Hail to the Buff! Hail to the Blue!!!
(now, let us never speak of this turdfest again)
 

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (12/13/2021 9:05 pm)

It's bad basketball but I'm finding some things to like in Brayon's energy, Bishop's chill and Bamisile's antics.

Wow killed someone in the paint and let them turnover it over twice as much = Easyish win.
Shock JC is blowing some serious smoke post game. Radford = physical.
 

Great win! the win streak has indeed started....

Brilliant games from Bishop and Freeman.

Lindo didn't shoot well but he had 14 boards, 3 blocks, 3 steals, and 10 points. 

Last edited by The Dude (12/13/2021 9:17 pm)

I'm going to try to keep this completely positive:

1. Freeman played very well tonight. There is no reason he should not be starting. He needs to be playing 30+ minutes every game. Couldn't quite understand why Jamion took him out in the 1st half when the team was playing fairly well.

2. Lindo's engine is unmatched. The guy just doesn't stop playing hard. Sometimes that'll lead him to bite at a pump fake but no one can ever bash him for lack of hustle. 

3. Bishop had a nice shooting game and even had some nice rebounds/assists. 

4. Bamasile was relatively quiet tonight but had a big and-1 during the back end of the 2nd half.

5. Dean played well even though he picked up two quick fouls (within a minute I think) at the start of the game.

There are a few obvious things we need to work on and the team couldn't really shoot from 3 tonight but a win is a win. Move on and start preparing for UMES

Mentzinger wrote:

It's bad basketball but I'm finding some things to like in Brayon's energy, Bishop's chill and Bamisile's antics.

 This is a very good observation.
Also, the in-game comments were quite amusing and sadly, rang true.
Love Joe B.'s athleticism, his personality as a GW student and citizen and in general Joe's happiness. Could live without some of the antics. If he ever misses one of his showy dunk attempts, he needs to sit awhile.
Did he step on or over the guy trying to draw a charge and fell down in the act?
  Despite the often painful game on both sides, we did pass a lot more than usual, to some extent due to Brayon, who was unaccountably kept from major playing time until recently. Our passes were not always effective, to say the least, but in our case, it's rare enough to note that we try. And Ricky is a warrior. Don't know why he was in at the end after worrying about injury twice.
   Would be good to see the walkons and one day, Knapp. Not sure they (or the cheerleaders or any of us to be honest) could be any worse at defending the 4-point play as the game ticks down.
   A not impressive win against a bad, winless road team.
  But will take it and appreciate the approach to sharing the ball.
 

Last edited by jf (12/13/2021 11:48 pm)

Nice to see the team get on a winning streak - this is the first time we've won back-to-back games since February 2020.

The team didn't cough up the ball as much and even if Radford isn't particularly good offensively I thought we did a very good job defensively tonight. There weren't really any open looks that we gave up (Williams made some tough shots for them). Even when our guards were beaten on drives to the hoop, Ricky was there to recover and protect the hoop. We also won the rebounding battle (40-35) as well as the FT line (28-19 attempts). Definitely some steps in the right direction!

I've been hard on Bishop's defense in the past, but I will say he has shown more of an inclination to defend along the perimeter this season. He had a sequence late in the second half where he almost generated a turnover off some good ball pressure. Really liked the effort there. For the most part, he took good shots as well (minus a contested midrange in the first half).

Brayon is just such a heady player. It's unreal that he's this ready as a freshman. Really liked the play design when he came in early in the game and we sealed off a lane for him to get to the hoop and get an easy layup. After Radford had cut our lead to 4, it was Freeman again who made a shot to end Radford's run.

Ricky had some good looks from three but they didn't go in. It happens. It was nice to see Joe not force the issue as much this game as he has in the past. Brendan needs to stop shooting threes when they aren't falling early on. They aren't high quality looks either and it was nice to see JC bench him for poor shot selection.

Don't want to dwell on the negatives after a win, but just want to mention a few other things.

1) We need to find a way to move the ball when Brayon isn't in the game. Since Freeman is the only real point guard on the team, our offense tends to stagnate with the current starting lineup. It doesn't need to be one guy and we can spread the ball around, but we can't settle for poor shots. Seeing us hoist deep threes early on with limited passing basically resulted in a string of empty possessions.

1a) Many times in the game we passed a lot side to side along the perimeter, trying to find the right player who could beat their man off the dribble and get to the hoop. Usually Ricky and Hunter/Noel were just standing down low not moving. I was not sure why we weren't attacking Radford's defense by getting the ball into one of those guys from the FT line and playing inside out. Ricky is a good passer, but he only got the ball when he came out all the way to the perimeter which basically just meant the problem persisted. We need to be passing the ball faster when Brayon is on the bench, and guys don't have to wait for another guy to get the ball before they start moving off ball.

