GW Alum Abroad wrote:

So is Caputo still in the "shit don't smell" phase with the fan base? Because at some point the listless offense, poor rebounding, career nights from rival teams' scrubs, uncontested treys and getting picked apart by other teams would come back to him, no?

I think the same question needs to be asked of James Bishop.  Where’s the leadership? His defense is still terrible, he’s obviously not a vocal leader or a guy who gets pissed off, and he’s killing our offense right now - not just because he’s missing everything, but because every time the ball comes to him, he pauses to look around (in fact, most of our guys do that), which gives the defense time to get set.  We aren’t using passes to get the defense off balance, but are just passing to give a different guy a chance to jack up a contested three or try to drive 1 on 4 and make a play.  Seriously when you watch our offense, watch how often it stops moving when it goes to James (or most guys, it’s not just him). 

Also his bread and butter that made him one of the leading scorers in GW history has been an absolutely deadly pull up game from about 7-12 feet.  He’s been money on those shots for three years, then they just disappeared from his arsenal this year.  I was excited he actually tried one tonight but he air balled it.  What happened?  Is he trying to prove to the pros that he can get to the rim?  I miss those pull up 8 footers.

We don't pass,except in desperation when a player is out of options to score. Outside of the first couple of games, almost every team,no matter what level, passes better than we do.
   Defensively, our liabilities are well known and easily exploited.
   Also,an enjoyable fan experience getting stomped in the second half at home while being subject to ears plotting volume.  Unfortunately, not cheering for the home team.

Anyone know any more about Johnson situation? Will he play Saturday? How long will he be out? Suprised CC wasn't asked about him at press conference.

Disheartening.  Disconcerting.  Helpless.  Hopeless.

Choose your adjective.  They all unfortunately apply.

I think we all know what happens when the little guy stands up to the bully.  Last night was GW's turn to be the bully.  A full week off to reset after a 4 game losing streak.  A weak (for the conference) opponent coming in to play at Smith Center.  This game should not just have been about winning; it should have been about restoring confidence.  Think about those 4 losses..two were on the road against the top two teams in the conference.  A third was on the road against Frank Martin who is angling for Coach of the Year in the A10 (as is Mooney).  Only that La Salle game was the one that should have shaken this team.  One bad night.

So, the bully jumped out to a 7-0 lead but the rout was far from on.  URI stormed back, then GW pulled ahead, and URI would storm back again.  This pattern continued throughout the first half and by halftime, down by only 2, Archie Miller could tell his team that it was standing up to the bully.  And then, the bully went away.  The team that played with aggression, determination and energy was URI.  Think about how hard those kids played for 40 minutes.  Think about how GW played well for the first 20 minutes.  And then think about how GW had zero fight in them over the game's final 20 minutes.  

This was not a Dan Hurley coached URI team.  They were not supposed to be overly physical or intimidating.  Their defense was supposed to be soft.  Instead, their coach gave them genuine belief that if they played to their capabilities against this GW team, then that would be good enough.  "So and so had another career game against GW" is becoming way too familiar.  These aren't coincidences.  A10 level coaches are viewing flaws and are exploiting them.  How many times did Antwan Smith have to pick up a ball carrier on a switch and then fail to stop the ball carrier from driving and scoring?  On a night where Garrett was unavailable,  can you expect to win when your bench goes 2-11 from the floor (remarkably, all 11 attempts from 3) and these numbers swell to 3-18 and 2-15 from 3 if we add in Jacoi's numbers (since Jacoi normally comes off the bench)?  This was one of Max's better games of late but when he goes 5-7 on two point shots and 2-9 on three point shots, maybe an answer is to seek a greater number of higher percentage shots?  It's impossible not to love Stretch's personality and one of his blocks in particular last night reached epic proportions.  Nevertheless, defenses realize that they may exert more pressure on our guards around the perimeter because the threat of Stretch catching a pass in the paint and scoring is practically non-existent.  GW attempts this once or twice a game which is not nearly enough to cause a defense to change its thinking.  And, I'm glad that Merrick mentioned the failure to call timeouts.  Not suggesting that this was the difference between winning and losing but it's pretty clear that CC is not a believer in utilizing timeouts to attempt to swing momentum.  Meanwhile, he leaves the game with 2 unused ones which as we know, do not carry over to the next game.

