Solid win. First time in a while Hutch has outplayed Jones (prob jones worst game of the year). 

I suspect most people just saw a decent 9 point win that was sloppy, but what I saw was that Richmond got 8-16 from three from Tyne and white - two guys who combined for just 7 threes on 44 attempts in the first 7 conference games (16%).  So for them to get that kind of shooting from those two guys, but we still win by 9 anyway (and with our PG playing awful)  is a sign of a really solid team. 

Also, I talked upthread about the TOs.  We only had 2 in the second half, which was ultimately the difference. 

Also shout out to Castro.  21 and 16 are Yinka numbers (except he also dished 3 dimes).  What a zone he’s in.  Teams are going to have to build their D around him, which will open it up for our guards. Loving that. 

Anyway, 4-4 and on to LaSalle.

Last edited by Free Quebec (1/29/2025 9:08 pm)

The A10 standings are crazy right now. There are 3 teams firmly at the top (Mason, VCU, and St. Louis) and 2 teams firmly at the bottom (Fordham and Richmond). The other 10 teams all have either 3 wins (3 teams) or 4 wins (7 teams). GW, along with those other 9 teams, could very easily finish anywhere from 4th to 13th in conference. GW is actually currently in a 5-way tie for 4th place…

GW continues to show that it can compete in the Atlantic 10, something that has been lacking since Lonergan (with the exception of Caputo's first year).    We were not at our best tonight and sill was able to win by 9.   The story of the first half, plain and simple, were turnovers, with honorable mention going to missed free throws.   We cleaned up the act substantially the second half, primarily by limiting Christian's minutes and increasing Jacoi's minutes.  Don't get me wrong...I love Christian, but the kid just didn't have it tonight, and Caputo was wise to bench him most of the second half in favor of Jacoi.   I also remain not a big fan of giving major minutes to Hansen, who just doesn't do enough to help the team.  In 18 minutes, he gave us 2 rebounds and no points or assists.  He also turned it over twice and is not a strong defender.   For me, the 2 big positives were  Gerald getting his 3 point touch back and Jacoi playing a solid, all around game.   And of course, there were solid games from Rafael and Autry, who loooks better and better each game.on both sides of the ball.  Then there is the mystery of Buchanan.   In 22 minutes, he shoots 0-0 from the field?   How can that be?   For someone who questioned whether he was healthy, he was wearing a back brace before the start of the game.  When several of the younger players started to emerge a few games ago, the question was how do we work Buchanan into thiis offense?   We do not appear to have figured it out yet.  As for Moss, I will again say his offense needs to consist of more than just launching 3s.   He came in shooting 24.5% from the 3 and missed both his 3 point attempts tonight.(which were his only 2 shots.   I thought we missed Bevins tonight.  Hope he is better for Lasalle.

Free Quebec wrote:

Sons of Liberty wrote:

Nice win. I like it. ...I watched most of the game on my phone. --30 years ago, you couldn't do that, huh.

30 years ago when I couldn’t get the radio signal, I would call the radio station and ask them to put me on hold so I could listen to it through my landline phone. 😂

Times have changed.

NICE. Love it. 

1) I'll amend LSF's statement by saying that while his teams could not get their shit together during the easy OOC games, Jamion's teams were largely competitive in the A10.  He will never receive enough credit for this.

2) It's essential to point out that while the A10 has become far less top-heavy in recent seasons, the title of perennial doormat has gone away as well.  Every A10 game is now a fight and none should be considered automatic wins.  Richmond has now lost 6 straight (the Hunt injury has truly derailed their season) and yet you see how hard they play, how well coached they are, and the fact that they still have enough three point shooting to keep them in games most nights. Fordham was the last team to win a conference game and now they've won two straight, at home against Duquesne and last night at La Salle.  La Salle, with Fran Dunphy at the helm, shows up far more often than their recent past.

3.  Starting to think that Buchanan is part of some type of basketball experiment.  22 minutes and zero shot attempts?  What flies in the face of logic is that the team appears to prosper when Jun is out or has little to do with the offensive game plan.  Still, I question how sustainable this is.  Great to read that he is handling matters like a true professional, as CC relayed to Abe Goldstein.

