Signs of flames from Maceo Jack from 3! Heating up,  half way to a Firestorm!

Armel Potter! rim attacks! GW surges ahead!

Wow what a great, fun win! fantastic 2nd half!  GW pulls away from 9-0 Delaware to hand them their first loss

4 Wins in 5 games for our guys, Armel Potter has been a shot of vitality into the GW lifestream, what a tremendous 2nd half for Armel Potter!!

Nice win Gents
 

My player of the game was Justin Williams for the awesome defense he played on their leading scorer

Juice probably didn’t know what city he was in at the end after those two vicious picks.  Agreed he played great D on Darling.

Goss set a career high with 15 points. He had a total of 21 points in his two years at GW.

Also,, did not notice until the 2nd half-  very short bench today.  Looks Like Coach did not want to mess with what was working but probably had an opportunity to give a few players a breather

What the Blue Hens had to say.

http://www.gohens.net/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26374

It's amazing to think that roughly 60% of our games this season have come down to our play in the last four minutes of the game. We found ourselves in that situation yet again yesterday up by only four heading into the final media timeout. There has been a progression in execution looking at just the past few games compared to some early games in the season. Additionally, while it is obvious at times that our shooting/offensive efficiency is limited given our roster construction/personnel, it's safe to say that coaching has played a role in us notching 5 wins already to begin the year (apart from playing a more realistic SOS, we are already halfway to surpassing last year's win total). Three things stick out for me: 1) the semblance of an offensive system, 2) getting the team to play together, and 3) getting the most out of the guys currently on the team. Compared to last year, I actually felt like our offensive play calls actually lead to a pretty good shot (though the execution is still a work in progress), and more importantly, they are OPEN shots, instead of contested off-balanced ones.

The second point may be nearly as important. While we still are a bit sloppy with the ball slipping out of our hands and losing it through traffic (mostly JNJ, although Armel had a similar problem on one possession in transition) there have been virtually no passes thrown away because guys weren't on the same page (there was one I can remember in a previous game where Juice failed to get to the corner, resulting in Armel throwing a pass away, but can't remember too many other cases). That was something that consistently plagued us last year, even during conference play which made it seem like guys on the team were playing with each other for the first time ever on a nightly basis. We are starting to play harder and cut down on turnovers. While I will never disagree that the team played hard last year, they simply never played together.

The final point probably applies to Armel than anything else. While it helps that he is healthier this year, he looks like a completely different player than last year. He absolutely exudes confidence, and is not fazed by who he has to face on any given night. JC has asked him to make 150 threes everyday in practice, and that paid off with him making a big three late in the game. When we get each player to focus in on their strengths (Maceo/Jamison for shooting, AT for cleaning up the glass, Armel for scoring/distributing, JNJ/Juice as key defenders, etc.) you get a team that knows their role and be aware of when they need to step up. Looking back to the game, every player had a key role during the game. Armel obviously late in the game - I believe he had at least 10-12 points in the last five minutes down the stretch. Maceo hit three threes in the second half to get the momentum to swing in our favor. Jamison cut to the basket late and converted on a shot right near the rim to keep us ahead (along with a few key buckets in the first half to keep us right with Delaware). JNJ I believe scored all of his points in the first half, but his almost now guaranteed steal/dunk and three pointer to give us the lead off the feed from Armel were huge to get us back in the game. Juice played lockdown defense on Darling as has been mentioned - he got into a bit of foul trouble, but that's exactly what's called knowing your role. Juice accepted the role of playing lockdown defender, and took zero shots the entire game - instead letting his teammates pick up the slack there. Ace gave us a nice lift offensively in just 3 minutes of action. I think having each guy play to his strengths has contributed to the improvement. As JC says, they are at their best when their best is required.

The rotations were a bit more interesting in this one. The contest felt like more of a conference game in the way we managed who played - I think this gives somewhat of an indication in terms of who we'll see play entering 2020. It was a combination of maybe finally finding the rotation that works and JC trying harder to win this game and hand Delaware their first loss. We have played noticeably slower in two of the past three games, which has allowed us to play fewer guys. While I would prefer us to go maybe 8-9 players deep instead of just 7 today (which will wear out the starters, particularly Jamison and Maceo), maybe having two weeks of rest afterwards may have also played a role. I do think we could have put Chase, Javier, and Shawn out there for a few minutes or so (I would have thought Javier especially after his late game heroics). I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something similar in the Harvard/Vermont games. We are likely to see an extended bench against Longwood (or at least I would hope after they lost to Morgan State today). Mezie appears to be sidelined with an injury and even Chase still appeared to have some fingers bandaged so he might not be all the way back yet. It was clear the JC ran with his most experienced guys (Armel, AT, Juice, and Maceo) down the stretch will always helps increase the chance of a W in a close contest.

