Biggest takeaway is that JC is going to live-and-die with JNJ. Despite turning the ball over every other possession he stayed on the floor with the ball in his hands. It somewhat makes sense since JNJ has the best playmaking ability on the team, both for himself and for others.

Another takeaway is that Mezie may be the best all-around player on the team. Most disruptive guy on the defensive end and showed flashes on offense. As mentioned, still has a few things to work through but I think it'll come with experience.

Toro seemed a little rusty, but I wouldn't worry about him.

It was ugly but I don't think the final score will be indicative of how the rest of the season will go.

Well, going to take some time.  We are going to lose a lot of games, this year and perhaps next year.  Just watch for development and recruitment.
JNJr despite what seemed like 15 TOs looks very talented.  Mezie you can see signs of his high ceiling and Maceo's still got that sweet 3 stroke.
what's the latest on Amir Harris?

Could not for the life of me find a feed (the only A10 game no one was carrying-- Flo would not let me pay from outside the US) so I am relying on the box score only, but 18 missed three point attempts tell me that either this was ugly quickly and GW had no choice but to chuck them up in the hopes of coming back or that the offensive gameplan stunk. Either way, let this be a warning to the coaches that there will be little living by the three this season (although plenty of opportunities to die by the three). Hope the Howard game goes better (at least from an online stream point of view if nothing else).

Overall impression: feels like I'm watching the Jets. This may sound stupid but, we need better players. Here's my pessimistic breakdown of last night. I paid $30 I get to complain. 

Jameer - Thought JNJ was the only bright light on the team. May be early but he could be an A-10 all freshman. Good handles and ability to finish - something we havent seen in a long time. Unfortunately was in possession of the ball for 75% of our offense, no surprise he got caught up several times and lost the ball. Also tried to force some passes (understandable when there is no off the ball movement) but overall didn't show great court vision.

Maceo - Put up good shooting numbers but didn't really do anything to facilitate on offense. 0 assists and 2 rebounds. If he was working on his handles he didn't show it tongiht. 

Justin - Plays hard but is a DUD on offense. Shot 5 threes are you kidding me?!? He's shooting 28% from three on his career and now all of a sudden he's an off the ball 3 point specialist?? JC should be spanked at half court. Again, I appreciate how hard he plays BUT he's an offensive liability. Would anyone consider him even a top 20 defender in the A-10? I wouldn't. Got exposed today. Might be an unpopular opinion but I don't think we can win games with him starting - problem is there is no alternative. 

Arnaldo - Think he should have had a lot more looks today. Didn't really do a good job of getting open or finishing around the basket. Clearly has some moves but isn't very athletic. Also not a good shot blocker. 

Mezie - Jeez, thought he would be better as a sophomore. Bad composure on both sides of the court, looked lost. Had a clean J at one point but I'm having trouble seeing him as the stud we all prophesized. 

Jamison - Looks like he has a clean 3 pointer. No off the ball movement. Bad defense. 
 
Ace - 
Juice - Wasn't used in the way that we're used to seeing him. Kind of a waste. 

Javier - Think he should have played more. He's the only player with some sort of shot blocking ability. Was disruptive on defense on the possessions that I saw. 

Armel - 
Adam - 

I don't know. I would get Mezzie out of the starting line-up and plug in Javy. Also should give Armel some more minutes. JNJ looked pretty gassed at a few points. 

Almost impossible not to start with Jameer.  When a certain player sees things and try things that most other players would not see or try, this would presumably suggest the potential to be a very special player.  I felt Jameer's ability to penetrate was tremendous.  There was one play where two defenders met him in the lane and he used what I would describe as a mini-crossover, from right hand to left hand, to get by the defenders.  I can't even recall if he made the shot (I don't think he did) because I was so stunned by the move.  Unfortunately, the 9 turnovers do stand out.  I thought much of this was a case of trying things that had an 80% success rate in high school that would only have a 40% success rate in college because the competition is bigger, faster and stronger.  An example of this came when Jameer attempted (I believe more than once) a bounce pass off of his dribble.   The Towson defense clogged the lane and easily picked off these attempts.

As DMV pointed out, there were times where Jameer looked like he was trying to win the game by himself but frankly, I really like his aggressiveness, especially on this team.  There just aren't a lot of options that are as viable.  Maceo is a streaky shooter who can be deadly at times but cold for long stretches at other times.  Would love to be proven wrong but Justin M's offensive game is ill suited for this offense.  A case in point:  Justin missed three point attempts on consecutive possessions.  Maceo ran down the rebound on the second miss and found Justin in the paint about 10 feet away.  Instead of taking a very good shot, Justin found Jamison in the corner where two Towson defenders were already lunging towards him.  Justin has to take that 10 footer but he was undoubtedly influenced by his two previous misses.

