Tennessee Colonial wrote:

Potter ought to be made to stand under the basket and shoot 200 layups. I was just watching the play by play and Potter showed way too many "Potter layup miss". Amazing win though. Great comeback!

It is not the missing the layups, it is the dribble at the top of the circle then run the lane without ever looking to pass and THEN missing the layup that needs to worked on. 1-on-5 is not a good offensive strategy. Of course, when there is no off-ball movement on the wings because the point is just going to run the lane anyway, it limits passing options.

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (12/04/2019 9:05 pm)

Definitely a fun win, but I think we were lucky to come back in that one. Luckily, BU couldn't hit much from range.

I'm definitely concerned with Jamison's ability to at the point. Time and time again he gets burned and his man goes in for an easy score or assist.

We have LOTS of trouble rebounding the ball if Toro isn't bringing them down. There were a number of rebounds we should've easily had but guys just couldn't handle them. Also concerned about the lack of assists. Maybe this game is an anomaly for that.

Finally, I'm very happy for Javi and I hope that shot builds some confidence. With that being said, I think he's a liability on the floor. His offensive game seems to have regressed, he often seems hesitant when making any move, has trouble rebounding the ball, and has been horrendous defensively so far. As I said, hopefully this is a turning point for him.

All in all, happy we got the W

A great ending to a game that was expected to go back and forth. A win is a win, and that's the most important thing (as is the growth shown on defense). Thankfully, the game ended on a positive note otherwise this recap would have dwelled on one thing: energy (and probably still will). No, not really our play on either side of the ball (although there were areas for improvement for both the offense and defense), but how much we wanted to win. That wasn't so clear in the first half and I'm being serious. The guys looked like they were almost forced to take the floor against their will with the sluggishness before halftime. That was the difference the first 20 minutes - BU didn't outplay us to take a seven point lead, but they 200% out-hustled us and I'm not sure I've seen that great of a disparity in energy in some time. Thankfully, whatever JC said at halftime seemed to have worked as the guys came out more energized and focused.

Offense: Credit BU for running the matchup zone relatively effectively. We definitely missed some easy layups close to the hoop, but overall we just weren't able to get into the lane and kick it out enough today, which definitely had an affect on our assist totals. I think we figured out how important it is for our defense to create some of our offense at times, because this team can do some damage in the open court. We slipped several times and weren't tight with the ball in our hands which led to some empty possessions, but luckily BU isn't very good at turning people over so we were able to push through that. Unfortunately, we don't have the shooters right now to make defenses pay for packing the paint, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more zone in the future from the opposition. For us to have success this year, we have to be able to make the open threes at a respectable clip. Looking at shootaround, that just doesn't seem likely, at least for this year. In general, floor spacing was bad today so whoever had the ball in their hands had to create their own shot constantly. I would have liked to see some screeners for Jamison and Maceo - too often this season they have had the responsibility to free themselves which makes their job twice as hard. Not enough guys cutting off the ball today either. I do want to say that I'm very impressed with our free throw shooting so far. Not that I was expecting us to be poor from the line this year, but that has been a pleasant surprise. Part of the reason we have been in close games despite poor play at times (and won today) has been our ability to convert free throws. We don't get to the line nearly enough, but we have done well to knock down the free shots.

Defense: We continue to show nice progression as the team gets more comfortable with Mayhem. Another season high in steals tonight - wouldn't be surprised if we hit double digits at some point this season. Truthfully, i didn't expect us to show much press this year after watching some of the earlier games, but it seems like with every passing game we are getting more and more disruptive for the opposition. Although we shouldn't have put ourselves in a hole to begin the game (this team NEEDS to find a way to get off to better starts) this win felt earned because of our effort on defense over the course of the game. That Walter Whyte turnover late in the game might have been our first turnover in the backcourt this season (and maybe in two years). The only problem was for most of the game BU had massive lanes to get to the hoop, and for some reason we didn't double team Mahoney as much this game compared to Kotsar on Sunday - thought we should have gone back to that, or at the very least, foul him more. Teams have also been automatic from the midrange against us of late, although I'm happy that we are forcing teams into inefficient shots. Hopefully, teams will eventually not have that kind of luck against us. Surprised BU didn't play Petcash more after his early success with a couple of threes.

