That goes down as JC´s greatest win so far as GW´s coach. Great crowd, where were those 3,600 people the last few seasons?

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (11/09/2019 6:07 pm)

Paar had a soft cast on his right hand.  Not sure how serious his injury is but obviously serious enough to keep him in street clothes.

Was very surprised to see Potter not get on the court until garbage time. Wonder if it was just a matchup thing or if he is that low on the depth chart now.

Mezie had a pretty good game but still moves a touch slow sometimes.  Was confident getting to the rim and if not for a Mazzula travel would've had a monster breakaway dunk.  His swat at the end was nice.

What else can you say about Toro?  Dude is a work horse and we are lucky to have him anchor the inside for this team.

Juice was great in limited doses last year but has not looked good so far in his expanded role.  His energy while he's out there is appreciated but I don't think we can trust his shot in such a 3 happy offense.

Jack was very quiet today given his 23 minutes.  Only took one 3 but made it. 

JNJ with another strong freshman performance at PG.  You can tell he actually is looking to make the open pass.  His technical foul was BS but it didn't cost us one bit.  Will be interesting to see if he can play his way onto the A-10 All-Freshman team.

Battle looks great so far.  It is exciting having freshman like JNJ and Battle be confident while out on the court.  Too often we've had to put up with freshman who look like a deer in the headlights.

Last edited by GW0509 (11/09/2019 8:01 pm)

Second the notion on being stunned by the crowd. I'm assuming it was the free beer and food before the game, but I hope not.

Just a handful of observations:
-JNJ can be the real deal. Kid is quick, explosive, a good passer, and plays with emotion
- Toro had a great game but I'd like to see some more of those easy post moves go in. With that being said, can't ask for much more from him
- Nice to see Battle hit a number of 3s. Could be huge this year
- Would like to see Maceo get more involved in the offense. I don't remember exactly, but perhaps they were shadowing him the entire game
- I'm surprised that Juice played more than Mazz. Mazz is a better passer and probably more versatile on offense. I'd like to see those minutes swapped.
- Gotta feel bad for Potter. The only game time he now gets is with the reserves at the end of games. Any idea of why this is? I don't remember him being much of a shooter, so could be that.\
- Not impressed with Javi or Stallings in the 2 games I've seen them in (exhibition and this one). Gotta be able to get something from then when Toro gets into foul trouble

All in all it was a nice win and I'm hoping the crowd continues showing up.

Always nice to get on the board in the win column, regardless of opponent. While I will admit at times the game was ugly for stretches for both teams (it didn't feel like we won by 14 honestly), there were some positives and noteworthy things to take away from the result. I also have to say I was very surprised (and impressed) by the turnout at the Smith Center today. While it was the first home game of the season, I must say the marketing focus for men's basketball has been highly successful so far, from that ad in the Washington Post after the Nationals win to the social media activity. Branding is a crucial part of building a successful culture, and hopefully we are able to return to our home court domination soon.

Also want to mention quickly that the timeout JC called within the first two minutes of the second half was a really good one with Howard's quick 5-0 run to cut the halftime lead in half. JC proceeded to take off his jacket and fling it at the chair, which maybe gave the team some much needed energy after coming out lackadaisical out of the locker room.

Offense: MUCH better today with turnovers. While Howard has nowhere close to the length that Towson had (and looked malnourished compared to our players), the team (and JNJ especially) made much better decisions with the ball. There is not a whole lot to talk about here, but it appears we are getting the attempts we want from three (and attempting half of our shots from there). As it relates to this team, it will likely be a disaster to attempt such a high volume of threes some games this year (JC has admitted that publicly), and I don't think it could hurt for us to get to the hoop a bit more, especially on nights the three isn't falling (like today) and we are in the lead. I'm glad this analytic-focused system has removed the dreaded midrange from our offense, but shots close the hoop are high-value shots as well! We have a great post player in AT, and we could make him a more focal part of the offense. Having said that, we are bound to experience some good shooting nights on the horizon even with the lack of shooters as we are just 17/59 (29%) to begin the year.

Defense: Maybe I misunderstand the whole concept of "Mayhem", but teams have not been uncomfortable handling the ball against us. I'm assuming this is still a work in progress, but thus far Towson and Howard have turned the ball over just 9.5 times per game (good for them, not us) and we have generated just 4.5 steals per game (Howard and Towson has had more steals than us in both games as well). Perhaps the personnel just isn't the best fit for this scheme, but the press is yet to be effective. It just seems that we press somewhat half-heartedly when we do so thus far. Not to say there weren't some bright moments though. We handled penetration a lot better today (which is key against a team like Howard) and the help-side defender did a good job taking away easy shots near the rim and double teaming their guards. There were some fouls we were charged for that I didn't agree with, but the refs in general were a bit whistle-happy today.

