Game will be played w/o fans

Dear GW Fans,
This week, GW's testing program identified a significant increase in positive COVID-19 cases among members of our university community. While these cases are not severe and vaccination continues to provide strong protection, the university is taking measures to limit the further spread of cases, as according to the CDC, the Omicron variant is spreading more rapidly as compared to other variants.

This decision impacts our home basketball games on Tuesday, December 21st (Women's Basketball vs. Lehigh) and Wednesday, December 22nd (Men's Basketball vs. Maryland Eastern Shore), which will now be held without ticketed fans. This decision was made today, effective immediately, and governs all in-peron social gatherings and events on campus. However, decisions for subseque home basketball games have not yet been made.

Tuesday's game can still be seen on ESPN+ at 2pm, while Wednesday's game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Washington and ESPN+ at noon.

This is consistent with our foremost priority of protecting the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff, as well as guests to campus. We understand the disappointment that this news brings, and we will continue to monitor COVID-19 transmission among our community members and in the region and will update you with more information soon.

Fans holding tickets for next Tuesday's or Wednesday's contest will receive information regarding exchange, donation, and refund options. If you have any questions, please contact the GW Ticket Office at 202-99-GWTIX or tickets@gwu.edu. Thank you for your understanding and support of GW Athletics.

Nothing has changed Joel except that some in the GW Administration don't understand science. Meanwhile other universities will continue to host games with fans. I guess the Omicron variant particularly affects GW students and fans at games moreso than the general population.

Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks

Date/Time: Wednesday December 22nd @ 12:00 PM ET at The Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, DC.
TV: NBC Sports Washington (the non-plus kind) / ESPN+
Preseason Ranks: 355th (KenPom), 358th (Bart Torvik), 351st (CBS), 358th (SI) - that's right, 2/4 ranked UMES as the worst team in the country, which feels somewhat unfair given Mississippi Valley State just came off a season where they finished as the second worst KenPom team ever.
2020-21 Record: DNP
2021-22 Projected Record: 12-16, 6-8 (7th in MEAC)

Coach: Jason Crafton, 5-27 in one season at UMES. The NY native was a two year team captain at Nyack College before entering the coaching ranks. Crafton has multiple Villanova connections, serving as a video coordinator under Jay Wright before serving as an assistant at Navy under former Villanova assistant/current St. Joe's head coach Billy Lange. He then returned to his alma mater as head coach for six seasons (compiling a 47-108 record) before serving an additional year as an assistant with the 76ers G League team. UMES is Crafton's first head coaching gig at the D1 level.

Head-to-Head: 6-0. The last contest was a tight 75-71 affair in the 2016-17 season. Prior to that game we had defeated UMES by 16, 39, 23, 26, and 35 points. Unfortunately, I see tomorrow's contest being closer to the most recent matchup. In the last game, Tyler Cavanaugh led the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Yuta added 18 points and 6 rebounds. The team went 29-34 from the FT line in that contest, and I'm hoping we are able to get to the line as frequently tomorrow. You'll probably not be surprised that UMES had a +6 point differential after halftime, and we surrendered 49 second half points...yikes.

Offensive Efficiency: 357th (KenPom), 358th (Bart Torvik)
Defensive Efficiency: 342nd (KenPom), 355th (Bart Torvik)
Pace: 203rd (KenPom), 187th (Bart Torvik)
Returning Minutes: 16% (353rd in country) Hopefully the inexperience is something we can take advantage of tomorrow. Given how the Hawks have played so far this year, perhaps there was a lot of "addition by subtraction" from guys who departed during the COVID year.

