Nice win, love seeing our guys respond to runs with focus and aggression!

Small crowd but loud when it mattered!

Also, love the Caputo press conference. Even when they’re short, they’re substantive! 4-0 baby!

* Max pointed to the ref and said something to him as he was walking off.
* Stretch is so good that he makes it obvious we don't have a backup for him.  A-10 team are going to drive at him to force fouls.
* Glad we're going from our home games to a set of neutral venue to away game.  Great schedule to build up degree of difficulty for a "young" team.
 

Nice win.  In past several years, no way we come from 12 points down to win.  Even last year, we would have worn down with our 5-6 man rotation. 

The energy that Autry, Buchanan and Straetch bring to the game is amazing.  Others may be quiet leaders but sometimes you need something more.  They bring it!!

We took good shots for the most part in the first 10 min- just nothing was falling.  But as others said - no panic by coaches or players.

Ref that called the Techs was horrible.  Buchanan was not taunting at all at mid court - just talking with teammates.  He missed a call on the sideline as well. 

Onto Ohio.

And still no Post coverage.  But they devoted space to the GTown Hoyas “big” win over Mt St Marys

On the post game, love how Stretch talked about “doing his homework” on Daniel’s the night prior.  Learning how he plays and what moves he likes.  He was 1-1 with him out on the perimeter and did an awesome job frustrating him.

Starting off 4-0 is certainly a great feeling. As CC mentioned, this had the makings of a potential letdown game, and during the first quarter the lack of energy from the team seemed to signal things were headed that way.

I'll disagree a bit with the shots at the beginning being good shots. Many of them were somewhat open, but I thought the team was pressing/settling at times and the ball was sticking instead of moving around. When this team was trying to play in isolation and beat their man off the dribble, there was less success. UNH isn't a juggernaut defensively, but the team is very disciplined with fundamentals. As FQ mentioned, Jacoi coming in changed a lot with regards to ball movement. Once the ball was moving around, it allowed the shots to be more in rhythm and they went in more often. The rhythm, energy, and ball movement was missing during the first 10 minutes or so and it also affected the team's transition defense. The fact that CC elected not to take a timeout and get the guys to play through it was an interesting decision. Unlike previous regimes it certainly feels like his judgment on that front has been good and he's earned the benefit of the doubt to not question not taking one when another team goes on a run. The team certainly flipped a switch at the under 8 timeout and started playing with more energy.

It was mentioned a couple of times here, but the refs were awful in this game despite 15 personals being called on each team. JB was hounded multiple times, and no fouls were called during the game and of course the technicals were ridiculous. Buchanan certainly did not look to deserve a T when things got heated against Daniels, and it certainly felt like that it was an after the fact call. If you're going to call a double technical, shouldn't things offset and you just play on? Maybe I'm a bit salty that GW made only one of two FTs while UNH converted on both there. Thankfully UNH started missing FTs at the end, because they were about to be the fourth straight opponent to be basically automatic from the stripe at the Smith Center. The Max technical was a bit different. He clearly exchanged words with a ref when heading to the bench and he probably deserved the tech called. On the other hand, it felt like he was tossed pretty quickly after the initial call and the refs had a really short temper. It also felt like GW was being called for a lot more fouls when up around the 7-8 point range, and I was starting to wonder whether any refs were picking UNH to cover or something. Just a theory...

Anyways, it was an interesting game in general. Like the Stonehill game, JB seemed not to interested in looking for his shot, despite his trademark midrange shot being there all game. If I remember right, UNH was the only game last year where JB did not hit double figures so maybe it's the personnel that's good at containing him. Either way, his ability to find the open man was very good, he was more active rebounding, and made some really good defensive plays. It was the ninth game of this career registering a steal and a block in the same game. FT shooting was money as usual.

Trey's instincts are just phenomenal for a first year player. I think it may have been mentioned above, but defensively he just knows when to rotate over as a helpside defender and is overall good at contesting shots. While his three point shooting numbers have been rough to start his career, he is very patient and sets himself well before taking them and I have no doubts those numbers will be going up over the course of the year. I originally thought it was interesting he was starting over Jacoi, but it makes more sense to have three shooters on the floor at the start around JB to really open the floor. I don't know that we've fully taken advantage of that floor spacing as teams are guarding Bishop in a way that's not giving him the driving lanes he should be getting a lot more. I think CC alluded to this a bit in the postgame.

Garrett is just fantastic and doesn't look like this is his first year of CBB at all. He mixes up his drives and shots very well to keep defenses honest. Great from the FT line, really good rebounder, and had some great defensive moments in this one even though he occasionally gets beat down low. I can't even really criticize how deep his three point attempts are because he's making them (although probably still making things harder for himself there).

It felt like Max had an off day (even before his ejection), so I was surprised by the 5-12 FG, 2-4 3-PT line in the box score. Not more to say from previous games, but it's clear he has really embraced being the #2 guy on offense and is a lot more aggressive compared to last year. His confidence radiates and certainly benefits the team in general. He's very unselfish, but there's times where he might want to give the ball up a bit sooner if he's not taking a shot (he sometimes finds himself in tough positions as a result). Just a small nitpick in the grand scheme of things.