In December, I wrote about bad habits and how it's very difficult to flip a switch in order to get rid of bad habits.  Some here felt that who we played in the OOC would have nothing to do whatsoever with how the team would fare in conference season.  Even the 3-1 conference start was dangerously close to being 1-3.  Today, A10 teams are playing GW with the unequivocal belief that they are ripe to be beaten.  It's no coincidence that the team's confidence is shot as a result. 

You're kidding yourself if you think this is nothing more than "the same shots we were making are shots that we are now missing."  There is so much more to it than this.  Against La Salle, the Explorers had a superior game plan.  Against URI, the Rams somehow knew that if it could handle GW's best blows early, they would be fine.

In 2 1/2 weeks, GW will be playing at SLU.  GW has never beaten SLU on the road.  A month ago, this very much looked like the season it could happen.  And today, even with SLU at 1-8 in the league, this smallest of goals appears to be far from certain.
. 
 

Free Quebec wrote:

Also his bread and butter that made him one of the leading scorers in GW history has been an absolutely deadly pull up game from about 7-12 feet. He’s been money on those shots for three years, then they just disappeared from his arsenal this year. I was excited he actually tried one tonight but he air balled it. What happened? Is he trying to prove to the pros that he can get to the rim? I miss those pull up 8 footers.

Yeah, that JB air ball was absolutely brutal. And then we followed it up with another air ball. Can't make that up.

Alum '04 wrote:

MG14 wrote:

2. I love Stretch. I really do, but he's a major liability on the offensive end of the court. Teams know he isn't getting the ball and isn't posting up so they can press our guards higher forcing them to take worse shots. Need to figure out something there.

I'm not an Akingbola fan. What was with his travel last night? Did he forget how to legally dribble? That was crazy.

Anyway, he's a huge liability unless he's killing it on the boards and defensively, which seems to rarely happen. Really disappointing because we haven't had a skilled big man since Isiah Armwood. Really hope Akingbola can turn it around but it's not looking good so far.

The travel was just a mistake.  He started to pass to the guy streaking to his left but the defender played the pass and he decided not to risk the turnover, but he was so far into his move that he travelled. It was really unfortunate.

I find this thread and, in fact, this board rather amazing. No one will ever accuse GW fans of not being in the what have you done for me lately crowd. Three weeks ago, some of the same posters who are now claiming the sky is falling, were openly wondering about our post season chances. So were you wrong then or is it possible you are also wrong now? 

The simple fact is we are young and this has been pointed out time and time again by CC and many others including posters on this board. Being young especially in a system which increasingly favors older more experienced teams due to the transfer rules and the extra year granted by COVID is a huge detriment. Young is not just age but actual playing experience and playing experience where the outcome of the game is on you (not mop up minutes). All one has to do is look at the average roster ages. The best teams not surprisingly have the oldest rosters. Even Duke which brings in the best five star youngsters and Kentucky are not killing it when they have to play teams older than them. The youthful talent is not enough to offset experienced teams.

So with youth you expect wild swings in confidence and confidence is a premium attribute for a young team. When they have it, everything is good and when they don't have it everything is bad. Right now, our confidence is low. We are hoping shots will go in and when they don't we aim more and shoot less in rhythm. We also start lagging on D because we are thinking about the last play not the next play. We miss block outs because we are so eager to get to offensive transition for easy buckets since we are struggling in the half court. We make the wrong read because we are not playing freely but more concerned with making mistakes.

We will break out of this rut with a bang. It's what youth does. But until we break out, we will tend to dig the hole deeper because sometimes the best thing is to get right mentally rather than physically when the tendency is to do the opposite.

This team is the same team that we saw a few weeks ago. When the confidence returns so will the wins. Until then it could get worse before it gets better.

