One thing I do take from all of this is that the first big get is the hardest.  That helps us get the second, and then the third, etc. Aside from the obvious NIL/revenue sharing consideration, players want to be on teams with other good players.

So whether those ratings are accurate or not, it’s good to see players coming in who are at or better than the players who’ve left.

All good Gwmayhem. I think we ll have PTSD. Winning the preseason rankings last year didn't get us anything

FQ, I am certainly hopeful that you are not one of those posters who are going to cling to the wondrous efficient offense theory without factoring any nuance whatsoever.  It should be clear to all that our efficiency was built largely at the expense of vastly inferior programs, while substantially leveling off when battling our A10 opponents.  Using a minimum of 80 points as a benchmark, this is who we scored heavily against:

Team                            Ken Pom                Ken Pom Defensive Rating

South Florida                    47                                     41
American                        241                                   235
ODU                                248                                  254
UMBC                             187                                  208
McNeese                          65                                    53
MTSU                             175                                  190
Murray St.                       127                                  244
Army                               339                                  335
W&M                               145                                 186
St. Mary's                         n/a                                  n/a
Richmond (2x)                153                                 203
Loyola                             280                                 261
Duquesne                       123                                 132
La Salle                          228                                  222
SBU                                137                                 220
SLU                                   34                                  42

That's 3 out of 16 games against a top 100 defense (I am excluding the St. Mary's game) and two of these three games were losses.  It's also just 4 games against top 150 defenses and 6 games against top 200 defenses.

I do not disagree with the other problems you've cited.  Nevertheless, it's time to acknowledge that the strategy of taking 3's as much as possible worked fine against inferior opponents (which makes sense since players often play more confidently in these games) but that this also served to "inflate" the team's overall efficiency.  Our scoring totals decreased markedly against better competition (yes, I recognize that the injury to Slim did not help matters but I believe we were heading for a fall regardless). 

I didn’t say we had a wondrous offense with no nuance. I said I didn’t think Caputo would think the offensive approach failed given the efficiency numbers.

FWIW, vs top 100 defenses, our offensive efficiencies were:

116.4
116.6
97.4
103.8
119
95.7 (First game without Castro)
104.4
110.6
109.7
98.7
103.5
114.5
89.2 (New Mexico debacle)

So definitely worse than our overall numbers.  Some solid efforts, some clunkers.

But personally, I think the scheme is relatively sound, as long as we have good shooters and guys who can get to the rim and finish against size. 

Do agree that getting to the line more would be incredibly helpful to our efficiency.

gwstudent2024 wrote:

Riley Frain from The Portal Report joined us for the latest episode of GW Basketball Insiders. We discussed general portal dynamics, broke down GW's additions + subtractions thus far, and talked about moves across the A10.

Twitter: https://x.com/MattModderno/status/2046943887537938632?s=20
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/ZVO2M6xIadg?si=LzwSRnoCCTMKpL_a
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6R2l36MC2PCq3cCS6LmvJi?si=_3aUyBS-TJymfyJmbAhaqw
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/4-22-transfer-portal-update-with-riley-frain-of/id1802674606?i=1000763067939

Thanks. As always very interesting.  
One question you didn't ask is what players GW has interest in

GW0509 wrote:

GWRising wrote:

GW0509 wrote:

What do you mean the Italian kid is not happening?  Has it been reported that he's decommitted?

 I can confirm. It's a long story. GW admissions at its finest, again!

Assui now committed to Florida State.

He can play for Florida State but not here?

GW better figure this thing out fast.  Either you are playing basketball to compete for conference championships and NCAA appearances, or you are not.  If you are not, then there is zero point in annually spending millions of dollars in NIL salaries.  Move down in conferences, put the money towards something else, and deny applicants for academic reasons.

GW is hamstrung enough with limited budgets, subpar facilities, and paltry ticket revenue without making things any harder on itself.  If a player fails to attend class once they are here, that's one thing.  But to disqualify anyone over academics needs to be a thing of the past in today's day and age.  Let's keep pointing to Omar Williams, a player who should never have been admitted academically (based on attending a fraudulent prep school) yet still managed to graduate in four years.  STOP denying young men the opportunity to prove themselves. You let a Val Brown and an Omar Williams in.  You kick Brown out due to his academic choices (or lack thereof).  This isn't comparable to the general admissions process.  It just isn't, and it shouldn't be very hard.

Last edited by Gwmayhem (4/22/2026 12:20 pm)

gwstudent2024 wrote:

Riley told us he doesn't know which schools are interested in which players since they often only share info with him once they're committed and he is tracking 350+ schools portal activity.

Apparently Assui failed the English test international students are required to take to be admitted to GW.

We have a number of students already enrolled who apparently would fail the English portion of any "test optional" standardized test. Just talk to them lol. Why single out athletes?

GWRising wrote:

gwstudent2024 wrote:

Riley told us he doesn't know which schools are interested in which players since they often only share info with him once they're committed and he is tracking 350+ schools portal activity.

Apparently Assui failed the English test international students are required to take to be admitted to GW.

We have a number of students already enrolled who apparently would fail the English portion of any "test optional" standardized test. Just talk to them lol. Why single out athletes?

And if that’s the issue, why not just get him an English tutor and give him the test in a couple months?

And Yuta was very conversant in English pretty quickly. Young people learn other languages fast.
There's no one at GW who speaks Italian?  Latin? Any romance languages?
  I'm all for some academic standards, though realizing many are not graduating from GW.
That being said, the team travels with tutors and is cosseted academically. Maybe less than
the biggest programs, but still.
    More relevant: You can literally call up a translator on your phone.
    And this sudden application of academic standards loosened no doubt at times for others, is what drove Hobbs to become Apocalypse now, was used in the Nero retaliation for Lonergan whistleblowing against the (ironically English and Italian speaking) child of one of GW's greatest players and happened to use last year or two years ago. The guy from Iowa, unless that's wrong.
   It's probably driving CC, already facing a crazy basketball marketplace that has no relation to reality or
basketball, up the wall. And who could blame him?

Florida Colonial wrote:

See dmvpiranha on the recruit thread. Love this signing

As GWRising said here is our ACC player

Travis Branham
@TravisBranham_
NEWS: Notre Dame transfer Ryder Frost has committed to George Washington, a source tells 
@247Sports
. 

Former four-star recruit with a high IQ, strength and is a knockdown shooter. Shot 38.5% from three this season. 
https://247sports.com/player/ryder-frost-46144037/

 Yes, that's him. dmvpiranha was on it independently as well.

Don't think we are done yet.