moneybox wrote:

Disgraceful performance. This team has hit the wall!!!

Don’t agree they’ve hit the wall.  I think they are just a team with only 3 good offensive players and zero depth, so their ceiling is limited.  Tonight they were just flat and then whistle happy refs took them completely out of it down the stretch by putting most of the team in foul trouble with touch fouls.

There will still be good days and bad days with this team (saying the hit the wall implies it’s all downhill the rest of the season).

Last edited by Free Quebec (2/01/2023 9:06 pm)

Normally, you could shake it up by sitting a few players down,but that could be difficult.
But a message needs to be sent not to play half-assed, especially on D, pass,and take if not good percentage shots, at least Ok percent age shots.
  Been reading our own praises too much and striving too little.

Back to reality…

If this team is not making shots, they have no chance of winning. There was very poor energy to start the game.

Not a great feeling when you can't be confident in getting a stop against a La Salle team that isn't exactly a juggernaut on offense. The defense is just that bad. We can't really afford any further injuries and foul trouble to play any tougher on this team even if we wanted to.

When the team does happen to get a stop, they cannot find a way to secure the possession so the team gets another shot at a make.

For a veteran team, turnovers have been a major issue lately. Some very frustrating ones that Brickus came up with that shouldn't have happened. This felt a game that GW lost. As others have mentioned, talent was better for GW but La Salle played better as a team.

JB and BA shot 8/27 from the field. GW can't win when that happens.

The team had just 9 assists for the game. Way too much isolation ball from JB and BA. They are strong players, but expecting those unassisted shots to fall on a nightly basis is wishful thinking.

Max continues to play at a high level on both sides of the ball. He has looked more like a senior than JB and BA the past couple games. Part of that is that there is less defensive attention on him, but he just makes the right play more often than not. He takes it to the rim instead of settling for jumpers and for the most part his jumpers are in rhythm. Edwards makes key plays defensively and I'm not surprised he finished with the most assists on the team either because he doesn't force anything.

I don't think Ricky played nearly as badly as perhaps others did on here, although the fact that he shot so many threes early on was of course very maddening. There are times where it just seems like he zones out on the court. Brickus picking his pocket shouldn't happen (same for Hunter). The ticky tack fouls are sadly expected this point but aren't any less frustrating to watch - why is he fouling down 6 with nearly three minutes left? Would you believe he was the last player to make a field goal with about four minutes left?

This was a repeat of the Fordham game in that it was all BA taking shots down the stretch and JB wasn't taking any. If you told me Bishop didn't play the last seven minutes of the game I would have believed you. Again tonight one total shot attempt in the final eight minutes of the game after one shot attempt in the final ten minutes against Fordham. Teams are obviously doing a good job taking him away but that just cannot happen if this team wants to win.

There's no margin for error for the GW starters (i.e. Hunter can't miss too many of his shots near the rim). Qwanzi is shooting 5/28 from three on the year. Have to think a shot falls in his favor at some point, but he simply isn't doing enough on either end to warrant many minutes on a team that needs support from the bench. Noel had a couple nice buckets down low but only had 1 rebound in 14 minutes. If Amir isn't making an impact defensively, he likely won't be enough of a factor in the game - he's shooting sub 40% from the field as well.

We are very limited and are not built to dig ourselves out of a hole. Three point shooting is very streaky on this roster.

WBB responded well after a tough two game road trip against La Salle/Mason and hopefully MBB can do the same back home against Duquesne. Rooting for the seniors to win as many games as they can from here on out but there's obviously work to be done with the roster this offseason - potentially 6-7 spots up for grabs. As much as I love when this team has got it going offensively, it will be nice when we have depth to pull players for either poor decision-making or fatigue and have defense to win a game when the offense is having an off night. The current team can only win in a high scoring game outscoring the other team.
 

The majority of that first half was reminiscent of Year 3 under MoJo, which is to say, quite bad.

