Not sure I've ever seen a team have more offensive rebounds than defensive and win. Offense was stagnant in the 2nd half and we never made adjustments. I'll attribute all the missed FTs to tired legs, but it's hard to figure out how we gave up 23 offensive rebounds. This is my first time watching Mason, but they don't look like a great team. Rebounding was the difference maker in this game. 

On to the next one

As noted by LSF, the team was undermanned and ran out of gas. That said, Chase was obviously not match fit and while Brown had his issues today he would have been a better choice for those mins in the 2nd. When the shots stopped falling and Battle got taken out of the flow, the decision to rely on Bishop´s evil ballhog twin and Brelsford was not a good plan B. No need to mention the poor rebounding. The clock management at the end was poor, too.
Still, if five days ago you had told me GW would come back from the COVID hiatus 1-1 with the loss being a game they were in until the final 30 seconds, I would not complain, so I am not going to lose any sleep tonight.

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (2/24/2021 8:01 pm)

Disappointing to lose this one. ? Paar should not have been out there. Looked really weak and him being put in a bad position to have to shoot a 3?  Bad ball management at the end. I really hate the stupid turnovers and bad decisions that Do cost games. Bishop, for a point guard, has way too many turnovers.  

I'm glad I had something to do for most of the second half so my memories of this game will be how well we played in the first.  It sounds like from everyone that this was the game where COVID after effects appeared and our legs went out from under us.  Not too worried about the result (though a win would've been nice) and I think it shows that our core rotation can hang in the A-10.  

One interesting wrinkle in the game is whether this little winning streak saves Dave Paulsen's job.  He's really underachieved at Mason and next year is the last year of his contract.  Being a lame duck is pretty rare in college basketball given how it affects recruiting.

I am surprised to hear that Paar played, I thought he was still a ways away from coming back.  I hope this year is just a lost year for him because he showed some promise last season and this year he's just been taken advantage of down low.  Will be interesting to see what he does this offseason.

Given that we're pretty much locked into the 12 seed I just hope we finish off the regular season without any major injuries.  Hopefully we'll hang with a tough Bonnies team and take some positives into Richmond.

Free Quebec wrote:

We might need separate game threads. One for people who only want to complain or be negative, but are silent on the good things. And another for people who can see the good along with the bad.

Amen to that FQ, quite frankly, at the bare minimum.  

Brelsford had a really good game, 11 points 4 boards 2 steals a dime, just 1 TO, on 4-6 shooting

 

Last edited by The Dude (2/24/2021 9:24 pm)

moneybox wrote:

This coach simply cannot make adjustments in the second half in response to those made by the opposing coach. This has happened time after time this season. 

Did you watch today’s game?   He made lots of adjustments.  The undermanned team just ran out of gas.  The coaching was as good today as it was vs Rhode Island, which his adjustments helped us to a 15-2 end of game run to beat a more experienced team.  I was as critical as anyone early in the season, but it’s been a different team since a10 play started.

Was in and out of attention on this one but just looks like a simple case of fatigue from covid and lack of dressed players. I didn't drill down too much on what JC's moves were but it seems he was simply handcuffed by a simple lack of bodies. Was Ball out? Didn't see him at all.

Too few dressed players, not enough shooters/rebounders, too few athletes, bad refs, tired players, too young and inexperienced, we're rebuilding, covid, All reasons why we just couldn't win this game or that. Coach is certainly a nice guy. But he is getting paid to win and, like many GW hires, he is not. I wish more fans felt this way but, alas, they do not. 

Let's all keep in mind that the 3 A-10 wins we have this year are all against teams in the bottom half of our conference. 

The few GW Hoops fans left fall into 1 of 2 categories. Some of us are bi-polar - we exhibit extreme shifts in mood when it comes to GW Basketball. I include myself in this category. We are downright giddy and euphoric when our team is playing good, competitive and fundamentally sound basketball. It gives us hope and brings us back to 5 years ago when we could play and compete against any team from any conference. Then we get depressed and angry when an arguably talented team sucks, the coaches can't make necessary adjustments due to lack of experience or we lose to the likes of Hampton or Towson.

A few of the others (very few) are schizophrenic - Their thoughts and experiences about GW Basketball are out of touch with reality. An example of this would be after the Rhode Island game (or after any of the few wins we have had in the last several years). All of a sudden we are "world beaters" ready to take our rightful place in the top 4 of the A-10. Everything has now changed and we can now coach and play competitive basketball with any team in the Country. Just follow the game thread on this site - during the 1st half, we are full of A-10 1st teamers. Radio silence by those few during the 2nd half while the turnovers and missed shots pile up (just look at our second half shooting percentage yesterday after the GMU team was told to play a little D at halftime).

Next year can't come soon enough.

GWRising, I may not be correct but I feel we played pretty well except we got tired in the second half.  I feel we have considerably more talent than GMU and could easily have won that game if we were in better shape or had more available players. I also feel you are right about being a little young and this should not be a surprise. I think you are right about next year as well, for we will have more experience, a more cohesive unit and a coaching staff that has more knowledge about how to maximize the players skills on and off the court.  I feel that if we had not had COVID-19 running wild in the US, we would have gotten progressively better and we would be starting to peak right now. But that guess it is now irrelevant.  To me, the thing that matters most now is keeping our players and coaches safe and letting this team mature and improve. We will see results next year on the court.  I feel the Colonials should feel quite good about where they are right now. I am proud of the whole team.