Really well done, as always, DMVPiranha.  Maybe you can start an off-season subscription service so that we can "keep reading you."

So just a few things about last night.  First, the sun did come up this morning which is another way of saying that the world has far bigger things to be concerned about than GW failing to reach the quarterfinals.  And please understand (am looking at you GWRising) that I do understand this.  Last night was not a referendum on the entire season.

That said, JC would be the first to say that a season is divided into three seasons.  The OOC is the least important in his mind.  The conference season is where improvement must be demonstrated.  And the postseason is like the final exam (or exams if you get to play more than once).  It is therefore very easy to see the bell curve that was the 2021-22 GW Colonials.  Last night's loss carries greater significance than any other single game played all season.  It can not and should not be chalked up as just a loss.  

Instead, it really represented the culmination of a regression to the mean.  GW failed to win a single game against any of the 6 schools with better seeds.  There was no 4 OT win over Davidson to feel great about nor was there an unexpected blowout win against a 2020-21 URI team that was far better than this year's version.  Instead, over the final two weeks of the season, there were losses to George Mason, Fordham, and UMASS, three teams who GW had previously defeated earlier.  And, a very near loss to a Duquesne team that won its first conference game of the season and then lost the rest.

By contrast, George Mason, also obviously disappointed with how their season went and ended, managed to defeat both Dayton and St. Bonaventure.  That should inspire some confidence, a feeling that they can compete with the top programs.  No such feeling ought to exist right now in Foggy Bottom.

As for the game itself, it can be summed up very succinctly:

99 points allowed
UMASS: 46 points in the paint (30 in the first meeting)
Noah Fernandes: career high 29 points, 7 assists, 7 steals (4, 4 and 1 respectively in the first meeting)
GW: 18 turnovers (against a team that really does not go out of its way to attempt to force turnovers)
UMASS: 31 points off of turnovers (14 in the first meeting)

Ballgame.

The most fundamental principle that is ever taught about playing defense is as the defender, keep your body in between your man and the basket.   To do this you must side step/slide your feet so that you accomplish this.

We don't do this.  We were beaten off the dribble the entire night.  Once they get past you, any attempt made to strip the ball or block it from behind is going to result in a foul call.  I felt this was a pretty lazy officiating crew in this regard.  Refs often call "what looks like should be a foul" even when they don't see the actual contact.  Once the offensive player beats the defensive player off the dribble, in the ref's mind, the offensive player has done his job.  Not trying to single anyone out as just about everyone was guilty of this last night but after an entire season, Ricky Lindo still has not figured this out.  He is consistently amazed at some of his foul calls, many of which are bad calls, but are made because his man got past him to begin with.

Hunter Dean was the guy picked on last night.  They had him switching to a much quicker ball handler all night and he obviously could not keep up.  JC had to sit him in the first half, perhaps hoping that McCall would abandon this strategy once Hunter returned.  He did not.  The lack of any adjustment to this was borderline astounding.  It is one thing when Luka Brajkovic goes to town in single coverage.  Your strategy was to not give up 3's so the trade-off is that Luka has a field day down low.  Though you could have tried doubling down low in that situation, you at least know that this was a "pick your poison" situation.  Last night?  Not so much.  Why not switch things up?  Why not make sure that Hunter stays with the pick setter no matter what.  To be fair, it really seemed as if all of our guys were getting beat off of the dribble last night.  Am just not sure why this was.

My last criticism is unfortunately directed at Joe Bamisile.  This is hard because like most everyone else, I love Joe.  Love his enthusiasm, his athleticism, and normally, even his goofiness.  As a reminder, I am the one who wrote here that we must as fans let Joe be Joe, that a missed dunk could be less damaging than stifling his creativity.  So maybe I should take my own advice but I won't this time because I believe this was different.  With just over a minute left after the refs blew one more play which should have had Joe shooting free throws, the team came back on the floor after a timeout and was waiting for the UMASS players to return to the floor.  GW was down 12 or so and barring a miracle, their season was about to end.  You would never know it from Joe who was on the court smiling and dancing a bit while he had a few seconds to kill.  Sorry if this resonates along the lines of "get off my lawn", but I was admittedly disheartened to see a player looking pretty carefree at a point where his team's season was about to come to an end.  I was very bummed to see this team's season come to an end in this manner and frankly, so should he have.  Not the end of the world but I guess I want the guys I root for to want success at least as much if not more than I do.  Maybe a nitpick to some of you but as they say, there's a right time and place for everything.

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

Mike K wrote:

When Dean was recruited, he was highlighted as a guy who could shoot from outside and stretch the D.  Or maybe I am mistaken or senile.

That was my recollection also.   In fact, I believe he was said to have 3 point range, and if you watch him in warmups, it doesn't seem to be a bad touch.  But he has take a small number of 3s that I recall (more his first year with the team), didn't hit any, and has not taken one in a very long time.  Again, this is with the same disclaimer as Mike K., namely I may be mistaken or senile.
 

I would’ve loved to see the board’s reaction to Dean just hanging out on the 3 pt line this year.

Gwmayhem wrote:

Hunter Dean was the guy picked on last night.  They had him switching to a much quicker ball handler all night and he obviously could not keep up.  JC had to sit him in the first half, perhaps hoping that McCall would abandon this strategy once Hunter returned.  He did not.  The lack of any adjustment to this was borderline astounding.  It is one thing when Luka Brajkovic goes to town in single coverage.  Your strategy was to not give up 3's so the trade-off is that Luka has a field day down low.  Though you could have tried doubling down low in that situation, you at least know that this was a "pick your poison" situation.  Last night?  Not so much.  Why not switch things up?  Why not make sure that Hunter stays with the pick setter no matter what.  To be fair, it really seemed as if all of our guys were getting beat off of the dribble last night.  Am just not sure why this was.

I could go back and find the quotes from earlier in the season but I know that JC has faith in Dean to defend on the perimeter (whether that's well-founded belief or not is a different story and he was getting embarrassed last night defending guards behind the three point line).

Also JC has said he likes stopping the ball coming off screens because the A10 has such good guards. Obviously the problem with that comes when the guy setting the screen is left open and can be found by the guard. I know Fernandes had 7 assists but I'm not sure how many came off situations like this. Either way I think teams were able to exploit it all season.

Also ditto to what people have said about the inability to keep players in front of them defensively. I've noticed Bamisile especially struggle with this but it seemed to be an issue for nearly everyone last night.

GWAA, the team has been guilty of leaving its feet on defense in the past.  To be fair, I did not notice a whole lot of that last night.  It did not appear to me that we were being pump faked to death.  What was apparent though was the constant barrage of drive-bys, as in UMASS players consistently driving by GW defenders.  It's one thing to lack the athleticism to defend but it's another to seemingly have the physical abilities but not apply them.  This team was athletic enough which makes this issue that much more of  a head-scratcher.

Dude, if it bothers you that this board does not have a positive enough vibe for you or that myself and others have enough passion and regard for this program that our perspective rubs you the wrong way, maybe you would be better off not visiting this site. 

For what it's worth, I feel your attitude, which is nothing more than acting as a contrarian regarding virtually everything, insufferably making your points, of which many have nothing to do with GW basketball, and essentially serve as a troll attempting to repeatedly initiate fights and annoy in general, sucks.

Even with the large contingent of coaches, staff and shot analysts on or behind the bench.