They are shooting 57% from 3

It feels like they gave up after the Davidson back to back 3

Mayor Dinkins!

12-21 FT? Bad D. No intensity. Mediocre team. 

We got dogwalked!  Davidson came out hungry and executed on both ends.  We played soft by getting out rebounded, out hustled, and had TEN shots blocked! Besides the putrid foul shooting, the most glaring deficiency was repeatedly being out of position on defense.  There was always somebody wide open in the middle, or in the corner, or elsewhere.  How many times are ill advised risks going to burn you by leaving your man to trap 30 feet out?  If you freeze the action on film, you keep saying “what is he doing way over there??? Quick hurry get back!!! Oh well too late!
Very frustrating to watch confusion among a very talented team.  Hope it gets cleaned up soon!

What really hurt yesterday was the way we got hustled.  I can remember 3 or 4 times in particular where Garrett didn’t react quickly (or at all) to a loose ball and Davidson go it.  Felt like in the first half, we were trying to play smart and methodically, but just didn’t play hard enough/aggressively enough.

Also didn’t help that Davidson basically played their best game (other than FT shooting). They got career highs from two different guys, a third guy had his second highest scoring game of the year, and two more had top 4 scoring games for them. 

They shot 3-17 from three vs Rhode Island and then somehow went 14-25 yesterday (their best shooting game of the season by far).  I know we left them open a lot, but still that was an impressive shooting display.  I knew we were in trouble when Devin Brown, who wae 3-17 in A10 play and like 25% on the season, hit two very deep threes in the opening minute. 

The other credit to Davidson is they really took away our offense. They blocked a bunch of shots early and we couldn’t get to the rim.  There was one point where we finally settled for some midrange shots (like 5 footers) and hit like 3 of them.  Obviously the threes weren’t falling for us, but it was the fact that we couldn’t get to the rim either in the first half that really killed us. 

I think the lesson is that we have to impose our will every game.  We can’t try to methodically run our offense to beat teams, we have to be the aggressors.  And if they are blocking shots or taking away the rim, then we need to be looking for the interior passes because someone will be open (we started doing that better in second half.).

I disagree with Mr Negativity that we just a mediocre team, though.  We are still 69 in KenPom, which is good.  Certainly the best we’ve been in quite a while.  It’s frustrating that we aren’t as good as we want to be, or could be, but hopefully the team will figure it out, finish strong, and make a real run in the A10 tourney. 

I’m also really interested to see this Mason game.  We played a disappointing game at Dayton, then played great vs Loyola.  Davidson played their worst vs URI, then responded vs us.  Hopefully we can respond to this by beating a really good, physical defensive team in Mason. Their slow, defense-first, physical style has been a challenge for us, but I have to think these guys play with a lot more fire than they showed last night. 

On to the next one.

I fear that Caputo is a much better recruiter than coach. His team came out flat again (Delaware) and he made some bad decisions at the end of a game again. As I recall, we were down three and Davidson had the ball. Instead of leaving a player back to avoid breakaways, he had all five defenders on the Davidson side of the court. What happened: two breakaways for Davidson and the game was lost. Isn't Caputo ever going to learn?

Moneybox, that's exactly the statement I made as I was leaving the Smith Center.  And here's why I am making it.  We only seem to know how to play one specific style of defense.  It's a style that attempts to generate turnovers and one that leaves defenses vulnerable to wide open three point shots and "odd man breaks" like 2 on 1's when turnovers aren't created.

To be clear, I am not referring to being down by 15 in the second half and having little choice but to press and trap in order to try to get back into the game.  I am talking about routinely trapping players in the frontcourt.  As I've said before, if you don't get the turnover, you are truly putting yourself at a disadvantage. 

So let's look at this matchup.  Davidson has historically been a great passing team that knows how to take care of the ball.  They hadn't been lights out from 3 until last night but another point I've made in the past is that there's nothing more inviting to a guard or small forward in the college game than to give them an uncontested three point shot.  Yes they deserve credit for making their shots but the point that can't be overemphasized is that it didn't have to be this way.  It shouldn't have been this way.  When your defense is more athletic, when it has multiple players who can guard multiple positions and is therefore comfortable switching guys on defense, then you should not be relying upon a defense that Davidson was figuring out on every possession.  Do you really have to fall behind 26-11 before concluding that maybe this isn't working?

More telling, in 2025-26, GW has been the recipient of an opponent turnover on 17.7% of all possessions.  That's tied for 116th in the country which may not sound terrible until you realize that we are utilizing this defense in every single game.  For a team that is consciously trying to force turnovers rather than play solid man-to-man defense, GW should be in the top 25 or so at this metric.  Dayton ranks tied for third in the country.  Rhode Island ranks tied for 13th.  McNeese ranks 2nd.  The leader is Bubu's former Tarleton St. squad, ironic when considering that he only saw 7 minutes last night (though that was likely due to an injury).

Two more thoughts..GW is far better statistically forcing turnovers at home (20.3% of possessions at home, 14.7% on the road) which I think has far more to do with the overall quality of opponents played at the Smith Center vs. away from it.  And, last year's GW team forced turnovers at an 18.7% clip so despite our additional depth and talent, we have actually been less effective playing this style than a year ago.

I understand the philosophy behind playing this way.  Revs want to rev.  Turnovers often lead to easy baskets and can sometimes demoralize an opponent.  But at some point, and I really hope that point is now, CC reaches the conclusion that GW should not be playing this way every game.  If he can't accept the fact that some opponents are simply too solid with the basketball in order for this to work, then he could at least look at his own personnel and conclude that attempting to set up traps, other than during desperate situations, is more often than not putting his team in unnecessary holes.  

Gwmayhem and Moneybox are quite right. Changing defenses to address other team's styles should be inherent.
Does anyone here know how CC conducts his 1/2 time coaching sessions? My old coach would light a fire under us if he thought we were playing poorly. He always preached that winning the first few minutes of the second half was most often the deciding part of the game. We played all the top teams in NJ and went 17-6 and 19-4 our last two years.  Although small we played great defense and really rebounded well. Position and effort were mandatory. Sorry, but good play was drilled into my head for 2 years. 
I remember one game we were down 35-27 at the 1/2. The coach really laid into us, the locker room shook with fire and brimstone. We were so shook up after that locker room talk that we were surprised by the final score. 71-44. The other team didn't know what hit them. But that was in the late 1960s. I don't know if coaches are allowed to yell like that anymore. Hurley brothers? 

And there's the experience advantage we are supposed to have with our veteran deep lineup.  Davidson started 3 freshman. But we were the team that again seemed confused and lost. Lost against Delaware and Murray State (allowing their best player to go the length of the court almost uncontested to beat us.)  Confused against McNeese and Dayton. Maybe we aren't as good as all the hype.  Mason game should help answer that question.