moneybox wrote:

Which of the starters-- excluding Edwards--have another year of eligibility?

Dean and Bishop.

THANKS GENTS! Fantastic Job Coach Caputo!! You coached the guys you inherited. The seniors who’d endured a lot of losing and disruption bought in! Great to see the team enjoy playing together!

Best season since 2016 doesn’t begin to tell the story of a team that looked like a bunch guys wandering around last year.

As disappointing as today was even today was so much better than countless disasters since the NIT. 10 conference wins. 4-0 in OT!

Any chance we’d buy into the CBI Tournament? Southern IN did and they are also 16-16.

Chance to win a post-season tournament, even if it’s a bad one?

Was hoping to win a game in the conference tournament (unfortunately we were the first higher seed to lose in the tournament) but despite the result I'm so proud of this team. They've set a great foundation for the teams to come - going .500 with 16 wins and over .500 in A10 play with 10 wins is an overachievement based on preseason expectations (even with how weak the conference was this year) and for the first time in forever it feels like things are trending up.

I will never knock a player/team's desire to win and play hard (these guys certainly care), but something about GW's energy level throughout this one just felt a little off - like the team was going through the motions and that was even when we had the early lead.

Defense matters even more in a tournament setting - consistently finding better offense to offset a defense that has a lot to be desired was always going to be tough.

Down the stretch of this game I didn't care for the shot selection. When St. Joe's switched back to the zone we had multiple possessions where we heaved a deep three at the end of the shot clock. That was very disappointing, because we've shown the ability to break the zone and there was more than enough time to continue going inside for 2. SJU is not a team you want to get into a three point contest with. GW has never been known for shooting 3's all season and JB and BA combine for 3/16. Despite the final score (and how it felt we were down by a lot more for much of the game), this wasn't a game where we needed to shoot our way back in it. St. Joe's was stuck on 6 team fouls for much of the second half. Had we been more aggressive driving, we were shooting the rest of the way. GW was 91% from the line too.

It was also a bit disappointing that Hunter wasn't more aggressive on offense with Obinna out. This game felt like a return to our early February stretch where he was used purely as a screener and nothing else. We know he can play a lot better than what he showed. Loved that dunk at the end from him, but the game was decided by that point.

In general we haven't had much success this season where we ask our bigs to make an extra pass down low to break a zone. Regardless of who it is with the ball, I wish they would just shoot that two-footer instead of trying to make an extra pass in traffic. It happened on a few occasions today.

While defense was rough most of the game (as was the case all season) I thought we did a decent job closing out on that Reynolds 3. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before the Hawks were going to get a number of threes to go - credit Fleming and Brown for making those corner ones at a critical juncture. JB has earned the right to take threes in that situation but when the shot doesn't go it feels like a wasted possession/opportunity. The extra rebounds surrendered were obviously killer as well.

Reynolds definitely appeared to play with a chip on his shoulder - he only made second team while JB made first so I think there was some motivation there. Every time JB was switched onto him we were definitely at a disadvantage.

Regardless, thank you again seniors for your contributions to GW! Despite having only eight players healthy for much of the year this was such a fun team to root for. Watch the above video that GW0509 posted and try not to get emotional watching JB and BA during it. That honestly hurt me more than the loss today. Those guys gave everything they could and it's never enjoyable to see a season come to an end with a loss.

BA's ability to create his own shot and pull up from anywhere is a real skill and he did a great job defensively against the other team's best player.

Ricky did a great job either rebounding or creating rebounding opportunities for the team. When he wasn't in foul trouble (and playing with poor body language), he was a pretty good defender as well and showed real explosion near the rim on his cuts.

Amir took a charge today which was one of his many key defensive plays when he saw action. Happy that he was able to get one last basket before his college career was up.

I believe EJ is out of his walking boot now so best wishes to him as he gets back to playing again (wherever that may be). He brought great energy during OOC play.

Will hold out hope that JB and Hunter return but wishing them the best regardless of what they choose. JB's passing + scoring ability made him such an electric player to watch despite obvious defensive shortcomings, and despite an off game today Hunter's ability to assert himself offensively down the stretch of the season was a pleasure to watch. That's something that I was hoping to see this year after last season ended and he definitely took those steps to be a threat offensively.

I believe Q can also come back but I don't see how his lack of playing time would convince him to return. Good luck to him - by all accounts he was a great locker room presence this year and everybody on the team loves him.

Max had a phenomenal freshman year and it was amazing how infrequently he made freshman mistakes all season despite being thrown into the fire. It did help that he could defer to JB and BA this year so it will be interesting to see what happens next year when he might be higher on the scouting report. Preferably I would like him to be the #2 guy than #1 in his sophomore year.

It will be interesting to see what Noel/Keegan/Daniel decide to do this offseason. I think Noel has made great progress to be serviceable this year, but his ability to go up strong with the ball is still a work in progress. Keegan already transferred once so maybe CC keeps him on but I don't see him as a big factor unless he somehow puts on a lot of strength in the offseason. Not even sure where Daniel is in his injury recovery. 

Looking forward to what unfolds this offseason and year 2 under CC!
 

