Time to offer one person's opinion of GW's 2023-24 season by offering grades.  Everyone is entitled to agree or disagree but the one thing I ask is that you understand how I grade.  These grades have less to do with giving the best grade to the best player, etc., but more to do with how I perceived performances relative to my anticipated expectations at the start of the season.  I'll be the first to admit that some of this is based on "gut feelings" formulated from what I had previously read about the player (i.e. high school and college accomplishments), what I witnessed at Kenner (again, not close to being a perfect barometer but impressions are made there), and how a player progressed (or regressed) over the course of the season.  I'll give all of the walk-ons an A+ because walk-ons deserve that.  Let's go alphabetically.

Babatunde Akingbola.....C+       We knew Stretch would arrive as a raw player, having played so little over three seasons at Auburn.  What we also knew that he would arrive possessing a genuine rim protector's body and athleticism.  The hope was that he would be more polished than expected having gone up against several NBA players each day in practice.  The best case scenario was that Stretch was more than capable; he simply needed the opportunity that GW would provide.  The result was an offensive player who could do little more than score off of putbacks and very occasionally in the post, and a defensive player who exuded joy over swatting away shots but whose footwork when going after blocks often left him out of position to offer much on the boards.  Loved the guy's enthusiasm but the team clearly needed more out of Stretch.

Trey Autry.....B-         Trey became 4th in line amongst a backcourt of JB, Max and Jacoi (and further back if we are to consider Jun and/or Garrett to be guards...which I personally do not).  He began the year as a starter likely because his game is so fundamentally sound.  His freshman season reminder me of Jordan Roland's, not so much the explosive scoring but from the standpoint that minutes were limited so every act on the court appeared like an audition to earn more playing time.  Trey hit some big 3's, rebounded well and was a willing defender.  He also made his share of mental errors often ending in turnovers.  I'm looking forward to watching him play without  a perceived noose around his neck.

James Bishop IV....B        I am giving JB some benefit here as I was considering as low as a C+.  It starts with the CC's words that JB had so much entering this season, but it was now time for him to lead a winning team.  Mission not exactly accomplished.  He gets the B due to his enormous talent coupled with the hard to ponder "what ifs" associated with if he hadn't been on this team.  He tried to be a better defender but could only improve so much.  CC tried to play him less but could only sit him so much.  Simply put, the team needed to have a better season in order for JB to receive a higher grade.

Darren Buchanan, Jr.        A-           Jun began the year coming off the bench but it did not take long for CC to realize that much of what GW would run on offense needed to come though him.  His special skills were apparent, and nobody on the team played any harder.  To be sure, there are things to work on from turning the ball over less to being more consistent at the free throw line.  His off-the-court activities only serve to reinforce the great feelings that so many in the GW community have for him. 

Maximus Edwards   C- (same grade if he was staying).  Again to be clear, Max is not a C- player or a C- talent.  His determination along the defensive boards in particular will be missed.  He also has very unique court vision which can range from finding a teammate which many other players would miss, to throwing a pass 30 feet out of bounds.  Some feel that "body language" should not be factored because it's really not a thing at this level but I have to respectfully disagree.  From taking very long 3's, seemingly because he hadn't taken a shot in some time, to so often being a step or two late on defense, Max's body language clearly brought himself down which is not ideal in a team sport.

Keegan Harvey   Incomplete        Seriously, what grade should Keegan receive?  The calls on this board for Keegan to play more seemed silly to me.  I get that so often, what the team was doing was not working so why not try it?  On the other hand, outside of his ability to make long three point shots, am not sure what Keegan brought to the table that warranted a regular rotation spot, and the coaches, who would really know, apparently felt similarly.  Keegan joins a long list of former GW players (Noel Brown, Jonathan Davis, Miles Beatty, Juice Williams) who garnered much praise at Kenner only to not have this translate in the fall/winter months.

Jacoi Hutchinson    B+        Interesting to watch Jacoi thrive against league competition.  All freshmen have some form of adjustment to the college game but given Jacoi's experience playing for IMG Academy, his learning curve was naturally shorter than a typical freshman.  Solid ball-handling, passing and defensive skills, with an outside shot that was better than expected.   Would have welcomed Jacoi being this team's pure point guard but that could not happen in earnest with JB on the roster.  Next year's offense may run through Jun but it should be Jacoi who is practically exclusively operating at the point.

Garrett Johnson      B+         It was Jon Rothstein who first got our attention after attending a GW practice and projecting Garrett to be a starter.  Nobody seemingly had that on their bingo card.  It didn't take long to see why.  Garrett possesses a smooth stroke from distance that was reminiscent of Jameson Battle and Nemanja Mikic before him.  As a bonus, Garrett was more than comfortable pump faking and taking the ball to the hole, a skill that Battle did not develop until his sophomore year and Mikic never developed.  Garrett also has the size to rebound effectively and the defensive instincts to hopefully improve upon.  Speaking of hope, Garrett has a complicated medical history, and his grade suffered due to missing as many games as he had to with a hip injury.  One can only hope and pray that Garrett will resume his college basketball career in a GW uniform but quite honestly, in any uniform, in great health.

Benny Schroder       D        It's a harsh grade that we can only hope goes up in time.  As of today, we've heard that Benny played very little at Oklahoma due largely to injuries, lit it up at the U18 European Championships, and then produced very little for GW.  More injuries played a part but this is a grade I can not attribute solely to injuries.  The game seemed to be operating at a different pace than what Benny was used to.  Perhaps it was the structure of the game, less free-wheeling, etc.  I had high hopes for Benny so again, the grade is indicative of expectations vs. performance.

Antoine Smith          C        My sense is that Antoine may have been sold a bill of goods.  His recruiting pitch was "we need 3 point shooters."  In reality, Antoine needed to shoot 3's, plus guard centers and others quite a bit bigger than him.  Not exactly his game but he was forced into this role.  The shooting was streaky (including good streaks at times), but the rest of the game was subpar, albeit the best GW could do.

Zamoku Weluche-Ume     C+    This one's tough because who knew what to expect?  Not every day that a player as young as Zam plays professionally in the UK.  Was hoping that he'd earn more time than he did, and perhaps he would have had CC not landed a grad student in Antoine to more or less execute the same role. The real question is how much further can Zam's game go?  I still see a fair amount of potential but in addition to seeing the three pointers fall through the net, Zam will have to work towards being a more sound two-way player. 

CC and Staff                C         Had I done this last year, CC and staff  would have earned a B or a B+, so this year's grade is definitely worse.  Injuries played a role but so did an inability to recruit 4/s/5's more successfully out of the portal, an OOC schedule that did not challenge nearly enough, and an alarming lack of adjustments while the team was enduring it's longest losing streak in 35 seasons aside from bringing Max off the bench and occasionally playing zone.  CC very much looked the part in Year 1 but lost some luster this past season.  Year 3 subsequently becomes more pivotal, not from a job security vantage point (the coaching staff is NOT getting fired after next season, no matter what), but from a program trajectory standpoint.