It does seem odd. Is Duquesne really giving out more $. Not sure about that. Did he leave thinking P6 and it never worked out and he isn't able to return? Did his bench time last year sour his relationship with CC. Wish him well against all but us.

H&R..71 wrote:

Definitely the worst uniform of the 3 he’s worn.  Max has a lot of work to do.  His rebounding and athleticism was quite good. His ballhandling, passing, and attitude sucked.  I was calling for him and JB to be benched 5 games into the losing streak.
Now that he and JB have moved on, we can have an offense that is balanced, rather than the ball getting stuck while they “needed to get theirs.”
Thanks for the entertainment Max and good luck.

If he plays within the role given is gonna be fine. Probably thought he’d have better choices.

My hope was to firmly believe in Maximus if for no other reasons than his first name and the fact that Bruce Weber saw enough to successfully recruit him.  My first glances of him came at Kenner when it was apparent that he was playing the game the right way while roughly 75% of the other players on the court were not.  From the early looks of things, Max could shoot, score, rebound, and even play defense.  His basketball IQ was commendable.

Maybe it was the fact that Max was fine playing second fiddle to JB for one year, only to see that turn into two.  Maybe it was the realization that Jun's ascent and Garrett's offense were such that 2024-25 was no longer going to be "Max's team" the way he once possibly envisioned.  For those reasons and perhaps others, Max lost his way last season.  The defending conference rookie of the year became lackadaisical, lost focus, exhibited terrible body language, and looked much like Terry Nolan, Jr. did down the stretch of his GW career. 

Some players are naturally uplifting leaders.  They applaud their teammates when they do well and pick up those feeling down.  They play with emotion.  Many other players understand that the best way for them to consistently perform well is to try to leave emotions out of it for the most part.  Don't get too high when things are going well and don't be down in the dumps when they are not.  Teams can win with both types of players.

What makes winning tough is when a talented player's game gets negatively impacted when things are not going their way.  They become visibly "down" and this tends to bring teams down.  Max so desperately wanted not to feel this way that he would often counterintuitively attempt the difficult play to pull himself out.  The cross-court pass that would lead to a wide open three if it was delivered just right.  The very low percentage three point shot that was open but which was simply taken from outside of his range.     And then, the poor decisions would often be compounded by being a step slow on defense rather than digging deep and making sure that the player he was guarding would not get open under any circumstances.

Kind of hard not to make a bad "Max Headroom" joke here but Max's head likely had as much to do with his pressing after mistakes, careless play, subsequent benching (where he seemed to play better coming off the bench, but a role he likely would not relish in the future) and eventual decision to transfer.  That he winds up at Duquesne, a school which could be the next likely home to Bronny James should LeBron's son opt to return to college, would be an incredible piece of irony if this were to materialize.  If being a #2 to JB was hard, I can't imagine being one to The King's son (do people call Bronny The Prince?) would be any easier.  And this assumes that Grant and Clark are gone (unsure about their remaining eligibility if any.  Both are being inducted, along with Coach Dambrot, into the Dukes Hall of Fame which leads me to think they are both gone). 

So Max leaves GW as the rare player who I was hoping would become one of my all-time favorites (and you have to be quite good to qualify) but instead leaves as a player who IMO, just got too caught up in his own play rather than that of the team.  Playing without Max means there will be more than enough plays, both outstanding ones and careless ones, to confidently assume he will be missed, for better or for worse.   

 

Last edited by Gwmayhem (5/07/2024 11:17 am)

Gwmayhem wrote:

Maybe it was the fact that Max was fine playing second fiddle to JB for one year, only to see that turn into two.  Maybe it was the realization that Jun's ascent and Garrett's offense were such that 2024-25 was no longer going to be "Max's team" the way he once possibly envisioned.  For those reasons and perhaps others, Max lost his way last season. 
 

