It was a nice event. There was a brief introduction from JC and the players/staff. Each player gave a "fun fact", none of which were actual fun facts, but interesting nevertheless. Maceo and Mezie like to play chess, Armel has five siblings, Jamison plays the baritone saxophone, etc. I believe Juice and Adam said that they "like to eat". JC by far seemed to have the most charisma of the staff/players, but I guess that is something that will develop over time. Another nice touch was each of the players shaking hands with those in attendance. One thing is for sure - we've got a bunch of good guys off the court who will succeed in their future endeavors.

Much of the practice revolved around one of the point guards penetrating and then kicking out for a three along the perimeter (with generally Armel/Jameer serving as the point). Unfortunately, I was bit disappointed by the shooting performance. Even during shootaround, there were just too many shots missed. It was a far cry from just a few years ago where every player in shootaround was automatic from all over the floor. Still, much of the team wasn't recruited by JC so I get it, and hopefully that gets better in the seasons to come. My expectations of the team offensively are capped somewhat by this, especially if they are playing in a system that calls for bombing away from 3 constantly.

There was a couple scrimmages afterward between Team Buff and Team Blue. Forgetting the first score now, but I believe Team Buff won the first one. The second scrimmage was won by Team Blue 14-13 (there was just one period). The score is surprising given the talent gap between the two teams. Team Buff had Arnaldo, Maceo, Mezie, Jameer, and Justin, while Team Blue had Armel, Javier, Shawn, and a few of our walk-ons.

I know it's just practice, but quite easily Jameer looked like the best player on the team from today. He is explosive getting to the hoop, and was one of the more reliable jump shooters during shootaround. It's crazy that he has only played basketball for two years, but of course he comes from a great pedigree. He is a lock in the rotation, and honestly wouldn't be surprised if he is starting sooner rather than later.

I'm happy to see Mezie's progress, and I think his breakout is going to be fun to watch this season. He is very athletic and dynamic in the open floor. His handle has improved, but there are still times where he gets a bit sloppy. Having said that, he had a few nice finishes and is one of the most athletic guys on the team. There are times where you see why he was offered by a number of high major programs during his recruitment. Just needs to develop consistency which will come with more court time.

Not worried about Maceo, but I feel like he still rushes his shot a bit when he takes his threes. Some of his shot attempts were poor, many were contested, and he seemed a bit off on his stroke today. But again, I'm not worried as it's hard to put to much stock into a practice.

Armel and Justin are still at a stage where you'd rather they not take threes if possible (although there was a slight improvement), but both looked good in JC's ball pressure mayhem scheme. Armel still had his usual missed layups and some free throw misses but is still awesome at penetrating to the hoop. Justin is still undershooting his threes but made some really nice passes and is hopefully on track to turn the ball over a bit less.

Our walk-ons got a lot of run which obviously won't happen in games, but I still think Adam should play some as a three point specialist, especially given the fact that he appeared one of the most reliable shooters from deep. Ace is an explosive dunker and was better than I expected. Not expecting him to be a game-changer, but it was nice to see.

Sloan also has a nice three point stroke. Looking forward to seeing him develop his game closer to the hoop. He had a couple nice finishes in close.

Shawn is a bit thin and had a bit of trouble getting the ball past half court in the pressure scheme, but he got better as practice went on, and has a nice jump shot (he also made a nice teardrop shot). Hope he gets some run in OOC play because I think he can emerge as a key option in year 2.

Arnaldo and Javier were solid. Javier made some nice threes, while Arnaldo was content to spend more time underneath. We are unlikely to see both on the court at the same time, but I'm looking to see if Javier can develop into a stretch 4 on offense. He seemed to knock his threes down a bit more today after two seasons where he shot poorly from deep.

It is noteworthy to mention that Amir, Chase, and Jamison did not take part in open practice today. For a good part of it, Chase and Jamison were seen on ellipticals which suggests to me they need to improve their conditioning in JC's scheme. Amir was just sitting on the sidelines. I don't believe it was injury related but not sure. Hope he gets his waiver at some point next week.

Rebounding and front court defense was a gap on last year’s squad, so I was interested to see how that would be addressed this year. Ace looked really impressive during team drills - quick and athletic. Toro got the better of him during the Blue/Buff scrimmage, though. Ace seemed to get down on himself pretty easily (over giving up buckets, getting called for fouls). Eventually his effort started to lag, just sticking his foot out to stop an entry pass to the post rather than recover to defend. Coaches and teammates seemed to be giving him emotional support throughout the scrimmage to build him up when he got down. I hope he can stay up because he has a ton of potential.

