Now THAT is why we love college basketball.
What a game and what an atmosphere. It may have been more Dayton fans than GW fans packing the Smith center, but our crowd brought the energy all game long. And the players brought it.
So impressed with the way we defended and rebounded. Just battled them inside all day and met their physicality.
And between Bishop and Adams, we have great guards. They have to be the best backcourt in the league.
James really staked his claim for A10 POY today. Now that we are 4-2, he has to be right there with Collins and Holmes for the award (and Bishop was by far better than Holmes today. He seems much quicker than previous seasons, just blowing by guys, and his decision making was elite today - they kept doubling him in the first half, and he just kept finding the open man.
Adams not only should be like 2nd team all league, but he’s got to win the Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award, right? Guy has improved his scoring from 8.2 points to almost 17, and is shooting over 10% better from the field than last year. Plus, his defense and rebounding are really solid. Caputo has helped him find his role, and has him playing great ball.
Maximus has to be in contention for rookie of the year. I believe he leads all freshman in the league in scoring, and he was huge today with 15 points and 6 boards.
Hunter Dean and Ricky Lindo both battled so hard on D and the boards. Couple of bonehead fouls (especially Ricky), but they did a serious defensive job today. I think the defensive work around the basket and their rebounding -limiting them to only about 23% offensive rebounds - made all the difference.
Noel also played well in his time. He got blocked a couple of times because he can’t get off the floor quickly, but he didn’t back down from Holmes and gave us solid minutes.
Amir played his role very well and had a nice basket (on a Qwanzi assist).
As usual, one of the keys for us is not getting smoked in those 2+ minutes with Bishop on the bench in the first half, and then in the 2 or so minutes when Adams sits. The offense stagnated a bit, but the defense and rebounding didn’t, and we scored just enough to survive those minutes.
Really just a fun game.
And the hidden MVP is the fan who brought the Ohio isn’t real sign - injected some energy into our crowd just when we needed it.