i genuinely don't think the defense was as bad as the 52 points indicates. they hit every shot, even contested ones

Is there no way Keegan can a least give a foul or two so their big men can earn it at the foul line? Gonna see Quinn in the paint in my dreams tonight.

Has GW ever given up 50 points in the first half two games in a row? I’d be surprised if we have…

MG14 wrote:

Stretch just missed an easy dunk to cut it to 9 and then gives up a foul on the other end....

Stretch seems like a really nice guy and its clear that he works very hard and really wants to do well for his team, but its pretty clear at this point that he is just not a starting A10 center…

To think we had the lead down to 4 at one point 

Hey, they held Richmond under 100!!!
Not as bad a game as the one at Mason.
(Looking for positives)

Hugh wrote:

at least effort wasn't an issue today

It’s gotta be draining when effort doesn’t get rewarded. Numerous times we had guys dive in the floor only to have the ball squirt out to a Richmond player. 

- Federal spending and debt have hit the tipping point
- the Communist Chinese have so infiltrated western infrastructure and its cyber capabilities --particularly water--that we have planted our own seeds for chaos and destruction.
- Congress cannot pass anything on a bipartisan basis except more spending, less revenue, and higher debt;
- The NATO alliance is under the most pressure ever from a vile dictator that is celebrity to clown "journalists/entertainers like Tucker Carlson;
- the Rule of Law is caving to the weaponization of creative but destabilizing lawyering;
- our citizenry is incapable of meaningfully distinguishing good from evil; 
- most of America's young people are depressed and don't want to bring kids into the world; and
- the two clowns our population has chosen to lead us at this dangerous time are both old charlatans surrounded by sycophants who care more about power and ego than sacrificial service to others.

So, the longest losing streak in 35 years and 1-27 amidst the transfer portal and NIL tumult isn't really that bad!   And the PA system at the Smith Center is now working.

Raise High!     

Actually, like others, was impressed by the effort. We are who we are. Alas, but still.
Biggest worry is Garrett's injury.
   Max was better. James hit 5 3s and shot more than 50% from 3. Jun was back and even at less than full speed, you can see how much this freshman means to this team.
The only way we can look at this, I guess, and keep up hope, is that it is like early Hobbs and ML teams learning their way. The long-term problem is there wasn't free agency back then. 
     Sorry, but our cream puff schedule (which may be insulting to cream puffs) did us no favors, despite a taste  of early A-10 success.
       The coaching staff, still better in recruiting than what we had in recent years, may have tightened up on the rotation too early in the season, not only because the tendency is usually to tighten up in league play. Turns out we needed some more players to perform.  Antoine Smith, Jr. (had to look up his full name because he wasn't a factor until recent games) is better in extended minutes than he was early. And while he may have defensive lapses, Smith is a gamer and still fighting while playing out of position. Oddly, or maybe not based on results, Shroder played more early in the season and less now. We can insert him at times for intensity, if nothing else. Zam can hit 3s at times, if again, nothing else.
     The coach and the team have actually grown some since the worst of this losing streak, assuming we have seen the worst. Nowhere near enough. But we have to start looking to next year and the years ahead, (while of course, preparing for our miracle run culminating in an A-10 Championship).
   No need for James to play 40 minutes, without a break. He almost got injured in the last minute of if not a blowout, a substantial loss. That would have been real bad for him (most important at this point) and us. He would probably be more effective, 30-34 minutes, unless desperately needed. That's what we envisioned at the start of the season. While James is often a second half player, he tends to fade at the end of games, presumably in large part because of tiredness. That seemed to happen against LaSalle or Loyola (the losses are running together).
     We need to build on today and continue to work on changing up defenses, passing the ball (progress made today, especially early), a bunch of other things and maintaining a competitive spirit. While using anyone who can contribute at least a small amount now and especially in future years.
    

     
 

GW's defense is just outright bad. How do you allow a team to shoot 76% against you for an entire half. Seeing our defense picked apart and shredded by Richmond was brutal.  Watching Stretch try to guard Quinn would have been hilarioius if it wasn't so embarassing. It was like a child guarding an adult. Further, I don't know how many times we got caught on the switches, where Hutch would have to cover Quinn and Stretch was out trying to guard King. We are not physical and we don't box out. How little must the staff thing of Harvey for him to have not gotten into these last 2 games while Stretch was an absolute train wreck on the court. What is perhaps the saddest is that the coaching staff did not have a clue how to adjust or try to fix things. Same on offense. One person dribbles for 10 seconds, puts the head down and drives to the basket and either throw up a bad shot or be stripped. I know Bishop had at least 3 of his layup attempts blocked. Where is the ball rotation? Where is the setting up of the higher percentage shot. And what is up with Trey? Not only has he not shown any progress but he has regressed. Today 20 minutes, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls. As with defense, again the sad part is that the coaching staff seems to either not recognize the problem or doesn't know how to fix it. Perhaps also if we played more under control on offense and held the ball a little longer ito work for a better shot, that would not only allow us to score more but also allow the defense to hold a team under 80 (now 90) points. The staff has much to do in the off season, including retained that small group of players that you can actually build a winner around and finding some players, especially up front, who can defend. But the good news is that as we are told before every home game that the team had some great practices and we are told they are not discouraged. Of course the other good news is we don't have to worry about losing Caputo during the off season.

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (2/17/2024 9:27 pm)