  This has merit. Being Rookie Of The Year, staying at GW and playing 3rd to 5th fiddle to JB (more on that sometime) would seem to have an effect.
Whatever happened in the locker room and outside the court (please do give some examples), as a basketball proposition purely, not sure he should have been benched. Think some of us noted back then that effectively sealed the deal he wouldn't return. Hope that was the realization. Yes, Max was in a funk. But frankly, the entire starting 5, excluding Jacoi if he was in there, could have been benched and we will still lose 12 games in a row. Maybe a message needed to be sent.
     His defense, while lackluster, was par for the course of pretty much the entire team, except for Jacoi and Stretch's one aspect of shot-blocking. While his shot selection could indeed be poor even when he unaccountably made some of those ill-advised shots, Max could and did will us to stay in the game if not win at times. In 28 minutes, he averaged 12.4 points.
    Outside of the rebounding, my thoughts may be influenced by his gracious comments on GW helping him become Rookie of The Year and appreciation for the loyalty he showed by staying, though don't know if he had that option
       We may well be better off without him, certainly attitudinally, though want some more details. One could say the same things about another critical player, outside of the emotional situation. Just hoped we are using our scholarships in a way that will pan out, because Max was 6'5 and co-led the team in rebounds, which has been an Achilles heel in the past.
    Having said that, unless he was promised a starting role at Duquesne or they have a lot of NIL money, agree with everyone how truly odd this seems.
And it seems like the high majors saw something about Max's value for them.

 

Maybe Max has been watching the NBA playoffs and saw a former Duquesne A10 Rookie of the Year in TJ McConnell playing well for Indiana. 
Or maybe he saw Jamal Murray throw shit onto the court when things weren’t going his way.
I’m pulling for Max to fix his bad habits and improve his game. 
As an aside, CC should make the team watch Minnesotas first half of yesterday’s beatdown in Denver. Some are saying it was the finest display of defense ever!! Some of it is great coaching but mostly it was pure effort!! We need some of that badly.

All valid points LSF. I had hopes for Max as well, and felt he was a victim of coaching and role difficulties.  It was reminiscent of the departures of Keethan and Pauli J to Butler…both talented but headstrong. These are tough times with coaching and player musical chairs. It’s now become like a good golf swing…you only borrow it.  Any success is short lived, like FAU.  Dusty May final 4, then early exit in tourney, then blown up!
I’m optimistic for this year and hope our sophomores step up and develop a tight chemistry with the new arrivals.  And when we play Max,Noel, and Bam, it will be a little extra special.

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

I know that the old way is out the window, with unrestricted transferring and money involved, but to be losing players to conference rivals  Duquesne, URI, The Bonnies (am I leaving anyone out?) kinda hurts.  

The only player I was bummed about losing of the three when they left for a conference rival was Bray, but of course we all know what's transpired since he left and that may have been a blessing in disguise. Maybe I would have felt more strongly about it if any of them went to a true rival (although I don't that GW really has one; probably a discussion for a separate thread as to whether GW has one but I'm still not feeling the Mason one despite the consistent efforts to make it a rivalry).

I agree with the larger point though. This offseason alone we've seen Aden Holloway go from Auburn to Alabama, Kobe Johnson (a captain no less) go from USC to UCLA, Roddy Gayle go from Ohio State to Michigan, and most recently Kadary Richmond go from Seton Hall to St. John's. It's unfortunately all about the money now and transferring to a rival doesn't mean anything to the player.

That's on top of all of the flipped commitments. I mentioned Tonje last week, but VCU was a victim of that last weekend when Jamarii Thomas flipped to South Carolina.

What may be arguably even worse is the players posting the "I'm back" graphics only to enter the transfer portal weeks later. It's truly the wild wild west and hard to believe anyone is actually on the team until the season starts in November. I'm not even celebrating the committed recruits until the official account tweets out that they are all signed.
 

Well, wouldn't want yet another guard. And it's not like he lit it up with a 1.2 average and 18.5 FG%.y
Though he does have an intriguing skill set that could pay off in the A-10.
   But other than that, how could this happen. Does he not recognize fate?
Wouldn't even need his name on the back of the jersey.
     We no longer have a chance for the Carl Colonials of the world.
But hopefully, if there is a hot prospect named Rodney Revolutionary, we sign him.

LSF, if you were thinking that during the 1980's, let's just say it had to be a miniscule sample size.  Back then, the general rule of thumb was that guys who wanted to transfer within the conference had to sit out two seasons, not just one.  This loosened up over time.  For example, Jarrod Uthoff redshirted a year at Wisconsin before transferring tom Iowa.  He sat out the following season but Bo Ryan was demanding that he sit for two full seasons after a redshirt season.  Virtually the entire college basketball world thought Ryan was nuts and he eventually relented.  Closer to home, Trey Davis opted not to play for GW after KH was released and set his sights on UMASS.  He did sit for a year even though he never played for GW but GW was asking for two years since this was the A10 rule.  (This was loopholed based on the fact that Trey never actually played for GW.)  The point being that having to sit out for two full years was so punitive that hardly anyone transferred within a conference.

It is something though...going from having to sit 2 years to transfer within a conference to being able to do this every year without ever sitting out.    

Richmond also got a transfer from UCONN today.