Yinka dont Stinka wrote:

The basketball is as bad as anything I have seen since the Kuester era and to John's credit his team at least always played hard. I understand that the expectation is that JC is getting a least another year, but he has not earned it.  Regardless of the limitations currently on the program GW should be moving on.  Don't believe some of the JC propagandists on this board, there is no short term hope for the program. It is not going to get better.

Sadly I agree. I came into this season as very much a JC believer and with high hopes for this transformed roster, but it pains me to say that he just doesn’t have it and there’s really no way to expect anything to change when a massive 100 spot improvement next year would still leave us outside the top 150.   

Platitudes about staying connected aren’t enough to win at this level.   

I’ve always assumed he’s getting 4 years because Tanya Vogel didn’t have, either, the guts or the authority (or both?) to make the change from Mojo when it was clear he didn’t have it (instead she sent an email that essentially said we know he sucks but we are going to suffer through more year of this).   But if there’s any chance GW and Tanya want to making the same mistakes and/or are willing to spend the money necessary  to field a competitive basketball team (which will improve our reputation and increase applications), then there’s no reason to wait until the end of next season for the inevitable.

Anyone who has already transferred into the program would have to sit out a year before transferring again, so I think it's safe to say that Bamisile, Bishop, Samuels and Lee aren't going anywhere.  Same for Lindo and Adams should they return to play in college.

The best case scenario for today is to not ignore the lingering effects of Covid.  Fatigue may very well have set in.  As I mentioned in a different thread, we looked much better last season coming off of two lengthy pauses.  But, maybe we had "the luxury" of a full week's worth of practices after each of these as opposed to two regular practices headed into today.

Putting fatigue aside, GW looked woefully unprepared to play this game.  Delay aside, when one team, who is among the youngest in the country, truly tests itself with their nonconference schedule and the other one does not at all, this is the type of result to anticipate.  This won't be a huge factor in February but it definitely was today IMO.

At one point, I felt I was watching a scrimmage.  Holmes slips behind the defense and dunks.  Run it back.  Holmes slips behind the defense but Lindo blocks it from behind.  Better, but I don't want to see Holmes getting past us.  Run it back.  Holmes slips behind the defense and dunks again.  This literally happened on three straight Dayton possessions.  The Flyers then moved onto something else to work on.

There was a possession where Elvis had an open corner 3 if he wanted it.  Bishop attempted to close out but Elvis instead spun around him, drove the wide open baseline, and scored on a reverse layup.  And that's one big difference right now between these two teams.  If a GW shooter was in the exact same situation, there is no way they would pass up the 3 and go for the easy percentage play.  None!

The first half was dominated by Scoochie's brother which the thought of having to deal with another Smith family member for 3-4 years has led to mental anguish on my part.  Brendan drew the assignment and simply could not stay with him.  Since I have a connection to Brendan, I find myself rooting as hard for him as anyone.  He is a great young man with a great attitude.  But I have to acknowledge that his consuming so many minutes is a problem.  He is our three point specialist who was under 30% at UCONN and has fared no better so far at GW.  He is normally a solid defender so let's hope today was an off day.  I counted five times today that his man more or less blew by him for an easy basket.  The problem is that who else on the team could have slowed Malachi down?  The sad reality is nobody.

Again, it's easy to watch a performance like this and scream things like "where's the effort" and "it looks like they don't care out there."  Maybe this turns out to be the case but I wouldn't draw these conclusions based on today.  Nearly a month off, lots of players sick, only two days of organized practice to prepare.  Will probably look like more of the same at VCU on Tuesday but let's hope they can play their way back into shape soon.

Finally, there was one thing missing from this thread.  When Bishop hit his first 3 that reduced the Flyer lead from 27 to 24, I was really expecting to read:

The Dude:  James Bishop.  Smooth, silky stroke.  A genuine star even in what looks like a defeat.

   

Free Quebec wrote:

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Free Quebec wrote:

Other than the two 14-0 runs, we are winning.

 But for that Mrs. Lincoln...

That was the joke.

Terrible performance. We are just a poorly coached team.

Mine was a joke too, Free.  I know you weren't serious.

Just listened to the press conference.It’s the first time I have done so.First-seems like a very nice man.
Caring and decent.Second..Great schmoozer! Enjoy listening to his improvisational repartee under
pressure.Third-Someday he may be a good coach.It’s simply to early for him to lead our team to any 
sustained competitiveness.It took me 15 years to become a good therapist and 20 plus to be really
seasoned.I’m sure that true in many professions.I know once in a while one can catch “lightning in a bottle"
but Christian doesn’t appear to fit that description.It was worth a chance at the price.He’s just not ready.He should have stayed at Siena for a while longer.

Last edited by GW69 (1/08/2022 5:30 pm)

Dayton had more players score double digits (5) than GW had players that scored at all (4).

We don't even block out on free throws. Basic shit you are taught in middle school. This is a microcosm of what is going on.  Glad TV and the Interim President were there.

FWIW, Tanya was sitting in the back of the room during the press conference, which I don't believe she has done this year. JC spent 30+ minutes talking to the team before he came out for the press conference. He was asked what he said to the team and kind of gave a nothingburger answer other than saying he didn't yell at them because it wasn't the time for that.

