Yep, lets get the W

Even Mojo never got swept by Fordham.

I’m reasonably certain that the folks in Fairfax are asking how the hell they lost us two times

An awfully played game. 15 turnovers ,36per cent shooting, terrible foul shooting form by Paar and Toro, only 6 offensive rebounds, rare half court offensive plays, mostly throwing up threes. A game that reflects a disappointing season. Home losses to AU, Morgan State, LaSalle and Fordham. A coach who is a nice guy but preaches “ we will not play zone” . Perhaps he should study the recent Duke win over NC State. It nice to say this is a journey, we have plan , we will grow. But these phrases are not a substitute for good coaching. Is anyone pleased with our inbound play or help when pressure is applied in the backcourt. We have struggled all season long in this situation. College ball is successfully played with good guards. With Potter graduating, I do not see strength at this position next year.

Know there's a school of thought never second guess the coaching staff, but the game was a microcosm
of the season.
Good news first: the seniors started. Classy move, much appreciated. Though one could joke that honoring Armel would be to let him rest a bit.  And actually with 2 walkons played Fordham even for several minutes. Adam got a nice 3.
Didn't play much rest of the game even when we needed 3s at the end. Hope that one day Shawn is a better 3 point prospect than Adam, but it wasn't today.
   Mezie and Javi sit the whole game. A turnover fest. And flat on Senior Day when playing for an important tourney shot.
  Even Fordham has much better ball movement than we do.
  We can write off this year.  Outside of making a lot of noise in the A-10 tournament, we can debate in the offseason whether this year really wound up much better and a sign of great improvement.
But let's deal with whatever happens at Dayton. And get ready for the A-10 tournament.

Have to agree that the coaching staff has to have some degree of accountability.  Fordham plays hard on defense, but that is a bad basketball team.  This was not a case of a team playing better than us or simply being outmatches by superior talent, but us playing about as badly as possible. It looked like the beginning of the year. 

On defense, Soriano had his way most of the time inside with little help with a double teams.  Rotations on D were slow, as if we didn’t care or had no energy. Their guards dribbled around in the paint as if it was a stroll in the park—making countless largely uncontested tear drop five footers.  I have no idea what the plan was on offense, countless out of control shots, awful or I’ll-advised passes from several players (or no expectation of a pass from a potential receiver), poorly executed ball screens, and seeming disarray—not to mention poor shooting when we did have shots and from the free throw line again.

And with all that awful play, we still took a 48-43 lead with just under six after a Maceo three.  And then we get outscored 20-4 over the final six against the worst offensive team in the Conference!!!????   That’s just unacceptable. 

So from a coaching perspective—my measure was always  are we getting better and looking like a lower seed team no one wants to play in the A-10.  We started looking a bit
Like the team a few weeks ago, but the have come off the rails.

  Injuries?   No doubt a factor.   Fatigue?  It sure looked like it tonight —but I guess that’s why you push these guys    almost 40 minutes when down 25 late to VCU.  Notwithstanding the injuries—it seems that a coach can find some way to get a few more bench minutes each game.

It’s one thing to lose games and it’s another to look completely lost on the court in getting blown out or the road or in losing to a bad team.  I like JC’s  positivity, but I also expect some measure of accountability.  Just hearing a coach say we need to do a better job of coaching and getting everyone ready for each game would be a nice.

I could forgive some of the earlier games against Morgan State and American as early in the season.  However, I’m having a very hard time finding any excuse for losing to Fordham at home to close out a season.

Last edited by Merrick (3/04/2020 11:42 pm)

I was debating whether I even wanted to comment on this one...

First off, thank you to Armel, AT, Juice, Adam, and Luke for your contributions to the program. Sorry that they couldn't go out with a win on the home floor, though if the team can't beat Fordham at home at this point in the season, there aren't too many teams you can beat in general.

Having said that, this was a very discouraging performance nearing the end of the season. Looking past the score, it was clear that the team was devoid of energy much like the VCU game and seemed to rather be anywhere else. After the disastrous second half against VCU, I was hoping for a strong response against Fordham at home, especially on senior day but that didn't happen. For a senior day, the atmosphere in the Smith Center seemed dead and matched the play of the team. As much as Mojo's teams were flawed, you could guarantee last year that the team would give 110% even if the execution wasn't there which got me to tune into most games even if I was expecting a loss. This team could learn a lot from last year's team in bringing energy on both sides of the floor.

