Tough game to analyze, mainly because GW was so much bigger, faster and stronger than Maryhurst, it would be hard to get a good handle.   Case in point is Castro.    If he could do all season what he did yesterday, then he is a good one.   But there was nobody on Maryhurst who could physically match up with him.   Same with Buchanan.    He had  a very good night because there was nobody on the other team that was big, strong or fast enough to stop him on the drive.   Agree with Autry's off night, but he seems more creative in his scoring.     Moss could be this year's "keeps both teams in the game"  (copywright Wisconsin Colonial) player.   When he was good, he was great, and when he was bad, he was awful.    Agree with sentiments on Drumgoole.   Coach talked about an 8 man rotation.    Starters last night were Buchanan, Hutchinson (who other than not turning the ball over much did not seem to do much),  Castro, Moss and Drumgoole.   Clearly Autry and Hansen are 6 and 7.   Last night, Caputo  seemed to be trying out Jones and Bevins (both playing their first college game) as 8.   I have a feeling that is going to be the case for the first several games, before a decision is made.   Jones' weight (muscle) gain is noticable.  Note that Nessah was out with a minor injury.  I would guess he to is in the running for that #8 in the rotation.  Clearly Zam and Harvey are not currently in the running for #8.  Also there were minutes with both Castro and Hansen were in the game together, but I didn't really see any positive from that last night. Wonder if we were just playing with that or if that is part of the game plan.    As we are all aware, they play vastly different games.      I didn't think Hansen got as many touches as he needs.  I hear his strengths are 3 point shooting and passing.   I agree with I believe Free or whoever pointed out what a good passer Castro was last night.   But overall, Hansen looked like a player learning a new system.   Whatever offense we run (it wasn't readily apparent last night), they sure as hell didn't play it at Cornell.   What really bothered me last night was what was one of my complaints from last season, namely how slow we are on the defensive rotation.   Got repeatedly beat on that early in the game.  Twice stepping on the out of bounds line early in the game gave me feelings of deja vu from last season, though we  seemed to keep the turnovers down.    Now if Buchanan is going to have a shot to make it in the NBA,  he is going to show the world that he has some serious shooting range.    He doen't seem to have improved his free throw shooting.   Notwithstanding, he is clearly the leader on the court and easily our best player.  Easy prediction for one of the all conference teams.   What I really got a kick out of  was when were getting bitch slapped  by Mercyhurst early in the game, Buchanan turned to the team and twice shouted "wake the fuck up",    After that, we made our run that allow us to tie the game that first half and cover the spread...I mean really break it opened the second half.    Of course I would be remiss if I did not reference the three point shooting.    In the end,  we won because we were able to manhandle a smaller, slower and weaker team.  We were getting most of the rebounds and beating them to most of the loose balls.   Mercyhurst looked exhausted coming out of the locker the second half and was no longer able to do what they did in their very impressive first 10-12 minutes of their first D1 game.      Lets see how this physical game will translater against stronger competition.  Finally, just wanted to say how great it is to be back to the Smith Center watching men's basketball.    Seeing the regulars for the first time of the season was great, and then to be treated to a win.    Very few places I would rather be than at the Smitty watching a game.   See everyone on Friday.

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (11/05/2024 11:50 am)

Caputo made comments in the post-game that Dayan will also likely be in the rotation once he's healed up from whatever is ailing him.  

It's hard to take away too much with it being the first game of the year against a team with clearly less talent than us and guys playing a little erratic (understandable to begin the year). Credit to Mercyhurst in the first half - they successfully slowed the game down, played at their pace, and forced GW to guard for long periods of time on defense. By doing that, it also limited transition and running opportunities. It was clear that the Revs needed to make something "happen" on D to get things going because the defense was looking fairly passive like last year to start (might be tied again to nerves). Once we started forcing the issue defensively it led to better offense as well because more transition opportunities were generated. I'm skeptical that GW will be able to generate nine steals in a game against better competition, but it was nice to see nevertheless. Sean in the second half had some great positioning defensively in the post after being a bit out of position in the first. He looked a bit nervous/tentative offensively. Perhaps he's being asked to just be a connector piece and not look for his shot unless totally open.

