Joel Joseph wrote:

Nobody is calling for CC to be fired. He is in his 3rd year now so the honeymoon period is over and the team must start showing improvement or he should be treated like every other coach GW has had. Assuming CC isn't back for a 4th year, we would be on our 5th coach (ML, MJ, JC, CC, ?) in 8 years. Has that ever happened in D-1 basketball history? I dread the thought.

Note to scheduler - if we are going to continue to have a pre-conference cupcake schedule, please schedule these 200+ teams at the Smitty (home). I'm tired of the ref's being blamed by a few here every time we lose a game away or at a neutral site.

AU fan here. Thought it was a hell of a competitive game, which I'd expect between these two teams. We needed to hit a 25-footer at the gun to get to overtime. I can't debate with any of y'all about your team and what you think of its strengths/weaknesses/etc. But, in terms of schedule: you do realize this was the first time GW played at AU since 2003, right? We played four straight at Smith Center – 2008, 2018, 2019, 2022 – before last night.

Gwmayhem wrote:

King:

1) I don't see much evidence here of GW looking down upon AU.  The past 7 years have been humbling for the most part and AU played very well in knocking off two subpar GW teams.  Credit to your squad for that.

2) To be fair, prior to recent games, GW had won 9 straight and 11 of 12 vs AU from 1991-2018.  The average margin of victory in those 11 games was over 17 points per game.

3) GW has played at Bender, in 1996, 1998 and 2003, but not since then.  Personally, I think local rivalries are great and would love to play AU on a 2 for 1 basis with 1 out of very 3 games taking place at Bender Arena.  Much like GW has often been fired up to play Maryland throughout the years, I suspect AU would approach these games similarly, and might even hold their own much like GW has done against Maryland.
 

My observations stemmed from looking at your board during and after the games in 2019 and last year – a lot of notions of AU as a "high school team," and how people couldn't believe GW could lose to a Patriot League team, much less American, etc. I'm just saying that unless and until CC rebuilds the program to the levels it reached under Jarvis and Lonergan, there aren't any gimmes, especially locally.

I know AU fans have been clamoring for our Athletic Department to work out a 1/2 or even 1/3 arrangement with y'all for a regular series going forward. I think we may have backed out of such a deal last year b/c the money wasn't right on our side, or something. Ideally, I'd love to see AU, GW, Howard and Mason (or, Towson/UMBC if Mason didn't want to do it) play an annual two-day round robin over at the Entertainment/Sports Arena in Southeast, where the Wizards' G League team and the Mystics play. Building seats 4,000. I think that would be an ideal size for a packed house for a local MTE. I'm guessing the juice wouldn't be worth the squeeze for Mason, but hope springs eternal.

And, yes, I need to change my handle. :-)
 

AU fan here. Look forward to the matchup. Clearly, this is the most sustained period of good play we've had for quite a while. Few tiny additions to the scouting report. O'Neil returned to the lineup Tuesday against Mount St. Mary's and had a huge last six minutes, with three three-point plays. And most of the preseason weaknesses cited haven't been present so far this season. We're 24th nationally in eFG (.558) and 32nd in threes (.383).

Biggest reason for our win streak and improved play this season, IMHO, is simple – we brought back most of the roster that played the limited COVID season (2020-21) and last season. We haven't had roster continuity for a while. Seven of our top 11 guys are in at least their third season in the system; it makes a huge difference to have juniors and seniors out there. Knotek is in just his second season at AU but is a graduate senior with 80 D1 games under his belt; he's been huge for us doing the dirty work at the defensive end. But we're a sum of the parts team so far, with everyone contributing. Rogers has been terrific in the middle, and Webb has been good behind him. He's a legit 7-footer (240 pounds) who isn't fancy but knows how to use his body well for a freshman. As noted, we're shooting better from deep than we have in a good long while. The ball's moving and finding the right guys.

Defensively, our guards and wings have been very active. Stephens has been outstanding helping our bigs down low, but everyone is chipping in with deflections. 

Nelson hasn't played all season rehabbing a torn ACL from last season and won't play Saturday. We're holding him back for conference play. Whitaker is out for the season (torn ACL). Not sure if Colin will play; he's missed the last several games with a back issue. Lincoln has started in his absence and played solid minutes, including a big three against the Mount. I think it'll be a fun, competitive game.