Overall, the turnout to the game was kind of meh, as many of the upper seats were empty but that's understandable given it's exam season. The guy singing the national anthem was pretty good. He tried to get the crowd to sing the national anthem with him, but failed miserably. That was mildly amusing - everyone was dead quiet, and left the guy hanging on certain words in the anthem. Also, the Japanese kid who was shooting free throws during the free throw contest needs to be signed as a walk-on immediately. The dude was AUTOMATIC from the line - I think he made like seven in a row. I think we found our replacement for Yuta guys.

Happy for Collin Goss that he had a career performance against us, but it still resulted in an L for Delaware (I was really temped to say Collin Loss). I really thought AT should have had a better performance against him since he still is pretty skinny (especially in the first half) but 12 points and 17 rebounds is nothing to scoff at.

Offense: Credit Delaware for taking away Jamison and our three point shooting, forcing us to be creative. Armel will continue to have high usage as the lead point guard in a PnR-centric scheme. Of all the returning players in the A10, Potter is far and away #1 in usage increase this season:


I will say that the team still needs to work on getting into the offense earlier in the game - it almost feels like we have to dig ourselves in a hole before we wake up. I get somewhat why we played slower in this one, but I feel like we reset and pull the ball back out a bit too late in the shot clock which can lead to rushed possessions at times at the end of a shot clock (JNJ had to hoist two deep threes in the first half both which missed, including a shot clock violation). We were not moving that much in the first 10 minutes of the game. Delaware switching between man and 2-3 zone confused us some, but we were also not seeing a lot of movement off the ball. Once again, we seemed to wake up after halftime, making good adjustments and we were on our way. I still would like to Jamison/Maceo actually freed up on their threes by setting a screen, which would help their efficiency out a lot.

Defense: We did attempt Mayhem towards the end of the game when we already got out to a sizable lead, but felt like it wasn't used as much since we weren't in a large hole for most of the game. Still, as predicted running their guys off the three point line was highly successful against a potent shooting team like Delaware. While I will admit I was skeptical whether we would be able to stop all of their shooters from going off, we did an absolutely great job running them off the line. They got some good shots close to the hoop, but we forced them into a number of midrange shots (kudos to them for making them - at some point we will face someone who can't hit those!) and forced them to alter their shot in mid-air. The defense overall was very strong today which helped us stay in the game when shots just wouldn't fall.

Game Ball: I thought this section would be more interesting coming into the year, but it gets a bit boring when one player keeps running away with it. Armel showed how you close games as a senior on your home floor - he simply made play after play to put the game away. He has more than made up for some missed layups by making some really tough ones. I don't know if anybody keeps track of how many three point plays a player makes throughout college basketball, but I'd be surprised if Armel isn't top 5/10 nationally. He seems to have at least three every game. Delaware had tall guards in Allen and Anderson, but they simply didn't have the lateral quickness to defend JNJ and Armel on drives to the hoop and they were beaten consistently. Armel's free throw shooting deserves a lot of recognition as well - I believe he is a career 60% shooter or so, but is well over 80% on the year. That has helped us win some close games.  

Player Breakdown:
Armel - unfortunately the Colonial Army twitter account took my idea of starting this with "you're a wizard Armel!" so I'll just add that he probably should have had closer to 10 assists had AT finished on some of his shots closer to the hoop. Potter is now averaging 20.3 ppg in his last six. Also happy to see him have an impact on defense - a couple steals today, and drew another charge today. Happy for his success in his senior campaign.

JNJ - just a better fit off the ball at this point in his career, but man his defensive skills have been fun to watch. His three point stroke looks good, but he probably puts a bit too much spin on his release or something because I feel like he should be a better shooter than he is. Still, I'm sure he'll work on that. A Jameer who can torch guys from deep and get to the hoop will be hard to stop. Has now scored 41 points in his last three in a more complementary role. Potentially down the stretch of close games we could see JNJ for offense, and Juice for defense. Not that JNJ is a bad defender by any means, but Juice has experience on his side at this point of his career. Still, a solid game for JNJ.

Maceo - it was looking to be another potentially bad shooting performance, but the more discouraging part was the shot selection early on. Maceo's first couple of shots were very deep and contested which barely glanced the rim. What I like about him though is that he knows when he needs to change things up when things aren't working. After a couple misses from three, he proceeded to drive to the hoop, though his pull-up was shot a bit too short. We were a bit more creative with him in the second half, having him come off curls a few times and get better threes off screens, which I hope we do moving forward. It was also nice to see him get an open three in transition - when we get him open, he looks a lot better. The dunk at the end of course put the exclamation mark on a nice team performance. I do want to mention Maceo's defense which has definitely taken a step forward this year. His lateral quickness has improved to stay with the opposition on drives, and man he is actually not a bad shot-blocker and shows good instincts contesting shots. While his shooting hasn't necessarily gotten off to the start I thought it would, he is contributing in other ways. Had a season high five rebounds today and a couple of assists as well. He seemed to be sporting a different look today - maybe got a haircut and grew out his facial hair some? Not sure what it was.

