Gwmayhem wrote:

As most of us know, two things that may appear to conflict with one another can both be true.  Despite GWRising's best efforts (and I am kidding Rising because you have not suggested otherwise), you can be disappointed with GW's OOC schedule and at the same time, admire the team's ability to defeat lesser opponents. This was certainly the case last season and so far in 2024-25.  Jamion's teams were terribly inconsistent in the OOC, often getting upset at home while improving during the conference season.  CC has had one respectable in-conference finish and one season where the roof caved in.

Over the span of 10 days, this sport has already seen:

Vilanova lose to both Columbia and St. Joe's
North Florida (Go Ospreys) knock off South Carolina and Georgia Tech
New Mexico upset UCLA
UCF upend a nationally ranked Texas A & M squad
Detroit Mercy double its win total from all of last season (from 1-31 to 2-1)  

There are plenty of others.  The point being that even a soft schedule does not guarantee much these days.  While I may not make this statement about GW's first two opponents, I'll predict that NC A&T will go on to have a more successful 2024-25 than the experts are forecasting.  There's enough talent on that team to attribute an "on any given night..." mentality towards. The Aggies have also lost to Wake and have a few more chances at Virginia Tech, Liberty and Arkansas to make some major headlines.

The fact is that GW will have a target on its back against most of their OOC opponents for no other reason than its conference affiliation.  That's not always easy even when the opponent appears to be.  There is a lot to be said for winning the games you're supposed to win.  

 
This is a sensible analysis.  I would add one other important measurement - are we seeing improvement as the OOC season progresses?  In other words, do we keep making the same mistakes, having the same mental lapses etc. or are we getting “smarter” and demonstrating progression. That goes not just for players but for CC too. Too often we saw CC just running the same strategy over and over when it was clearly not working.  At the end of December, we should be able to say the team really gelled and is being coached up, or we are facing another year of not being competitive in the conference.

The failure to make 3pt shots has be deeply concerning at this point. Yes, it is early, but 24 per cent against three weak teams, which puts us 350th in the NCAA does not bode well for the season. It's not like we have been playing great defensive teams that have stopped us from making  3s. As has been said on the board already, if we can't make 3pt shots opponents will be able to collapse on us making it more difficult to score under the basket. If we can't make 3s against our weak non-conference opponents, it will be a long, long A-10 season.

Kenpom for GW now in the 140s

Three point shooting should get better, at least based on history.  I have listed shooting percentages for our 3 point shooters, the first number being last season, the second this year.   Also note that frosh  Nessah and Bevins were good 3 point shooters in HS.

Buchanan   26.3                    0.00
Autry           34.2                   30.00
Hutchinson  39.6                   27.3
Moss:         27.0                     16.7
Drumgoole   33.7                    22.7
Hansen      36.7                      1-1
Jones                                      28.6
Bevins                                     1-1