Quincy Allen is transferring from Colorado. Put up modest stats in Boulder but was a big fan of his game out of HS. 4-star wing from Maret School.

Jack Lieb @jack_lieb 26m
6’7 F Transfer Joshua Rivera @joshuarivera5_ @fraction_llc has heard from the following schools since entering the portal:
NIU
Northeastern
Tulsa
Stony Brook
Stetson
St. Bonaventure
George Washington
UMBC
Towson
Albany
IUPUI
Saint Louis
Charleston Southern
Chattanooga
Marist
Indiana St
DePaul

Tobias Bass @tobias_bass 27m
More schools that have reached out to Robert Jennings:
West Virginia
Oral Roberts
Murray State
Siena
George Washington
FIU
Virginia Tech
Dayton
San Francisco
South Dakota
Louisiana
Youngstown St
UNLV

Florida Colonial wrote:

Boisvert also now following Roddie Anderson UCSD and his dad

UCSD guard Roddie Anderson will be entering the transfer portal. The 6’2” freshman averaged 13.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game this season.

Anderson had 8 points on 3-10 shooting when UCSD played us. He fouled out in that game but finished the year strong, putting up 20+ points in his last three games before UCSD ended their season a couple games early due to COVID.
 

Apparently Jerod Haase is returning for an eighth year. LOL. I guess he graduates guys which might be all that matters at Stanford but talk about doing less with more. Brings in good talent but is 59-72 in Pac-12 play through seven seasons with no tournament appearances.

Conference tournaments started last week with a few teams punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament over the weekend:

Atlantic Sun: Kennesaw State secured their first ever bid to the dance with a 67-66 victory over Liberty, the conference heavyweight. Amir Abdur-Rahim has been nothing short of fantastic turning around a team that went 1-28 just three seasons ago. I wonder if he's a candidate for the Georgia Tech job. He's certainly deserving of promotion.

Big South: Speaking of coaches who have done great jobs, Mike Morrell took over a UNC Asheville team that went 4-27 in his first year and four years later has the Bulldogs back in the tournament. ETSU has been garbage recently so maybe that's a landing spot for Morrell should he move on (SoCon is a step up from the Big South). 7th seed Campbell nearly did the impossible and won four games in five days but ran out of gas down the stretch coupled with a hot streak from UNCA player Tajion Jones. Campbell runs the Princeton offense which is very effective. The Fighting Camels are off to the CAA next year. I don't think UNCA has true upset potential, but they do have some size down low with Tennessee transfer Drew Pember.

Missouri Valley: All Darian DeVries does is win, as he secured his fifth straight 20 win season at Drake and the school's second NCAA bid in the past three years. Despite being a two seed in the conference tourney, their collective experience makes them an intriguing pick in a round of 64 game depending on the matchup. I believe I saw a graphic that said Drake's starting 5 is older than a couple NBA teams which is crazy. The Bulldogs knocked off the top seed Bradley in the finals. DeVries is an Iowa native, but I don't see either P6 job in the state opening unless Fran McCaffery leaves for another job like Notre Dame. Maybe Minnesota might be an option as well.

Ohio Valley: 5th seed Southeast Missouri State secured their first bid in 23 yea

VCU Rams

Date/Time: Saturday March 4th @ 4:30 PM ET at The Charles E. Smith Center in Washington DC (Senior Day!).
TV: USA
Preseason Ranks: 94th (KenPom), 74th (Bart Torvik), 53rd (Sports Illustrated)
2021-22 Record: 22-10, 14-4 (T-2nd in A10)
2022-23 Projected Record: 24-7, 15-3 (1st in A10)

Head-to-Head: 3-17. VCU is currently on a five game winning streak in the series, the longest in the history of the series. They had previously won four in a row on three separate occasions. The Rams have won by 20+ in three of the past four meetings. They've scored 80+ in three of the past four, while we've only scored 50+ in three of the last four. To put it simply, we have been outmatched by them more than any other team in the league (although the same was true for Dayton before this year!).

Last year's 84-57 defeat came just a game after the team had a brief pause due to COVID. Unfortunately for GW, the two teams they faced coming off the pause were Dayton and VCU so neither result was particularly surprising. The Rams took a 20 point halftime lead and never looked back, shooting 47% from the field, 44% from 3 (10 made), and 83% from the line. It's funny that VCU has a reputation of being more of a defensive team than an offensive one yet every time they play us they look like Gonzaga. We don't have the horses to provide much resistance defensively this year either but hopefully luck is finally on the side of GW when it comes to this series...

