That ending was ROUGH. You gotta hope they learn something from this loss and understand they can’t start overconfident/flat/whatever happened and not be outrebounded / outhustled

Tough loss. Not enough contributors on offense and poor defense. Hope Marshall is OK, but he was limping pretty badly after the game. A night to forget despite a great performance by Castro.

jmoiii2016 wrote:

Same shit every season for the past decade. All the hype and some really legitimate decent starts to have disappointing losses. The program is dead. I don’t blame Caputo or the players. I think he’s a great coach with an awesome roster. I believe we are cursed…

Definitely cursed in these MTEs, that’s for sure.

This trip will definitely be a humbling experience for these guys. Biggest takeaway is the stuff that works against the 290th KenPom team doesn’t work against teams 80-120. If you want to win in the A10, you gotta play tougher and act like you deserve to win.

Look at how Tony Skinn has Mason playing right now.

You hope they learn something from the losses and take it to the A10 with a vengeance (eternal hope here)

1) As everyone noted, might want to pressure the ball a bit on inbounds.
And if not, pressure the dribbler at least some. Know you don't want to foul, though
that would have been preferable in retrospect.
  But we practically guided him down the runway. The matador defense. 
2) With Jess Settles back in the saddle decades later, the curse of I%& continues.
 Deeply disappointing low-midtier tournament.
No way to spin it.

FredD wrote:

Alum1 wrote:

How do you let Jackson go unmolested coast-to-coast up one with 6 seconds left?  Poor coaching, that’s how.

Nope. I disagree. That’s on the players. Can’t imagine CC not coaching them to stop the ball in that situation

Watching the replay, it looks like we set up with 2 guys in the backcourt and 3 in the front court instead of man to man.  Jones got faked off Jackson, leaving Jackson an open catch, but then when Jackson caught it and started up court jones pointed to something.  I don’t know if he thought someone else was supposed to pick up Jackson or  what, but it seems like he should have gone to him instead of worrying about a pass.  Then the other three players were sitting back in the paint for whatever reason. 

The whole defensive play was a giant cluster and no idea if that was down to players not following instructions or not making good decisions, or if CC just put the wrong defense in for that moment.

Free Quebec wrote:

FredD wrote:

Alum1 wrote:

How do you let Jackson go unmolested coast-to-coast up one with 6 seconds left?  Poor coaching, that’s how.

Nope. I disagree. That’s on the players. Can’t imagine CC not coaching them to stop the ball in that situation

Watching the replay, it looks like we set up with 2 guys in the backcourt and 3 in the front court instead of man to man.  Jones got faked off Jackson, leaving Jackson an open catch, but then when Jackson caught it and started up court jones pointed to something.  I don’t know if he thought someone else was supposed to pick up Jackson or  what, but it seems like he should have gone to him instead of worrying about a pass.  Then the other three players were sitting back in the paint for whatever reason. 

The whole defensive play was a giant cluster and no idea if that was down to players not following instructions or not making good decisions, or if CC just put the wrong defense in for that moment.

 
Wrong defense in my view. And if players didn’t really know what to do, well…….

Last edited by Alum1 (11/26/2025 12:46 am)

DC Native wrote:

I’m just disappointed. I thought we were going to be really good this year, but its clear to me now that we’re not. Time to reset expectations. Now, I know this team is still the best we’ve had in 10 years, but going 1-2 in a tournament of mid-majors was just not what I had in mind for this team. There are 7 A10 teams with a higher KenPom ranking than Murray State, and 4 higher than McNeese, so at this point, I just hope we can finish with a winning record (10-8) in the A10…

‼️‼️ and losing both games by a total of less than 10 points is a double edged sword because yes we stormed back against McNeese and traded baskets with Murray State but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

That flight home for our loyal fans in the stands and the team would have been sooo much more gratifying pulling it out today.

While extremely disappointed, I am intrigued by how the team shows up against Army and in its pre Florida matchups.

RaiseHigh'96 wrote:

but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Also maters in NET calculation. 
 

What is it about Jess Settles being in the building that allows for:

a) controversial officiating
b) a heartbreaking loss
c) GW leaving the game with not one but two unused timeouts

There are so many positives that fall by the wayside in this one.  Slim's heroic performance featuring a 12-14 night at the foul line.  Autry's amazing late three to tie the game, followed by his left handed layup off of a give and go with Rafael to take the lead.  And a special shout-out to Jean who took on the Wu role after his injury and played a great all-around game.  That said, here are some thoughts:

1) I'm not going to profess that I know entirely how college basketball's challenge system works.  I will say that the intent of any challenge system ought to be to get the calls right.  I understand towards that end that we can't stop games to challenge whenever we want; there are and must be limits.  Nevertheless, here is what happened during arguably the game's most important sequence with 18 seconds left (and GW having two timeouts remaining):

a) Fred King missed a dunk.
b) Fred King held onto the rim after his attempt, even if it was just for a second.  He was in no danger of injuring anyone had he not hung on the rim.
c) Fred King rebounded his missed dunk and immediately proceeded to travel which was not called.
d) Fred King was fouled by Bubu.  Based on available camera angles, it was difficult for me to tell if this was a good call.

So, was CC allowed to challenge either the offensive goaltending (I would think so) or the subsequent travel (I would think not)?  Nothing was challenged which was perplexing.  Did a challenge have to come from the officials with under a minute left?  

Next, those unused two timeouts.  In a tie game with 18 seconds left, King missed the first free throw making him 1-4 at the line for the night.  King was a 62.5% FT shooter his freshman year and has been in the 50's ever since.  How about using one of those timeouts to put some extra pressure on a less than average free throw shooter?  I think CC would tell you that he does not believe in these things but maybe he should start.  This tactic isn't about whether a coach thinks they have any bearing or not; it's solely about the free throw shooter and how they handle late-game pressure.  Of course, King would make the second giving the Racers a one point lead.

So let's see, where could GW have used that second unused timeout?  I know, how about after Autry's layup gave them a one point lead and Murray State showed how they were lining up offensively?  I mean, why not organize your defense?  What the hell is the harm?  Settles pointed out that these were moments that defensive coordinator Dwayne Lee lives for.  I won't push further on that point other than to say that everyone in the building knew that Jackson was going to take the game-winner.  I knew it, Piranha knew it, you likely knew it too.  That kid took 20 shots in 23 minutes.  Not exactly rocket science.  Personally, I would not have put any pressure on the inbounds pass at all, let alone waste two defenders in the backcourt.  By the time Jackson began dribbling, there wasn't a guard in sight to contain him.  Castro was the only hope and he's simply not going to block every shot that comes his way.  

What's particularly painful is that I believe this is a good coaching staff.  Yet on the last play of the game, the team looked completely unprepared and helpless.  Pretty valid reasons why to call a timeout and make sure the players understand their defensive assignments.

If you are thinking ahead to at-large possibilities, and as fans, that's what we all should have been thinking heading into this event, the two losses are not just any two losses but will be construed as 1-2 against mid-majors from lower conferences.  Plenty of time to make up for this but the margin for error just got much smaller.  Really a shame as the McNeese loss was far easier to understand.  This one was a genuine head-scratcher.