DMV. Yep. Something was off. Maybe the arena? Like to keep the CC interview for the future. When we hoist some trophies

While a win would have been nice, real happy with the season compared to the last several years.
Before this year was thinking of not renewing my Tix due to the team not really being competitive the last few years.  Long drive in every weeknight if you know that it will not even be close.
Coach did a great job with the roster.  Had a lot of talent but limited players.  Significantly more successful than the previous coach.
Next year will be interesting- probably less individual talent (look at the end of season awards-wow) but maybe a team with depth and solid talent will overcome their inexperience.

Hard to add too much to Piranha's superb analysis.  This is a challenging post to write when considering that a): am still very upset over how the team played yesterday and b) am still so grateful over the team's imnprovement.  Let's take them one at a time.

The game reminded me of a final exam where you knew one or two subjects cold but presumably forgot that 4 other subjects would be on the test.  We started out I believe with 5 assists on the first 5 baskets.  In racing to a 21-10 lead, I did not notice a lack of energy or really anything outside of really solid play.  The team gets an "A" on that part of the game.  As for the rest, what on earth happened?  It seemed like every bad habit that this team had worked so hard on to rid itself of came back to rear it's ugly head.  Failure to share the ball?  Check.  Ricky becomes our three point shot (miss) specialist?  Check.  Hunter turning into a player who looked as if the last thing in the world he wanted to do was shoot? Check.  James taking ill advised 25 footers?  Check.    Max taking rushed shots because he actually was passed the ball and was able to?  Check.  A complete inability to attack SJU's press?  Check.  Brendan taking decent shots but missing too many easy ones?  Check.  Overall poor decision making with the ball?  Check.

I am not placing this loss at the feet of any one player as there was obviously plenty of blame to go around.  However, there were two critical plays down the stretch where I have no choice but to address Hunter.  First, his failure to box out on a missed free throw which in turn gave SJU a critical basket.  That can't happen in general but it REALLY can't happen in that spot.  Second, GW was down 3 with about a minute left when Hunter, rather than take a wide open shot from about 7 feet away, threw an alley oop pass to Ricky that I thought was going to hit the top of the backboard.  Again, decision making.  Any attempt at an alley oop is going to carry a fair amount of risk..bad pass, bad catch, missed dunk, etc.  GW immediately fouled after the turnover and that was the ball game.

What's really upsetting is that I know in my heart that GW is a better team than St. Joe's.  Credit to Reynolds for playing the game of his life (at least it wasn't the son of you-know who) but even that notwithstanding, GW lost this game far more than St. Joe's won it.  This team turned a corner in so many ways during the regular season; it just seemed logical that this would extend into the postseason.  Extremely disappointed that it didn't.

Yesterday aside, this was a very favorable season in a lot of respects.  This has to start with Chris Caputo and his staff.  Without meaning to knock Jamion and his staff, but I think we were all able to see first-hand what this staff was able to accomplish.  It sacrificed defense (and with that, foul trouble) due to having arguably the shortest bench in America, in exchange for a very exciting, offensive-oriented attack.  CC came up with the best plan to fit both his personnel and the team's circumstances.  With the very real poosibility of a practically all-new cast next year, we may see something entirely differently.  Much credit should be paid to this staff for showing the versatility and creativity that it did.

GW's players seemed to develop as players and I would presume, as young men as well.  James was alway a gifted talent but learned to become a genuine weapon when he was as much a threat to get his teammates involved as he was to score on his own.  I have always had a soft spot for Brendan to who we have a mutual connection long before he began college.  To witness him play the way he did was maybe the most gratifying part of my season.  He deserves every award and accolade that comes his way.  How great a world this would be if all young adults emulated Brendan Adams.  Hunter emerged as a very important figure on this team which is a big reason why I was so upset about his play yesterday.  Nevertheless, he showed more than enough to have multiple options regarding his future.  I was trying to come up with a former GW player who reminded me of Ricky, not so much his style of play, but someone with enormous talent who played their heart out but just sometimes took the wrong shot or committed the silly foul.  Someone who you would watch and think..."he's so good.  Why isn't he better?"  Am open to suggestions.  Anyway, Ricky gets thanked not only for his hard work but for coming bacvk to GW for this season.  Our season would have ben considerably worse without him.  Max represents our future and clearly, there are things to love about his game.  I had predicted before the season (not a very hard prediction) that Max would defer on offense more than I would like and that did turn out to be the case.  Max really has a chance to spread his wings next season.  I'll be surprised if he is not a First Team All-A10 player before his college career comes to an end.  Noel, to quote the late Dennis Green, "was who we thought he was."  Not the superstar that the Kenner League PR folks were making him out to be but a serviceable center capable of providing quality minutes in bunches.  Amir is our unsung feel good story.  A guy who medically rehabs for two years, realizes he can't be the same player that he once was, and yet still crafts a role on the team as a defensive stopper, earns my respect and applause every time.  Qwanzi had his moments but truth be told, was a limited player who could only offer so much for this team.  Let's also not forget the injured players, EJ who should feel pride that he proved himself at this level, Keegan who we know can shoot, Daniel who we have seen far too little of, Jabari who we didn't see at all, as well as our walk-ons, Laziz and Theofanis, who were there for the team day in and day out.  

If things go to plan, these 2022-23 Colonials may regard themselves as the team who got the ball rolling again.  10 conference wins.  4-0 in OT games.  Heart-stomping, wildly entertaining games and a few duds as well.  Feel bad about yesterday, but feel good about the future.