4.  Christian is very good, but also very inexperienced.  The talent is there but he will have some more subpar games like last night.

5. Rafael is quite a revelation.  The interesting thing is that the team sets up very few plays where he takes a pass in the low post and scores over a defender.  He is tremendous at scoring in transition and putting back missed shots.  As for his free throw shooting, he should start pretending that when shooting two, his first attempt is his second.  He does seem to miss the first and make the second quite a bit.

6.  Biggest relief of the night:  watching Gerald knock down an early three.  Several more followed.  He seems very confident shooting 3's against the Spiders, shooting 12-24 from 3 in the two meetings.

7.  I love how Trey Autry is developing.  Really confident on both ends of the floor.  Played very much under control last night which is a great sign.

8.  Credit to CC for giving Jacoi the lion's share of minutes at the point last night.  One way in which GW could have lost last night would have ben to continue to play carelessly with the ball.  Christian had an uncharacteristic night and Jacoi steadied the ship.  When we talk about this team's improved depth, this is a great example.

9. Trey Moss and Sean Hansen.  Am grouping them together because both serve very useful purposes and yet each have had some struggles recently.  T. Moss is coming back from an injury and maybe isn't ready just yet to accelerate to the hole.  However, that's what he ought to be doing.  He might be the best drive and dish or drive and score guard on the team.  He is far less of a weapon (some might say a liability) hoisting up 3's.  PKGW gave an excellent description of what Sean does well and to be certain, many of his attributes do not show up in a box score.  Nevertheless, he must be stronger with the ball as well as a more active rebounder.  I haven't looked this up but I'm guessing his rebounds per minutes played are awful for someone his size.  Yes, he does free up others at times to grab the rebound, but he also is outmuscled or outworked on some rebounds that he should be handling.

10.  I haven't griped too much about officiating this season and it seems weak to do so after a win.  But last night's crew was a piece of work.  They got so many things wrong particularly in the first half.  Just weeks after mentioned that offensive fouls aren't being called anymore, we get tagged with 3 within a ten minute or so period.  Spider players, by contrast, seemed free to push off with their free hand or lead with their shoulders.  Like I said, it did not cost us a game but I suspect many of us would be going crazy if last night was a L.

 

It was clear that GW had the talent advantage over Richmond, yet I find myself hoping the Revs don't have to face UR a third time come conference tournament time. Mooney clearly struck out big time from the transfer portal, but Richmond still runs some pretty good stuff on both sides of the ball. As CC mentioned in the presser, it caused GW to have to guard differently, and especially early on the Spiders got many good looks from deep. Nice to see some shots finally fall from outside (especially from Gerald) after a rough couple weeks.

Rafael was clearly the best player on the court, and it's certainly a luxury to have someone not only have the ability at his size to handle the ball at the top of the key but also crash the glass and finish missed shots (huge on this team that doesn't have the shooting of last year) as well as find the open man along the perimeter. His defense of course is great as well.

As a quick aside - when Gerald went down with the back injury after getting fouled on his way to the hoop, Rafael took the FTs for him and he ended up missing both in the first half. Why wouldn't Autry or Hutch serve as replacements for Drumgoole in that situation? Both players are roughly 75% from the line - similar to Gerald which seems fair. Castro does a lot of things well, but he's probably not who you want to send to the line in that spot.

Trey Autry has improved some defensively, although at times I still question his on-ball defense when he picks up the silly fouls. You can just tell he's more confident now that he has a longer leash. Coming into the year, I never thought there would be a game where he plays the most minutes of any on the team. Yesterday, he played 37 minutes, more than any player on either side. I like his effort when he crashes the glass and he really has a high arc on his shot - higher than any player I can remember at GW.

Sean seemed to be on the bike along the sidelines after he went out - is he banged up? Several players seemed to be using it yesterday. Agree with PKGW that his positioning is very good. He reminds me of the typical Richmond big that Mooney signs every offseason. A few times in conference play Hansen has been pretty good at backing down his man and finishing a hook shot, something he was obviously not doing early in the season.