When it comes to 50-50 balls, this team might be amongst the worst in D1. Some of it is bad luck, but I'd like to see us actually dive on the floor to fight for loose balls, a trademark of last year's team. Also, we need to work on securing rebounds. JC's teams have historically been poor at rebounding, but I'm sure he'll look to improve on that. Still, overall the defense is trending in the right direction. Also glad that we played a bit more uptempo at times instead of running the shot clock down - it definitely helped in the second half when we went on those runs.

Game Ball: Probably the easiest of the season so far. After failing to make much of an impact in the Milwaukee game, JNJ has come alive showing everyone why there was so much hype around him entering his freshman year. Jameer is shaping up to be a great fit for the Mayhem scheme - he did have a reputation of being a great defender in HS, and is showing some of that now as he is getting more comfortable with college ball. 4 steals in each of the past two games! That was basically our TEAM average in the games before that. Between his defense and impressive finishes in traffic offensively, JNJ sent a message to JC that he isn't leaving the starting lineup for the rest of the year (although I do feel like that might compromise our bench productivity; oh well). Great game from him.

Player Breakdown:
Armel - probably took a few too many shots today and should have made a few more passes instead, but again, BU did a good job preventing entry passes, so I guess it's understandable. They dared him to shoot threes which was probably a good strategy. Yes, Armel missed his share of layups, but he converted on two big ones in the second half to keep the momentum on our side which will go overlooked. His free throw after the acrobatic layup late almost looked like he was intentionally trying to miss it. A bit risky given our rebounding struggles, but luckily we were able to recover and JNJ was able to find Jamison for a huge three to get the deficit down to 3. His defense wasn't as bad as usual. How about this stat: in 35 career games for GW, Armel has had just 5 games (all last year) where he has posted more turnovers than assists in a game, and in all 5 he had just one more turnover than assist. That is mighty impressive.

JNJ - covered most in the game ball section, but just want to repeat how impressive some of those finishes in traffic were. Those are plays he wasn't able to make even a few games ago - but given how new he is to playing basketball competitively (just two years of HS before this) he is not only getting more comfortable to the college game, but basketball as well (I know he comes from great pedigree, but still). He has major hops as well. The one play that I think he made a mistake on was actually covered by FQ above. There was a play before one of his pretty finishes in the second half where he should have made the extra pass to Jamison who was wide open instead of taking the three himself - that is perhaps the one weakness in his game right now that I'm sure he'll work on. His potential is through the roof. Again, a solid performance from him.

Jamison - his defense wasn't very good tonight, as he was torched by penetrating guards getting to the hoop - one play that sticks out was the and one to put BU up 5. He showed more in the SC game in that regard defending more down low (and held up pretty well with the help of another defender). Still, I'm happy with his development. This is now 5 straight games with 6+ rebounds, and he continues to shoot 3's at an elite rate. TJ Weeks of UMass is pretty easily the best sharpshooter in the conference right now (and a fellow freshman) but Jamison is a close second for me in my opinion. There has been talk about him being one dimensional, but I'm sure he'll develop more parts of his game with time and this team desperately needs his three point shooting more than anything, especially in JC's scheme. Since the season opener, this is now eight straight games in double figures. That is truly extraordinary in his first 9 games of collegiate basketball.

Maceo - As mentioned earlier, the fact that he is forced to create his own shot when shooting threes is hurting his efficiency I think. When his shots are more assisted and he doesn't have to do as much, I'd imagine his numbers look a lot better, and I wish we would send more screeners to free him up. Maceo tends to undershoot or not release the ball cleanly when he is forced to create space for himself to launch from deep. I do think he could get to the hoop a bit more - coming into college, he did have the reputation as a slasher and has shown it on occasion which could open up more parts of his game. He only pulled down 4 rebounds, but like the SC game many were important ones, including the final one to give us the ball with 20 seconds left - something that will get overlooked. Not too worried about Maceo long term - I believe after the Bahamas trip he was still our leading scorer in terms of overall points scored on the season. I think with time he can be a lot better in JC's system. Got off to a good start, and I'm really happy for him after that unfortunate SC game that I believe came one day after his birthday. Had some moments on defense as well tonight.

