Can't tell you the JC names because it is too recent and may embarrass current HCs who did not either get the job or withdrew.

KH - Kevin Clark, Fran McCaffery, Bob Staak, and two others who I won't name. 

This conversation about process is kind of silly.  JC was hired because he had proven at both MSM that he could turn programs around quickly. 

The problem right now is we aren’t seeing what we saw from those teams that turned around so fast (like Siena, who was picked last or second to last in their league, but finished 2nd under JC, or MSM, who went from bad to the tourney).

What marked JC’s other teams was that his teams seemed to play with relentless aggression on both ends.  They seemed extremely confident in their system and just kept at it    They got after it defensively, and when they had the ball, they put a ton of pressure on the defense.

We aren’t seeing those characteristics at GW yet under him.  Rather than attack defensively, we are playing extremely passive defense. I understand that last year, especially with the injuries, we simply didn’t have the personnel to execute (think of how much better we were when both Harris and Paar were healthy for a few games).   But this year, we have moved to a zone and the team simply doesn’t seem to know how to execute it    We don’t harass the ball handlers, making passes easy, and we don’t rotate well on the wings or inside when the ball moves.  It’s clearly not working. 

But we also aren’t seeing the same characteristics on offense. Last night, late in the first half, I started paying attention to how many times we passed more than once after the ball crossed halfcourt and the answer was almost never (it happened once in the first 15 possessions I noted, and that was on a transition give and give from battle to Bishop back to battle).

  By not passing, we are easy to defend - Bishop (or Nelson) drives and if they don’t shoot, they make one pass to a guy who shoots. The defense doesn’t have to do a whole lot. Just stand with the shooters and react if they get the ball. No one really moves, or screens, or passes. We may be getting shots up quickly, but it doesn’t feel like we are putting the kind of pressure on defenses that I expected from JC because we don’t attack from all angles - just the same one every possession. Maybe that’s how we played at Siena and MSM, but it’s not what I remember. Further, since we don’t rebound and aren’t good at forcing turnovers, we give our opponent too many more shots than us and I don’t see analytically how that can succeed in the long run unless you shoot over 40% from three consistently.

I have been extremely optimistic about JC.  I thought he was the right hire because of the way his teams played, his connection to DMV, his attitude, and what I thought was his attention to detail.  However, I will admit my faith is a bit shaken after two games this year because of the lack of energy we are displaying and the uncreative offense and defense. I’m very surprised by it and hope it’s just growing pains.  Problem is, while we also stunk early in year 2 under Hobbs and ML, you could see better what they were trying to do.  With Hobbs, we had pops/mike/Omar and you could see those guys just played differently.  With ML, you could see his offensive genius in that the team in that they consistently generated open shots of screens and movement (they just couldn’t hit them yet). 

But right now, I love the talent JC is bringing in, but I’m not seeing  it on the court.  You can clearly see the offense - one dominant ball handler, a ball screen, and a quick shot after one or zero passes - but I don’t know how effective that kind of offense can really be, and the defensive scheme is a complete mess right now.  Maybe everything will look different when we have rebounders (Lindo? dean? Gapare?)  or a deeper bench, or simply more time, but right now we aren’t seeing from JC the things that got him this job. 

Probably time for him to go back to basics and get back to what worked at his other stops that he isn’t doing here.