That said, people often forget that year 2 is often an inflection point for programs. ML's and KH's year 2 were arguable the same as year one but they built a foundation for later success with young players. Same with MJ. Look it up. CC will do the same just have to give him time unlike the last coach.

Take a deep breath. Stop getting caught up in the highs and lows of the season (as reflected in each game) and let's see where we are at the end of the season. CC didn't forget how to coach and the players didn't lose talent over the past 3 weeks. What has been lost is confidence. When that is retrieved suddenly all will be better. You will see.

GW0509 wrote:

Gwmayhem wrote:

In December, I wrote about bad habits and how it's very difficult to flip a switch in order to get rid of bad habits.  Some here felt that who we played in the OOC would have nothing to do whatsoever with how the team would fare in conference season.  
 

I still believe who we played in the OOC has nothing to do whatsoever with how the team would fare in conference season.  Plenty of teams play super-weak OOC schedules and are perfectly fine in conference.

Iowa State played the 343rd weakest OOC schedule and has beaten Houston, TCU, Kansas, and Texas
South Carolina played the 334th weakest OOC and has beaten Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi State

What was concerning is the fact that outside of the Stonehill game, we played without any level of superiority.  THAT is what is costing us in A-10 play.  I don't have a problem with playing cupcakes so long as we treat them like cupcakes.  But as we've seen the last 5 games, we fold at the littlest bit of pressure.  We've lost whatever confidence we had after the VCU win.

To clarify GW0509, I am not suggesting that any team that plays a cupcake schedule will be in for a rude awakening come conference time.  That's not my point at all.  What I am saying, and what you are also saying, is that this team developed bad habits during the OOC season and did not put away some schools like they presumably should have.  The end result was that at 11-2, the team developed a false sense of security.  Maybe they didn't take the bad habits seriously enough because after all, they were still winning games.  Or put a different way, maybe if a better schedule had resulted in an 8-5 or 7-6 record, this team would never have developed that false sense of security to begin with.

I think this team knows it's talented, and up until a few weeks ago, likely thought they were a better team than they actually are.  Last night, talent was trumped by plain old fashioned hard work.  Nobody is handing you wins in the A10.   As these losses mount, perhaps it's time to start playing like they are the ones with a chip on its shoulder, for 40 minutes and overtime if needed, and not the other way around. 

GWRising wrote:

Or maybe it's not just bad habits but that teams have largely adjusted to our style of play and we haven't countered yet. That goes to both ends of the floor. To me the whole notion of a weak OOC was countered by a 3-1 start to A-10 play. Rather, what I think you are watching is that teams have now adjusted to us and our young players (save Darren) have hit a wall so to speak plus JBIV and Max are struggling currently. 

The same thing also kinda happened last year. GW got off to a 5-2 start in conference then dropped five of the next six games as teams adjusted to how they guarded us when JB and BA shared the floor. The slide this year began a bit earlier (and the team is less experienced) but CC did adjust later in February and the team won four in a row. That gives me hope. Maybe this year's URI game was the Duquesne game from last year - although I think last year's game was lost pretty much from the jump.
 

One of my biggest disappointments this season is Max.   He is a talented player who just does too much standing around, on both offense and defense.   He is at his best offensively when he is slashing or shooting midrange.  His three point shot is adequate at best...good enough where the defense needs to pay him some attention when he is outside the 3 point line but in no way good enough where he should be hoisting 9 3 pointers in a game.  He needs to move on offense and not just stand 25 feet away from the basket and wait for someone to throw him a ball to shoot from 3 or put his head down and drive for a highlight reel dunk, which has been rarely happening this season..  Same on defense...he seems to just stand there too much and has been getting beat too frequently one on one.  He is a wonderful rebounder but even those numbers have been going down of late.   He was rookie of the year last season and (I believe) a preseason 3rd team all conference.   The way he is playing these last 6 weeks, he will not get a sniff of all conference accolates.  I am hoping he gets his stuff together soon, as we really need him to perform at least to his last year levels for us to succeed.