Thanks for these.  I would say the questions about defense are broader than just post defense.  Our perimeter defense hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire under JC, but with Bamisile and Adams, we should hopefully be much improved on the perimeter.

Here’s 5 more questions for me:

1) Can JC get the team off to a good start? Last two years starts were especially bad before the team got a bit better. You could surmise that the first year was due to a new system and last year to covid practice restrictions.  But now with these players in place, albeit a lot of new ones, we need to see if JC can get his team organized and focused from day 1, rather than it not happening until December or January.

2) Can we shoot enough in the half court to keep the offense from bogging down? Personally I’m not too concerned about Bishop’s decision making. I think those concerns are a bit overblown (as this board always seems especially harsh on PG’s and I think his decision making would have looked better if he had more and better guys to involve).  I would imagine most teams, at least early, will clog the paint to try to stop Bishop drives and slashing from Bam and Adams and Lindo - so we are going to have to hit enough threes to make teams pay for clogging the paint.

3) Will our offensive scheme remain easy to defend. Over the past two years, we’ve had among the highest percentage of possessions in which we ran high ball screens of any team in the country.  I think that’s made us predictable, and in fact Fordham for all its flaws seemed to actually be adept at defending our ball screen offense.  So what I want to know is whether there’s a plan B if a team is effectively stopping that offense.  This could be where Freeman comes in - a second Pg on the court might mean attacking from new angles.

4) how good is Joe Bamisile?  I suspect he’s an excellent all spine player and probably closer to the top 50 HS recruit than the guy who couldn’t get on the court for the Hokies. I think the combo of experienced wings on that team and lack of practice time due to covid probably held him back.   But I think his development is probably one of the key determinations of our future. We need him to be that third consistent scorer behind Bishop and Lindo (and if not him, Freeman or Adams), but his success will be critical even beyond this year.  If he is the real deal, the future is bright for GW but we really don’t know yet what he’ll do when the games count.

5) will JC be willing to go small at times?  Losing Ira Lee really hurt.  I know the team has high hopes for Brown, but we are going to have to play minutes without him.  Presumably that means double digits for Dean based on the way JC had played his first two years here.  But last year Dean really struggled on defense and gave nothing on the boards.  He was tall, but not physical enough for a good a10 team.  That could change this year, but my assumption is that we will have problem (to OP’s question about interior D).  So what I’m curious, especially if it’s not working with Dean, is whether JC will go small ball with no 5.  Lindo is a college 4 (who would need to play the 3 to make the next level, which would require his 3 pt shot to improve).  But what happens if we play Lindo with Bishop, Bam, Adams, and Freeman or Nixon? Or put Knapp out there with 3 perimeter guys and Lindo?  Would that space defenses out and make our offense tough to defense, would it allow us to run, and could we rebound using quickness rather than size?  It would be fun to find out.

Quick note to clarify an earlier comment regarding point guards.  We have definitely had other point guards in the past who proved to be capable scorers.  However, I'm not sure I'd put these guys in the "score first mentality" group.  Carl Elliott became a scorer out of necessity once Pops/Mike/JR/Omar left.  TJ Thompson began his career as more of a facilitator but looked to score more once he became the elder statesman on the early Pops/Mike/Omar team.  These guys were freshmen and not fully ready to assert themselves offensively yet.  Tony Taylor simply lacked a strong enough supporting cast which is why he looked to score.  But, I always felt his mindset was to be a points/assists guy rather than a "score first" guy.  And in all fairness, Shawnta should also be regarded as a player who was equally as interested in getting his teammates involved as he was at scoring.