutes of Thursday's 45-minute game), GW takes 3-pointers (10-for-22) or drives.

The part of Thursday's box score that will get Duke's attention is this: Seven GW players played significant minutes, and six of them scored in double figures.

Mensah-Bonsu, a regular star of ESPN's dunk highlights, said he welcomes the chance to show the country how GW can play against Duke.

"I was looking forward to it once I saw our seeding and what could happen in the second round," he said, "I said, 'This is what college basketball is about. This is what dreams are made of.' If we can go out and play like we can, we can prove to everybody that we deserve a little bit more respect."

Beyond balance, Duke must be wary of GW's tenacity. It begins with Hobbs, a 44-year-old former Connecticut point guard who instills his own intensity into his team.

In Hobbs' first game as GW's coach, the Colonials came back from 19 points down to beat Marshall. The team has come back often this year and is 6-2 when trailing at halftime.

"We've been in this situation before," Hobbs said of being down 18 to UNCW. "The resiliency and the will to win is just incredible, and it really speaks to the character of my players."

Mike Hall, a 6-8 forward and one of four starting seniors, said, "I can't explain how we can get down, but I know how we get back. Just being a mature team, guys banding together and knowing what we got to do to win. Just that 'never die' attitude. Everybody on the team, from the stars to the walk-ons, have it."

In coming back, the fog of obscurity lifted off the team from D.C.'s Foggy Bottom.

Thursday's comeback was the Colonials' first NCAA Tournament win in 12 seasons. Their No. 8 seed, though disputed, is their highest ever.

But GW could use a win over Duke to come all the way up. Junior guard Danilo Pinnock said the team often is reminded the nation hasn't quite figured out who the Colonials are.

"We still get confused with Georgetown sometimes in the airport," he said.

On Saturday, George Washington wouldn't mind be mixed up with the Hoyas. Georgetown was the first of only three teams to beat Duke in the regular season.

George Washington wants to be the first in the postseason.