They have made five more 3s than us shooting one less…

Where’s Bowie State when we need them?

With this much talent, it is hard for me to understand why we are not competitive in a one bid league…

Crazy thought: Maybe a let's say slightly more challenging schedule would have left us more
prepared for the rigors of league play.
     Turns out there is no Stonehill in the A-10.

This is how the team responds after an 0-2 road trip? Adversity has officially hit. Following the triple overtime heartbreak against Fordham, the team won three in a row. How does the team respond this time?

Given how the offense has looked the past couple of games, I'm going to criticize it a bit. Where is the passing??? This isn't just a JB thing. La Salle's opponents average nearly 15 assists per game! It shouldn't be hard to pick apart this defense, but the offense has become: 1) give the ball to Jun and hope he gets fouled or converts down low against his man, 2) give the ball to JB and hope he gets fouled or makes a tough acrobatic layup, or 3) kick it out to Garrett and hope he has a clean enough look for 3.

There's little doubt that Jun, JB, and Garrett are all very talented players. But it feels like we're trying to win with talent alone and not playing as a team. 7 assists today is unacceptable against a team like La Salle. How many looks were actually open?

The Explorers are pretty good at taking away the 3, but outside of Garrett's first three, everything else looked forced and out of rhythm. I wonder if the early personals hurt his timing and got in his head a bit.

JB to his credit limited his jumpers since they haven't fallen lately and had another game with no turnovers. However, late in games he has to push the issue a bit more when the team is behind. It's also clear that GW will need to find a guard that can penetrate effectively once Bishop graduates this offseason.

Stretch has made a huge difference down low defensively, but isn't an effective defender beyond five feet of the basket. There were possessions where he didn't even attempt to close out on shots. Don't think La Salle was the right matchup for him to play a ton given their propensity to shoot a lot of threes. Akingbola has certainly improved as a rebounder as well, but his inability to do anything offensively hurts the team. Can CC and staff seriously not run anything for him?

Max...there are still questions still even after 1.5 years about how he fits into the offense. He has had many dazzling plays doing things on his own, but how does he fit into the halfcourt puzzle? Despite the struggles, Max did things well - he gave up the ball knowing it wasn't his day shooting and had a nice rebound on a missed FT from Jun. CC has to figure out a way to get Max to fit into the offense somehow. Any indecision from him leads to a turnover, like his over-dribbling play that led to multiple La Salle guys swarming him.

Not much to say on Antoine/Trey/Zam. All had defensive lapses (whether it's biting on pump fakes, losing their man, or fouling a shooter) which isn't great. Zam had some nice takes to the basket. Antoine and Trey made a three.

Outside of Jun, Jacoi has been MVP for me lately. He actually makes things happen on defense which pretty much no one else can do (save Stretch's blocks). That's something that GW hasn't had lately from a guard since maybe Jameer Nelson Jr. Hutchinson is pretty efficient offensively for the most part as well.

But that's what it comes down to...what is the answer when it comes to this team getting stops on the defensive end? I'm sure CC would love to get in transition more on offense, but that's not possible when you can't get a single stop. Much like against King, GW had no one who could hang with Brickus/Brantley (although Jacoi again was the closest to doing so). How many times did Fasasi get lost when it was known coming into the game that he can shoot the ball?

Again, outside of Jacoi no one on this team along the perimeter is remotely disruptive. Late on closeouts, biting on pump fakes constantly, unable to make opponents uncomfortable. A lot of defense is effort. The intensity has been missing since the George Mason game (and yes, that includes the stretches of the UMass/Richmond games where GW played well enough to take the lead in the first half).

Not sure that there's ever a great time to play at Dayton, but this is definitely a bad time for the team. The Flyers shoot over 40% from 3. They will also be motivated after losing in Foggy last year. Conceding 100 points to them definitely seems like a possibility and the offense doesn't look like it can keep up with that pace right now. The only positive (I hope) is that maybe we play up to them after definitely looking like we were taking La Salle lightly tonight. Somewhat dreading what happens in a few days against the rowdy crowd at UD Arena...
 

JB didn’t have any turnovers, but I thought the first play of the second half epitomized the problem with our offense.  Max started to penetrate, JB was on the baseline and his defender stepped up to help on Max.  Max dropped a bounce pass to what should have been a cutting JB, but JB was just standing still watching Max. If he moves, it’s an easy layup, but instead the turnover was credited to Max, but to me it was on JB for just stopping moving.

They play, to me, was everything wrong with our offense.  Our entire offense has become one guy tried to drive to the hoop (usually Darren or James, but occasionally Garrett, Max, or Hutch) and everyone else just stands and watches.  There’s no movement off the ball, no passing lanes.  Most of the time opponents collapse on the drive, but no one is doing the work off of the ball to get open. No cutting. No moving to create passing lanes for an open kick out three.  No one attacking the glass.

The offense is just broken right now and we need a plan B.


And the defense continues to be broken. Now in 5 of our 6 losses, we’ve been lit up from three by an opponents’ best shooting game of the year (and in the 6th, it was tied at the half before they shot 6-11 from three in 2H). And yet another player had their career high (34, whose name I’m blanking on, averaged 5.5 ppg before his career high 19 yesterday).   We just have to be better on the perimeter. 

I guess it’s a combo of young players (and the one senior guard being a below average defender for his whole career).


For Cutis, Max only played 21 minutes - 6th most on the team.  I think he is being benched/losing playing time. But he’s clearly a player who needs confidence so hard to totally bench him because we need him to get right to be able to win games again.  But he’s having the worst slump of his career right now.

Coach needs to start getting angry at his players for repeatedly doing dumb things on the court. Bad shot selection, poor passing, too much one-on-one, not extending the defense on opponents 3s, etc. There must be a price to pay for these mistakes, including  the player sitting on the bench for a while. Maybe shaking up the starting five would also help.They've got to get out of this rut and playing Dayton next certainly won't help.

Whatever the reason may be, this team is uninspired.  I have my theories about the Max and JB difficulties this year compared to last year, but something has pervaded this team that is concerning.  They were flat at home on a Saturday evening game and lost to a lesser team.

Anybody who watches any film can easily correct horrible hedging on pick and rolls, or point out a dumbass shot selection or a telegraphed pass turnover.

What is lacking is energy, effort, and team character.  This team seems to be disconnected from each other and I don’t envy Coach Caputos challenge to fix it. He may have to use Max as a 6th man, or not use Max and JB together.  But just give me a rotation that isn’t a half step slow on D.  Opposing teams know the close outs aren’t coming and can practice their 3 pointers as if it’s a shoot around. 

Based on merit, there needs to be a fire lit under this team.  CC needs to do a deep dive on what the underlying problem is.  Hopefully that happens very soon.

Quick guards continue to be our nemesis. Can’t stay in front of them and keep them from driving. Instead of going over screens we go under or switch, creating open 3s or bad matchups. 

Class 'o 70 wrote:

I wonder if Caputo has ever consulted with a sports psychologist for the team. it might not be a bad idea at this juncture.

The athletic department recently hired a full time psychologist, may be perfect timing.