You’re all way too concerned about the lessons jc is teaching these guys about basketball. He is teaching them about life. Sometimes you lose and you just have to learn how to keep on losing. Life isn’t always going to give you winners. This will teach these guys from entering the transfer portal.

Ml just got the team a 65th place trophy. Jc is teaching these guys lessons that will last a lifetime.

2twooed wrote:

Knapp gives a spark and gets rewarded by Bishop coming back in and turns it over and misses 3 shots. Kid is very talented but is probably the most selfish player I’ve ever seen. It sure looks JC has lost his team. Effort is gone. Since we are the only team in the conference not allowing fans I don’t see how playing at home will give us any advantage. I bought into JC and now I feel beyond disappointed. Don’t see a path to success.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.  The team looked so much better when Knapp, and the rest of the subs were in the game.  There was actually some ball movement and unselfish player.  GW even put together a little run.  Them JC puts some starters back in, and it all falls apart.  

I don't like to comment on kids effort, as you can never really tell.  But, it looks to me at time Lindo's lost some of the intensity and fire he had early in the year.  Even the announcers noted that he doesn't appear to be showing up.  It's a shame, as he's the best player on the team IMO.

I was willing to be patient with JC, but this is turning into an absolute train wreck.  It's one thing to lose a lot of games but see signs of promise; the way the team is playing is absolutely terrible.  What makes it worse is the fact that there is actual talent on this roster (at least more so than some other GW squads in the 21st century), so it makes watching the games even more brutal.  I've seen bad GW teams before, but I've never felt like turning the game off like this before.   I can't tell if it's more due to poor coaching or poor roster construction (probably a bit of both).  

A season like this has a very good chance of killing recruiting momentum and JC's plan.  Recruits/transfers don't mind if a team is losing games, but they won't come to GW if they sense that the program's a disaster.  JC is a charismatic guy and a good recruiter who was able to sell some high-major players on a future plan, but a season like this basically acts as proof that his regime will be a bust.  This class was supposed to be a building block for future success, but that clearly hasn't happened.  Ira Lee might've been the worst player our team could've lost to injury, but that still doesn't excuse these types of losses.  You can argue that the Covid pauses had an effect, but there are a ton of teams dealing with issues and GW had the same problems before the pause. There are a lot of teams with the same challenges as us between a bunch of new players/transfers and Covid pauses.  

JC will probably get next year due to the buyout, but the team can't keep losing like this.  I'm interested to see what happens with the off-season in terms of transfers.  Obviously hoping he turns it around, but getting more pessimistic by each game I watch.  

Also- if the team is playing this badly and Nixon isn't getting time, it means either he can't play for some reason or it's a reflection on his talent level and there's a solid shot he won't be wearing a GW uniform next season.  JC definitely knows his seat is getting hotter, so he'd definitely use Nixon if he thought he had even the slightest chance of contributing.  

Last edited by CT Colonial (1/11/2022 10:11 pm)

Again,don't know why the bench wasn't emptied in the last minute and a half,down 20 plus.
Would be good to see fresh legs and postures.
And give the walkons something for their time.

Not surprised by the result or (sadly) the margin of loss. We had no chance from the start.
I've come to terms for a while now that VCU will crush us annually. Hopefully one day within the next ten years that will change.
Last year's seven point loss broke a four year streak of losing at least once to them by 20+ points. Nice to see us start a new streak this season.
In the nine games we've played at VCU, we've lost by 27, 17, 24, 30, 24, 28, 24, and 27 points. The 2015-16 team managed to pick up the lone win by 3 points.

Not much to say about the actual game. The team continues to play without discipline, but the defensive effort was particularly disappointing. VCU isn't that strong of a team offensively. Adams only saw 19 minutes of action which was interesting. Glad he didn't force things as much today, but he still needs to find a way to score. This team needs Adams, Bamisile, Bishop, Freeman, and Lindo to play at a high level together to even have a chance. Unfortunately, Bishop was a bit trigger happy in this one. I wonder if it was because he was going against Baldwin and wanted to make a statement. Ricky remains visibly frustrated. Noel just looked lost in the few minutes of action he got unfortunately.

VCU's broadcasting crew was hard to listen to. They didn't sound like they wanted to be there which made an already chore of a game to sit through that much worse.

Agree with others that Knapp was a bright spot. Spaced the floor effectively even though the three rimmed out in his first possession. Also got himself actually open on multiple shots he took. He also impressively held his own defensively on a couple of sequences. Of course when we cut the lead to 15, JC decided to put the starters back which made absolutely no sense (unless we are getting a first round pick for tanking). Wish he had just kept Knapp in (and the lineup that was working). Maybe he wanted to punish the starters (or us). Knapp needs to play more next game.

