No doubt! Since you brought up Ed Davis as someone of a caliber that we typically won’t get at Tech, it’s worth mentioning that C.J. is actually a lot like Ed – but with a better offensive game. Ed is about 3″ taller than C.J. so his presence down low is a bit more imposing, but C.J. has the same natural knack to block shots without fouling like Ed does. And as he gets bigger and stronger, that’s only going to enhance that part of his game that much more.

I only saw Ed play once in person at Benedictine, but have obviously seen him play for UNC many more times on TV since then. And having seen C.J. play for GW a few times as well, the gap between them isn’t all that large. Just wait for C.J. to continue to develop through his junior year this year and over his senior year… by the time he straps on the orange & maroon as a true freshman, he’s going to be good to go. I think he would have been recruited just as highly as Ed if he went to a program with the level of media attention that Benedictine gets – but that certainly isn’t true when you’re at GW in good old Danville, VA. Not that we Eagles don’t have one of the best and most respected HS basketball programs in the state – because we obviously do – but, the cash and clout that Benedictine has really helped vault Ed (and will do the same with Gbinji) into the recruiting stratosphere.

At any rate, now that we have a verbal from C.J. I think that it’s best that we start tracking his work at GW. Given that I have at least a decent bit of knowledge of his thusfar brief but already allustrious career, I’ll take a stab at it.

2007-2008 (freshman year)
Even as a lanky freshman 2 years ago, it was already obvious that C.J. was ready for the big-time. He played for a GW varsity squad which to call competitive would be a massive understatement. This team, led by senior all-everything Nick Barbour, started out 25-0 and was the team to beat in the states before being shocked by Petersburg in the quarterfinals. Still a legendary GW squad however, and even as a freshman C.J. helped play a vital role in that.

2008-2009 (sophomore)
With Nick Barbour gone, C.J. and crew knew that they had to find a new leader. They had to look no further than to Mr. Barksdale, who gladly stepped up to fill the void. While there were certainly other older leaders on the floor with him, it was definitely C.J. who stole the show many times including the memorable Northwest Regional semifinal victory over C.D. Hylton, where he had 28 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Just another day at the office!! This was a weird season for GW though, as even though they were 23-3 after beating Hylton, they lost in the Regional final to William Fleming for the FOURTH TIME IN FIVE GAMES that year. Yes, you did read that correctly. Not only is it weird to play a school 5 times in a single season (normal home&home + tournament game + district final + regional final), but to beat GW more than once in a season – let alone 4 times including 3 in Danville – was unheard of. Gotta give it up to Fleming for that. Nevertheless, the GW Eagles made it to the state quarterfinals once again before falling to eventual champion King’s Fork. C.J. had two lackluster games against Fleming (6 points) and King’s Fork (11 points) to close the season, which definitely showed room for improvement especially in big games. Still though – for his young career he had posted two solid statistical seasons (don’t have all the exact averages) and had made it to two state quarterfinals.

2009-2010 (junior)
So here we are with THIS season, one of the most pivotal for C.J. as he is now the unquestioned leader on the team and has all the press of being one of the best and most highly recruited players in the state. I can actually give you a game-by-game breakdown of this current season, and will keep it up as things go along. To start the season however, GW opened things up as the consensus #1 public school team in the state, with many having them ranked higher than even the privates of Benedictine, Bishop O’Connell, etc, and just under the likes of Oak Hill Academy.

Game 1 – #1 GW (1-0) 64 – Park View (1-1) 45
C.J. led the way for the Eagles with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Nothing worth mentioning from this game, as Park View is a smaller AA school and was definitely out of their league in this one.

Game 2 – #1 GW (2-0) 71 – #5 Booker T. Washington (1-) 55
Balanced attack for GW as they crush the #5 team in the state by 16. C.J. posts 13 points and 7 rebounds in a true team effort.

Game 3 – #1 GW (3-0) 69 – Dudley (NC) (4-1) 62
GW storms back from being down 17 to Dudley, one of the best teams in North Carolina with UNC commit P.J. Hairston on their roster, to win this one in a thriller. C.J. showed why we’re all going nuts over him committing to VT in this one, as he posted up 20 points, 22 rebounds, and 8 blocks in this one. RI-DONK-U-LOUS!!! The rematch to this game comes later in the season @Dudley… be there.

Game 4 – #1 GW (4-0) 76 – Green Run (1-3) 58
This was a cool game as former GW state champion Kenneth Harris returned to GW, except this time he was patrolling the sidelines as the Green Run head coach. His team was severely outmatched though, and they lost by 18 in a game that could have been uglier if GW didn’t call off the dogs in deference to one of the all-time great role players in GW history. Most importantly for us Hokies, C.J. posted a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds in this one, including 2 3-pointers and a 4/5 effort from the free throw line. Yes Hokies… our future star forward can shoot the rock as well!!

Game 5 – #1 GW (5-0) 65 – Gretna (0-2) 36
What can you say? This was an old-fashioned 29 point butt whooping in the opening round of the Danville Register & Bee Holiday Shootout – a tournament that has existed for 27 years and which GW has won an astounding 18 times in that stretch… including FOURTEEN OF THE LAST FIFTEEN!! Wow… sorry, just had to get that out there. Oh, and did I mention that in this game GW led Gretna by a score of 16 to ZERO at the end of the first quarter? And that Gretna didn’t even score a point until a minute and a half had elapsed in the second quarter?? Plain and simple – dominance. C.J. played less than a half of basketball and put up 9 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 blocks. Feel free to extrapolate those numbers on out to get a feel for the type of triple double he could have had.