It has been a real pleasure to watch Stretch down low and actually have an interior presence. I think part of what has made the perimeter defense better/allow the team to be more aggressive is Akingbola's presence down low. It's really impressive that on 80%+ of possessions where the opposition goes at him he's able to adjust and alter a shot in some way. Offensively, there's usually 2-3 plays where he could be more aggressive, but that will come with time. There were multiple possessions where UNH was spread out so much to the point where 2-3 players could have had an easy layup but GW settled for a missed three. I'm sure CC will point to those plays on film. Fingers crossed that Akingbola stays healthy/out of foul trouble because it appears Keegan is a last-resort option at this point.

Not worried about Benny, but it all starts on the defensive end with him. He's pressing on offense because he's not getting the opportunities due to his defense. His minutes will go up during The Bahamas MTE somewhat out of necessity so he'll get to showcase more.

I'll just mention Jacoi and Darren together because I think they are the two "X-factors" for the team this year. I went back and watched the early part of the Hofstra game and forgot to mention the fact that Jacoi was guilty of going under screens multiple times when Thomas was converting from distance, but his defense/general activity overall has been great. The play that stands out was his steal guarding Daniels in the second half, who is three inches taler than him. That was also at a critical juncture of the game. Like JB, a couple of passes that had good intentions were taken away by UNH but the idea was right + are plays that will be executed as this new team gets more games in together. He looked a lot better shooting the ball as well. Darren going down early was certainly scary, and I was wondering whether this was the first real hurdle that GW was going to have to overcome. Thankfully, he was able to walk off on his own power and checked back into the game after a few plays. Darren's combination of strength and mobility really makes a difference on both sides of the ball, and he's a lot better of a FT shooter than I expected. I'm just really impressed that he isn't prone to making too many unforced errors, which is what I guess you could say is the running theme with this team.

Ohio up next will be the toughest test yet, but the team does have several days to prepare. The Bobcats will be the first "complete" team that GW has faced on the year, but principles from the previous games can be applied. They have capable bigs down low, so facing someone like Daniels was good practice (although their bigs have more height than him). They also have a number of shooters along the perimeter as was seen in the W&M/Hofstra games. Putting the two things together will be interesting to see defensively, but I feel better about the game than I did in the preseason.
 

Through four games, this team is very much along the lines of who I rather confidently professed they would be.  Far more talent and depth since any GW team since the NIT champions.  Of note:

JBIV with a much greater understanding of team play largely because individual heroics are no longer necessary on most nights. 

The ability to beat you with many different players in many different ways.  Finding ways to shut James down is no longer a map to success.

The vital, vital importance of a genuine rim protector.  The blocked shots are nice and sometimes spectacular, but try to notice how many shots get altered or drives to the basket aborted.  There is so much that Stretch is doing which does not show up in a box score.  And Darren is also proving to be a menace in the paint despite being several inches shorter.

Jacoi has been very much as advertised.  Perimeter shooting is fair but just about every other aspect of his game is outstanding.  That level of high school competition he had is really going to come in handy.

We've added two really pure three point shooters in Garrett and Trey (and we've yet to see Antoine).  Trey appears to be more of a streak shooter.  Garrett's effortless motion reminds me of Nemanja Mikic; plus, Garrett does so many other things well.

Max continues to provide whatever is needed.  Benny has yet to truly scratch the surface.  Just a lot of options.

So again, this is why these pre-season computer rankings are so silly.  They either can't or refuse to see how a team has changed from one year to the next.  They assume that lots of new inexperienced players can't possibly be considered a good thing, without any consideration for the talent level of these players.  Jun was the DC-Met Player of the Year coming out of high school.  Should we really be assuming that we'll have no idea how he'll play in college?  Did he forget how to play altogether during his one year off?

Impressed with the start but I'm guessing unlike some of you, I had them at 4-0 at this point before the season started.  It's pretty easy to see why.
 

I understand that it has been a long time since we have had such reason for optimism and yes, we have looked solid these first 4 games, but remember we have done this against one of the weakest schedules in the nation playing at home. Let’s see where we are individually and as a team after the next 4 games, against stronger competition and away from the Smitty, before getting too excited.

It's great to see a coach for GW call a time out when  one is needed. For  several years our coaches would  let an opponent get on a run and we never call a time out to stem the run. I like this coach. Now for Kentucky refs not seeing a St. Joe's player calling a time out with a few seconds left to aid Kentucky. Two refs were looking at a St. Joe's player calling for a time out and ignoring him. Ugh!

Ahh, the time honored debate at gwhoops.com (and its predecessors) of the glass half empty vs glass half full. Well, look at it this way, at least the glass has some water in it at this point. Yes, we played a weak schedule at home. But we also did what we were supposed to do against that schedule which, as we all know all too well, has not been the case much over the past 6 years.

For sure, greater challenges lie ahead and there will undoubtedly be adversity. No one can reasonably expect us to skate through the schedule. But I think you also have to look at it this way at this point. When you are building a program (and not a team), you need to start somewhere and get some positive momentum going. The 4-0 start is just that regardless of who you are playing. There is a good feeling around the program and that should translate into more interest, enthusiasm, and media coverage if it continues. A small step to be sure at this early point in the season but an important one for the future. Once we re-establish the program, there will be plenty of time to discuss upgrades to the schedule. You have to walk before you can run.