More than anything, I just feel bad for the guys on the team when you lose like that. Much like Mojo's team, they are a really likable group of guys, but the on court product just isn't working. If/whenever we move on from JC, I just don't have confidence that we'll make the right hire. The culture of the program is at a low point. Hope somehow we figure things out.
 

No fundamentals.  Seemingly no answers from the coaching staff.  Lack of effort seen during the game, and as stated above, the routs are hurting and will hurt recruiting. With NO inside info (I am far from an insider), I believe Buchannan would have committed to us by now if we showed any sort of promise.  

This is embarrassing.    

Thé first place to start in fixing this mess—or at least slowing down or leveling off our descent to hell is for JC to admit that he and his coaches are doing a lousy job. 

At his next presser, instead of talking about his disappointment with underperforming elite players—he should say that the buck stops with him and that so far the coaching staff has failed the players and fans on both ends of the floor—and that’s unacceptable. 

It’s somewhat impolite to ask these questions at the Colonials Club—but since the Hatchet is the only entity covering GWMBB, perhaps they can ask:

What is your typical offensive game plan?  What schemes do you utilize  to get open shots or is it just let the players freelance?

What is your defensive identity?   

Who scouts other teams and do you formulate specific strategies against different opponents?

Do you need to rethink your coaching staff?  What strengths do each of your assistants bring to the table in terms of on court performance.

What’s your philosophy on in-game adjustment, both tactically and with personnel?  Do you look to exploit particular matchups or fortify/change schemes based upon how our opponent is exploiting  matchups against us?   

We know you like a 7-8 man rotation, but why have you rejected using a deeper bench—even if it’s just a few spot minutes for particular players?  Aren’t there moments in games where a particular matchup with a bench player might be effective in giving frontline players more of a breather?

It seems that every opponent we’ve played this year, regardless of talent level, has shown a higher level of on-court discipline than our team.  What is your philosophy in instilling accountability in your players?


How would you grade your performance this year as a head coach in each of these areas and overall?  What are you most disappointed in regarding your own coaching g performance?

Steve wrote:

I certainly don't begrudge the hiring of JC, clearly he was a coach on the rise.

If it wasn't us hiring JC, another mid-major would have and likely would have felt the pain as well. Not to completely ignore any other factors but at some point the buck stops with JC, and he hasn't earned his next year.

I agree that the results do not reflect the hiring decision. It is not some uniquely GW reason why it hasn’t worked out so far. Look back at any and all interviews with JC and you can see why he would come across as very impressive in any interviews. Candidly, I was hoping we’d offer him the job after Mojo’s interim year.

Like Steve said, the school probably felt like they were getting in on the ground floor of a rising star a la Shaka Smart. We can all debate whether GW can take risks like this because it typically comes with at least a 4 year commitment but it was not an unreasonable decision to hire JC.  I guess a red flag would’ve been his desire to bolt from Siena after one year.

Last edited by GW0509 (1/12/2022 9:35 am)

moneybox wrote:

The idea of hiring a highly successful, seasoned coach from a strong conference and paying him the amount of money necessary to get him.

What conference is that coach coming from? Because P5s are now just hiring highly successful coaches directly from lower conferences and it’s insane to think we’d outbid Boston College for Earl Grant or VT for Mike Young.

What I guess we could do is hire a failed P5 coach like Travis Ford or Anthony Grant but for every one of those you get a Tom Penders or Paul Hewitt. That also requires a starting salary of $1 million and the only schools that can afford that are probably SLU and Dayton.

Would you sign up for Tom Crean or Jeff Capel? Because they may be available soon.

Last edited by GW0509 (1/12/2022 10:07 am)

I endorse the Jarvis/Lonergan hiring philosophy for the next coach...namely go with a successful coach who succeeded at a level somewhat higher than Christian.   The A-10 is a great stepping stone conference before hitting the really big time, and I would imagine almost any A-10 school would be a great stopping point.   I thought Christian was a good hire, but unfortunately his successes were at  schools that played for weaker programs than Boston University/Vermont.    Schools such as that would have been a good stop for Christian before he attempted a school at the level of GW.   Assistant coaches are a crapshoot.   Coaching is an entirely different animal.   You need to learn to walk before you can run.   Likewise, a coach from an upper major school does not appear to be a good idea either, for the same reason that building a team around upper major transfers does not appear to have been a good idea.   If the coach (or players) were able to succeed at the higher level, generally they would have stayed there.   One doesn't transfer to GW because the competition at a school such as LSU or Connecticut wasn't good enough.  With some obvious exceptions, players/coaches would come to GW only because they did not succeed at the higher level, or in the case of someone like Cavanaugh or Armwood were not given the opportunity).

     As for Knapp, I know everyone is desperate for something to cheer about, and I agree that it may be worth giving Knapp an opportunity to see more minutes, but do not go overboard because he scored 4 points during extended garbage time.   We don't know what he can do during meaningful minutes.  Still...we may as well give him a shot.   When everything you have tried has failed, may as well try something different.