Season not cancelled??

I think it was Skittles who said we would lose 10 games in the OCC.
Well, it seems we were on our way.
At 2-6 now, all we have to do is is lose 4 of 5 against BU, Charlotte, Radford, Coppin State or UMES. 
I am rarely too optimistic from 50 years of following GW basketball, but before this season I thought there was no way we would be under .500 in non-conference. In fact, like most folks on this board, I figured we had a shot at 10-3 in non-conference and certainly at least 8-5 considering the cupcake schedule we are playing.
Well, here we are needing to win all five of the remaining OCC games to just finish above .500. 
What a mess. Don't blame the players. 
12-20, 5-12 and now 2-6...
Looks like we are going downhill. 
If things don't change the rest of the season, the GW administration has to move on. Hard believe when we hired a new AD and coach we would be in this place in the third season.


 

Hire, promote.. whatever.  If we can't see progress this season, it's time to move on. 

GW73 wrote:

I think it was Skittles who said we would lose 10 games in the OCC.
Well, it seems we were on our way.
At 2-6 now, all we have to do is is lose 4 of 5 against BU, Charlotte, Radford, Coppin State or UMES. 
I am rarely too optimistic from 50 years of following GW basketball, but before this season I thought there was no way we would be under .500 in non-conference. In fact, like most folks on this board, I figured we had a shot at 10-3 in non-conference and certainly at least 8-5 considering the cupcake schedule we are playing.
Well, here we are needing to win all five of the remaining OCC games to just finish above .500. 
What a mess. Don't blame the players. 
12-20, 5-12 and now 2-6...
Looks like we are going downhill. 
If things don't change the rest of the season, the GW administration has to move on. Hard believe when we hired a new AD and coach we would be in this place in the third season.


 

I do recall personal attacks right after too. Nothing from seasons 1 and 2 suggested JC would right the ship season 3. Sometimes blind optimism is blind. Sorry my take hurt some feelings

FYI, we on the better side of average on KenPom’s Luck Factor measure this season.  Meaning our W/L is slightly better than our numbers would indicate.

Is the new transfer eligible for this game?

Boston U Terriers

Date/Time: Wednesday December 1st @ 7:00 PM ET at The Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, DC.
TV: NBC Sports Washington+/ESPN+ (no more FloHoops!)
Preseason Ranks: 198th (KenPom), 191st (Bart Torvik), 260th (CBS), 221st (SI)
2020-21 Record: 7-11, 6-10 (7th in Patriot)
2021-22 Projected Record: 22-9, 13-5 (3rd in Patriot)

Coach: Joe Jones, 165-144 in 10 seasons at Boston U with 2 CIT appearances to go with an NIT berth. Jones has been consistent in his time at BU, with the Terriers finishing in the top half of the league in 8 of his 10 years as head coach there (not quite sure what happened in the 2018-19 season - it's definitely an outlier). He previously coached at Columbia for seven seasons with less success (his peak there was a hitting .500 in conference). Given the job Engles is doing there currently, perhaps Jones exceeded expectations. Would be stunned if Engles isn't canned by the end of the year (what is it about the NYC teams??). Between jobs, Jones spent a year as assistant at BC and has also spent time at Hofstra and Villanova as an assistant. A northeastern lifer, Joe Jones attended SUNY Oswego where he ranks 4th in assists and 5th in steals in the school's history. His older brother James is the current head coach at Yale.

Head-to-Head: 20-2, with the last loss coming in the 2010-11 season. We last faced off against BU in 2019, winning 64-63 in what might be one of the best games the team has played down the stretch in the JC era. I also remember it as the "Javier game" since he made the winning shot (it felt like that was his final shining moment in a GW uniform really). We trailed by seven at halftime and got down by nine just after halftime as BU scored off an offensive rebound on their first possession (what else is new). The game went back and forth in the second half, but the Terriers recaptured a 9 point lead with 2 and a half minutes to go. That was when we turned it on, seeing a glimpse of what JC's mayhem scheme might look like. After Javier split a pair of free throws, Armel made a layup and got fouled. He would miss the free throw but Shawn grabbed the rebound and JNJ found Jamison for a three pointer. We forced BU to turn the ball over and Armel quickly attacked the hoop, drawing a foul and making both free throws. BU missed their shot on the other end but grabbed an offensive rebound. I don't know why I remember this, but the Terriers showed really poor judgment on this play, hoisting up a shot immediately after grabbing the rebound instead of running more clock. We pulled down the board the second time around and Armel missed a layup. Fortunately BU knocked the ball out so we retained possession. On the final possession, Armel hoisted a deep three (not much has changed with the play calls) but Javier was there for the rebound and put it in off the glass at the buzzer. JNJ (17), Armel (15), Jamison (11), and Maceo (11) all finished in double figures.

Javier is now working as a financial analyst at Interlink Capital Strategies in the DC area. I think he just ended up staying at GW his senior year as a student. Happy to see that he got his degree here and is now working full-time!

Offensive Efficiency: 182nd (KenPom), 139th (Bart Torvik)
Defensive Efficiency: 234th (KenPom), 246th (Bart Torvik)
Pace: 289th (KenPom), 324th (Bart Torvik) This might be the slowest paced team we've faced all season. It feels like all the teams we've played recently love playing fast and getting out in transition. Our transition defense hasn't been great recently, so this should be a nice break from that.
Returning Minutes: 88.2% (39th in country). Expecting pretty good ball movement from BU as a result which might make things tough.

Key Returning Players:
Javante McCoy (Senior; Milwaukee, WI) 16.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.2 APG; 49% FG, 31% 3-PT, 79% FT
       2019 stats vs GW: 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals; 5-11 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 1-1 FT in 31 minutes.

