Life, usually, is a series of ups, downs and ups. And that's how it went for George Washington coach Joe McKeown last spring.

	Ugo Oha is averaging 15.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for George Washington.

The Colonials were 15-0 in the Atlantic 10 going into the regular-season finale at Massachusetts. Despite a loss there, they still were the No. 1 seed in the West Division and had a first-round bye in the A-10 tournament.

But then the Colonials fell in the quarterfinals to Xavier, and saw an NCAA trip bumped to a WNIT bid. They lost in the second round to Virginia Tech.

Up, down and ...

Then May 3, McKeown and wife Laura became parents for a third time. Allison was born nine days before her dad's 46th birthday.

"I guess this means I have to keep coaching for another 20 years,'' McKeown joked, then added, "It was just a gift and a blessing.''

Absolutely, but as Trusty the hound dog in "Lady and the Tramp'' explained of babies: "As I recall, they beller a lot.''

So, it's just a little less sleep for someone in a profession where there's not necessarily a lot of that this time of year anyway. Tuesday night, McKeown was Christmas shopping with his 11-year-old, Meghan, and then still had game film to watch.

The Colonials have a Washington, D.C.-area rivalry game with George Mason on Friday and play at DePaul on Sunday. The Blue Demons often cause trouble for visitors; Notre Dame would be the most recent to attest to that.

GW gets back into action after the holiday break on Dec. 29 at Rutgers. The Colonials already have played at Tennessee (an 83-61 loss on Nov. 26) and will have one more late nonconference test, at home vs. Florida on Jan. 26.

"We went out and bit off a lot with the schedule,'' McKeown said. "But I think this team needed that.

"We got left out of NCAA Tournament last year, and it left a bitter taste in our mouths. Our kids are really focused right now, so in some ways it's made my job easier. Last year, it really kind of hurt. They're committed to making sure it doesn't happen again.''

In fact, GW's goal of being NCAA-bound is something several A-10 teams can aspire to. As of Tuesday, Massachusetts was 8-1 and second in RPI approximations. Duquesne, Richmond and Xavier were all 6-1.

Last week, UMass got a nice win over Villanova. Other notable victories thus far include Xavier, under new coach Kevin McGuff, over Michigan; Dayton over Drake; and Richmond over Maryland.

However, the most impressive schedules are those of the two teams picked to win their respective divisions, GW and Temple. GW is the league's ranked team, at No. 21 in the media poll and 22 in the coaches' poll.

As for Temple, just as McKeown is testing his group, Owls coach Dawn Staley is not pulling any punches with her team, either.

	“	We went out and bit off a lot with the schedule. But I think this team needed that. We got left out of NCAA Tournament last year, and it left a bitter taste in our mouths. Our kids are really focused now. They're committed to making sure it doesn't happen again.”
		— GW coach Joe McKeown

Temple is 4-4, but its losses are to Kansas State, Boston College, Rutgers and Notre Dame. Check out who Temple still has left in the nonconference: Villanova, South Carolina and Mississippi. Staley's schedule sends a message how serious that program is about climbing up the ladder.

That's something GW's done, too, in McKeown's 14 seasons. The Colonials always play a good schedule. The attitude at GW is, "We know maybe we have to prove ourselves a little more than some programs that always seem to get the benefit of the doubt. That's OK, we'll do it.''

McKeown, like Staley, is yet another product of the "cradle of coaches'' for women's basketball, Philadelphia. He's 297-111 with the Colonials and has taken them to the NCAA Tournament nine times.

Four of the Colonials starters -- guards Cathy Joens and Lindsey Davidson, forward Erica Lawrence and center Ugo Oha -- have NCAA experience. Davidson and Lawrence are seniors; Joens and Oha juniors.

Joens, a 5-foot-11 guard, is a senior academically but redshirted the 2000-2001 season after tearing the world's most hated ligament. She returned strong last season, leading the Colonials at 15.3 points per game and being named first-team A-10.

This year, she's again GW's scoring leader at 19.2, second in the conference to Richmond's Ebony Tanner (20.1). The only trouble Joens ever gives McKeown is when he has to check to make sure she's not sneaking in extra practice.

"She is a lot like Jackie Stiles in her work ethic,'' McKeown said. "You've got to throw her out of the gym; she's a junkie.

"She's a great, great shooter and has become a more complete player. There's going to be some nights, she'll have to put us on her back and carry us. Hopefully not many, but she's got that mentality that she can do it. She looks forward to those kind of challenges.''

Oha, though, has a become a player who can carry a team, too. Lanky and 6-4, she's a "Michelle Snow-type'' center, as McKeown puts it. She's averaging 15.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. She was last season's A-10 defensive player of the year.

"The stronger she gets, the better she becomes,'' McKeown said. "We had (former Colonial star) Tajama Abraham on our coaching staff for Ugo's first two years, and I think Tajama had a big impact on her.''

As is typically the case for a team that plays in one of our country's most diverse cities, GW has just about the whole nation covered when it comes to the roster.

There are three from Texas, two from Florida, New Hampshire and California, plus one each from New York and Maryland. The 12th Colonial player is from Spain, which also has provided several past GW standouts.

Joens is one of the Californians, from Irvine. Incidentally, she comes from a family with eight kids.

"I remember going into her home to recruit her,'' McKeown said, "and it seemed there was every age group covered: from a 20-year-old to a little one crawling on the floor.''

No, McKeown can't quite imagine what it would be like to have five more children. Three and his basketball team keep him pretty darn busy. And happy.

Life, after all, sometimes can be a series of ups, ups and ups, too.

Mechelle Voepel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com's women's basketball coverage. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.