moneybox wrote:

Eight losses already this season. Last year we lost only 12. No way we finish with as good a record as last year even with more returning starters than any team in the league and more talent than last year. It's coaching, coaching,coaching. Our opponent always makes second half adjustments and we do not!

only looking at W/L in college basketball is pointless. It's why all those "20 win" years we've had recently are misleading. This is still the best team we've had in ages, regardless of end of game deficiencies. 

As a 60 year GW fan I am going to look at the bright side of tonight; we played well overall against a team with 1 loss ranked 22nd in the nation on their home court. If we can win 8 of our last 10 games we will likely be the 4 seed as Dayton has lost 3 in a row and blew a big lead at home to Rhody tonight. i hate losing winnable games but this team has great potential. After all SLU is ranked as the best D-1 defense. And Avila is a great clutch player.

GW0509 wrote:

Alum1 wrote:

On the glass half full side of things, at least I only had to read “ Tyrone Marshall Jr. bad pass turnover” instead of having to witness it with my own eyes. I could have written it myself tho. For those who saw, did Caputo have him take the inbounds at a crucial point yet again?  Or was it all just bang bang.

It was a hail mary full court heave to someone on our side of the court. Hardly a bad pass given the situation unless the better play was a half court shot.

 
Thx.

Oof this one hurts. And yet we came out energized in the first half and controlled the game in their house. Honestly, would rather a second crack at St Louis in tourney than face Mason. Like us and Richmond, Mason seems to have our number the last two years. And we could have folded like origami in the 2nd half when they made a run.

Coaching? Team grit? We can and should continue to debate the reasons for our late-game struggles.

My question is how are the players feeling? Do they still believe? Do they still want to grind out wins?

This teams full story has not been written yet. Yes, it is infuriating, but it is far from over.

GWRising wrote:

Again, we melted. 15-0 run. I’m telling you and I will repeat it until one of these guys hopefully reads this, gets mad enough, and decides enough is enough … we lack grit and leadership. Talent will only get you so far. You can check all the analytics at the door. Without grit and leadership you won’t win on nights like tonight, at Dayton, at Mason etc. Let’s face it all of those teams are grittier than we are. Talent isn’t the problem. It never was this year. If we had grit and leadership we would be St. Louis or Mason. Instead we are 13-8/4-4. That’s the difference.

As i previously told you, it is what it is.  You're living in an alternate reality to think this team has the capacity to become mentally tough. If they don't have grit and leadership by now, it is not happening.   

Time to look toward next season to see which players we might want to keep and what kind of players to try to recruit.

GW covers!  Yes, somebody knew something.

There are two ways to perceive third game.  First is the performance in and of itself.  There were a lot of positives to come out of this game.  SLU has now played 21 games this season and aside from its one point loss to Stanford, nobody has given them a game like GW did.  Nobody had been within 10 points of them at home; no A10 team had been within 20 at home.  SLU set a school record to start a season with this win.  And GW has never won there, now at 0-11.  

GW pounced early.  Received a balanced effort on offense.  Received a herculean effort from Slim on defense (putting aside the two late Avila threes).  What stood out to me was their resilience.  When their 9 point lead was cut to 4, they eventually built the lead back up to 15.  When a 13 point lead was cut to 5, they immediately scored twice.  And, when SLU truly flexed its muscles, turning an 8 point deficit into a 7 point lead, it wasn't exactly "ballgame" at that point.  GW would come back, even taking a 1 point lead late before eventually falling.  With as much as we've read the word "grit" this week, what I do know is that many prior GW teams would have rolled over and played dead, rather than show the grit and determination to stay in this game.  (While we're on the subject of words, it sure looks like this SLU team has "gelled" despite losing Jimerson and Swope and returning only Avila, McCottry and Thames.) 

Honestly, had GW defeated Delaware, Davidson and Mason, this is the only way we'd be looking at this game.  Oh well.  We gave a great effort and came up a hair short against the conference's top team on its home court.  Move on to the next one and hope you get another chance to play them in Pittsburgh.

Yet because we lost these games, there is another way to perceive this game.  Instead of appreciating how close we came and how difficult it is to win there (as in never for GW), we're left to chalk this up to witnessing more of the same relative to what we've seen lately.  Where were the defensive stops in the second half when we needed them?  I mean Thames is good but is he really 7-9 from the floor good?  Will anyone ever attempt to draw a charge again?  Why are we letting one of the conference's best three point shooters in Trey Green to go 6-10 from deep (and why are we not working harder to try to get him to pick up his 4th foul?) .With the depth we have, why did GW look tired at times during the second half (when it shot 2-13 as a team from 3)?  Why does there always seem to be crucial late game turnovers or blown defensive assignments?  Is a self fulfilling prophecy at work here, where the team is so concerned about protecting leads that it "paralyzes" itself to the point where they can't do this because they don't believe deep down that they can do this?

