GW0509 wrote:

For a team with kids that are all more than capable academically, our brains sure do turn off in crunchtime.

I would argue we look like we are thinking too much out there, not just getting after it.

Free Quebec wrote:

GW0509 wrote:

For a team with kids that are all more than capable academically, our brains sure do turn off in crunchtime.

I would argue we look like we are thinking too much out there, not just getting after it.

Yes I would agree with that.  Has been a problem since the Mojo days.  We routinely pick up our dribble prematurely and/or get ourselves stuck.  Our passing and off-the-ball movement always seem a beat or two too slow.

Bishop misses a lot of opportunities because he is several beats too slow to pass.
When Battle or someone becomes open, if he gets the ball to them, it is when the defender realizes it and is coming over. It's because he, and sometimes others, aren't interested in team play.
Either because of inclination or tired of being accessories to the Bishop show.

Thomas wrote:

I'm thinking what happened was everyone thought Bishop was going to force up a 3 or drive to the basket and force up a bad shot. Charlotte doubled him and he wasn't sure what to do, neither were the other 4 GW players on the court

that is true and funny!
 

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

  I haven't checked, but I believe that every game we have played so far this season we have had more turnovers to assists.  

I checked, and you are incorrect ; against William & Mary, GW had 12 assists and 12 turnovers...

 

There is second-guessing and then there's just plain stupidity.  And there was a ton of stupidity down the stretch of that game.

First, we get the ball back with a one point lead after James finds Jamison for 3 and Jamison finds James for 3.  Two nice plays.  But what we need with a one point lead is either a high percentage shot or Charlotte using up some fouls since they only had 3 for the second half.  Instead, Jamison misses a 3 which he had a very good look at but that's not the point.  The point is you either need to make them foul, burn clock, and/or score points in that situation.  A 3 makes it a 4 point game but again, is not a high percentage shot.

Next, this team just has no idea how to defend against a screen.  So when Moyer commits the foul after going up and over the screen, I can't define this as stupidity.  They just aren't being well coached at this.  No, you can't put both your hands on the guy with the ball after you've made it over a screen.  It doesn't matter that you're barely touching him.  Two hands = 1 foul.

After the made free throws, GW is down 1 with a timeout left.  They just had a timeout a few moments ago.  Charlotte has 3 fouls to give so ideally, I want to play this out and not burn the final TO.  A timeout gives them a chance to collect themselves and foul 3 times with just 13 seconds left.  Bishop looks unsure and the timeout is used.

So to describe what happens next, let's go back to that terrible loss a few years ago against VCU.  After Yuta's presumed game winner, Collin Goss enters the game to guard against the in-bound passer.  One of the reasons why I was so upset about that play was the decision to have Goss enter the game after sitting on the bench all night.  Sure, anyone could have made the same mistake but my opinion is that someone who has barely played is simply not into the flow of the game.  

When Sloan Seymour checked into the game, I understood that this was likely being done to stretch the floor but what if Bishop has to kick it back out to him?  Will a guy sitting on the bench practically all game be able to sink the game winner (let alone that we only needed a 2 again and not a 3)?  So, Sloan gets the ball, gets stripped, and GW has lost another one.  It's almost hard to blame Sloan.  If this is your philosophy, then why Sloan and not Maceo who at least had been playing in the second half?  Maceo may not have made that shot but odds are he would not have had the ball stripped to end the game.

Other notes:

Congratulations to Lincoln Ball, winner of this year's Shawn Walker Jr. "I've gone from playing 2 minutes all year to being a starter" award.  I felt Ball gave the team a lift and made some impressive plays out there.  Which begs the question, why only 2 minutes (or whatever the actual number is) over the first 6 games?

In that last possession, I want JNJ on the court.  Along with James, why not have two guys who can get to the basket and make foul shots?  Very few teams have two shut-down defenders who can negate guys like this.

I don't think I'd be in a rush to play Jamison and Maceo at the same time.  We are not making nearly enough 3's to justify having two defensive liabilities on the court together.  

Rooting for James Bishop is like marrying a stunning woman whose parents you can't stand.  At some point, you at least have to question whether this is worth it.

Seriously, Bishop has real value with his ability to score on plays that literally nobody else on this team can make.  There's a lot to be said for a guy who can often get you a quick two points.  However, it appeared again as if first half James was ecstatic to find his open teammates and second half James felt he needed to take too much of the scoring burden himself.  In the second half, every time he used a screen, he was either double-teamed or at least a second defender leaned in his direction (and away from the player he was supposed to be guarding).  He did sometimes make the right pass and sometimes turned the ball over.  But most often, he failed to find the open man.

Last point on James and it bears out why what LSF has been saying is correct:  he seemingly has the ball in every one of our half-court possessions while he is in the game.  When someone is given the ball that much, he is going to make a lot of great plays, a lot of bad plays, and a lot of neutral plays.  This is why he's becoming the Gus Frerotte  of GW for keeping both teams in the game. 
 

With the cut in his minutes have to think JNJ is going to transfer out. I know nothing here just pure speculation. He deserves to be playing more than he does. Him not being in on the last play was crazy to me. 

MG14 wrote:

Thomas wrote:

MG14 wrote:

We've lost our 6 games by an average of 4.5 points. Take out the UMBC game and we've lost by an average of 3.2 points in 5 losses. 

But these are close losses to BAD teams for the most part!! They said Charlotte has won 3 in a row(I believe Davidson was one of the wins according to another poster) so they could be decent. 

Make no mistake, I'm not trying to argue that we're better than our record shows. All of our losses are to bad teams. We were in all of them and should have perhaps won a handful of them. At the end of the day we didn't and we're being exposed for what we are: One of the worst teams in the country.

There’s difference between being one of the worst teams and being one of the worst COACHED teams in the country.

Great analogy.
But would change it to a stunning woman you can't stand all the times she is not hot.

He is gone....went from having as many minutes as he can handle to sitting on the bench for during a last second possession...with Freeman coming in next year too. You know he and dad are not happy.