I will acknowledge that I had been giving some thought to starting this thread prior to my reading DMVPiranha's and Moneybox's respective responses in the 2023 Transfer thread.  It's somewhat in response to the 50 or so calls for GW to land some bigs (myself included among the 50 or so).  To recap, should we not be consumed with bringing on centers/power forwards (are they even called these anymore?) if the thinking is to load up on guards and wings?  Or as Moneybox so eloquently put it, does size matter?  Here are a number of thoughts.

1) The formula is precedented.  Moneybox mentioned Nova who had great success playing Kyle Lowry, Allan Ray, Mike Nardi and Randy Foye together, each standing between 6'0" and 6'4".  A key cog on this team was 6'7" Curtis Sumpter who averaged 15+/7+ his final season.  Jason Fraser was a legitimate center and 6'8" Will Sheridan also cracked the rotation.  A local center, Dante Cunningham, joined the team a year after their initial success.  Fraser, Sheridan and Cunningham each played enough to suggest that a lineup of the 4 guards plus Sumpter was perhaps more rare than we'd like to think.

Let's stay in the Big 5 and give a nod to La Salle's Sweet 16 team.  When big man Aaric Murray opted to transfer to West Virginia and front court players such as Jerrell Williams and Ruben Guillandeaux were lost to graduation, Dr. John opted to go small.  Within two seasons, the Explorers were often playing Tyreek Duren, Tyrone Garland, Sam Mills and Ramon Galloway, each between 6'0" and 6'3", together.  The fifth was often either Jerrell Wright, an athletic 6'8" player, or Steve Zaks, a 6'11" center who likely dreamt of getting away with setting moving picks in his sleep.  

And of course, there are the past two University of Miami teams who CC had a hand in recruiting and coaching.  There was/is more size on those teams than the other examples, but players like Kameron McGusty (6'5"), Jordan Miller (6'7") and Wooga Poplar (6'5") are part of a new wave of players who are helping turn college basketball into a (somewhat) positionless sport.  Miami lost a legitimate center (albeit a pick and pop player in Sam Waardenburg after 2021-22 and found a bigger role for 6'7" widebody Norchad Omier this past season.

2) What do we give up by going small?  The obvious thought that comes to mind is an inability to stop opposing centers.  However, we have to remember that in the A10, there are not a lot of dominant centers, period.  Let's take SLU as an example.  If we don't have anyone like a Hunter or Noel who can stand up to a Francis Okoro, what does this really mean?  Will SLU remove its focus away from double digit scorers like Collins, Perkins, Pickett and Jimerson (assuming all return which I am uncertain of)  so that Okoro, who averaged under 7 points per game, can attempt to dominate GW?  Not likely.  Let's also remember Rising's cautionary news that at least one big is expected.  Even without this, there remains a combination of players like Darren, Garrett, Benny, Keegan, and Luke (yes, a walk-on, but could prove to offer value)   who at least offer size.  Whether their defensive games can adequately match up remains to be seen, admittedly.

3) I am very far from an expert at advanced analytics but I do know this much.  Gaining possessions relative to the opposition is a huge key to winning games.  There are essentially four ways to achieve this:

a) Force a lot of turnovers
b) Take care of the bal so as to commit very few turnovers
c) Defensive rebounding to prevent second chances
d) Offensive rebounding to create second chances

Look at the depth we've been compiling at the guard and wing spots...JB, Max, Trey, Jacoi, Christian, Benny, Garrett, Keegan.  Maybe Darren (though am guessing he is more of a power player)?  Multiple guys on the court at the same time who should be able to handle the ball and protect possessions.  Enough depth that the team can defend more aggressively than this past year when virtually everyone could ill afford foul trouble.  If the plan works, that's a and b.

As for c), I am of the belief that this has as much to do with having the right mindset and commitment as it does size.  Max was a rebounding machine for a guy his height because he knew that this was a huge team need and was willing to go after it.  We all thought that some of the Jamion coached teams were going to get killed on the boards game after game but instead, they made defensive rebounding a massive priority and more than held their own.  (The same could not be set for offensive rebounding where the team would retreat back downcourt the moment after a shot was attempted.)  As long as CC makes this a point of emphasis, I foresee GW being fine on the defensive glass.

Offensive rebounding (d) is likely the deficient area by playing small.  Guys can't be everywhere, all of the time.  If the team plays at a fast pace (which I would anticipate when playing small), be more aggressive defensively, and commit to defensive rebounding, I suspect we will be a below average offensive rebounding team by design.  Still, if a-c are accomplished effectively, I see this as a winning formula and a great way to play.