Key Returning Players (2019-20 season):
Da'Shawn Phillip (Sophomore; Baltimore, MD) 7.4 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1 APG, 1.6 SPG; 30% FG, 22% 3-PT, 66% FT

Key Losses (2019-20 season):
AJ Cheeseman (Graduated; Snellville, GA) 10.3 PPG, 5.2 RPG; 44% FG, 16% 3-PT, 71% FT
Ty Gibson (Transferred to D2 Miles; Brooklyn, NY) 7.3 PPG, 2.1 RPG, 1.9 APG; 34% FG, 28% 3-PT, 72% FT
Canaan Bartley (Transferred to D2 Frostburg State; Miami, FL) 7.2 PPG, 3 RPG; 37% FG, 33% 3-PT, 63% FT
Ahmad Frost (Graduated; Cincinnati, OH) 6.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 1.7 APG; 29% FG, 25% 3-PT, 73% FT

Comments:
608 days - that's how long Maryland Eastern Shore went without playing a basketball game. Along with the Ivy League teams and Bethune-Cookman, the Hawks shut things down before even getting the 2020-21 season going (with the number of starts and stops, maybe that was the right decision).

That gave head coach Jason Crafton plenty of time to reflect on his first year at the program. Given the team he inherited, perhaps the 5-27 year could be considered a success. In 2018-19 (the year prior to Crafton's arrival), UMES was rated as the worst team in the country, per KenPom. Crafton found out quickly what he was dealing with - the Hawks predictably started the year 0-10 losing by 10+ points in all 10 contests - and yes, that included Fordham(!) winning by 21 points. A D3 win against Clarks Summit was much needed during an OOC slate where the Hawks finished 1-14. 2020 started off promising, as UMES notched their first D1 win in their conference opener against rival Howard. Ultimately, there was just not enough on the team to contend in the MEAC and the Hawks finished the year losing six games in a row. If there was a silver lining, UMES finished 288th in the country in defensive efficiency, which is a pretty big success in the MEAC. The Hawks struggled mightily to put the ball in the hoop, often hoping to turn their conference contests into slugfests by leaning on their defense. You can be sure that gave Crafton (and whoever remained) plenty of motivation coming into the year.

Given the year off (and number of players who either graduated or transferred since UMES last played a game), it's very hard to predict how the Hawks would fare coming into the year. The departures of North Carolina A&T, Bethune Cookman, and Florida A&M to the Big South/SWAC has certainly given them more of a chance to make noise in the league. A good place to start when examining this year's team is Baltimore native Da'Shawn Phillip, who played a key role defensively for the Hawks in 2019-20. Phillip led the team in steals, although he struggled to find his shot in his first year of college basketball. Backcourt mate/fellow freshman Kevon Voyles wasn't much better with his shot selection. A sophomore leap in productivity would be welcome on the offensive end from either/both (thus far, an improvement has been evident). Both likely figure to be complementary/rotation players at the very least.

That's where the returners end. UMES brings in 10 newcomers, and Crafton has had some challenges getting them to mesh together. Having said that, UMES has definitely found more success offensively this season - the Hawks are shooting 43% from the field and 33% from distance. In the backcourt, a pair of JUCOs in Zion Styles and Dom London pace UMES in scoring and are strong two-way guys. Styles is more of a penetrator on offense, while London, a transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, is the tougher guard - he is shooting 40% from distance on the year and is a savvy playmaker offensively. Hopefully we are strong with the ball control as Styles, London, Phillip, and Voyles are all pesky defenders along the perimeter. Chase Davis comes in as a freshman (played locally at St. Andrew's) as a strong off-ball threat on offense. I believe JC recruited him out of HS at MSM/Siena. Davis is the best free throw shooter on the team at 86% and can handle the ball.

Off the bench, Donchevell 'Tuka' Nugent and Mike Mensah provide guard depth. Nugent, another JUCO, is a serviceable passer although he has struggled shooting the ball on the year thus far (he shot the ball better at his previous stop). Mensah is a California native that can spot-up offensively - he is shooting 38% from distance on the year.

In the frontcourt, Nathaniel Pollard Jr. leads the team in rebounding. Pollard provides a good balance to the team as a capable post-up threat. While he is very undersized as a frontcourt player, he uses his stout frame to stay in front defensively and is a great fit for Crafton's D that likes to force turnovers. The other spot will likely be occupied by Kohen Thompson and Mayowa Akinsanya. Neither is particularly high usage, but do exactly what they are asked to do - rebound the ball.

Man I hope this isn't a trap game. We've come out flat in the past when the game starts at noon, and UMES has played most opponents tough this year. St. Joe's only beat them by 2 and Fordham lost to them in double overtime. Even #17 UConn struggled to put them away a couple weeks back. Hope to see us continue to improve passing the ball offensively and communicating as a team defensively.

