Thanks for this update and insight

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.)

Good info. Looking forward to a great year. Hope springs eternal.

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.

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..

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.

 

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. 

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.