The first step in turning the program around, in my opinion, is to consistently beat the teams from lesser conferences, which is what I’ll be looking for in this OCC. It’s been a long time since we’ve made it through the OCC without a bad loss.

I understand how hard it is to schedule P6 schools, but once things are turned around, I’d like to see us schedule more teams from similar, mid major conferences like the Mountain West, Conference USA, Missouri Valley, West Coast, etc.

I really hope we don't abandon the idea of playing a couple of games against P6 teams even if these need to be true road games.  For starters, the players would love to have an opportunity to test themselves against an upper level program or two.  These games normally help better prepare the team for A10 competition, far more than 20+ point home wins against sub-300 schools.  A single digit loss on the road against a P6 program could turn out to be a great confidence builder. 

I have not seen or heard anything about a game at South Carolina.  Keep in mind that we recently played the Gamecocks in SC as well as on a neutral court prior to last year's win in DC.  This, to my knowledge, was not a 2 for 1 so that series may very well be complete.


 

Brackets for the thing at the resort/wedding venue in the Bahamas have been released. GW opens vs Ohio, then MTSU or UIC (the only team to ever beat GW in the CBI)

https://gwsports.com/news/2023/7/20/mens-basketballs-bracket-unveiled-for-baha-mar-hoops-nassau-championship?fbclid=IwAR1twGYsu63jg5um_fXRMdRgJHMNVXp_iHD0UpCxBABRKxlb9LmGSQM_lus

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (7/20/2023 5:54 pm)

Ohio figures to be a tough first test. They may be the best of the teams in the field. The Bobcats return five of their top six scorers (3 who averaged 10+ points last season). If there is a silver lining, it's that their leading scorer who was a forward graduated so hopefully we don't get punished as much inside (although they still have a couple decent forwards). They have some really good shooting guards, and Jeff Boals has done a great job at his alma mater since leaving Stony Brook. Ohio also beat Virginia in the NCAA tournament a few years back. The last time we faced them was at The Diamond Head Classic tournament in 2014. We won that game by 28 and went on to win the tourney.

Middle Tennessee has had a nice resurgence the past couple of years after a rough start under Nick McDevitt. The Blue Raiders have won 45 total games in the past two seasons after winning just 24 games in the previous three seasons combined. MTSU will always play tough and physical defensively. Had they not choked at the end of their conference tournament game against Florida Atlantic perhaps the Owls don't make their run in the NCAA tournament which is interesting to think about. Next season figures to be a step back as they return just two of their top five scorers from last year. We have never faced them in our history to my knowledge.

UIC has not been able to get it going under Luke Yaklich (between both the Horizon and MVC) which is a bit surprising given his reputation as a strong defensive mind as an assistant. Chicago is a great place to recruit from, but honestly most of the programs in the area have trouble winning consistently. There are a couple of former A10 faces on the team in Toby Okani (Duquesne) and Marquise Kennedy (Loyola Chicago) who figure to lead the team in scoring. Isaiah Rivera (Colorado State) was a good add as well. Despite that, the real interesting matchup may actually be between their Christian Jones and ours.

As for the rest of the field:
- Brown may be a pesky team in the Ivy this season behind the services of local PG County product Kino Lilly Jr but they are overall a very short team with no player over 6'9". We last played them in 1976, winning 75-59 as part of the Presidential Classic in DC.

- Delaware did a pretty good job in the transfer portal this offseason, landing guys like Gerald Drumgoole Jr. (Albany/Pittsburgh) and Niels Lane (Florida). Of course, they lost JNJ to TCU this offseason and they were weirdly not very good at shooting the ball from 3 which hurt them in an offense-happy CAA last year. We lost at their place a few years ago.

- If you think UIC prompts bad flashbacks, I have worse flashbacks from the last time we played Kansas City aka UMKC which funnily enough happened to be in Nassau. I will try to forget just how bad that second half was if we do face them. Unfortunately for them they lost their top two scorers who both averaged 17+ ppg to the transfer portal late in the offseason. Nothing else noteworthy about them except that they have a pair of twins on the team from Germany.