Rotations: Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways (and surprises???) from today was seeing the willingness of the coaching staff to fiddle around with lineup rotations, which is something I haven't seen at GW in quite some time. Justin's streak of consecutive starts came to an end, but I'm not exactly surprised by it given his shooting performance against Towson. Seeing Javier in the starting lineup caught me completely off guard. Nice to see Jamison get the start - whether he is coming off the bench or starting expect him to see a lot of minutes as one of the few shooters on this team. Maceo coming off the bench was perhaps the most confusing of all of these decisions, but my theory is that benching Justin along with Maceo would make the blow feel less personal for Mazzulla. Maceo and Justin are very close off the court, and JC has been very forward with figuring out the player chemistry dynamic on this team. Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if we see several more lineup combinations throughout OOC play until things tighten up a bit entering A10 play.

Tempo: I guess this is an extension of our offense, but even with our threes not falling, our offense looked a lot less brutal with us not running the shot clock down every possession this game. It actually felt like Howard wanted to play a lot slower than I expected to, maybe a combination of our defense and their new philosophy with the new coach.

Game Ball: has to go to AT for his dominance in the second half. His rebounding and putbacks saved us from what could have been many empty trips on offense. Shout out to Jamison though for keeping our offense afloat in the first half.

Player Breakdown:
AT - I wasn't worried by his performance last game as it was his first action coming off hip surgery, and Towson's bigs made things quite tough down low. With Howard's frontcourt considerably less intimidating, Arnaldo had a field day, especially as the game went on and both Toure and Cousins fouled out. I lost track of the number of potential three point plays he had this game. I will say his free throw shooting was uncharacteristically off - he is usually pretty reliable, but maybe it's still just a rust thing. We still shot free throws well for the most part all game.

Jamison - glad he is getting the attempts to be successful shooting the ball on a nightly basis. A bit better today trying to get a clean look on his threes, and I'm excited to see his games where he absolutely torches the nets from three. He also had a few nice possessions on defense in the pressure scheme, forcing a turnover on one of them. His crisp passing is also something that was nice to see, although won't be seen on the stat sheet. Battle played on a very disciplined and unselfish D1 Minnesota AAU team, and I think that has prepared him well for college. That team was one of the best on the circuit and filled with D1 players, including Tyrell Terry, who is already starting at point for Stanford (and looking pretty good too). Anyways, Jamison also has a nice pump fake when shooting his threes which makes his shot attempts a lot less predictable, especially in transition. His double figure outing is the first of many to come.

Mezie - began to look better as he got more aggressive over the course of the game. Part of the reason I wanted to see us get out running more on offense off a miss (since that is more likely than us forcing a turnover at this point) is because it will benefit guys like JNJ and Mezie the most. Offurum looks absolutely threatening in the open floor, and Howard looked tentative as Mezie took it to them towards the basket. The block at the end of the game was awesome as well. While his free throw shooting could use more consistency and he attempts probably the most midrange shots on the team (probably a byproduct of last year), today was definitely a step in the right direction. He will continue to grow with more court time. Just felt at times he disappeared when playing, but when he was interested during the game, he was a real force.

Juice - playing him along the perimeter has maybe taken away some of his useful energy ability grabbing rebounds and making things happen, but he continues to be a coaches player based on his ability to do many things right. Yes, he has a weird stroke, but he made 3/8 threes today so I have no right to say he is a poor shooter from distance (he also shot 40+% on limited attempts last year). He did have a heads up play on defense as well, where he generated one of our few turnovers forced on defense along the sideline so overall a nice performance today. He thrives in the sixth man role.

JNJ - it's hard not to get excited about his future prospects watching him play. He has a knack of finding his teammates on passes you just don't think he should be able to execute (or have any right to) but it's real fun to watch. Not sure what the technical is about - I'm assuming he was looking for a foul off that tough fadeaway J near the basket. His threes didn't fall, but I would advise that he tries not to go 1 on 3 driving to the basket if possible as that is almost guaranteed to result in a turnover more often than not. I know JC is giving him free reigns on offense, but teams are going to game plan for him (and maybe focus in on him as well), and he is not going to have an open lane to drive to the basket. Still 11 assists is nothing to scoff at. When was the last time a GW player has had that many assists in a game? I believe Justin had one game with 10+ assists a couple seasons ago against Richmond but it has been a while.

Maceo - he played 23 minutes but shot the ball just once? Maybe JC wanted to see what he has from other players but I'd say it's a disappointment just based on that. Maceo is playing to give us offense, and while he has improved a bit on defense, he still gave up a three point play on a drive to the basket, so when he's in, we should do a better job of giving him his attempts from deep.