There are a few individuals I could be pointing a finger at but what I think is far more important is for this team to do some soul searching.  We all see that there is enough talent here to turn around the season.  That said, I am a believer that teams develop habits, good and bad.  Right now, this team appears to be mentally checking out of close games, a bad habit that they must overcome if they are going to come close to achieving their goals. 

It's frustrating.  We've all seen what a GW team looks like when there simply isn't enough talent to compete.  This does not remotely resemble that.  There is still time for this team to come together and collectively believe that they have what it takes to pull out close games.  If they get there, or how they get there, is anyone's guess.  

22ndandF wrote:

GWRising wrote:

Again, we melted. 15-0 run. I’m telling you and I will repeat it until one of these guys hopefully reads this, gets mad enough, and decides enough is enough … we lack grit and leadership. Talent will only get you so far. You can check all the analytics at the door. Without grit and leadership you won’t win on nights like tonight, at Dayton, at Mason etc. Let’s face it all of those teams are grittier than we are. Talent isn’t the problem. It never was this year. If we had grit and leadership we would be St. Louis or Mason. Instead we are 13-8/4-4. That’s the difference.

As i previously told you, it is what it is.  You're living in an alternate reality to think this team has the capacity to become mentally tough. If they don't have grit and leadership by now, it is not happening.   

Time to look toward next season to see which players we might want to keep and what kind of players to try to recruit.

Teams don't become mentally tough overnight I agree and after 21 games we start to see who they are. However, all it takes is one or two games where we gut out a win against a good team and the confidence galvanizes and switches in end of game situations. Suddenly we are mentally tough. I've seen it happen at multiple levels where teams grow up when you least expect it. Not saying it will happen here but there is still a lot of basketball left to be played.

We can zoom in on weaknesses or deficiencies but this team left it on the floor and damn near pulled off a road upset against a nationally ranked top of the A10 team.  Hard to believe that almighty SLU shot worse (11/22) from the foul line than we did (14/21) and we blocked 6 shots to their ZERO.  If you'd have told us we would be 1 possession away from winning this game last week, we would've said no way!  The difference in this game was the timely dagger 3's by Green (6/10) and Avila (4/8.)  Other than Autry at 4/8, everyone else was a combined 4/22!  Just needed a couple more.  Lack of effort wasn't the issue.  It takes an incredible amount of strength and stamina to do what Slim did last night.  It is bruising to pull down 18 rebounds, block 4, steal 4, and alter innumerable shots, while sprinting the length of the court.  We forget how durable he has been.  I don't think CC did him any favors by having him start his post moves from 20 feet away giving SLU plenty of time to send help. Everyone else also played at maximum effort.  I thought Garrett forced some shots possibly because of their D, but also he may have lost some of his lift this season.  Dinkins just never got going.

Glad Fordham is up next at home because I think St. Joes and Duquesne on the road will be extremely tough.  Hope the staff and team recuperate quickly and start a win streak they badly need.  I think the NIT is definitely within reach.

Last edited by H&R..71 (1/28/2026 11:46 am)

Adclub, I can't buy this.  It's definitely not the same as it was before when guys were playing together for multiple years.  But if what you're suggesting is true, then by definition, grit is a thing of the past.  There just aren't any college teams who will be staying together for 3-4 years.  Instead, I'll contend that all teams have been together since July.and should therefore know each other's preferences and tendencies as well as how to play solid team defense together.  These aren't exactly pickup games.

FQ, on your points:

1) I may be underrating Thames but in the second half, GW's defense was so slow to react to him.  He was taking uncontested drives in the lane repeatedly.

2) I agree that Trey made some incredible shots.  But again, a guy that lethal from 3 should not be getting 10 attempts.  Since most of SLU's damage came from three players, I would have liked to have seen a more concerted effort to run him off the three point line.

3) There is of course no way for either of us to know for sure whether our players were tired, or to what extent they were tired.  The warning signs for me were that they shot dreadfully from three in the second half after a respectable first half.  And, after shooting 9-12 on layups, tip-ins and dunks in the first half, those numbers reverted to 7-16 in the second half.  Missing this many shots from close range in the second half could be attributed to nerves, fatigue, or both.  SLU's defense aside, on a night where they did not block a single shot, I'd conclude that tired legs played a role, along with possible nerves as well.

GWRising wrote:

Again, we melted. 15-0 run. I’m telling you and I will repeat it until one of these guys hopefully reads this, gets mad enough, and decides enough is enough … we lack grit and leadership. Talent will only get you so far. You can check all the analytics at the door. Without grit and leadership you won’t win on nights like tonight, at Dayton, at Mason etc. Let’s face it all of those teams are grittier than we are. Talent isn’t the problem. It never was this year. If we had grit and leadership we would be St. Louis or Mason. Instead we are 13-8/4-4. That’s the difference.

Bingo.   I fully agree.   There is a reason we miss so many layups and free throws in big or close games, and it is not the coaches.  We need that 1 "I'm just not going to let us lose" player.  

Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (1/29/2026 8:59 pm)