- Speaking of twins, UNC Greensboro has a pair of their own in the backcourt. They also have a former VCU player down low in Mikeal Brown-Jones. The Spartans only return three of their top eight scorers from last year but will at the very least be very well coached under Mike Jones (who?).

Given the relative youth on our squad this year, we could of course drop a game to any team in the field but hopefully we can get two wins in the three games we play (and at least one).
 

Side note—-does anyone else find it hilarious that ESPN cares so little about GW these days that they haven’t even changed the name despite having an entire article about the name change attached to the team home page. Lol wow.

Hope everyone is ready to renew their Flo-Hoops subscriptions to watch these games.  

Remind me what the FloHoops deal is once again?  I can buy their entire season of college basketball for $100 or just the 3 GW games for $150?

jf wrote:

No, not Flo Hoops!
May be less stress to just go the Bahamas.

A quick check of travel aggregator sites shows round trip on non-stops in/out of National is about $450, which is only slightly more than Flo Hoops but a tad less of a hassle and much more reliable (despite all the cancelations and shortage of pilots). Even through turbulence, I´d bet there is less jerking back and forth on a plane than on a Flo Sports camera!

GW0509 wrote:

Skittles wrote:

Would be nice to get the schedules they had a few years ago. Seeing the team go to cali and lose to 3 teams I didn’t know existed last year was a bit demoralizing

A couple of notes about scheduling.

1. Good article from Eamon Brennan about the trend of CBB teams playing fewer on-campus games.  Even more so for high majors.  Makes scheduling anyone other than low D1 teams at home an almost impossible task.  Play more of the games on campus - Buzzer by Eamonn Brennan

2. GW scheduling like they were a few years ago is actually a pretty bad strategy in the NET era.  It may not be fun for fans who like to watch interesting games, but if the goal is to increase bids for the conference, it's actively harmful to schedule tough.  What's being rewarded is home games against cupcakes where you can pump up your efficiency numbers. 

Look at the MWC this year who got 4 teams into the tournament.  Hardly any games against high majors outside of their MTEs.  Instead, you inflate your NET in the OOC and then the conference games become Q1 & Q2 instead of Q2 & Q3/4.  

That means we all have to thump those opponents, not just win. 

Margin of victory matters (and having a bench should help with that).

Gwmayhem wrote:

Are we genuinely concerned just yet about scheduling in the NET era?  Let's look at St. Joe's who may have more upside coming into this season than GW does.

Road game at Kentucky.  Road game at Villanova.  Road game at College of Charleston.  Neutral court game against Iona.

The Hawks are willing to give themselves a few tests.  I'll bet the players love this.  And, this will be good preparation for their A10 schedule.

So far, I've yet to see or hear about an OOC schedule for GW that's anywhere close to approaching this.  Let these young men test themselves, at least on a few occasions. 
 

Reminds me of SLU last season.

Had an OOC of Memphis, Maryland, Providence, Auburn, Iona, Boise State, Drake.  Went 3-4 in those games.  Finished 21-12 with no chance at an NCAA At Large or the NIT.

Part of that is because there were 5 (5-0) Q4 and 10 (8-2) Q3 conference games.  SLU only had 1 Q1 conference game which they lost to VCU @ VCU.

Meanwhile, the MWC had 0 Q4 conference games.  The last MWC team in the tournament, Nevada, played 6 Q1 conference games and 6 Q2.

The reason why GW should schedule with the NET in mind is not because anyone thinks GW is going dancing this year.  Instead, it's important to inflate the A-10's NET as a whole in order to get a bigger chance at an at-large for the likes of SJU this year or SLU last season.  That extra tournament allotment allows GW to maybe get a better buy game opponent the next season or give our ACs a raise.

I agree with you that college basketball was more fun when teams actually scheduled hard and I'm sure it's fun for the players too.  But the incentives to get an at-large bid are to schedule cupcakes.  

Last edited by GW0509 (7/31/2023 11:27 am)