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GW lands Benny Schroder!
Welcome to GW Benny
Great addition!
Last edited by The Dude (4/18/2023 1:27 pm)
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GW men's basketball has made its first splash in the transfer portal in 2023, landing top international prospect and former Oklahoma student-athlete Benny Schröder, it was announced on Monday.
"We are thrilled to add Benny to the GW program," said head coach Chris Caputo. "To get a player of his character, competitiveness, and skill is a tremendous value add. We also continue to show the basketball world internationally that GW is an excellent place to further your playing career, as Benny has such a distinguished FIBA resume."
Schröder came to the U.S. labeled as a top international prospect by ESPN following a standout prep career. In 2022 with Kickz International Basketball Academy Munich (IBAM) in Germany, he was named the NBBL MVP, All-NBBL First Team and Eurobasket.com All-NBBL Player of the Year. He averaged 26.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 3.8 apg in 31.6 mpg for the Kickz IBAM U19 team that season.
Schröder also made waves on the international scene, leading the German U16 and U18 national teams in scoring at respective FIBA European Championships. He shot a tournament-best 70.7% from the field in the 2021 FIBA European Challenge and averaged 16.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 2.4 apg for the U18 German National Team, when he was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Last edited by The Dude (4/18/2023 1:25 pm)
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He made the U20 German team for the FIBA championships.
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GW Announcement Link
Schröder, Weluche-Ume Qualify for FIBA U20 National Teams
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Was hoping to see Benny and Zam face each other at some point but I guess that won't be happening since Great Britain got relegated to Division B. I haven't followed FIBA too closely but they must have been pretty bad last year since only the bottom few teams get sent down to B.
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Alas, UK not a basketball powerhouse.
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Thanks to Florida Colonial, can watch Benny’s games here too:
Click on “Video” and set notifications for the U20 games for Germany (and UK) to watch live or just watch when you’ve sent the kids and spouse to bed.
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Interesting game from him this morning. Germany seemed to struggle with the French defense most of the game which led to limited time seeing him in a structured offense, and it appeared the French were guarding him more closely off-ball than some other players. He did a very good job finding open space which resulted in two easy buckets from under the basket and had some shift moves to get to the rim and draw fouls, I can't recall any significant defensive plays but didn't notice any big errors either. The biggest takeaway here is that whatever injury or illness he was carrying last season seems to be behind him, looking quick and athletic. Also want to note the energy and enthusiasm he brought to the game, active on the bench and yelling after some solid hustle plays. Not the most efficient day but that seemed to be the theme for the whole team. 22 Min, 6/15, 0/3 from 3, 2/4 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Assist, +/- -14
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Much better game so far from him this morning. Wonder if he's got a little Joe Bamisile in him in that the efficiency numbers may vary pretty wildly game to game? Also, just like the German soccer team, he seems to be pretty physical on defense which is good until we run into a whistle happy A10 ref.
Should be interesting seeing where he slots in on our options on offense. JB and Max are pretty clear 1 & 2. Then I think it's a toss up between Benny and DBJ.
Last edited by GW0509 (7/09/2023 7:00 am)
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21 points on 8-15 shooting 4-6, from foul line 1-4 on "3s", four rebounds, three assists, four turnovers, four steals and two blocks in 26 minutes in 83-81 win over Iceland
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The difference in quality of play between Division A & B has been significant thus far. Germany's opponents have been bigger and stronger than Great Britain's and it hasn't been close.
I've been pretty impressed with Benny's play thus far. France is a championship caliber team so I didn't really put too much stock in Benny/Germany not being able to compete that well. Iceland was definitely a better measuring stick. Their St. Joe's style of play seemed to work the first three quarters of the game or so. Especially early on I thought Germany may be in trouble with how Iceland was shooting the ball but they adjusted well defensively in the fourth quarter. Benny made some key defensive plays down the stretch, including a nice stop against #11 on Iceland who was coming off a 27 point performance against Slovenia.
Schroeder has a great feel for the game offensively. His instinctive cutting has really been enjoyable to watch thus far and he is very dynamic in transition. There are times when he is a bit erratic/shot-happy but I think this team will need another player like that next to JB. I think he can make a case for cracking the starting lineup right away. In the first game, I think he took more shots in the first 2.5 minutes than Zam had by halftime lol. Their games couldn't be more different (Benny is constantly talking on the court, Zam is pretty quiet). One thing to watch with Benny is how his three point shooting progresses next season. I think he can slide down to the 4 when needed but neither him nor DBJ seem like consistent stretch 4 options yet which I know CC had trouble dealing with Ricky last year. Benny's shot looks a bit flat when he shoots (Germany in general might be the worst 3 point shooting team in the field). The Smith signing does help there as a fallback option.