2) When a shot is missed on offense, we need to learn to move on. I like the hussle trying to get loose balls, but very rarely do teams actually turn the ball over. 99% of the time it ends up just being a frustration foul and we cannot afford foul trouble on a team with little depth.

3) The post guys need to get more involved offensively (and not just a drawn up play or two at the beginning of the half where they post up, but actually within the flow of the offense). Noel/Hunter were in foul trouble yet again in this one, but when on the floor they need to do more than just set screens. I would like to see more plays where they roll to the hoop and one of guards finds them for a layup. It's tough at times seeing us play 4 on 5 offensively. They don't need to be high usage, but they can't be non-factors either.

Anyways, glad the team gets another week to prepare for the final OOC game of the season. Hope they ace their exams and come back fired up to win three in a row!

Didn't see the game, and was updated byt my ESPN updates.  Sure enjoyed reading the Board posts after the game!  Just glad we can beat Coppin and Radford, which should be a given and more of a scrimmage!

If the expression "a thing of beauty" exists, why doesn't the expression "a thing of ugly" exist?  Last night was a thing of ugly.  Particularly during a long stretch of the first half, it was atrocious basketball being played by both sides.  Not even in the form of turnovers, but more like easy shots being missed and clean passes being fumbled and then recovered.  

While I prefer to see Brayon play a more traditional point guard role, I give him full credit for providing this team what it needed.  His 8 quick first half points came at a time when neither team was scoring.  He looked to score in a game where scoring was desperately needed.  When Joe, Brendan and Ricky are not making shots and we're unable to get much in the low post, Brayon has to join James as a primary scorer which he did.

While Hunter provides energy and Noel goes from giving the team a little something to completely nothing, there is little question that James/Brayon/Ricky/Brendan/Joe is by far the best lineup this team can put on the floor.  A healthy Amir would have been included in this group but it's clear that Amir isn't fully healthy and is giving this team whatever is left in his tank.  Any question as to why we're still not seeing mayhem in all of its glory can easily be answered.  The depth just doesn't exist to pull this off.  Samuels is a bit player who may have more in him but I've yet to see it.  Nixon...who knows?  He doesn't play, apparently for non-basketball reasons, maybe?  I'm trying hard not to say this too much but what a difference Ira Lee would have made.  If nothing more than a big who could provide 25+ strong minutes.

In just 2 of our 12 games has our assist to field goal ratio reached the 50% mark.  We hit a season high against Coppin State (17 assists on 30 made baskets) but regressed to 39% last night.  While nobody truly ran the offense from the point guard position last night, this was the second straight game where 4 players had at least 2 assists.  At least this shows that guys are sharing the ball or at the very least, not hogging the ball.

For the season, this team is shooting under 30% from 3, 41.5% from the floor, and 66.5% from the foul line.  Guys are capable but the consistency is lacking.

Solid game last night for James.  Played under control and appeared to force far less than we've sometimes seen.  His pull-up midrange shot is practically automatic.

I really like the completeness of Brendan Adams's game but his three point shooting really is the elephant in the room.  He is 15-65 on the season from 3 which is translates to 23.1%.  When combined with his UCONN numbers, he is a 26% three point shooter throughout his college career and has yet to exceed 29% over a single season.   This is a problem, particularly when many of his attempts are wide open in transition.  Put another way, we are often grabbing a rebound, pushing the ball up court, and are actively looking for Brendan to take those 3's.  It's great basketball as long as you have a guy who can dependably make an open three, say at least 40% of the time and since we're talking about a wide open 3, I'd say more like at least 45% of the time.  A big problem with this team is if not Brendan then who?  Joe can hit 3's but his inconsistency with the shot is along the lines of Brendan's.  Ricky is the one grabbing the rebound.  Brayon and James are often the ones leading the break.  Bryan Knapp can make open threes but are you giving up too much in other areas by playing him meaningful minutes?  (I really haven't seen him play so I can't answer that.)

Last point...if you care to wonder how far this program has fallen, check the home attendance.  I get that we're now around finals and the holidays but it's been this way all season.  1,013 last night, a season low 913 last week against Coppin State, and a season high 1,821 in the opener against St. Francis.  It was not that long ago that we drew 2,000+ no matter the opponent or time of year.  Better A10 games drew upwards of 3,000 and if we go back to the olden days where more seating existed (apparently), we'd pack the house with 5,000.  Today, our last two games combined failed to draw 2,000.  That's not good.

Like most of the comments. I like Bishop not being the primary point guard. Turnovers were greatly reduced. Just wish we had Battle back, amazing what he is doing at Minnesota. Good for him.