Projected Score: GW 69, Maryland Eastern Shore 60. 84% chance to win (Bart Torvik). ESPN gives us a 77.8% chance to notch our first three game winning streak in the JC era. We open as a 10 point home favorite, which makes me a bit nervous but given UMES just played Charlotte two days ago, perhaps they'll be a bit tired (combined with our somewhat extended break for exams).
 

Hope all are safe. At least GW will still have its winning "streak" intact at the end of the night...

https://gwsports.com/news/2021/12/22/gw-mens-basketball-game-vs-maryland-eastern-shore-postponed.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1bU-Ju_TDs31ILH7gDM8hCkJBh-JoUZggOZh-5NjvxGHY35TO0ui7pirI

Gwmayhem wrote:

Unless your stance is "so what if any vaccinated person gets sick...they'll be fine", this is the smart, responsible decision.  

Of course if your response is any risk is too much risk perhaps by 2029 you can attend GW games again..Of course, what is also so amazing is that all the people who attended GW games thus far thought they had no risk. You do realize Omicron was circulating well before this week? You do realize that by the time it was "discovered" it had been here for weeks and was circulating during the Radford game? You also hopefully realize it is isn't going away anytime soon. So what next? When is it going to be "safe"? If the "smart, responsible decision" is always to protect everyone then I would argue we should not be playing basketball until the virus is gone. 

To me, at least GW postponed the game. That was the intellectually consistent move. To play with some fans (you do realize UMES was bringing 40 fans and GW players and coaches families plus GW administration allowed to attend?) but not all fans out of safety concerns made zero sense. That was my argument all along. Not that Omicron doesn't pose a risk to anyone.
 

Last edited by GWRising (12/22/2021 10:17 am)

What science and what data?

First of all what Trump said was laughable but he was right - more tests equal more positives. Look at the numbers of tests this week versus last week. Plus, many people are getting tested because they are going home to relatives. I can tell you I know personally of two people with zero symptoms that tested positive. I've spoken with a couple of schools and all their positives are either asymptomatic or minor symptoms thus far.

There has been no showing other than a rise in cases that conditions have changed (i.e. the risk of severe illness has changed). In fact some data suggests the opposite ... . https://www.reuters.com/world/the-great-reboot/omicrons-march-revives-urgent-global-calls-vaccinations-2021-12-22/). If the risk is worse then of course we should act differently. But I don't see any evidence of that yet. 

To use your analogy, we don't know whether the people on the street have guns with bullets or water guns right now. That changes the risk calculation doesn't it?

And interestingly enough probably the most aggressive county in the area (MOCO) is allowing HS games to be played tonight with fans.

I guess the larger point is shouldn't we have a uniform approach? Obviously everyone does not view the risk the same.

Plus, are we now saying vaccinations (including boosters) plus masks are no longer effective? That would certainly be a change in the science.
 

Last edited by GWRising (12/22/2021 11:23 am)

squid wrote:

Just stop man.

Lol. I guess you have nothing to add.

GW Alum Abroad wrote:

I understand that for some a poorly-excecuted gameplan (or the absence of a gameplan alltogether) is the reason they come to this board to argue, and that with no underwhelming GW performance to snipe about they look for something else to argue about no matter what.
There is a virus, it is contaigious and it is killing people. Could individual world leaders have done better in dealing with that? Yes. Does than mean we should just pretend there is no virus and keep spreading it? No.
Now, can we please move this discussion on to "What else is on tonight that I can watch since the GW game got shitcanned"?
 

 How do we stop spreading it? Please do tell. You basically just told me triple vaxxed and a mask doesn't work. What next? Should we weld people in their houses like the Chinese government did?

Last edited by GWRising (12/22/2021 12:08 pm)

GWRising wrote:

 How do we stop spreading it? Please do tell. You basically just told me triple vaxxed and a mask doesn't work. What next? Should we weld people in their houses like the Chinese government did?

Finally, the truth is coming out. I hear there are microchips in the vaccine too, buddy!