Offline
Got a chance to watch the 2025-26 team recently. I don't know how many wins we will have but one thing is clear, this is most talent accumulated under CC and maybe since the NIT championship year. I think we are at least 2 deep at every spot and versatile. We have length, shooting and athleticism. If I had to guess, I would think the freshmen will be brought along slowly (and maybe even one or both redshirted). I am very optimistic about this group but of course, it is only July.
A couple of specific notes (mostly on the new guys since no one has seen them yet) with the caveat that we were playing against ourselves in practice:
1. Bevins really stood out as much improved. Hit a number of threes and looks much more confident. Might have grown a bit too.
2. Hunger is big and strong - something we haven't had in the post in a long time. He can be more than a hold the fort guy.
3. Aranguren is tough as nails. He plays hard and is talented. Would not be surprised if he ends up being one of our better players. Can score from virtually anywhere.
4. Benjamin is versatile and bigger than I thought. Not yet sure what his role is going to be but he will have an impact.
5. Dinkins will score and brings some veteran presence/leadership.
6. Marshall was largely quiet when I was watching but I heard good things about him.
Additional note: Garrett is coming along and looks good.
I specifically did not mention Castro, Autry, Jones, or Moss because I wanted to focus on the newer guys. All looked good for the most part. Castro looks to be stronger.
CC biggest challenge will be finding the right combinations and minutes for 10-11 guys along with figuring out what offense and defense fits these guys best. Talent wise it's not even close. This year's team looks to be so much better than last year's team in terms of those key metrics - skill, athleticism. strength. What that means in the end we will all find out together. But you should be excited and optimistic.
Offline
Thanks for this update and insight
Offline
Appreciate the report!
Really like what Ty provided in spurts last year. Only problem like with Moss is that I'm not sure where the minutes are going to come from given the depth of the team barring any injuries. Bevins definitely seems deserving of minutes though.
I think Luke could surprise if he focuses on working close to the basket. He took a lot more midrange shots than I'm sure CC would like which hurt his efficiency. Slim ended up taking way fewer jumpers than I expected last year (if I remember correctly like one three during OOC play?), which will hopefully end up being the case for Hunger too.
Really high on Jean, Bubu, and Woo. Aranguren gives me Garino vibes. Benjamin seems to have a lot of upside. Marshall was a beast defensively for WKU. The latter two are different player prototypes than we are used to seeing under CC. Tre D will likely win us a couple of games with a hot stretch of shooting.
Hopefully Garrett is eased in and not asked to play 30+ minutes this year given the depth. Is Rougier-Roane fully healthy now? I'd imagine he'd be a good RS candidate - a lot of upside there. Someone (maybe multiple players) will end up playing fewer minutes than they are capable of given the talent but I guess that's a good problem to have.
Offline
Encouraged to read that the new guys stood out on the whole, even if this was at practice against one another. It's no secret that transfers playing up at GW have historically not had the same level of success as those coming down a level. Only Luke fits the profile of a down-transfer. (Tre Dinkens being a lateral one.)
Offline
Thanks for the info guys.
Offline
Good info. Looking forward to a great year. Hope springs eternal.
Offline
This is a great read. Thanks Rising - given you have a pretty consistently clear-eyed view of things, it’s enough to get me very excited for this year.
P.S. - deeply appreciate the Colonial reference. It’s always and forever the Colonials to me.
Last edited by Alum1 (7/24/2025 10:58 pm)
Offline
I had the opportunity to see our guys practice as well and agree with all of the optimism from GWRising. Luke Hunger brings more size and scoring ability than I expected. We are very deep and talented this year. think we can expect Coach C to play 9-10 guys regularly. From what I have heard it is realistic to expect the Revs to finish in the top 3 in the A-10 and go the NCAA tourney or the NIT.
Offline
Thanks Rising, we are getting close to tip off!
Offline
View #2 today. Pretty much confirmed my earlier thoughts on Aranguren. Marshall stepped up today (as compared to last time). And it was nice to see Rougier-Roane out there and participating for the first time (for me). The other notable performers of the newcomers were Hunger and Benjamin. Both are going to help in big ways in my opinion. Benjamin is long and athletic and Hunger is the powerful post player we haven't had in awhile.
CJ was also better today. Garrett still working his way back to good health - won't be long I am told. The other returners were all solid.
Caveat: I am looking at single practices in isolation so I could have missed, for example, Dinkins lighting it up on Monday. But I am really impressed with the newcomers - all will contribute. But damn, I am a huge Aranguren, Hunger and Benjamin fan already.
To me, the biggest challenge for CC is trying to figure out how best to play everyone. I've been watching GW basketball for more than 35 years and this is going to be a team that has enough talent to win and contend if it can continue to jell and the right lineups can be figured out. You can see the pieces and versatility. CC the GM did a great job acquiring and maintaining talent, now CC the coach has to manage and organize that talent..