Walter Whyte (RS Junior; New Haven, CT) 13.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.1 SPG; 41% FG, 26% 3-PT, 73% FT
       2019 stats vs GW: 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists; 4-12 FG, 0-4 3-PT, 3-4 FT in 31 minutes.

Sukhmail Mathon (Senior; Shavertown, PA) 11.2 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2 APG, 1.3 BPG; 56% FG, 25% 3-PT, 77% FT
       2019 stats vs GW: 6 rebounds, 2 assists; 0-1 FG in 15 minutes.

Jonas Harper (Junior; New Canaan, CT) 8.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.3 SPG; 41% FG, 36% 3-PT, 86% FT
       2019 stats vs GW: 3 points, 2 assists; 1-4 FG, 1-3 3-PT in 25 minutes.

Key Losses:
Jack Hemphill (Transferred to St. Francis BKN; Raleigh, NC) 6.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.2 APG; 43% FG, 33% 3-PT, 75% FT

Comments:
The fact that the 2020-21 college basketball season even happened feels like a miracle. Most teams around the country tried their hardest to keep things as normal as possible, playing an OOC schedule prior to conference play. While many teams tried, many failed to get in any games at all during the first half of the season. The Ivy League (along with Bethune Cookman and Maryland Eastern Shore - more on them in a few weeks) decided to shut things down before even entertaining the idea of playing a game with COVID running rampant across the country.

The Patriot League decided to take a hybrid approach, keeping things shut the first half of the year before playing conference games (Army and Navy were not forced to follow the same guidelines which allowed us to face the Midshipmen to open the year last season). Teams in the Patriot were split into pods, resulting in teams facing each other up to six(!) times within the span of a couple months. While Boston U got to play a weak Holy Cross team six times, they were also forced to face off against top dog Colgate a handful of times, which went just about how you would expect it to (the Terriers lost all five games, 3 by double digits). It was clear that BU needed extra practice reps and some prior OOC games before those Colgate games, and it didn't help that Boston University decided to throw in an extra obstacle, forcing players to wear masks during home games. BU would finish the year 6-10, just the second sub .500 conference season under Jones (although the imbalanced schedule makes it tough to really take too much from that).

A normal offseason and practice schedule will be really beneficial to a team like Boston U, and with most players returning from last season Jones can compete with Colgate at the top of the league. The Terriers return a stellar guard trio in Javante McCoy, Walter Whyte, and walk-on Jonas Harper.

McCoy is the leader and has pretty much been a fixture in the rotation since he first arrived at BU. While not a traditional point guard, McCoy is a strong passer but his forte is scoring. It's hard to make sense of his three point shooting over the course of his career, as he was lights out in his first two seasons before suddenly becoming a bit bricky from distance. Perhaps it was the 'COVID effect' and he returns to his old ways shooting the ball this season. In their last game against Merrimack, McCoy moved up to 10th all time on the BU scoring list and should move up to ninth with a made basket tonight.

Whyte (I think I made a Breaking Bad joke in the last preview, so I'll prevent myself from making another here) provides positional versatility and is a strong on-ball defender. He has never been the strongest three point shooter but is a load driving to the hoop, drawing fouls, and rebounding the ball if he misses. Whyte went down with an ankle injury a couple games ago which means he might miss the game against us. He has some injury history, having missed his entire sophomore year due to injury.

Harper is the designated spot-up shooter on the team/3 & D guy but that might be a bit of an unfair label as he competes on the glass and can be a willing passer. He led the team in three point makes last season and is among the best shooters on the team.

Jones also has plenty of guard/wing depth returning from last season. Fletcher Tynen, Daman Tate, and Ethan Brittain-Watts were all fixtures in the rotation and provide plus-size at their respective positions. Tynen is more of a wing and like Tate prefers to score inside the arc while Brittain-Watts was the only real threat on the team from distance apart from Harper (48% from 3, but so far has struggled this season). EBW was not nearly as comfortable scoring the ball when run off the three point arc so that should be something that works in our favor during the game. Garrett Pascoe and Miles Brewster probably remain deeper options until someone higher up on the depth chart graduates or transfers. Both showed promise from the free throw line which bodes well for their future despite relative inefficiency early in their college careers. Anthony Morales saw limited run in his freshman year but may see more action this season, especially with Whyte potentially sidelined. Morales can shoot at a high level. (Maybe we'll also see walk-on Michael Quinn - not the GW fan!)

Sukhmail Mathon returns as the primary "man in the middle". BU doesn't quite have the same depth in the frontcourt as they do in the backcourt, but they don't need to when a four-year vet like Mathon is still around. He is a strong post scorer/rebounder and has shown the ability to find other guards when Jones elects to play through him. As you'd expect in the Patriot League which favors guards that can shoot, there isn't much rim protection on this roster but Mathon is probably one of the stronger post defenders in the conference. USC Upstate transfer Nevin Zink returns to New England as Mathon's backup. Zink doesn't provide the same intangibles that Mathon brings to the table but is an equally effective finisher down low. Malcolm Chimezie is a longer-term piece for the Terriers as a well-regarded recruit out of high school. He will likely be eased in over time.

Projected Score: Boston U 68, GW 65. 37% chance to win (Bart Torvik). ESPN gives us a 49.6% chance to move to 2-1 at home. I know BU has played pretty well so far this season (their worst loss is by 9 to URI and they took Florida State to OT) but they struggled against Merrimack and it's sad to see us be underdogs at home against a Patriot League team. BU opens up a 2 point road favorite. Let's hope some changes were made in the past week.
 

Thought his name looked familiar....we recruited him.

Game time!

Let's go win this thing!

No one stops drives. No one within 20 feet of a 3-point shooter. So tired of this garbage.