Offensively, we played with the wrong pace nearly the entire game. For the first 32 minutes or so, we were playing at a very slow pace despite having the depth for once to play faster which played right into what Fordham wanted to do. It was the same old dribble the ball at the top of the key for 20 seconds, then figure out in the last 10 what to do with it. The number of poor shots/shots we have to rush to put up at the end of the shot clock last night proved this failed strategy. Most teams have game planned for this, and even expect many cross court passes to our three point shooters Jamison and Maceo which make them easy to be intercepted. Every player on Fordham yesterday had at least 1 steal. Yes, they are a pretty good defensive team, but our passing was truly lackadaisical yesterday. We need more passing earlier in the shot clock and to stop settling for threes when they don't fall.

The final 8 minutes we seemed to speed things up a bit which got us back the lead, but when we did later in the game we would have been wise to slow things down a bit at the end. After we got up 5, we played like the buzzer had already sounded. Colon had three consecutive open shots from the free throw line which was poor defense. We lost all composure, throwing the ball away once (the only time JC looked visibly upset in the game) and settling for bad threes early in the shot clock. JC inexplicably called no timeouts during this critical stretch which was bad flashbacks to last year. We simply don't know how to play in the post. I know that is an area that JC had said preseason that he is going to try to do more of, but every time AT or Chase had the ball they usually passed the ball off to a cutting guard instead of taking it themselves to the hole. The only time they score is if the basket is completely assisted and they are open from 2 feet away or they score off an offensive rebound. This is on the coaching staff to find more ways to get these guys involved. Otherwise, we will settle for threes, or rely on Armel's speed late in games to somehow get to the hoop (which we sadly won't have next year).

Defense was the bigger problem last night. When you give up 40 points to Fordham in the second half, serious fixing needs to be made. Only 5 teams in D1 are worse offensively than the Rams. We did well to run them off the line this time around, but our interior defense was embarrassing the entire game, and once one of their guards (usually Colon) was able to drive the ball past the arc he consistently had wide open shots from the midrange. I can understand being okay with giving up a midrange shot, but no guy was even nearby to close out on the shot at the very least. Fordham looked like they were at shootaround. It didn't help that a usually 60% free throw shooting went 88% from the line against us. Our interior defense was really bad down low, and we allowed Soriano to back us down on countless trips. He looks like a promising player for them if he doesn't transfer assuming Neubauer is gone. Our press was completely ineffective and Fordham was able to easily break it. Maybe it is the personnel, but the only times Fordham coughed up the ball it was because they were just careless with it, not because we forced them into a turnover. The mayhem has been largely missing of late. Our poor interior defense now gets to go on the road and play the best 2 point shooting offense in NCAA history. Joy! Dayton beat URI on the road by 27, and we lost to Rhode Island by 31 at home. I'm honestly just hoping the Flyers take it easy on us and we somehow keep the game within 30-40 points.

Armel looked a lot better than he has the past couple of games, and it was at least nice to see him get a few minutes rest. JNJ had some good moments defensively, but his involvement in the offense has for whatever reason been absent the past few games. Minus the alley-oop dunk, I only remember him taking and missing a three (again not his game). Jamison was bad defensively, but had some moments on offense when his threes were falling in the first half. I was surprised that when he did drive to the hoop, he didn't take the shot, but rather passed it to another guy. Battle has shown to finish inside more often than not, and wish he had just taken some more shots inside yesterday. Maceo did do well to get to the hoop offensively when the threes weren't falling, but looked like the Maceo of previous years defensively when he was consistently beaten by his man on drives to the hoop. Nice to see Luke start, and wish Adam had seen more than just 5 minutes, especially after he made a 3 earlier in the game. Juice unfortunately found himself in too much foul trouble to do much. AT was great on the glass as usual, but wasn't very good defensively and missed a few bunnies down low. Chase needs to improve at the line and defensively, but I really like his feel for the game. He made some really good passes yesterday and did well on the glass. Hoping he can add some strength in the offseason. Shawn had some nice moments getting to the hoop, and had a nice steal along the sideline, but also needs to add strength. Ace had some nice in offensive activity in limited time.

The fact that neither Javier nor Mezie were able to get into this game doesn't strike me as a good sign for their long-term futures on the team moving forward. They seemed to be healthy scratches.

In a season where wins don't mean much, games like this one and Morgan State are ones where a win is still expected. An excuse can be made for the Morgan State one that it was earlier in the year where we were still figuring out rotations, but I can't say we have figured the rotations out even now, partly because of injuries. This is not a game that should be lost at this point of the season, and doesn't add a lot of confidence to the team moving forward. Still looking forward to next year, but we need to improve significantly defensively (more about effort than personnel) and figure out what to do when the threes don't fall otherwise our long-term ceiling is capped even with better talent. I don't care about who we really face in the tournament as we have no chance to win it all, but am still hoping we get the 10th seed and avoid the play-in game so we can point to that as an improvement overall this season. St. Joe's would have to win at home against La Salle, which isn't impossible.

