Will reserve judgement on the big guy.. Not a great free throw shooter but also doesn’t appear to turn the ball over a lot (albeit limited minutes). Hopefully more of a ceiling than Stretch.  Fills a gap at least.

Could the guard possibly be Providence’s Jabari Abdul-Rahim who just entered the portal?  Maybe Castro reeling him in?

G-Dubber wrote:

Jacoi to Longwood. Best of luck.


@portal_updates·16m  George Washington transfer Jacoi Hutchinson has committed to Longwood. The 6’3” sophomore appeared in 33 games, averaging 6.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.

 
This is a solid, smart move for him.  He’s essentially taking a couple of steps down in League talent vs A-10  to reset himself and give himself a chance to show what he can do on a more consistent basis. He does his job and he can move back up if he wants to. To me this is a better strategy than Jun going to Rutgers where (in my opinion) he will have a struggle and not have the same chance to regroup.

Good for Jacoi. Longwood obviously got a good up close look at him in the Virgin Islands.

I love the way they coordinated this announcement. Made a much bigger impact.

Also noted the time commitment of travel as a mitigating factor in a Conference that now spans geagraphy from Boston to Chicago. No doubt the cost and personal impact there is high, as I’m sure the Red Flash aren’t exactly flying private even for basketball, never mind all the other sports.

https://sfuathletics.com/news/2025/3/25/inside-athletics-saint-francis-university-announces-move-from-ncaa-division-i-athletics-to-division-iii-athletics.aspx

A quick read of Jun’s Twitter feed offers some clues that we can wish him farewell and good luck. Hope I’m wrong.

The wait period here sucks,  it it is what it is. I was very pleasantly surprised by the strength of this field and it should be a fun watch. Wish we didn’t get Boise in the 1st Round. Did they decline an NIT bid?????? 

Mayhem is spot on when he says the OOC scheduling philosophy has to change. CC’s stated rationale for building wins as a means to get tourney looks was completely blown up this year, in my view. It’s not about scheduling home and aways with P5’s - that’s just an excuse. It’s about scheduling more STRATEGICALLY in my opinion. Hope Lipitz takes some control over this.

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Overall, I could give our portal grade a middling "C" as we scored big with one player while I found the other 3 to be somewhat disappointing.  Individually, I would grade as follows:

Rafael Castro    A-.    I was expecting more of a Babatunde Akinbola based upon his prior year's stats and minutes but got a very skilled big man who was almost an automatic double/double every night and displayed good hands, passing skills and good court sense.   Why I could not give him an "A" was his need to get physically stronger, his lack of any shooting range and yes...the free throws.

Sean Hansen:   C   I pretty much loved Sean's game, especially after he broke out his Hansen Hook towards the end of the season.   I would love to replace him with another with his exact skill set, only better...and faster.   He did many nice things, just not good enough at A-10 level. and yes...the turnovers.  He will be a hell of a rec league player.

Gerald Drumgoole Jr.   C-   Frustrating because he gave us glimpses as to what he could do, but his shooting numbers were just woeful and his defense was MEH.   A shame, becuase like Hansen, he was a 4 year veteran and filled a  positional need, but again,  did not seem not good enough at A-10 level.  Seemed like a team leader but he did not seem to be able to take charge on the court when things would start to head south and we needed court leadership to get us back on course.

Trey Moss:   D    Comparable to Drumgoole in that he was positioinally what we needed, in his case a very quick guard who could shoot.    Not sure how much of his shortcomings were caused by his injury, but he too, despite a few glimpses, put up woeful shooting numbers and did not seem to be much of a defender, and it was pretty clear early on that he would be replaced as a starter.

 
I agree with all these grades, tho I think I’d give Castro a straight up A. I too had doubts that he’d be any different

Alum '04 wrote:

Tennessee Colonial wrote:

Seems like a nice crowd for championship game.

Great crowd and good game so far. Everything is full except corners of 200 level.

 
It helps that two local schools are in the finals obviously, but regardless I do think it was a great move to take the Tournament to DC where there is a bigger center of gravity for the league geography-wise. Kudos.

I’d accept NIT though I don’t think we have a shot for an invite. Vegas to me makes no sense given it doesn’t start until March 31st. Are you really interested in that two weeks after Selection Sunday?  Nah…hard pass. CBI is “pay to play” and if you’re willing to plunk down $35K to play in that stink show, then PT Barnum has a message for you.

GW Alum Abroad wrote:

OK, it is all still a little raw but here are some quick thoughts on how the season went.
The 21 wins look good on paper and are a nice gaudy number, but contain lots of empty calories. To wit, one win was against a DII team (graciously filling in for a lower-tier team that backed out of its game with GW), a team that had never before played a DI basketball game, and a team near the bottom of DI basketball with players that appear to have thrown at least one game to help out gamblers. Add to that a pathetically terrible non-conference SOS and almost losing to the worst team in the conference tourney and it no longer seems so impressive.
Rafael Castro emerged as a scoring threat mid-season, andat just the right time. But as we saw in the finale, that was little more than a band-aid attempting to cover the gaping wound of soft interior play that plagued the team. When outside shots did not fall, this team was in real trouble. This is a glaring weakness that must be addressed if the team hopes to advance to the upper ranks of the conference.
Jun´s play pre-injury and post-injury are a bit like watching Aaron Rodgers in the Super Bowl vs him with the Jets. So, did he not fully recover or did the coaches change his role for some reason? Someday, maybe we learn the truth.
Against the slew of cupcakes, Caputo seemed to know what he was doing, against AU and Mason (three times) not so much, Is he "evolving" as a coach? Probably. Does he get another season? Of course. But does he get a free pass? Not so much. The continued improvement of players like Jones and Autry may be the key to evaluating next season.
This was not a bad season, in fact it was pleasantly surprising and would appear to show the team is on an improving trajectory. That said, I am not going to remember it as much as the Sweet 16 season, the 16-0 A10 run  season (or the 1-27 season, for that matter).
Hail to the Buff! Hail to the Blue!!!! Bring on 2025-26 (when does the schedule come

…