Offline
GWRising wrote:
View #2 today. Pretty much confirmed my earlier thoughts on Aranguren. Marshall stepped up today (as compared to last time). And it was nice to see Rougier-Roane out there and participating for the first time (for me). The other notable performers of the newcomers were Hunger and Benjamin. Both are going to help in big ways in my opinion. Benjamin is long and athletic and Hunger is the powerful post player we haven't had in awhile.
CJ was also better today. Garrett still working his way back to good health - won't be long I am told. The other returners were all solid.
Caveat: I am looking at single practices in isolation so I could have missed, for example, Dinkins lighting it up on Monday. But I am really impressed with the newcomers - all will contribute. But damn, I am a huge Aranguren, Hunger and Benjamin fan already.
To me, the biggest challenge for CC is trying to figure out how best to play everyone. I've been watching GW basketball for more than 35 years and this is going to be a team that has enough talent to win and contend if it can continue to jell and the right lineups can be figured out. You can see the pieces and versatility. CC the GM did a great job acquiring and maintaining talent, now CC the coach has to manage and organize that talent..
This is starting to sound real. As in…..we have a chance to be playing some interesting games come March. Keep the updates coming Rising.
Offline
Worth noting that this has been CC's desire all along. He has said in the past that he'd love nothing more to have a very deep bench where he could keep players fresh, hinting at a 10 or even 11 man rotation where everyone earns double-figure minutes on average. This was said during his first season when CC barely played 7 guys citing a serious lack of depth. (This was the Noel Brown, Amir Harris, Quanzi Samuels bench.)
This trend has been readily apparent over the course of the past three seasons:
Year 1: JB and Brendan each averaged an astounding 37.7 minutes per game. Max was at 33.7 minutes and Ricky's 29 would have been higher had he not encountered so much foul trouble. Hunter rounded out the top 5 at 26.8 minutes. Just 3 guys played between 10-20 minutes and one of these only appeared in 12 games (E.J. Clark).
Year 2: Less top-heavy with just two players over 30 minutes (JB at 35.4 and Jun at 30.9, with 4 more players averaging between 26.5-29.2 minutes (Garrett, Max, Jacoi and Akinbola). Autry was a7th solid rotation player at 18.5 and then a serious drop-off in minute allocation followed.
Year 3: Slim led the team at 29.4 minutes followed by Jun at 28.4. No player averaged 30+ minutes. The balance was evident as 7 additional players averaged 20+ minutes, T. Moss played 16, and Ty Bevins came in at 11. By far, the largest of CC's player rotations.
Year 4 is shaping up to be much like Year 3 with respect to playing lots of players regularly.
Offline
GWRising wrote:
Garrett still working his way back to good health - won't be long I am told.
I liked what Colpoys said earlier this summer in a podcast that while Garrett is dying to get back to full speed this summer, what matters is he's ready to go in November. I'm definitely excited to see all the different lineups we can put out there and what lineup ends up becoming our go-to in crunch time.
Offline
One of the other things that I neglected to mention is that in talking with most of the returning players is that they expect to win and they believe there was unfinished business last year. This is evident from not only their words but their actions and the intensity with which they practice. The newcomers seem to fit right into that belief and activity. I always believe there is a psychology to winning which is that there has to be a belief system that permeates the team that we can and should win every time we step on the court. Not just saying it but actually believing it. Call it swagger. It is actually worth points in a game - how many depends on the opponent. Not sure if that was present before but it is now.
Again, it's the last day in July and, of course, the bright lights haven't been turned on yet so this is just my best guess. But there is a vibe on this team, one I haven't seen since the ML era that we can win and win big. Let's hope it all translates.
Offline
Utilizing Garrett's shooting, assuming it returns to form, while allowing him to gradually
get back into things, is the right approach.
Looks like we have the depth to do so this year.
The problem with the JB years, while certainly appreciating his loyalty and efforts at the end to be more of a of a team player, is that we were too centered around him. We were somewhat that way with Jun, with some good results. But when he was injured, Castro emerged.
Now it at least looks like we have plenty of options, including ones with successful D1 experience.
We'll see how it works on the court, but if that remains the case, this kind of depth would be a luxury that has been missing for a long time.
Offline
What I like about this roster is the flexibility to go with a different matchup depending on the opponent. There is a flexibility to the roster that should enable the team to have much different looks - it is crucial that the players buy-in to this and sounds like -from Rising’s post - they do. Minutes may vary game to game as well as crunch time minutes. But, if effective, can make the team very dangerous.
Offline
Very glad to see that we're not depending too much on Garrett to make a speedy and full recovery to top form. I hope we can work him back in slowly without it costing us much (if anything) in the W-L column. Also must admit to a nagging deja-vu fear that Garrett not become this season's model of an over-hyped Jun that under-performed significantly. Thankfully, we shouldn't have to overly depend on him given our other weapons.
Offline
Garrett is doing very well and should be 100 percent by the beginning of the season. I talked to him this week; he is feeling very good. And he is not going to disappoint us.