Mercyhurst did have the experience edge and it's only the first game of the season but the guards are going to have to work on staying in front of their man. I like the potential of Christian Jones, but he was blown by on defense several times (again not unexpected in his first game in over a year). It's been a problem at GW for a while and not much changed (at least based on last night). Rafael is less likely to foul out if they can do that. There's a lot of talk about offensive shot quality but not enough about defensive shot quality. I hope to see GW get to the point where they are facing more contested jumpers, ideally in the midrange. There were understandable breakdowns in the first game of the season, but it led to a number of good looks for the Lakers. It's not that the team didn't have its moments defensively, but Mercyhurst also took questionable shots at times that better teams will not. It was interesting to see Ty come in for defense in the first half. He had a solid showing for his first collegiate game.

Not too worried about the three pointers not falling, but obviously not having Garrett hurts. There will be better shooting days ahead. FT shooting seems solid (Rafael was a pleasant surprise), but there are questions with Jun and Gerald there if the game was closer. DBJ got to the line at a top 40 rate nationally last year and it seemed like some of his hiccups there are still present from last year (it's just a one game sample size, but worth monitoring moving forward). Drumgoole has been a bit up-and-down as a FT shooter in his career. 64% at Delaware last year, 53% his freshman year at Pitt, but a couple years where he was 80%. Hopefully he gets closer to the 80% mark by the end of the season.

Despite questionable three point shooting, having Trey (Moss) on the team may end up being massive by the end of the year when it comes to his ability to take it to the basket. One of the things I'm watching over the course of OOC season is whether Jacoi and Trey (Autry) can show the ability to take it to the hoop more and diversify their offensive game. Hutchinson provides other things like playmaking and defense, but right now when their shots don't fall from deep, they aren't making impacts as scorers. I liked the one time Autry took it to the basket and scored. For this team to reach its potential he can't have games where he is putting up a donut on the scoreboard because he took only threes and missed all of them.

Rafael had a good game. CC mentioned postgame that offensive rebounding may be emphasized more on this year's team which could be interesting (as long as it doesn't hurt transition defense completely). A couple times where he didn't catch the ball cleanly (like when he was at Providence) but he dominated against guys who were multiple inches shorter than him. His effectiveness against bigger competition is still in question, but man is it nice to see production from the 5 spot.

CC also mentioned postgame that Dayan would backup Jun which surprised me as I thought he was going to play more on the wing (which still may be possible). We didn't need Nessah for this game but hopefully he can get healthy as the depth at forward is still somewhat thin on this team. Dayan has a lengthy injury history - CC is definitely risking replacing one guy with several injuries in Garrett with another in Dayan. The other takeaway from CC's comment is that Zam isn't likely in the rotation later in the year. Zam is coming off a rolled ankle himself, but I didn't see too much different from last year in the couple minutes he was in.

If anyone didn’t see Moss’s hustle play or wants to see it again:

https://x.com/gw_mbb/status/1853633483874152735?s=46&t=m2xsjs4EY33TDlbMVwhKzQ

Not much to add. But at one point, looked up and saw we were shooting 6 percent (actually think it was a whopping 6.2)  from the 3 against a team playing its first D1 game. This could be our Achilles heel, if say Drumgoogle doesn't get more used to the Smith Center.
     Really miss Garrett's shooting. And I think we may wind up missing Max Edwards and his contributions, however controversial his presence.
   Did like Moss's hustle, which we haven't always seen from GW in the near decades past.
   Jun is great in many ways. Very worrisome about his hamstring or whatever affected him in the last few minutes. We had put the game away, so may want to consider keeping him safe on the bench in future situations like this. No way Mercyhurst was going to come back at that point.
    Hard to tell if our rebounding or defense, when we decided to turn it up, will continue against better teams.
    Game ended well. But overall, it was perhaps one of the least reassuring large margin wins we've had.
    Sometimes, a season that starts with a scare for us ends with a smile (at least before our troubles), so  who knows? 
And at least, we're currently undefeated.