AT - the one thing I took away is that he did NOT look healthy at all. I appreciate him trying to fight his way back sooner, but AT was so clearly not himself. He fouled a lot as he struggled to get in position, but also seemed like he could hardly jump to pull down any rebounds. Credit Mahoney for playing good defense on him, but AT was not 100%. Hopefully, he is on the mend soon.

Javier - the man of the hour (and day). Very happy for him, and I'll be honest he would probably have been the last person on this team I would have expected to make a buzzer beating shot (I would even put Adam ahead of him). He deserves all the credit in the world though for pulling down a rebound around two defenders (thankfully Armel's shot bounced a bit weird off the hoop) and making a contested shot off the glass. Which leads me to the question as to why he is able to make such a hard shot like that, but not easy layups 3/4 of the time (the time he went to the line probably should have been an and one). His attempted pass to AT in the first half also might have been one of the worst decisions I've ever seen a GW player make. Arnaldo wasn't even in the vicinity when he made that pass - it literally went straight into a BU player's hands. Still, everything goes out the window because he made the game-winner. That's what makes college basketball (and sports in general) fun - you always have the chance to redeem yourself.

Juice - very easily his best game since Howard. I was impressed with his defense today, and he came up with a couple nice intercepted passes/steals in the game. Even with last year's numbers, I'm still not entirely sold on him as a shooter, but happy that a 3 went in for him in the game which should help his confidence a lot. After that shot went in, it seemed like he was able to impact the game in other ways as well.

Ace - did a good job boxing out on a couple of his rebounds. Could he lead the team in blocked shots by the end of the season? It definitely will go down to either him or Javier. Both bigs aren't really rim protectors, but are great at predicting how the opposition will go up with the ball. I think by the end of the season we will appreciate the minutes Ace was able to give us down low, and the small things he did right.

Shawn - JC has talked several times this season about "knowing your role" and I think so far, no player on the team gets that more than Shawn. Case in point: after averaging roughly 28 minutes a game in his 5 appearances so far, he takes his coming off the bench role in stride, and plays hard the 4 minutes he is in the game, pitching in with two rebounds and two assists. The one shot he took was a poor contested one, but his passing and ability to play the point is severely underrated. His long arms and defensive instincts tell me that with some added strength, he can be a lockdown defender in the future. I thought it was interesting that JC brought him in as the defensive specialist for JNJ in a couple late possessions in the game. Could just be to build experience, but that told me that coach trusts him already.

Chase - nice to see him back healthy. He definitely has a D1 ready body, and looks like a good piece down the road. In his first action, he needs to learn to go up stronger with the ball, and close out on defenders better. He had a clear path to the basket, but didn't go up hard enough to even draw a foul. He will learn that with time. He was also probably a bit fortunate that BU didn't make a couple threes on him when he failed to close out properly. Not sure why he was switched onto a guard, but overall I'm happy that he's back from injury. His return will definitely bolster our frontcourt.

Now all the anticipation shifts to Amir! Although it appeared Mezie didn't suit up in this game. Guessing some kind of injury - this team just can't catch a break!

Next up is a game against the undefeated Delaware Blue Hens. They haven't beaten anyone too impressive, but this will be a tough game. Delaware is definitely a much better offensive team than BU, so we will have to continue to bring our A game on defense. If we get out to yet another slow start, we may not be able to dig ourselves out like we did tonight so hopefully the coaching staff addresses that in the next couple of days. We fight on!
 

Last edited by dmvpiranha (12/05/2019 12:44 am)

What an incredible fun win! Amazing comeback. 
Javi with the buzzer beater!!! What a great contested board and tough finish at the horn for the Victory from Javi Langarica!!
 

Last edited by The Dude (12/05/2019 2:58 am)

To those who undermine the importance of wins and losses this season, last night was a great example of why winning matters, even in a season without any postseason aspirations.  Our players looked like they had won the NCAA Championship.  The crowd erupted.  The coaching staff had to let out an enormous sigh of relief.  There has been a lot of bad over the past three years and last night, we clearly deserved to lose over the game's first 38 minutes. It was gratifying to see something very good happen.  As long as they keep score, wins will always have some significance.

What's remarkable about this win was that just about everything had to go the way it did for GW to eek out the win.  They were down 9 with just over 2 minutes left.  And then...