Jameer looked good. He was able to drive the lane with purpose and control, finishing strong at the rim several times. A lot of last year’s offense went through Justin, who was playing from the wing today. I think that’s more of his natural position but it’ll be interesting if he can get himself open looks. Defensively, this should be a good move.

JC definitely has a different coaching philosophy than MC. The team is going to run more and press on inbounds. JC explained he wants to prevent the opponent’s offense from getting set up until there’s 17 on the shot clock. I don’t know what this means for the rotation, or if GW has the personnel to pull this off this year, but I liked the rationale. Similar to DMV, it doesn’t look like there are enough 3 point shooters for the offense yet, but we’ll see.

I left feeling impressed by Coach Christian. He definitely has a politician’s ability to work the room and build connection. Hopefully this translates to strong recruiting classes and building a connected team. He mentioned grading the team’s huddles, which tells me he really does care about building community within his team.

Last year was definitely a tough season, but I think there’s reason to believe they’ll be a much more competitive team this year.

LSF, hope yo are recovering well.

Unfortunately, the long term damage of the last 3 years (particularly the avoidable last two years) is significant.   I think this is a situation where the buzz won't build until they start winning again.   I was out last night with a couple of friends who have season tickets with me, and when I reminded them the season is starting soon, they both kind of shrugged and said, 'we still stink, right?'  

The good news is that DMV's write-up of Jameer is what I saw at Kenner League my one time going.  I think he is likely the day 1 starting PG and will quickly be the face of the program. He's not his dad, but my expectation is that he'll be our best PG since Carl Elliot (and that's with due respect to some good PGs, like JoeMac and Tony Taylor since then).   He'll have freshman problems, of course, but a good PG can turn a team into a winner quickly in college basketball so hopefully the buzz starts to build again .
 

Battle is fine and Paar will be. Both minor injuries and were held out as a precaution. I am sure they were on the bike to keep their conditioning up while they missed practice. Not sure what the deal with Amir was ... possibly injured or sick. Was walking with a slight limp so not sure. Bares watching though as he had a knee issue upon arrival at GW. Don't think it had anything to do with his appeal status because he can still practice.

Observations

Jameer is the real deal ... sneaky explosive like his Dad
Mezie is much improved and heard he did well in the Navy scrimmage..
Toro looks good and back to form. Showed no ill effects of his hip injury last year.
We could use Sloan's shooting but will have to wait. 
Jack didn't shoot it great but I feel we know what we have with him.
Mazzulla was similar to last year.
Walker, Javy, Armel, Justin look to be role players.
One surprise was Ace. He looks pretty good for a walk-on. Might be able to earn some minutes.

Overall, our practices look way more organized and energetic than a year ago. Difficult to assess whole team with 3 important players sitting out. 

Last edited by GWRising (10/28/2019 1:57 pm)

Thank you Free.   Total knee replacement, recovery going very well.   Will have the other knee done probably in spring, after which I will be ready to suit up and get back on the court.    My observations of Nelson from the 2X I saw him in Kenner is that he is a bit of an undersized "2" rather than a true point guard.   Maybe a Maurice Rice type, although I am not ready to declare him as good as Mo.   I am having a bit of trouble getting my buzz on for a couple of reasons, including my recent surgery, the extension of the baseball season, and my not really being excited about our prospects.   Admittedly, I am a "glass half empty" person, but in preseason I am generally very optimisitc, but this year not so much.   The best hope I have for our improvement is the return of Toro (who is really a solid player), improvement by Mezzie and Jack, and some optimisim about Nelson, but we really lost a lot in Nolan and Williams from a team that was quite bad last season.   It is always interesting following a new coach and system, and seeing what we have in the new players, but one can get only so much buzz from a team that is predicted to finish near the bottom of the conference, and seems doomed to lose 20.  And playing a ho hum schedule.   We will see if Christian is indeed a program builder, and I will try to excercise patience, but the prospect of losing to low ranked teams before small crowds and not being able to compete with better teams...well that can only get me so psyched.   Jarvis (Yinka, Vaughn, Kwame, etc.); Hobbs (Pops, Elliott, Hall, etc.) and Lonergan (Jo Mac, Kethan, Pato, Yinka, etc) gave us super recruits early in their tenure, which resulted in very quick turnarounds from teams that were equally as bad as  this one seems to be..  We will need this from Christian,  A great game plan and Xs and Os can only carry your so far...in the end, you need the talent.    I am looking forward to Friday's exhibition.   During the meat and potato years, we blow out a lower division team.   During the lean years, its a "holy crap, we can lose this game".   Lets see what we have.

