At least my HS won their state championship in a come from behind game. We could use some of their guards.

Before anyone proclaims this a "21-win season that was better than sliced bread", let´s remember that the team played a very weak schedule that included a DII team, a team that had never before played DI basketball and a team near the bottom of DI that was fixing games for gamblers.
The inside play went soft in the 2nd half tonight and that was a real issue when the outside shots stopped falling. Caputo (or whomever is coaching next season) will need to address that.

Hugh wrote:

Well they got punched in the face, then punched again, kept getting punched, and had no response. Generous i.

Refs should have called a TKO well before the final buzzer.
 

Mason wanted the game more. They played better defense, rebounded better and gathered in many of GW’s errant passes. Jun was a bull in a china shop, frequently charged in only to have shots blocked. He spent a lot of time on the ground. I watched the game with the AU head coach. AU does have a spot for him next year.. Probably, coming off the bench. Mason started the second half with a twelve point run. Inexcusable.
A large crowd. A good atmosphere. A disappointing performance. 

GW Alum Abroad wrote:

Before anyone proclaims this a "21-win season that was better than sliced bread", let´s remember that the team played a very weak schedule that included a DII team, a team that had never before played DI basketball and a team near the bottom of DI that was fixing games for gamblers.
The inside play went soft in the 2nd half tonight and that was a real issue when the outside shots stopped falling. Caputo (or whomever is coaching next season) will need to address that.

Totally agree. Making a big deal about “20 Wins” is a joke given the OOC schedule. You can’t be thumping your chest on that. Too many times this year we had no answers and seemed to lose the plot. That’s something that needs to get fixed.

I'm as disappointed as anyone in that second half, but a lot of sour grapes on this thread that I'd like to respond to:
1. Caputo is not a perfect coach, but if I were GW, I would definitely keep him next year. In fact, I might even offer him an extension, for two reasons. First, it's pretty obvious after the last three hires that GW is not going to pay to get a coach that we know for sure would be better. We could get lucky and hire a better coach, but odds are that whoever they hire would be worse. While the team hasn't improved as fast as many of us would like, there is no denying that they have gotten better each year he's been here. Let's give him a chance to continue to improve himself and the team. Second, Caputo has some good talent on this team with a good likelihood of returning. If we let him go, they will likely all leave and we'll have to start from scratch again.
2. I'm amazed at how fast GW fans have given up on Jun. Yes, he needs to work on creating good shots rather than just bullying his way to the basket. But I think he has tremendous upside and will get much better next year if he stays at GW. To say that he would come off the bench next year at AU is ridiculous. He will start at GW if he returns and I wouldn't be surprised if he wins comeback player of the year. The three players I would focus on getting to return next year are Castro, Jun, and Autry.
3. GW played a great first half against a bigger, more physical team. Yes, they had a meltdown to start the second half, but I thought they fought really hard to get back in it the last 10 minutes. Unfortunately, they were just too far behind and their shots weren't falling. To say they gave up is also ridiculous.
4. While the 21 wins may be a bit misleading because of the soft OOC schedule, GW has played one of the easiest OOC schedules for many years in a row now without winning 20 games. And they had 5 more A10 wins (6 if you include the A10 tourney) than last year. Their NET and KenPom rankings were also significantly better than they have been in recent years. While they are not yet where we want them to be, this year's team was the best we've had since probably 2016-17 (the last time we won 20 games).

Last edited by DC Native (3/14/2025 8:03 pm)

Alum1 wrote:

DC Native wrote:

I'm as disappointed as anyone in that second half, but a lot of sour grapes on this thread that I'd like to respond to:
4. While the 21 wins may be a bit misleading because of the soft OOC schedule, GW has played one of the easiest OOC schedules for many years in a row now without winning 20 games. And they had 5 more A10 wins (6 if you include the A10 tourney) than last year. Their NET and KenPom rankings were also significantly better than they have been in recent years. While they are not yet where we want them to be, this year's team was the best we've had since probably 2016-17 (the last time we won 20 games).

Then talk about these things and not “20 wins”
 

Nice try, but I didn’t bring it up. I’m just responding to those that did.

Next year starts now. Lets hope we can keep core players.

dmvpiranha wrote:

DC Native wrote:

I'm as disappointed as anyone in that second half, but a lot of sour grapes on this thread that I'd like to respond to:
3. GW played a great first half against a bigger, more physical team. Yes, they had a meltdown to start the second half, but I thought they fought really hard to get back in it the last 10 minutes. Unfortunately, they were just too far behind and their shots weren't falling. To say they gave up is also ridiculous.

I agree with all your other points, so I'll just explain the "giving up" comment I made earlier. Mason had close to half a dozen straight line drives to the hoop on offense without any contesting from GW whatsoever in the final quarter of the game. This is in the halfcourt, not counting in transition off a missed shot. That doesn't happen unless you stop guarding. Not dismissing Mason's physicality and GW being gassed, but Fordham put up a better fight against GW on their second night and it's not like GW runs a tight rotation (Moss + Nessah were out, but they still played eight guys). A lot of defense is about effort, yet GW conceded 80+ points to two teams that weren't even top 200 on offense on back to back nights. Tonight, the Revs let their poor offense (largely iso ball in the second half with one total assist) dictate their defense in the second half.

Your previews are great and I have a lot of respect for your analyses, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on this point. GW fell behind by so much that they were forced to press and trap to try to force turnovers. The problem with trapping is that leaves someone open, and Mason was doing a good job finding that guy. If the game was close, they would have played a very different style of defense to close the game out. I didn’t see any players give up.

DC Native wrote:

Your previews are great and I have a lot of respect for your analyses, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on this point. GW fell behind by so much that they were forced to press and trap to try to force turnovers. The problem with trapping is that leaves someone open, and Mason was doing a good job finding that guy. If the game was close, they would have played a very different style of defense to close the game out. I didn’t see any players give up.

I don't know if I'd call it "giving up" but the players did have cement shoes in the second half when the game was basically out of reach. I can specifically remember two instances late in the second half where a GMU guard basically dribbled around in the backcourt before finding a seam to the lane, which seemed to have parted like Moses parted the Red Sea, while the rest of the GW defenders stared and watched him go to the hoop for an easy layup. The game was basically over and we're just nitpicking, but it was hard not to notice this.