Justin - I tried to not be hard on him in the Towson recap despite his 1-5 performance from deep. I will say this - I watched him particularly during shootaround and have to say he has improved a lot on his threes from deep (and even made one in game). While his dribbling turnover that was leading to a dunk in transition during the second half was a bummer, he has improved overall when the ball is in his hands, and continues to make some good passes, especially finding Arnaldo underneath. I still think he is one of the best defenders on the team. He had two steals today, and is pretty disruptive in the Mayhem scheme. I think his role today maximized his strengths a bit more.

Javier - nice to see him get the start. He had two blocks today, and I was pretty happy with his value defensively. However, the reason I didn't necessarily push for him to get so many more minutes after the Towson game is that he is still trying to find a groove offensively. He shot less than 40% from the field last year, which is bad for a big and many of those attempts were close to the hoop. The idea of him as a stretch 4 is enticing, but he has yet to show he can make threes consistently, and until he makes them a bit more frequently, I think we are better off having him spell AT and give us value underneath with some shots closer to the hoop and protecting the rim. He is a very good free throw shooter, a strength that we cannot take advantage of if he is camping out along the perimeter. It was interesting though to see him team up with AT on the floor. That was not a combination I expected to see much of at all this year.

Ace - he is not a game changer, but he is a bouncy big that is fun to watch for stretches. I can see why JC likes him with the way he plays. While I wasn't impressed with his stat line in his years at MSM while he was on scholarship, he doesn't appear too prone to making many mistakes which is always a good thing. Hope we can continue to see him in stretches to give AT a breather.

Armel - look, I get Jameer is the new face at point and we need to get him as many minutes as possible to help him grow from freshman struggles quickly, but I don't think it could hurt for us to use Armel in stretches as a prove ball-handler who makes good passes while limiting the turnovers, especially earlier on this season as JNJ develops - at the very least, it will take some pressure off of JNJ and he won't try to do too much. Maybe we will see Armel play more during A10 play. It makes me think about what JC has said in the past about his playing career at MSM. JC was a leading scorer in his junior year, then hardly played his senior year with a coaching change (instead serving as a leader from the bench). I can't help but think Armel is JC as a senior on this year's GW team, but I'm not going to say his lack of playing time is definitive until the team plays a few more games. Armel saw action in the first half against Towson, so it's not like all of his limited minutes have been in garbage time. Having said that though, props to him early on for accepting the role change (even as one of the captains on the team). That transition can't have been easy to take. With the rotation looking completely different today, this could all mean nothing and he could honestly start against American. Who knows.

Adam/Luke - nice to see both play today, even if it was a minute of garbage time. Luke had a nice off-balanced shot that he made during shootaround that was pretty impressive. I still think Adam should see more non-garbage time minutes given that he can actually make threes at a pretty good clip (from at least what he showed last year on limited attempts). Until the rotation guys on the team shoot better from deep, I guess I'm going to continue to vouch for Adam.

Now that the team has notched a win, let's try to start a streak! We face American on Tuesday. They missed their best player in Sa'eed Nelson in their opener against Siena because of some dumb summer league rules but the Eagles have at the very least shown to be more offensively competent than Howard so hopefully we come ready with some aggressive defense. They are 0-2 so far this year with losses to Siena and William & Mary, both who have new coaches as well. (Side note: I've been keeping an eye on Siena this season with Coach Carm leading the way - given JC's abrupt departure, the Saints have looked pretty good offensively so far - rooting for him to succeed in Loudonville). 
 

-" Toro had a great game but I'd like to see some more of those easy post moves go in. With that being said, can't ask for much more from him"
-Not sure if I am doing this quote thing right, but I hope the poster realized that Toro shot 9-12.  He also had 22 points and 18 rebounds.   Even if this was an undersized Howard team, in the eons I have been following GW, here were probably no more than 5 players or so who put up those kind of numbers.   If the game plan was to pound the ball into Toro rather than hoist 32 three point shots against a small team, then Toro probably would have scored 35 points.  I understand we are trying to build a system, but sometimes you just need to do what makes sense.

LSF, there is no doubt that Toro had a fantastic game. My comment really only applies to the 1st half. There were a number post moves that should have resulted in baskets that did not. He relied mainliy on his size advantage (as he should have), but i'm concerned that won't be enough against teams with real bigs. Gotta get those finesse shots to fall. As I said, he had a fantastic game and no one can say otherwise. I'm just concerned that when up against bigger opponents his reliance on his size will hinder our scoring inside.

Last edited by MG14 (11/10/2019 8:04 am)

Chase Paar isn't playing yet because of a wrist injury; he is day-to-day.

The crowd was amazing; almost a full house and a big student turn-out!