There have been without a doubt some highs this season, but unfortunately there is no positive way to spin this one. Especially when you go from up 5 to down 11 at the end of the game on the home floor. Injuries and fatigue can't be blamed considering only Amir is out at this point, and we had the depth to avoid fatigue. At least we got most guys into the game, so the ones recovering from injury are starting to get back in game shape. On to pain against Dayton next.

Regarding JUCO transfers, I don't believe we usually recruit from those ranks because of academic eligibility issues but there is not doubt there is a lot of talent there.
 

Thanks, Dmvpiranha. Once again you are spot on about last night's game. The time, effort and knowledge you put into your previews and game analysises is extraordinary. You are the best the board has to offer. Much appreciated.  Only thing better would be to read what you have say about a winning GW.

First and foremost, congratulations to the Fordham Rams on their first ever win in Washington, DC.  You read that right.  I guess the 17th try was the charm.  (I've included GW's A10 tournament win in DC.)  The immaculately dressed and NBA pedigreed Bob Hill tried and failed.  Bryant Dunston, Branden Frazier and Brenton Butler have all tried and failed.  So had Chris Gaston and Joseph Chartouney.

No, the group that got it done was led by Josh Colon, Joel Soriano and Erten Gazi.  ositively dreadful.
Jalen Cobb did so much damage against us in the first meeting that the team was hellbent in making sure that didn't happen again.  Mission accomplished.  Only GW forgot about these other guys of which two played less than 15 minutes against GW in the first meeting.

All the points I've read about the game, the lack of energy (on Senior Night no less), the lackadaisical passing, the pace in which we played, are all valid.  So is the point about how disheartening it is to produce such a putrid performance so late in the season.  Ideally, teams peak as they head into a conference tournament but obviously, that's not the case here.  The only solution this team had found to its severe turnover problem was Armel Potter yet with 26 turnovers in his past three games, it appears that leak has sprung once again.  It's hard to be overly critical of Armel; he is asked to do too much for too long and the young man is exhausted.  So are the freshmen who are racking up all of these minutes.  The "wall" was officially hit weeks ago.  Yes, playing your best players should give a team its best chance of winning.  But, overplaying them to the point of exhaustion is counterproductive.

This team has lost what little identity it had.  At one point this season, JC theorized that mayhem wasn't necessarily about pressing and trapping but it was really about running opponents off of the the point line.  This was logically said at a point in time when the team was extremely successful at doing just this.  Lately, not so much.  We now rank 7th in a14 team conference in opponent 3 point FG%.  In fact, we shoot almost the exact same percentage from 3 than we allow.  Mayhem?  More like meh.

As for last night, I will echo comments which I made following losses to AU and Morgan State.  JC has installed a distinct style of offensive basketball which encourages as many good three point shot attempts as possible.  The analytics support this.  A wide open attempt with nobody under the basket is encouraged.  You may not like it, but as long as you can make your fair share of these, it's a good shot to take.

However, opponent, score and time sometimes dictate the need for a Plan B.  The coaching staff has to know that against AU, Morgan State and Fordham, GW has the superior talent.  Certainly on its own home court, GW is expected to win these games.  And so last night, in the waning stages of a close game, GW continued to shoot (and for the most part, miss) three point shots rather than work their way closer to the basket.  Do you know why a three point shot is worth more than a two point shot?  Because it is more difficult to make.  That's as simplistic as it gets but somehow, this team ignores this.  In the closing stages of last night's game, what GW needed was MADE TWO POINT SHOTS (plus any free throws that may have resulted), not missed three point shots.   

This way of playing represents a higher risk, higher reward style of play.  It allows you to defeat teams like Davidson by making 13 three point shots or Duquesne by shooting 45% from 3.  It is also susceptible to "so what" blowouts  against URI, at Richmond, at SBU and at VCU, games you wouldn't expect to win anyway.

But, what about those games you are supposed to win?  What happens when the opponent is defending the shit out of the 3 (Fordham, by the way, is second in the conference at defending the 3, and held GW to 5-23 shooting last night)?  What happens when you really need a Plan B and you either don't have one or are unwilling to go to one?

This is what good coaches do.  Earlier this week, Duke struggled quite a bit with NC State in the first half and then out of nowhere, took command of the game by zoning the heck out of the Wolfpack.  They never saw it coming and it worked perfectly.  This isn't to say that every change in strategy works like a charm but again, opponent, time and score.  Against Fordham on our home court, GW needed to assert itself, take advantage of its superior talent, and do what it took to win that game.  It needed to stop continuing to try what wasn't working and try a different approach.

Last night, this high risk, high reward style of play served as yet another reminder of one painful fact:  while we can get hot and beat some teams who we otherwise should not be able to beat, we are also capable of losing to any program in the country.  
 

Last edited by Gwmayhem (3/05/2020 11:01 am)