Actually these comments are mild. Any other team, layoff or not, fans would really tear into this, after an ignominious OOC.
First off, anyone here who watched this bad playground style (would anyone willingly play another game with guys who take these shots?) disaster, deserves a free pass on commenting this year. I actually missed the original game, but in a score-free bubble (not hard to do with GW bball) watched it on tape later. Every sad second, down to the postgame handshakes.
  It started with the early, oddly chosen 30-foot 3 point shot from Adams, begetting a stream of jocked up, ill-chosen shots. Also, when we don't defend and take really bad 3s and often miss badly (in another case, how often can one player draw back iron and miss 3s before giving it a rest?), can we try anyone else? Amir Harris didn't seem to appear until maybe 34 minutes. Sure that was well worth a year and a half of rehab for him. Even 60 percent, he is fine to play in this rotation.
   And Knapp, who actually made 3s and had a decent average on a D1 team where he wasn't the star, just sits on the bench. He did play maybe a little less than 3 minutes and no one passed to him. Either he was told he was strictly a practice player, which is crazy in this potentially talented but hugely underperforming group, or we are screwing him big time as a preferred walkon.
  Much more to talk about, but no excuses for this play and refusal to take any responsibility or make anyone live up to any normal basketball responsibility.

Free Quebec wrote:

GW0509 wrote:

Post game press conference

Echo what GW69 said. He seems like a kind, decent, and caring man.

That’s said, let’s look at some of what he said:

1) (when talking about his disappointment with our defense today, “We’re one of the best defensive teams in the league so far, or through the year we have been…. We have been a very elite defensive team.”

Really?!? We are 11th in defensive efficiency in the league 180th in the nation). If he believes we are an elite defensive team, he’s in way over his head. If he’s just spinning us, it’s insulting.

2) (still praising our defense) “The way we’ve been able to defend the three, how we’ve been able to defend at the rim, and really the only thing we’ve been trying to correct is our rebounding. Those other areas we’ve been elite at.”

Really?!? Our defending at the rim is elite? We’ve watched bad teams dunk all over us and we’re 187th in two point fg defense. Maybe our stats are better if you take out putbacks, but is there anyone anywhere who thinks we are elite at defending at the rim?

3) (on the team playing too much as individuals, not as a team) “We’ve got to be able to bond together better and just play consistent basketball with one another so really it’s much more about that. I’m not really terribly critical outside of some individual efforts that I thought should have better”

Really?!? Ok, I appreciate that he called out some individual efforts hurting the team without mentioning names, but it seems like once again the only thing he can identify is a lack of togetherness. No talk about finding the open man, about faster ball movement, about helping and recover faster on defense, about setting screens harder, playing through contact, making sure you are doing the little things even when your shot isn’t falling,, or anything else. Just we need to bond together and play more consistent basketball with one another. That’s what we’ve heard for three years and the platitudes aren’t working.

4) when asked about the lack of scoring from Brown and Dean, he praised their ability, but said, “That’s a strong unit of guys, and they’re really unselfish, but we just haven’t gotten them at this stage of their careers to push through that (grit and fight needed to succeed) yet and it’s time for us to see it. I don’t know if we can wait much longer for those guys to kind of recognize that and we’re really pushing for those guys to be able to do that.

Ok, here I appreciated the mild criticism, though I would have loved to here something beyond just needing more grit and toughness to push through. And I appreciate him expressing some sense of urgency about it. Plus, while I realize Ira Lee was supposed to be our guy inside, these are the other bigs he recruited. Also if he thinks Brown and Dean are great players, it makes me wonder if this little-used transfer we just landed is just another Brown, Dean or Samuels, rather than someone who can actually be a real contributor.

4) (still talking about brown and dean) “They are playing with great playmakers. Brendan Adams, James Bishop, Brayon Freeman, Ricky Lindo. Those guys are great playmakers.”

Really?!? Adams and Lindo are “great” playmakers. When everything and everyone is great, the word loses all meaning. I’m not even sure those guys are above average playmakers right now, or we wouldn’t be in the bottom Fifth of D1 teams and one of the worst offensive teams in the country.

He did go on to say that with those guys Brown and Dean really just need to defend and rebound and that they’ve seen it in practice but it hasn’t translated to games consistently yet. I appreciate hearing he’s seeing more in practice from them than we see, though perhaps it’s because they are going up against each other instead or A10 level bigs? . I’d also like to know if he favors a Villanova or Tom Penders style system where the bigs just have to rebound and defend and set screens , or if he’s playing that way out of necessity.

6) On Brayon, Bishop, Bamisile, Brendan and Lindo “Those guys are always going to find a way to score you enough points to win you the game, but it’s really about the defensive effort and being connected.”

Really?!? If those guys are ALWAYS going to score enough and our problem is defense, then why are we 313th in offensive efficiency? Does he actually believe those guys are getting it done offensively and the only problem is a defense that earlier in the press conference he called elite? Does he just think we are all dumb??

How can we have an elite defense and 5 guys who are always going to score you enough to win, yet he only be ranked 274 out of 358 D1 teams.

I don’t know about anyone else, but while positivity is good, this constant stream of smoke blown up our butts is not confidence inspiring at all.

Agree with everything you said, Free.  The only caveat is what I believed you alluded to, namely you don't publicly bash your team or the individuals   The team's confidence has to be in the toilet about now anyway, and public criticism by their coach would not be helpful, as they have so little support to begin with.  Leave the bashing to the press (if there is any) and the fan base.  Besides, any objective assessment of the team must include the coach, including his game plan, his outright poor coaching during the game and his inability to recognize A-10 level talent, recruit it to GW or coach it once it arrives.  But anyone who believes that Christian's third year is any better than Joseph's third year just hasn't been watching very closely.  

Covid or no Covid—that just looked like a very poorly coached basketball team, with some of the worst defensive play and adjustments I’ve seen in my lifetime as a GW fan. If it’s not JC, then we have some of the worst assistant coaches in the country.  Someone has to be accountable. 

I hope to God I’m wrong, but It’s looking more and more like JC’s biggest wins at the Smith Center will be wins over GW by MSM and Siena.