Perhaps the biggest success in that road contest was that we matched them in steals. Otherwise, offensively we shot under 40% from the field, was outrebounded by 18, finished with 11 fewer assists, and turned it over 18 times. We will need to keep the turnover number within 15 to have a chance I think. The one thing about VCU is that although they turn people over, they can cough the ball up a fair amoun

Alum '04 wrote:

When you guys talk about JBIV going pro, do you mean NBA or in Europe? Or the G League? Why would he want G League over playing at a much higher profile school?

Overseas. JB doesn't have the defense and more importantly the three point shooting to make it on an NBA roster. If he wanted to go to a higher profile school he would have done so last year itself but it would have been a terrible decision on his part. I didn't feel the same way about Bamisile because Joe at least had the defensive potential to get minutes at a higher school with some coaching (had he chosen the right place).

Bishop has already experienced being at the higher level and riding the bench at LSU. He has proven production at GW now, but as we've seen with Bamisile if you aren't good enough defensively you won't sniff the court consistently regardless of your scoring abilities. JB's got a good role at GW, why would he leave that for a bit more money and risk wasting a year not playing as much? It's more likely that JB comes back to GW than he transfers up again. I just doubt he will score as much with hopefully a more balanced roster and he could probably make more overseas. Barring a BA-like jump from 3 his final year he's better off starting his pro career (and I say this as someone who would of course love for him to come back). His defense is what it is at this point.
 

Survive and advance. A win is a win. Was hoping for one win against Duquesne/Loyola and we got that. Mia came through yet again and bailed us out of a game that was slipping away for much of the fourth quarter. I have no expectations tomorrow against URI but am hoping it's at least a bit more competitive than the last meeting.

Asjah had a solid game and some good takes to the basket early in the game, but twice during crunch time the play drawn up was for her to drive to the basket and shoot a layup over three Duquesne players? GW played well for three quarters, but the last quarter reverted back to no passing which got the Dukes back into the game and gave them the lead late. Scoring over 70 was definitely a success though.

Mia not making any of the all-conference teams made absolutely no sense. How does a team that finished top-half in the conference not have a single player on that list? Glad she proved everyone wrong today. That's not to mention the fact that Nya Robertson earned rookie of the week once all season. Ziegler is a good player for St. Joe's but it seemed like they just handed her the award for 80% of the year. There were definitely weeks where it should have gone to Nya.

Speaking of Nya, it was interesting that she didn't play late in the game. You would think it would make sense to have the biggest offensive threats on the floor down the stretch, but I guess McCombs decided to prioritize seniority. It's not right or wrong, just interesting. Robertson had an off game shooting which hopefully means a bounce-back tomorrow.

This team has overpeformed at times offensively despite not having a true PG. There is definitely a role for Asjah/Nya R moving forward but hopefully we land a true PG that can move the ball consistently on offense otherwise there will continue to be stagnant stretches on offense where we try to go 1-on-5 in isolation.

Mayowa didn't have the biggest scoring game, but was so good on the glass and on the defensive end that contr

I know Davidson is in a rebuilding year, but they are never an easy team to beat - especially at their place. What made this win more "satisfying" is unlike most wins this season we found a way to come out on top when the team was trailing for most of the game. You want to be playing your best basketball in March and for the first time in a very long time I think I can say we are. We won the rebound battle (a big key), committed just 5 turnovers, and were in pretty good shape with foul trouble minus the usual culprits.

The team finished what they couldn't in the Mason home game. While shots were not falling for stretches of either game, at no point did I ever think we were taking bad shots in either contest. JB takes a few more threes than I would like given his percentages but I think he's earned the right to take most of those shots. Give a lot of credit to Davidson with the way they guarded us - I think they've improved compared to last year on that end which is crazy to say. We were trying to break their zone early with Hunter as we usually do but they did a great job staying with their man forcing Hunter to be more consistently assertive than I'm sure he would like. I agree with Gwmayhem that I'd rather Dean miss a shot than have him constantly look to hand the ball off. It makes us harder to guard and I'm sure Hunter is having a lot more fun actually being part of the offense now.