Jameer (whose athleticism is simply off the charts by GW standards) got away with a huge block.  His right hand grazed the rim which means that a goaltending call should have been made.  The refs missed it.

Jameer came up with an incredible steal by guarding an in-bounds pass and jumping high enough to pluck it out of the air.  Considering that JNJ is listed as 6' 1" and is likely shorter than this in reality, this steal was not to be believed.  Am not sure I have ever seen a defender intercepting an in bounds pass by jumping as high as he could and catching the ball in mid-air.  Between this and his remarkable 4 point play earlier in the game, it's impossible for me to decide which was the more difficult play.

A tie-up resulted in the possession belonging to GW with just over a minute left.  Would have been really tough to win had BU gotten the ball back.

Armel Potter, he of the great drives/missed finishes, managed to score in the lane as well as bury two clutch free throws to cut the BU lead to 1.  Prior to the free throws, JNJ found Jameson battle for a three which brought a 6 point BU lead down to three.  As FQ remarked, JNJ had missed Jameson earlier in the game for a wide open three, missing his own three instead.  It was good to see JNJ recognize that the team was better off with Jameson taking that shot.

BU was falling apart but never moreso than on a possession with around 30 seconds left.  Walter Whyte (who was really held in check during the first half with Jameson playing very good defense on him), fired up a long three with the shot clock winding down, Max Mahoney corralled the offensive rebound and threw it back outside to Whyte, who immediately proceeded to drive towards the basket and missed another shot.  The two Whyte shots came 5 seconds apart from one another.    This was a tremendous tactical mistake as BU could have worked the shot clock down to about a second meaning GW would have to go for a quick steal and then foul.  Instead, GW took possession and would never relinquish this.  

It was nice to see GW run a play out of the timeout (Battle and Langarica each set up in the high post) but a Potter 3 could not have been what the team wanted down by a point.  The refs went to the monitor and awarded the out-of-bounds call to GW (which was the correct call).  In what would be the game's final possession, I was amazed that nobody drove to the basket.  Down 1, you have to try to do something that will at least get you to the line.  Instead, we saw another Potter miss from outside, followed by Ay, Caramba!  Javier's only basket was the biggest of his career.  Good for him, and for this team. 

Last edited by Gwmayhem (12/05/2019 11:56 am)

Not on the JNJ hype train yet.  Still has an atrocious Offensive rating of .77 and uses way too many possessions (.32) including .83 and .34 this last game.  His usage is #26 in the country according to KenPom.  He also leads the A-10 in TO by a fair margin (4.3/gm) and is tied for 7th in the NCAA.  A/TO ratio of .57.

Yeah he shows potential, but he's no TJ Thompson.  yet.

Didn't note that Javi also took the high inbounds pass on that last play

https://twitter.com/PatrickQuinn07/status/1202503386215723011?s=20

Thanks FQ Dirk was fun and frustrating to watch. Of course how many guys we liked would have thrived with the way things are spread out now

In the second half, Ian’s especially the last 3 minutes (desperation  time), I finally got to see some mayhem defense.  We need to play the entire game with the defensive intensity that we saw glimpses off vs BU.   The bad news is that Amir Harris remains out with torn miniscus which he did last season.  There is no timetable for his return.  M

GWRising, I would ask you who thought MoJo was the answer after a 20 win season, as virtually everyone who understands this game even a little realized that the 2016-17 team had badly underachieved.  The only ones who arguably "thought he was the answer" was the AD who extended his contract for reasons that likely had nothing to do with his won-loss record, and those in support of the AD at the time. 

In an effort to make your point, you are attributing things that don't apply.  Nowhere have I said that wins and losses are more important than process.  What I have been saying is that wins do matter, in any season, regardless of circumstances.  They matter to build team confidence (among both players and coaches) and they matter to keep fans interested.  They matter to help build recruiting.  They matter for fundraising.  I was addressing several here who have said they really don't care if the team wins or not this year.  Should I assume that those people had no reaction whatsoever to Javier's game winner since they really don't care whether the team wins or loses this season?  I sincerely doubt this.  Incidentally, I am not putting you in this camp.  All I'm saying is that it's quite possible to deem progress and process as the most important goals while also valuing wins.