Jamison - had an off night from three, but I like that we got him a fair number of attempts from the corner, which is the highest percentage three point shot in terms of distance from the hoop. He is continuing to grow on both sides of the ball. We found him for a midrange jumper which was the one hole in Delaware's zone, and he did a good job cutting to the hoop and converting on some shots. He is without a doubt more than just a three point shooter offensively. But the kudos go to his efforts down low on defense. Did he win the battle against Mutts 100% of the time? No, but he won about 80% of those matchups. He quietly blocked two shots, and is very good about not biting on pump fakes. Also pitched in a couple of assists, so we are seeing more sides of his game. Despite the shooting, a solid performance.

AT - looked a lot more like himself in the game. Not fouling out helps, but he also didn't play like he was hurt in the Boston U game. His rebounding continues to be elite. I like that we played through him more offensively, which led to him easily notching a season high in assists (he is an underrated passer from the top of the key). Defensively, I wouldn't call AT a lockdown defender, but he did a great job on that end today, with a couple of blocks. Free throw shooting is a bit off this season - he was a pretty consistent 70% shooter in previous seasons, so maybe it's still shaking off rust. The same can be said for some of his finishes near the rim which probably should have been better executed, although like Armel he too has been good with converting them when fouled for some reason. Overall, a strong comeback game minus that contested midrange shot he took which was a bad shot.

Ace - again, he knows his role. Played three minutes, and gave us some nice activity down low with a couple of nice finishes. A putback reverse layup and a nice jump hook (the latter which is one of his strengths). Again, thought we could have probably stolen a few more minutes from him in the first half, but still a final stat line of four points, two rebounds, and a steal in 3 minutes is impressive.

Juice - his lockdown defense on Darling was super impressive in the game. I never thought of Juice as more than just a serviceable defender, but he really shined on that end today. The refs were trying their best to take the W away from us - Darling travelled several times, but instead they called a foul on Juice and sent him to the line. Darling's only made three was in transition with no one guarding him, and his final three point attempt (which missed anyways) should have been an illegal screen. Juice was clocked twice late in the game, and looked a bit out of it getting up afterwards. Still, very happy that we were able to find a role for Juice on this team.

Good luck to all the guys on their exams, as we have a couple weeks off before we face Harvard on 12/21 at noon. Hope the time off allows Amir, Chase, and Mezie to recover from their injuries and they can get back soon. If Harvard's performance against UMass yesterday is any indication (as well as their performance against Maryland) the game will be even harder, so it's good that we have time to prepare. Getting off to yet another slow start and recovering will be even tougher against the Crimson so hopefully we work on that. Raise high to all...and to all a good day!
 

Last edited by dmvpiranha (12/08/2019 10:19 am)

During the pre-game reception, assistant coach, in response to my question, stated that Mezzie is not hurt, nor is he having disciplinary problems.   His not playing is a coaching decision, even though I am perplexed as to why he was not even suited up. Seems like he is just not getting it yet on the Court.   I will note that Mezzie seemed to be displaying a very positive and enthusiastic attitude on the bench.   I likewise asked about Toro and whether his performance in the Boston University game indicated that he was not totally back from his injury.   The response was he is better, but just rusty after his layoff.  FYI...I love watching Battle on offense.  He is a deadly three point shooter who plays smart, even though his offensive game is limited.   Disagree with your assessment on his improving defense however, DMV.   He is neither quick enough or physically strong enough yet to play effective defense and is still being beaten regularly to the basket.    I do agree that Walker and even  Javy should have seen some minutes.  I am not sure if Paar was dressed...someone help me here.   Battle guarded Goss for the entire first half, in which Goss had a career half.   Ace played Goss a bit better when he was in the game, perhaps because he is closer in size.  I think Javy may have helped here also, again because of the size.   As for the second half, as I previously mentioned, the more physical Toro guarded him the entire second half, during which time Goss' only points was on a break away dunk.   In all, what to do at the point is a tough call.   We are clearly a better team with Potter at the point ; however Potter is gone after this season and we need to be developing someone at that position.   Although it is nice being at 500 (talk about lowering the bar), this is still basically a loss season as on the court achievements go.   KenPom still predicts us to finish 11-20, and of the 21 remaining games, Ken Pom gives us a better than 50% chance of winning only 3 of them.  Yeah, I know that they still play the games, but by any objective indicator we are a rebuilding year, and playing 2 juniors and a senior as many minutes as they have may give us wins in the short run (yes, wins are nice), but it also may be stunting our future growth.