I don't mind him continuing to start in place of Jun, who deserves a lot of credit for accepting his new role since coming back from injury. If I remember correctly, one of his three trips to the FT line came out of a called timeout from CC which suggests that he was trying to get Buchanan going with a called play for him. All three of his takes were similar plays barreling to the rim which is fine as a change of pace kind of thing, but GW really needs Jun to be more of a presence offensively in order to have a higher ceiling on that side of the ball. Shots may not fall from deep again, and teams will try to account for Rafael so Jun has to find himself again (which hopefully happens as he gets healthier).

CJ as others have mentioned just didn't have it yesterday. Seemed like the usual freshman tendency to try and do too much, over-dribble, and play in isolation. He is sometimes prone to losing the ball when he drives into traffic/towards the hoop but those mistakes can be fixed with more experience.

Gerald was a true warrior out there. He not only hurt his back but took multiple tough shots on his way to the hoop. Drumgoole also quietly finished with seven rebounds. Hopefully the lid is off the basket for him now because production from the backcourt is needed.

Dayan somehow collected no stats in 10 minutes of action but committed two fouls. There's definitely been multiple games during conference play where this has happened. It would be nice to give him more opportunities outside of just cardio.

Good to see Jacoi have some things finally go his way for a change. A made layup that wasn't blocked in transition, several very good defensive plays, and also making some good passes. The one play where Hutch drove to the hoop and found a streaking Gerald cutting to the hoop as well was something that I saw from CC's teams in previous years but not this year. Would like to see more of that - it resulted in two made FTs from Drumgoole. While Jacoi has still not had a game where's he has shot 40% or better from the field since mid-December against D1 competition it seems like things are finally trending up for him.

Trey Moss continues to attempt three point shots he shouldn't. He did have the right idea early on when he got to the basket but was called for an offensive foul, one of a few questionable calls from the refs early on. He did provide his usual hustle diving for loose balls and pulling down some boards but kind of like Jun I feel like the team needs him to be a bit more of a threat offensively to get to where they want to go this season.

The next one at La Salle feels like a bit of a trap game. The Explorers are coming off a bad loss at home to Fordham. Dunphy is too good of a coach to let that happen again and he's often got the best of CC from a coaching perspective. GW may be ever so slightly favored, but it's never easy to win on the road.
 

dmvpiranha wrote:

It was clear that GW had the talent advantage over Richmond, yet I find myself hoping the 

As a quick aside - when Gerald went down with the back injury after getting fouled on his way to the hoop, Rafael took the FTs for him and he ended up missing both in the first half. Why wouldn't Autry or Hutch serve as replacements for Drumgoole in that situation? Both players are roughly 75% from the line - similar to Gerald which seems fair. Castro does a lot of things well, but he's probably not who you want to send to the line in that spot.

Someone help me with the rule.  Can't say I have checked recently (meaning in decades), but I had thought the rule was that if the fouled player was too injured to shoot the free throws, the offensive team would select the substitute shooter but the injured player was no longer able to finish the game.   In this situation, Drumgoole did re-enter the game but it would seem that the free throw shooter was selected by Richmond because clearly CC would not have chosen Castro as the substitute shooter.   My recollection was that initially someone else approached the line to take the shots but was called back and replaced by Castro.   Anyone know the answer?

Trey Moss continues to attempt three point shots he shouldn't. He did have the right idea early on when he got to the basket but was called for an offensive foul, one of a few questionable calls from the refs early on. He did provide his usual hustle diving for loose balls and pulling down some boards but kind of like Jun I feel like the team needs him to be a bit more of a threat offensively to get to where they want to go this season.

For the season, Moss is now shooting 27-41 (65.8%) from the two and 15-63 (23.8%) from the 3.  And the vast number of his shot attempts during the season were pre-inuury, so we can't use that as an excuse.  With that shooting discrepency,  60.5% of your shots should not be 3 point attempts.    


 

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (1/30/2025 10:59 am)

When a fouled player is injured and can't take the free throws, the opposing coach gets to pick who shoots the free throws. Flagrant fouls are different than technical fouls. The fouled player must shoot the free throws for a flagrant foul. For technical fouls, the coach of the team that did not commit the foul gets to choose who shoots the free throws.

https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachments/document/e0d1-2810991/2023-2024_Mens_BBall_Rules_Book.pdf

Amen GWRising.  
A heartbreaking tragedy.