Game 6 – #1 GW (6-0) 80 – Eastern Alamance (NC) (1-1) 67
Semifinals of the Holiday Shootout and what’s new – GW crushes another opponent. C.J. dominated the affair once again, finishing this one with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocks.

SOOOOO… there you have it. The 6-0 start to C.J.’s junior high school season. By my count, so far he has averaged 18.6 points, 12.6 boards, and a handful of blocks per game. And those numbers would be much higher if the Eagles weren’t blowing many teams out. The final of the Holiday Shootout is tonight against Reidsville High School – another North Carolina team, and the ONLY school other than GW to win this tournament in the past 15 years. Gonna need another massive effort from C.J. tonight though, as GW’s starting point guard (Jerail Howerton) injured his foot last night and is questionable for tonight’s final.

I will continue to keep everyone on this site abreast on C.J.’s progress throughout the year – most likely on this board unless there is some better venue to do so. Needless to say, I’m VERY excited about yet another Eagle becoming a Hokie! Peace!!

ed davis wears women’s underwear!! fact!!

Game 10 – Dudley (NC) (12-4) 60 – #4 GW-Danville (7-3) 37.
Oh, wow. So… I was pretty hyped up earlier this year when Dudley and their UNC recruit P.J. Hairston came into Danville, built up a 17 point lead, but prompted were squashed by a determined Eagle squad that overcame that deficit and ended up winning 69-62. However, I was fully aware that we were going to have to go down to Greensboro for the rematch…

…and this one wasn’t even close. 37 points??? 3 losses in a row??? These are not things that happen to a George Washington High School basketball team. Fine – I understand that losing Jerail has changed this Eagles team drastically, and that they have struggled to score without him – barely breaking even 50 points in the 2 previous losses. And fine – I understand that senior guard Darius Carter sprained his ankle against Halifax and wasn’t able to go in this one. But damn – 37 points??? Wow.

Hairston had 19 for the Panthers, while future-Hokie Barksdale had 14 points and 10 boards for the Eagles. So for the season, C.J. dominated the first game, and both he and P.J. had decent games in the Dudley blowout rematch. Gonna be fun to watch those battles continue on into the ACC…

Game 12 – GW-Danville (8-4, 1-3) 59 – William Fleming (3-9, 0-4) 31
Well… I guess it never hurts to get healthy by beating up on the smallest kid in class. Sure doesn’t earn you a lot of street cred, though. The 4 game losing streak was finally snapped in Danville last night, as GW manhandled William Fleming in a 59-31 beatdown. This isn’t anything to get too excited about, though, as since handing GW 4 out of their 5 total losses in the 08-09 season, Fleming lost pretty much it’s entire core of players and has been awful this year.

Nevertheless, this was definitely good medicine for a GW team that desperately needed a win – especially one in the district. C.J. lead the way for the Eagles with 18 points and 8 rebounds, with fellow front-court mate Daniel Clark the only other Eagle in double figures with 10. Still very little coming from the outside, as once again the 60 point mark was unreachable. Fleming was determined to make that happen though by holding the ball and scoring only 31 themselves… but it’s still fascinating to me that we’ve been unable to post 60 in now 5 of the 6 games without Jerail.

Losing a dominant point guard sure does suck… but I’ll take the win!!

Game 14 – GW-Danville (9-5, 1-3) 61 – #7 Patrick Henry (11-3, 4-1) 50
So the theme of the Petersburg game was “what a difference a month makes”. And the theme of this one is what a difference 3 weeks and some home cookin’ makes!!

That is because 3 weeks ago, GW was handed one of their worst losses in years – a 76-53 smackdown at the hands of the Patriots in which the home team shot 42 free throws. FOURTY TWO. Remember – high school basketball games are 32 minutes long.

Well THIS time around, the game was in Danville. And GW finally started to look like the GW that started the year #1 and was blowing teams out of the water. They were aggressive – this time THEY had the free-throw advantage and shot 27 (and made 22 – 81%!!)… they were grabbing boards and blocking shots… and most importantly, they were potent from the perimeter.

We’ll get to C.J. in a minute. Because yeah, he had one of THOSE games. But first off, we need to give a big time shout out to Paul Stone. This is the kid that almost single handedly helped GW climb back from a 17 point deficit against Dudley earlier in the year to take the win, but who since that game has almost totally vanished. Well in this one, it definitely looked like he found his confidence again, as he proceeded to pump out 15 points (including three 3′s) and 7 assists. THAT is exactly what the doctor ordered. A perimeter threat for the Eagles? If that can keep up, watch out.

Now, for the Hokie news. C.J. Barksdale remained a man on a mission, looking 100% driven to salvage this season as he poured in 21 points (including 11 of 12 from the charity stripe!!), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and TEN BLOCKS!!! TEN REJECTIONS!! GET THAT WEAK MESS OUTTA HERE!! Oh, and did I mention 11 of 12 at the free-throw line?? I can’t wait to see those kind of performances in orange and maroon…

Knocking off the #7 team in this week’s AP poll (and the current leader of the Western Valley District) is going to be a huge momentum builder for the Eagles, who now head outside of the district to face Liberty Christian Academy on Thursday, followed by the Franklin County Tournament this weekend. They then jump back into the WVD mix to close out the year with games at Franklin County, against Halifax County in Danville, and finally at William Fleming. If they can keep the momentum building against LCA and through this weekend’s tournament, there’s no reason to doubt that they could close out district play with 3 huge wins to finish at 15-5 (5-3) with a great vibe heading into the districts and regionals.

Back on track, for now… GO EAGLES!!