But he's never seen anything like this -- at least not that he can remember.
The Gainesville High senior was a star junior varsity player and freshman the last time the Red Elephants basketball team reached the state quarterfinals.
"I can't remember if I dressed for the varsity in that game or not," Manomano said.
For the record, Gainesville fell to Dunwoody in that contest in 2006. Today in Dalton, Manomano hopes to help the Red Elephants take it one step further than the program went during his freshman season and reach the Class AAA Final Four in Macon for the first time since 2002.
"It's really important to me," Manomano said. "It's a big part of all our lives; we come out here [to practice] and sweat every day for two-three hours. And if you don't win, I don't think it would be worth it."
Should Gainesville (20-8) knock off Cedartown at 5:30 p.m. today at the Northwest Georgia Trade Center, the Red Elephants would pick up a win not seen during Manomano's time in the program and one that he thinks would put Gainesville back into the forefront of power programs in Hall County.
"This has been great, because I'm a senior, and some of the guys look up to me now -- that's a first," Manomano said. "I'm really excited about the program over the next few years; there's some great players in this program."
Manomano is certainly one of those players, leading the team with 17.6 points per game. The shooting guard also scored his 1,000th point this season after being the team's go-to scorer over the past two years.
"I really liked him when I saw him in eighth grade at Gainesville Middle for the first time," former Gainesville basketball coach Jerry Davis said. "He always had talent and was a tremendous player."
"He could always score," added first-year Gainesville coach Todd Cottrell, who coached against Manomano as a sophomore and junior while at Flowery Branch. "But it's his total overall game that impressed me the most."
That overall game has improved dramatically during Manomano's time with the Red Elephants, and the added urgency of his final varsity campaign has fostered an even greater emphasis on improving every phase of his talent.
"He's really matured this season," Cottrell said. "When you're a senior there's an added sense of urgency. He's invested a lot of time into this sport, and he's reaping the rewards of that now."
It helps that Manomano -- who first began playing the sport with his brother Ralph on playgrounds in Virginia -- is far from the only star in the Red Elephants' program.
"People used to say Gainesville always had one great player," he said. "Now it's different. I can have an off night, and someone else will step up. It's a total team effort."
Manomano praises his teammates, especially point guard Blake Sims -- "It all starts with him." -- and also admires the work of the Red Elephants inside players -- "We've got posts who can rebound for days."
And while Manomano has always been known as a scorer -- a deadly perimeter shooter that can also slash inside -- he says he enjoys dishing the ball off now more than putting points on the board himself.
"I love getting the assists," Manomano said. He made that obvious for fans present at the Red Elephants' second-round win over Druid Hills on Wednesday, pulling off a mesmerizing behind the head, no-look dish to teammate Juwon Jeffries on a breakaway.
The storming, 60-39 win in the second round might have startled a few around Class AAA, but Manomano says he wasn't surprised.
"We've been waiting for it to happen, and we've finally clicked," said Manomano, who says the Red Elephants really began to come together during summer basketball camps and tournaments.
"We were running through teams that were really good," he said. "We were kind of surprised then; we thought it was because it was summer and people weren't really playing hard."
The realization of Gainesville's quality has now set in, however.
"We have the same mentality that we're going to win every time we play," Manomano said. "We never question ourselves."
Win today, and everyone outside the program could be in that same mindset.
Gainesville's George Manomano leads the team in scoring this season.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2009/3/218370