Davidson moving back to man late allowed JB to carve them up which was probably a mistake on their part, but that's where you have to give credit to Max, BA, and JB for making threes down the stretch to force them out of the zone. Max has been making big shots all season. There was a stretch in the first half where I actually wanted him to be more aggressive but his poise has been very impressive and he's played a big role in our 10 conference game season.

The difference in the game came down to which team had the player who could better take over down the stretch. Again, credit D

The result wasn't a surprise. Despite the team missing out on the double bye, this year is definitely a step in the right direction for the WBB program. I think UMass showed what it takes to be a top team in the conference. They had a nice crowd too.

Last year, we were scoring in the 50s which was only good enough to beat a few teams. This year we are averaging in the 60s which is enough to beat half (to 2/3 of the teams in the A10 on a good day). In order to beat the best of the best though you have to hit the 70s somewhat consistently. To do that, you need to have skill at every position on the court. UMass had that (and a very experienced team as well). On many nights, it feels that we only have scoring threats at two spots at any time on the court. This is most glaring in the post where other teams not only have better size than GW but players who are more skilled offensively.

I think the coaching staff is definitely working hard to generate better shots on the offensive end, but the talent isn't fully there yet (again trending in the right direction though). Nya's deep threes are fun to watch when they go in but I still feel like they aren't always within the flow of the offense. Robertson's skillset is huge to bail out a team late (she definitely is on track to make first-team all-A10 down the road) in the shot clock but earlier in the possession the team needs to try to get better looks. This may again be tied to having more talent at other positions. Good to see Asjah have a better game and Faith putting up more shots.

Having said all that, UMass made some absolutely ridiculous shots - a number of made threes were contested and they weren't missing so this was probably a loss regardless. It didn't help that we have been dealing with injury issues as well.

I think one win in the conference tournament will be a success. If I'm not mistaken we would then face URI in the quarters which is likely too tall a task (literally and figuratively). Would have loved

La Salle Explorers (Game 2)

Date/Time: Saturday February 25th @ 6:00 PM ET at The Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, DC.
TV: ESPN+

Game 1 Result: La Salle 75, GW 64 (Bishop 14, Edwards 14, Adams 12, Lindo 10)
La Salle Preview: Link
La Salle Record Since Last Matchup: 4-2 (Wins at St. Joe's, at St. Bonaventure, vs. UMass, vs. Richmond; Losses @ George Mason, vs. Duquesne)

Projected Starting Lineup:
Khalil Brantley (Sophomore; Brooklyn, NY) 14 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.5 spg; 39% FG, 30% 3-PT, 76% FT
      Game 1 @ La Salle: 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists; 4-14 FG, 0-4 3-PT, 7-8 FT in 36 minutes.

Fousseyni Drame (Senior; Bamako, Mali) 9.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1 spg; 43% FG, 25% 3-PT, 63% FT
      Game 1 @ La Salle: 10 points, 9 rebounds; 4-7 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 1-2 FT in 33 minutes.

Jhamir Brickus (Junior; Coatesville, PA) 9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.2 spg; 45% FG, 40% 3-PT, 77% FT
      Game 1 @ La Salle: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals; 3-7 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 3-4 FT in 36 minutes.

Hassan Drame (Senior; Bamako, Mali) 6.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.1 spg; 37% FG, 32% 3-PT, 71% FT
      Game 1 @ La Salle: 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals; 1-3 FG, 0-2 3-PT, 5-7 FT in 24 minutes.

Mamadou Doucoure (Senior; Bamako, Mali) 3.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg; 53% FG, 67% FT
      Game 1 @ La Salle: 6 points, 3 rebounds; 3-5 FG in 15 minutes.

Projected Bench:
Josh Nickelberry (Senior; Fayetteville, NC) 11.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg; 40% FG, 40% 3-PT, 81% FT
      Game 1 @ La Salle: 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists; 5-7 FG, 2-3 3-PT in 17 minutes.

Anwar Gill (Junior; Washington, DC) 8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.3 apg; 45% FG, 29% 3-PT, 53% FT
      Game 1 @ La Salle: 6 points; 3-4 FG, 0-2 FT in 15 minutes.

Daeshon Shep