Not seeing James Bishop name in the transfer portal is the best news so far of the offseason

Presumably he could turn pro, but the transfer looks unlikely

When asked about returning he always appears open to the idea

MASSIVE NEWS!

Has a good shot to finish top 3 all time in GW scoring

School´s official release...

https://gwsports.com/news/2023/4/10/mens-basketball-james-bishop-iv-to-return-for-final-season.aspx?fbclid=IwAR0th298LIM9-4y6HACTMq7vB_0cxrAQ-5U3V-I9yrUCdbGRq4rW-0rQ-TY

WooHoo!!!! 

It's interesting how things can change over time.  Before the start of last season, I would not have been at all convinced that James returning for a second year would have been a good thing for this program.  By mid-season, I posed the question thinking that this program might be in better shape with James, as well as without him, in 2023-24 .  Today, I am fully convinced that this is a great thing. 

Much of this should be attributed to James himself.  His maturity as a player grew by leaps and bounds.  His decision-making playing in this offense improved immeasurably.  Talent has never been the issue with James.  Helping his team win by being as willing a passer as a shooter, playing both ends of the floor, and in short, figuring out what he must do to help his team win games, are the areas that he has substantially improved upon.  We should be a far more competitive team with James than without him; this is not even up for discussion.

I also love the fact that James should be taking on a leadership role with this team.  With so many young players coming in, there is no question that this will be James's team and that James has a genuine opportunity to help shape the college careers of a number of his future teammates.  

This is shaping up to be a team where we are routinely playing 4 guards/wings at a time.  The jury is of course still out on the bigs, but acquiring greater depth even among the guards/wings will allow for playing far more aggresively than we did this past season.  James coming back is of course a key.  Fantastic news!

Great news!  He's a true Colonial. He has made tremendous strides since his freshmen year. A true Legacy player. 

Excited to see him play another year.  Can’t wait to see what our roster looks like next year. Hopefully transfers are salivating at the chance to play with JBIV and Max (plus the others).

Interview with DC News Now's Jake Rohm.  Biggest takeaway is that JB never considered transferring to another school, it was either coming back to GW or going pro.

1-on-1 with GW point guard James Bishop IV | DC News Now

The other things about James is that he has been to a HM and saw how things are done and that the grass is not always greener. Everyone just assumes because you did well at a A-10 school it will translate up. Not always the case and James knows that he is comfortable here so why take the risk especially having gone to a P5 for his freshman year.

Nobody, myself included, is blaming James Bishop IV for the team's lack of (huge) success over the past three seasons.  James has been a major bright spot on teams that lacked enough talent, depth or both to compete for an A10 championship.  As we know, James's numbers have been terrific and it would be nothing short of scary to picture what this team would have done the past three seasons without him. Nevertheless, the elephant in the room is that his teams have not won big despite his sometimes herculean efforts.

One thing I've stated before is that I believe the key to the success for GW teams in the past has been an inability for defenses to key on one or even two players to shut down in order to achieve success.

Yinka-Kwame-Vaughn-Nimbo-Sonni-Dirkk

Shawnta-Yegor-Sasha-Mike (or Kwame/Vaughn prior to this)

Carl-JR-Pops-Mike-Omar-Maureece

Zeke-Mo Creek-Kethan-Joe-Pato-Kevin

Tyler-Yuta-Joe-Pato-Kevin

Not meaning to forget others but the point is clear.  It is difficult to achieve major success when a team does not have 4-5 legitimate threats on the floor.

As for James, this issue is made clear in his career usage at GW.  Here are his three seasons broken down:

Year        FGA        FTA       A      TO   Points per game

  1            15.3        6.2      5.1      3.6          19.1

  2            14.8        4.0      1.9      2.0           16.7

  3            17.5        6.0      5.2      2.9           21.6


Very hard to argue with his year 2 to year 3 improvement.  Nevertheless, my question is whether you see a need for James to reduce his usage, allowing others to step up and force defenses to pay attention to them, or, is our best chance for success contingent upon JBIV having the ball in his hands as often as possible?

My hope is that JBIV would be more than willing to sacrifice minutes and usage in exchange for greater team success, if that's what it took.  Do you feel this is what it will take?