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (10/28/2019 5:39 pm)

I recently had knee replacement surgery.   I dreaded the actual surgery and the recovery period, but I was very excited over the prospects of eventual physical improvements, especially since I had a top surgeon   The quicker the improvement, the more excited I become, but the recovery itself is no fun, and there is little the top surgeon is able to do to make it fun.

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (10/29/2019 10:08 am)

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Thank you Free.   Total knee replacement, recovery going very well.   Will have the other knee done probably in spring, after which I will be ready to suit up and get back on the court.    My observations of Nelson from the 2X I saw him in Kenner is that he is a bit of an undersized "2" rather than a true point guard.   Maybe a Maurice Rice type, although I am not ready to declare him as good as Mo.   I am having a bit of trouble getting my buzz on for a couple of reasons, including my recent surgery, the extension of the baseball season, and my not really being excited about our prospects.   Admittedly, I am a "glass half empty" person, but in preseason I am generally very optimisitc, but this year not so much.   The best hope I have for our improvement is the return of Toro (who is really a solid player), improvement by Mezzie and Jack, and some optimisim about Nelson, but we really lost a lot in Nolan and Williams from a team that was quite bad last season.   It is always interesting following a new coach and system, and seeing what we have in the new players, but one can get only so much buzz from a team that is predicted to finish near the bottom of the conference, and seems doomed to lose 20.  And playing a ho hum schedule.   We will see if Christian is indeed a program builder, and I will try to excercise patience, but the prospect of losing to low ranked teams before small crowds and not being able to compete with better teams...well that can only get me so psyched.   Jarvis (Yinka, Vaughn, Kwame, etc.); Hobbs (Pops, Elliott, Hall, etc.) and Lonergan (Jo Mac, Kethan, Pato, Yinka, etc) gave us super recruits early in their tenure, which resulted in very quick turnarounds from teams that were equally as bad as  this one seems to be..  We will need this from Christian,  A great game plan and Xs and Os can only carry your so far...in the end, you need the talent.    I am looking forward to Friday's exhibition.   During the meat and potato years, we blow out a lower division team.   During the lean years, its a "holy crap, we can lose this game".   Lets see what we have.

Going to disagree that we lost a lot in Terry and Williams last year. If Terry had played like his freshman year, then yes. But last year he was extremely inconsistent and definitely regressed. I think it had more to do with Mojo than Terry (probably one of the reasons Mojo is no longer here) but I don't think it will be that difficult to replace him. DJ Williams, you can have. He played no defense and rebounded infrequently. He was a ball stopper on offense. He was never a good fit for GW and whether he left on his own accord or Jamion Christian sent him packing, all I can say is Amen.I will venture a guess and tell you that I wouldn't be surprised if a combo of Mezie and Jamison put up similar numbers to those two but will be way better overall pieces of a puzzle. Time will tell on that.

Last edited by GWRising (10/29/2019 11:19 am)

Neither Terry nor DJ were efficient offensive players last season.  It seems to me that we'll be missing a lot of poorly conceived shots and empty possessions.  I think you'll see Toro, Potter, Jack, Mezzie, and to a lesser extent, Justin and Juice, be more productive offensively.  Javier is a question mark in my mind as I feel that some of his minutes will go to Toro instead of him this season.  And of course, it's hard to foresee the impact the newcomers will have but Amir (if eligible) , Jameer Jr., and Jamison each appear to be capable scorers.

Last edited by Gwmayhem (10/29/2019 1:17 pm)

BM, really.  Without mentioning what I did as context, it's impossible to make my point as to why I feel more enthusiastic about this season than the past several. 

The only thing that will bring back the fans is WINNING. Put a good product out there and the seats will start to fill. 

Gwmayhem must be a recent follower of GW hoops. He doesn't understand how Mojo was picked as the interim and then given a no-bid contract as HC for 4 years. Please tell him who the AD was at the time who made those decisions. Yes, the same guy who suddenly left to pursue other opportunities (and is still looking for that opportunity).