I am so broken at this point that I looked it up, and there is indeed a CBI happening this year with a 16-team field. You will all be pleased to learn the first two rounds will be available exclusively on FloSports!!!! 

Can't win the big, medium, or small one

Not that it matters, but Aranguren had a triple double.  I don’t think there’s been more than 1 or 2 in GW history, if any.

College basketball is weird now and not for the better.  No shot at a post season tournament.  No shot at winning the A-10 tournament (you don't win that without the double bye).  No reason to watch the season to see if the young guys progress (most if not all will be transferring like every other team). Not clear to me why I should invest another two hours in any game this season. 

Cudos to Jean! And the team deserves credit for great effort even though they came up short. They are improving despite many here feeling the season is over. 

What bothered me more than anything was the officiating.  This was a really good game that had its continuity ruined by the refs!  3 successful challenges for obvious wrong possession calls?  Proof that the refs were watching a different game than the rest of us and making us wait needlessly while they deliberated for 5 minutes each time.  They should be fined every time they get it wrong lol

Thanks FQ and jf for the nice words earlier!

dmvpiranha wrote:

Honestly, there's not really a lot to like about this matchup compared to Fordham and St. Joe's. Duquesne has had GW's number recently, and there's not much evidence to suggest that the Revs can limit their strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses. On offense, the Dukes will be able to get whatever they want, especially down low with superior size and strength. They can also live at the free throw line and will have plenty of good looks from deep. GW may be able to turn them over on occasion, but that's about all they can do defensively. Guinyard will be able to get into the lane without trouble if he's able to play.

There's not really much of a surprise the way the games go at this point.

Guinyard had just four points at halftime. Four! I guess he needed a half to shake off the rust, because sure enough when it mattered the most he was knocking in threes as GW was continuously going under screens and finishing at the hoop uncontested. Letting him score 23 in the second half shows a lack of heart.

The Dukes indeed got whatever they wanted offensively. Duquesne committed ZERO turnovers after halftime, which really speaks to GW's ineptitude on defense. With Bubu and Slim out, GW had more subpar defenders than good ones out there.

FQ mentioned it earlier - this team just could not get any stops when they regained the lead. It's a shame, because for the most part the offense was good. Rebounding effort was definitely there. Jean and Luke were awesome today. Both Tricky and Tre needed to be bigger factors. Autry disappeared after the first eight minutes and something seemed off with Dinkins today. I'm surprised Max didn't play, since he wasn't on the injury report. I guess he is out of Duquesne's rotation.

The turnovers will probably be forgotten but 16 is way too many and once again many were of the unforced variety with guys not on the same page. That shouldn't be happening this late in the year. Do agree with H&R..71 about the refs. Not the reason GW lost, but there were certainly stretches of the game where it seemed like GW was whistled for fouls on little-to-no contact seemingly every time down the floor. Contact was not called both ways.

I'm not sure anything can fix the missed layups in crunch time though. The personnel is just un-clutch. I don't think I've seen a team this bad in the final minutes. It's comical, and almost feels like it's intentional with how many layups get botched. The looks were good (and wide open), the execution was just not there. GW is now officially dead last in luck on KenPom.
 

GWRising wrote:

Feel bad for CC and staff. Know they are trying to fix these end of games woes but there is only so much they can do with this roster if guys won't step up. Again, it's not about the X's and O's as much as it is the Jimmies and the Joes. I'm happy to put the spotlight on any of CC's coaching decisions once our guys show they are ready for the moment. Until then, I promise you it isn't about adjustments. There is nothing to adjust.

Wow! When I posted about adjustments was that denial?
To the point of grit remember when Trey said he was disappointed the players get the message after the McNeece loss. And didn’t some warn us about the Dinkins experience. It would really suck to simply crater.

22ndandF wrote:

GWRising wrote:

It's not the refs, it's not bad luck, it's not coaching, it's not the Castro injury (today). I'll say it louder for those in the back for about the 10th time this year ... it's lack of grit and leadership on the floor that shows up in two areas. We aren't mentally tough in winning time (can't finish, make shots, get stops, get key rebounds, not turn the ball over etc.) and we don't have a true PG. Aranguren is as close to a PG as we have and is the ONLY player who constantly shows grit but even he is inconsistent (although he was very good today). Hopefully he can light a fire under the rest of the guys. It's like we are stuck in the movie Groundhog Day. We keep expecting it to change but I just don't see it with this group. Once you've seen the movie many times you know how the story goes. 

Also I really don't want to do this ... but is Dinkins just playing out the string for NIL? He looks about as motivated these last 4 games as my dog lying on the sofa taking a nap. I don't know what happened but something flipped with him. I am tempted to put him on a milk carton soon. If anyone has seen November Tre call CC..