I do give a lot of credit to Towson for scouting us rather well.  The 31-30 rebounding battle was very misleading due to several of the Towson putbacks being in the form of thunderous dunks which really brought the crowd back into the game.  As DMV also mentioned, we were beat several times down court for easy fast break baskets.  And, we also seemed to be a step or two slow on many Towson possessions with our half court defense.  I liked JC changing up the press after falling behind from a token man-to-man full court press to a trapping one designed to speed up the game.  This actually did result in a few Towson turnovers but unfortunately, GW was too far behind to make a dent.  (The 8-26 3 point shooting did not help matters.)

It should be noted that Towson was without one of its better players in Tobias Howard and essentially played a 7 man rotation.  Nobody was in serious foul trouble for the most part and to the extent our style of play is intended to tire opponents, particularly those without a deep bench,   this goal was not at all accomplished last night.

One thing that really stood out to me was that only three newcomers played (and Ace barely played). JNJ and Battle were both super aggressive and leads me to think that we may see Battle become a starter sooner rather than later. I figured JC would start out with mostly returning guys and then put in his guys as the year goes on. Did not expect JNJ to be a starter this soon. 

Ideally, I'd swap out Mezie and Mazz for Battle and Armel. Putting Battle in adds another three point threat who, like JNJ, is willing to be aggressive shooting the basketball. Armel adds another ball handler which they desperately need besides JNJ. Interested to see what adjustments are made for Howard! 

I saw none of this game, and have only read this thread and looked at the box score, but still want add my 2 cents. I think its a great sign that Jamion Christian is ALL IN with Jameer Nelson Jr, and is gonna put the ball in his hands and let him sink or swim. That should bode well for the future when J.Nelson figures it out and becomes an elite player for GW. Just based on what I've read from you guys about the open practice, the exhibition vs. Fort Hood, last night's game at Towson and what we saw at the Kenner League, I'm convinced that J.Nelson Jr. will be an all-time great for GW!!

I don't understand the limited minutes for Javy. Javy showed himself to be a decent 3-point shooter and shot-blocker last season, aren't those 2 attributes that fit Jamion Christian's system?? 

If anything I'd say Javy, is underrated.  He's just got some athletic limitations, so the ceiling is pretty low.

The guy who is overrated, frankly is Toro, who as a 4 year (3 I guess, +1 injury year) remains looking a lot like the guy he arrived as.  A guy whose ceiling also seemed kinda low, and it has remained low.  His floor is acceptably high though.  I just don't think there's much for growth, he can't shoot, he's not long enough to block shots, he hasn't developed much offense.  But, on a team lacking enough talent both figure to have a role. 
We've got to bring in more talent, particularly in the Frontcourt.

 

I'll come in with the hot take that Javi is generally rated about right. I agree that his stats were inflated last year being the only big on a bad team, but I think he showed himself to be a formidable backup big. The one thing I'll correct is Thomas's statement that he showed himself to be a decent three point shooter. That's really just not true, though if he can start draining threes he'll almost certainly see more of the floor. But if there's one thing I disagree with JC about the rotation in the first game, it's using Stallings instead of Javi. I really didn't see anything that Stallings could provide beyond being a 6'10" body. I think Javi should've gotten all of those minutes, which would've put him at 12 minutes which seems about right for him at this point.

I also think Toro is rated about right. I don't think anyone is claiming he's a star, but he's a very, very solid big. He also has improved around the rim offensively a lot since his freshmen year.

Worth noting also that unlike the previous two regimes, minutes are allocated by the staff very deliberately and JC doesn't even handle substitutions himself, though he does essentially have "veto" power during games. (I remember reading this in an article when he was hired. I think Devlin handles the rotation, but I don't feel like tracking down the article). So keep in mind the minutes allocation is part of a deliberate plan by the staff, not just what JC feels like during a given moment in a game.

Hugh wrote:

Found the article: https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/11/22/siena-men-s-basketball-assistant-coach-devlin-plays-key-in-game-role 

Great find Hugh.  This arrangement says a lot about both coaches. RD for his ability to execute changes consistent with the game plan, and JC for taking a big responsibility off of his own plate and having the confidence in RD to make the appropriate substitutions (while retaining veto power).