There's a line in the movie "Hoosiers" (which I'm sure many of us have seen multiple times), where Gene Hackman (RIP) tells the team, "All the pistons are firing. We got ten games to play, right? We're gonna be a tough team to beat."

That's how I feel about us now, with 3 games left plus the tournament. We have proven we are a tough team to beat, and all pistons seem to be firing. I'm optimistic we are peaking.

My wife and I are flying in today to attend the Dayton game tomorrow with LSF. Excited about seeing a big game in person. While ESPN+ has been a godsend, it's not like being there live.
 

Last edited by Wisconsin Colonial 1974 (2/26/2026 12:38 pm)

My good friend Wisconsin Colonial should know better.   This is something GW has always done in the half century plus that I have been following them.   They do something to get you excited then they rip your heart out.   To paraphrase Peter, Paul and Mary...when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.

Alum '04 wrote:

I guess I'd share your optimism if CC was anywhere near the coach Jim Calhoun was.

I agree 100%

moneybox wrote:

13 missed free throws in a 2 point loss..Disgusting and it happens over and over. Caputo has made some bad decisions at the end of games, but this loss is on the players--particularly Castro!!!

I've posted at least once a season during CC's tenure about how awful his teams perform from the stripe and I get mocked and clowned by other posters. Time for CC to pull a John Chaney all ready and make these guys come in at 5 am until free throw shooting improve. 

Of course, CC probably doesn't want to be here at 5 am, so alas.

Last edited by Alum '04 (2/28/2026 10:29 pm)

The FT shooting critiques seem heavily biased by Friday's game. GW was a good FT shooting team in CC's first two years (top 100 nationally). Last year the criticism was valid because the team had a high free throw rate (24th nationally) but was just 270th in percentage. This year? Meh. GW gets to the line an average amount of times and shoots about average nationally. In conference play, GW is 6th in free throw percentage at 72%, which is hardly bad. In crunch time against better teams, it does appear that the pressure gets to the players a bit but you can only simulate that in practice so much. This team just doesn't have the clutch gene.

It's not a team-wide issue, but calling out certain players is entirely valid. Slim and CJ in particular need to be a lot better from the line. Castro ranks 30th nationally in fouls drawn per 40 minutes. He gets to the line a lot, and needs to get his percentage closer to 70% than 60%. Jones simply shoots too poorly from the line for a guard. There was mention about Tre's minutes earlier, and I'm not sure in late game situations having CJ out there on offense is a better alternative. Woo's FT percentage is also under 70%, but he was above that mark prior to Friday's game so he gets a pass for now.

The bigger focus for me is on the turnovers. In A10 play, Dayton has forced 20 or more turnovers in a game just two times. Both times were against GW. Yes, the Flyers are good at that but GW looked like they learned nothing from the first game. In fact, in the first 10 minutes (when they scored just five points) the team barely looked like they had played basketball before with how they were passing the ball. Both the players and coaching staff deserve criticism for this. When someone gets trapped, others on the team don't come to the ball to help them. Guys getting the ball just knocked out of their hands when they are holding it has happened on numerous occasions this year. GW was bottom 100 in turnover percentage last year, and is again this year. The fast tempo only excuses some of the turnovers, but not all. Way too many are unforced. If GW was even average at taking care of the ball perhaps they pull out some of the close games. Would having more of a point guard on the roster help? Perhaps, but this feels like a team-wide issue - including the forwards.

One other quick note on the defense - GW's interior defense has been subpar all season (bottom 100 nationally). In the previous two years under CC, the team was roughly top 100 in defensive 2P% so I'm not exactly sure what's caused the slip. Castro and Marshall on paper should be impact defenders inside. Slim missing a few weeks during conference play didn't help, but this was an issue even prior to that. Conference foes are shooting 62.1% at the rim against GW. That's easily bottom four in the league.

Piranha, I think the FT shooting criticism goes hand in hand with the bigger problem area and that is an inability to execute down the stretch of close games.  There hasn't been much bellyaching over foul shooting prior to this last game.  It's particularly frustrating because unlike other situations where maybe you could give the opponent some credit for hampering GW's ability to execute, 16-29 at the line is completely on GW.  It's become an increasingly blurry line between a team that perhaps puts too much pressure on itself or quote unquote wants it too badly as opposed to a team that's more than good enough to easily put away lesser teams but one that can't get over the hump against teams that are their equal or better.  

Not only is your point about the turnovers more than valid, but the same point applies to when Dayton started double teaming whenever we fed the ball into the post, a tactic that largely turned around the first Dayton game in their favor.  This time, they didn't wait until the second half but began attacking the post from the opening tip.  And, GW looked as if they had no idea this was coming and certainly lacked a clue as to how to combat it.

Simply put, you can all try to find technical or coaching reasons why this or that happens or doesn't happen. There is a reason we can't close games (get stops, make FTs or finish layups for example) and it has nothing to do with either. It will continue to have to do with our lack of mental toughness (grit) and player leadership. I saw this flash red in November and December when we had mostly superior talent. It became a crisis once league play began. We mostly play a certain way for 30-35 each night. It's the last 5-10 where if we are not comfortably ahead we generally melt. Our guys are who they are - the personality of this team is well defined. Unfortunately, I just don't see it changing at this point to any significant degree this season. I hope to be wrong about that and I do feel bad for CC as this was clearly his most talented team. Sometimes the pieces although talented are just missing something. I think that is the case here.

I agree.   The kids can shoot free throws and do not need additional practice in this area.  They can also make layups.  What they cannot do, sadly, is play under pressure, which results in missed free throws and layups, as well as sloppy ball handling in big games.  In other words, they are chokers.  We are as talented as any team in the conference and have demonstrated this by showing that they can lose a very close game to any team in the conference.     What was missing s that one "I'm not going to let us lose this game" player.   

Caputo always seems to have one player that gets stuck in his dog house. Two years ago it was Max, last year it was Darren, and this year it's Dinkins. Who knows why...

Free Quebec wrote:

DC Native wrote:

Caputo always seems to have one player that gets stuck in his dog house. Two years ago it was Max, last year it was Darren, and this year it's Dinkins. Who knows why...

Isn’t that pretty much the case for every team and every coach?  There’s always someone who fans complain doesn’t play more.

Always seems to be just one guy, though, and a player with talent. Max could score in bunches but seemed to be unable to stay in control. Darren could also score but didn’t seem to fit Caputo’s offensive scheme. Dinkins is also a great scorer, but I guess Caputo doesn’t like his defense?