Feel bad for CC and staff. Know they are trying to fix these end of games woes but there is only so much they can do with this roster if guys won't step up. Again, it's not about the X's and O's as much as it is the Jimmies and the Joes. I'm happy to put the spotlight on any of CC's coaching decisions once our guys show they are ready for the moment. Until then, I promise you it isn't about adjustments. There is nothing to adjust.

Well it's fine to feel badly for Caputo and his staff, but it's their fault.  With the possible exception of Atury, we don't appear to have a single player with the leadership and grit you so often correctly write about.  As the legendary John Wooden used to say "Sports do not build character. They reveal it." I don't blame the players at all. Many of then have A10 level basketball skill-sets.

Caputo and his trusted advisers built this team.  Look no further than them if you want to know why this team cannot be fixed.  Can Caputo learn from his mistakes and bring in players with both the skill and character required to win?  That's the only question we should be asking at this point.

Agree in part and disagree in part. CC and staff can't make free throws or layups or rebounds or take care of the ball. Most are woes late game are due to miscues and missed opportunities. The opportunities are being created. We are lacking execution. Note that I am not saying that CC has zero responsibility I am just saying that a lot of what is ailing us is execution. And we aren't executing because when things get tight we don't  have that grit and leadership to get us through.

It is undeniable that CC brought all the players here. There are no holdovers from any previous regime. Perhaps he does need to find at least a few kids that while maybe a shade less talented are more gritty. This staff would not be huge Joe McDonald fans because of talent. But all that kid did was win. We need someone like Joe for starters.

Everything noted by posters above has some meaning. And everyone connected with the playing/scheduling side of the program bears some responsibility.
    For example, do we need another Joe McDonald? Absolutely. For one thing, he was a point guard who scored when necessary and stepped up when needed. He does have the will to succeed (even now off the court) and win. He would even be better in that role now if we could somehow get him another year of eligibility. Did I mention that he is a point guard?
    I love CC as an experienced basketball coach on winning teams, good person and along with his staff (and GW's open wallet), seeming to be an extraordinary recruiter. Trey Autry is the best successor to the Joe McDonald, Carl Elliott role in winning games, but we can't help him at the very last minute. He also is not a point guard.
   This roster was constructed with some weaknesses. Prob part marketplace and part philosophy. We
knew and discussed preseason that we didn't have a pure point guard. Aranguren can play that role somewhat, especially last game when we wasted his stellar Triple Double performance. But overall, so far, he's not a pass first/protect the ball point guard. While he's starting to live up to expectations, Aranguren's not a pure point guard. No one is on this roster and this was known.
   Secondly, we are overloaded with guards and thin on forwards, especially big ones. Marshall can be a remedy sometimes, but sometimes not. I and others noted this preseason--and now with Castro, Bubu and Bevins (who has some rebounding instincts) out, we have very little depth at the forward spot. Easier said than done, (but even Fordham appears to have done it). This was a known liability before the season and we are paying the price. Believe we don't even have a walk on big.
    Also, again maybe because of finances and playing time if everyone is healthy, didn't we leave a roster spot open? That may be coming back to haunt us, with injury. 
And we are redshirting freshman F Chaudri, which makes sense in the Christian Jones model. But if he's at all ready for prime time, or even a few minutes of play, is not helpful. Wouldn't be a great time to lift the redshirt with much of the season gone. But if the injury bug starts to bite us more, desperate times may call for desperate measures.
    CC and staff deserve great credit for recruiting what on paper is a powerful roster. But for whatever reason, the ability to win games isn't there. And part of it may be the wrong Jimmy and Joe's to be winners, star complex from their old teams, or just not an ability to focus consistently at critical times.
   And the X's and O's are haunting us as well. No, CC or whoever is directing the timeout huddle is not
telling them to throw the ball away, take implausible shots too early, blow easy layups/putbacks or leave the other team open for an inbounds breakaway when the ball is inbounded, killing any chance of a win. But these things are happening, along with weird last-minute substitution glitches. And it is the responsibility of the coaching staff to reinforce the message before it bites us on the ass time and time again.
    Absent a conference tourney win, or huge end of the season winning streak, this season is a huge disappointment and a waste of talent and money.
    Some of it couldn't be foreseen, but some of it could be. Whatever it takes to win, we don't have it. Individual stats, awards or performance metrics, still take a backseat to the final score. That metric
is awful, given our talent and athleticism.
   And everyone connected to the product on the court bears some responsibility.

Agree with you Rising on most of what you said except for "it's not coaching".
CC has to take some responsibility. This is his 4th season and these are all "his guys". Therefore, bring in guys who can get the job done and make the adjustments when necessary.
Still 8 games left to turn this ship around.

Free Quebec, please stop with the constant whining about the refs. It's during every away game and some of the home games too. Like injuries, every team is impacted.