College basketball teams get 30-35 chances to play games each season.  Each game is an opportunity at experiencing the excitement of a victory.  And yet, there are instances like last night when a team shows up on the road, confident that they are the better team, but displays little energy.  Then, they find themselves down by double figures (14 in this case), and they realize that now they treally have to turn things on and start playing.  The problems though are: 1) they really aren't that much better than the opponent to begin with and 2) they expend a great deal, both physically and mentally, that it's difficult to maintain this level throughout the rest of the game.

GW lost this game in the first half, not in the second half.  Losing to a hot team like Fordham at their place, even if their uniforms did say Fordham, can be easily understood.  Losing to LaSalle is harder to swallow, even on the road.

Much has been said about Ricky and the three point attempts.  Just because one CAN do something (Ricky can make a three point shot) doesn't mean one SHOULD do this (Ricky misses far more than he makes).  My sense is that CC does not want to tell his veteran players not to do anything.  I can respect this to a point.  Eventually though, the betterment of the team needs to supercede the risk of pissing off a player. I get that these are good looks but by now, maybe it's in the scouting report to offer Ricky these good looks from 3.

Some who post in realtime during games are just brutal.  Going off on JBIV during the first half about turnovers when his 9 points all but kept GW in the game?  Seriously, guys do turn the ball over, particularly those who are touching the ball practically every possession.

Officiating...some bad calls but not as many as some here might think IMO.  What bothers me is how differently the game gets called from half to half.  Probably close to a dozen second half calls would not have been called during the first half.  That's just unfair to both team.  Either call the game loosely or call the game tight.  But call it the same way throughout.

Was not able to watch the game but reading this thread has been entertaining.
1.  We really have an 8 player team max.  If effort is not there or someone is not having a good night on the starting 5, there really is no option except to ride with it.  The drop off from the starters to the bench is drastic. Amir is great defensively but the scouting report is out saying you don’t even have to guard him outside the paint so when he is in , he play 4 on 5 and our guards get double teamed consistently. 
2.  Our expectations have swung wildly.  Most on the board had us on the bottom 4 in the A-10.  We have a couple good games and now we get horribly upset?  We are a flawed team that is fun to watch.  If you go in with that mindset you will not be disappointed and will enjoy the game.
3. I think the coaching staff is doing a phenomenal job with the hand he has been dealt.  A 3 person bench where each of the 3 have severe flaws to their game (not sure Samuels is even a A-10 rotation player).  Enjoying the games and looking forward to next year (will be freshman heavy so maybe lot as many wins) and the future.

Again, you are all free to dissect every game in whatever way you want. I'm not going to expend the energy. The train is on the tracks, We are who we are etc. etc.. We will win some when our five guys play well and we will lose when they don't or we are required to use our short bench extensively. Really not much else to say. Enjoy the ride. The complete rebuild starts next year. This year is largely a placeholder. Hard to get too enthused or too depressed when that is the case. I'm much more interested in what is going to happen starting in about 6 weeks. That's no disrespect to the players or coaches. I hope they win every game. Just can't get too worked up when they don't.

Free Quebec, spare us the incessant "whining" about the refs. It's happening after every away loss we have with you. This is college basketball. Statistically, home teams have fewer fouls called on them. Overall, the A-10 refs do a very good job considering the speed and physicality of today's game. That's proven by the use of video (in reviewing flagrant fouls and last 2 mins with possession calls).

Free Quebec wrote:

By the way, does anyone have Caputo’s postgame comments? I’d be very interested.

It wasn't on video, but WRGW got some post-game quotes: GW Falls on the Road to La Salle – WRGW (gwradio.com)

I would be curious how much GWRising thinks this actually matters for portal recruiting next year, but the one hope I have for this year is that we show some sort of momentum in the program, so it appears to transfers that they're coming into a good situation.  CC did his best trying to get Joey Baker and Joey Calcaterra but I don't blame them turning us down for Michigan and UConn respectively. 

However, if we somehow finish in the top half of the A10, plus showing the improvement JB and BA made under CC Year 1, plus all the PT we have to offer, I think we can be quite successful in getting the parts we need.

Not that I want to see this often, but something jars a memory that Hunter might have been advertised as a 3-point shooter when he transferred.