I know this is a Benny thread but I'll just mention Zamoku briefly. I really like his potential in a couple years and upside but I agree that he will need to be developed a bit more compared to Benny. Honestly, I think Z's shot mechanics and defense are quite good but he needs to learn to be a factor when the ball isn't in his hands on offense. Many times, he's only able to get open when GBR's guards draw defenders, allowing him to get open from 3 because he doesn't move much off ball. Against Luxembourg, he struggled early on because of this but came out of halftime looking a bit more aggressive, including a nice cut off the ball which I hope to see more of. I think he had 10 points in just the third quarter itself. He reminds me a bit of Yuta in that he is sometimes too unselfish and lets his teammates get all the shots despite being arguably a top 3 player on the team. The talent is there but needs to be developed more.
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Benny's first, second, and third options when he gets the ball is to drive. Maybe a three pointer if he can't (1-7). Passing comes after that. Sometimes drives without a plan and ends up turning it over (4 TOs /g). ORtg after two games is 91, brought down by his 3pt shooting, which isn't great for someone taking so many shots.
PS - Maybe someone pointed it out before, but I just realized he played with JoeBam at Oklahoma.
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Nice dunk here:
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Meh game vs Slovenia. 11 points on ten shots.
Three-game ORtg now 87. Three assists to 12 TOs. Can definitely use some coaching on decision-making.
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MG14 wrote:
Nice dunk here:
Throw it down Benny!
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Benny and the Germans got knocked out by Israel this morning. Hopefully we'll see an Instagram story with him on campus soon.
Benny had another inefficient line. I think it will be interesting to see how CC puts the reins on some of Benny's bad habits without completely stifling what Benny does well.
15 points, 4/15 FG, 1/5 3PT, 6/8 FT, 8 Rebs, 3 AST, 3 TO
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My hope is that this was a case of a good player playing on a bad team, feeling he had to pretty much do everything in order to give his team a chance to win. If similar poor habits and bad decisions plague Benny while playing for GW, this would indicate that the problems lie more with the player than his circumstances. Hoping he settles down and plays "team ball" rather than "hero ball."
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Gwmayhem wrote:
My hope is that this was a case of a good player playing on a bad team, feeling he had to pretty much do everything in order to give his team a chance to win. If similar poor habits and bad decisions plague Benny while playing for GW, this would indicate that the problems lie more with the player than his circumstances. Hoping he settles down and plays "team ball" rather than "hero ball."
I agree. I was going to add to my previous post that Benny's offensive game was very 2020 James Bishop-esque.
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This year’s team will have 7 players who are either freshmen or redshirt freshmen, including Benny. It’ll take time for this young team to gel and players to figure out their roles, but based on what I saw last year, I have no doubt CC and staff will help each player maximize their strengths.
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Benny's stat lines wouldn't look so bad if he cut down on the three point attempts and was a bit better at finishing his drives. It's more of the latter that I hope he's able to improve over the course of next season. His drives tend to rim out (especially when he's out of control) and he's had multiple games where he's rebounded his own miss and rimmed another shot out. Benny's great at getting downhill, but finishing is a work in progress. If his line was closer to 4/10 from the field I think that's acceptable although you hope that his FG% in the high 40s. I think CC persuading him to make the high percentage play instead of a highlight reel shot will be a big difference maker.
Germany's team was relatively talented but most of their players seemed reluctant to create their own shot/be aggressive consistently which seemed to force Benny into that role. There are stretches where he tries to defer to other teammates but he couldn't really do that for long stretches when Germany needed scoring (I even saw him slow things down in transition when he didn't have an advantage, so he does have self-control at times). Their leading scorer Rataj from Oregon State went scoreless which obviously couldn't happen for Germany to win.
There's no doubt though that Benny's fiery personality on the court could be an issue if he gets too frustrated. That's where I think having slightly more depth will help this year and CC can sit him down if he's getting too erratic. I did notice that when Benny subbed out after a bad stretch and later subbed back in he was a bit more in control for a while. He definitely needs resets from time to time.
Overall, I thought his defense was pretty good although there were possessions where I would have liked more aggressive switching instead of just camping out in the paint. His passing wasn't bad either. I still see him as a guy who is definitely deserving of a lot of minutes. I really like that he's always moving off the ball offensively and knows how to get himself open. That continues to be my frustration watching Zam when he attempted 6 of his 7 shots from 3 in the last game in that he is sometimes too passive and doesn't make defenses really have to guard him.
I was really impressed with Israel's Wolf who currently plays CBB at Yale. I wish we recruited some of those high skill guys that Ivy schools seem to always find from all over the country (although I guess we did get one in Garrett through the transfer portal). Along with former GW target Poulakidas, I wouldn't be surprised if Yale wins the Ivy and wins a game in the NCAA tournament. They always seem to recruit well.