GW men's basketball has made its first splash in the transfer portal in 2023, landing top international prospect and former Oklahoma student-athlete Benny Schröder, it was announced on Monday.

"We are thrilled to add Benny to the GW program," said head coach Chris Caputo. "To get a player of his character, competitiveness, and skill is a tremendous value add. We also continue to show the basketball world internationally that GW is an excellent place to further your playing career, as Benny has such a distinguished FIBA resume."

Schröder came to the U.S. labeled as a top international prospect by ESPN following a standout prep career. In 2022 with Kickz International Basketball Academy Munich (IBAM) in Germany, he was named the NBBL MVP, All-NBBL First Team and Eurobasket.com All-NBBL Player of the Year. He averaged 26.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 3.8 apg in 31.6 mpg for the Kickz IBAM U19 team that season.

Schröder also made waves on the international scene, leading the German U16 and U18 national teams in scoring at respective FIBA European Championships. He shot a tournament-best 70.7% from the field in the 2021 FIBA European Challenge and averaged 16.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 2.4 apg for the U18 German National Team, when he was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Last edited by The Dude (4/18/2023 1:25 pm)

GW Announcement Link
Schröder, Weluche-Ume Qualify for FIBA U20 National Teams

Alas, UK not a basketball powerhouse. 

Interesting game from him this morning. Germany seemed to struggle with the French defense most of the game which led to limited time seeing him in a structured offense, and it appeared the French were guarding him more closely off-ball than some other players. He did a very good job finding open space which resulted in two easy buckets from under the basket and had some shift moves to get to the rim and draw fouls, I can't recall any significant defensive plays but didn't notice any big errors either. The biggest takeaway here is that whatever injury or illness he was carrying last season seems to be behind him, looking quick and athletic. Also want to note the energy and enthusiasm he brought to the game, active on the bench and yelling after some solid hustle plays. Not the most efficient day but that seemed to be the theme for the whole team. 22 Min, 6/15, 0/3 from 3, 2/4 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Assist, +/- -14

21 points on 8-15 shooting 4-6, from foul line 1-4 on "3s", four rebounds, three assists, four turnovers, four steals and two blocks in 26 minutes in 83-81 win over Iceland

Benny's first, second, and third options when he gets the ball is to drive.  Maybe a three pointer if he can't (1-7).  Passing comes after that.  Sometimes drives without a plan and ends up turning it over (4 TOs /g).  ORtg after two games is 91, brought down by his 3pt shooting, which isn't great for someone taking so many shots.

PS - Maybe someone pointed it out before, but I just realized he played with JoeBam at Oklahoma.

Meh game vs Slovenia.  11 points on ten shots. 

Three-game ORtg now 87.  Three assists to 12 TOs.  Can definitely use some coaching on decision-making.

Benny and the Germans got knocked out by Israel this morning.  Hopefully we'll see an Instagram story with him on campus soon.

Benny had another inefficient line.  I think it will be interesting to see how CC puts the reins on some of Benny's bad habits without completely stifling what Benny does well.

15 points, 4/15 FG, 1/5 3PT, 6/8 FT, 8 Rebs, 3 AST, 3 TO

Gwmayhem wrote:

My hope is that this was a case of a good player playing on a bad team, feeling he had to pretty much do everything in order to give his team a chance to win.  If similar poor habits and bad decisions plague Benny while playing for GW, this would indicate that the problems lie more with the player than his circumstances.  Hoping he settles down and plays "team ball" rather than "hero ball."
 

I agree.  I was going to add to my previous post that Benny's offensive game was very 2020 James Bishop-esque.

Benny's stat lines wouldn't look so bad if he cut down on the three point attempts and was a bit better at finishing his drives. It's more of the latter that I hope he's able to improve over the course of next season. His drives tend to rim out (especially when he's out of control) and he's had multiple games where he's rebounded his own miss and rimmed another shot out. Benny's great at getting downhill, but finishing is a work in progress. If his line was closer to 4/10 from the field I think that's acceptable although you hope that his FG% in the high 40s. I think CC persuading him to make the high percentage play instead of a highlight reel shot will be a big difference maker.

Germany's team was relatively talented but most of their players seemed reluctant to create their own shot/be aggressive consistently which seemed to force Benny into that role. There are stretches where he tries to defer to other teammates but he couldn't really do that for long stretches when Germany needed scoring (I even saw him slow things down in transition when he didn't have an advantage, so he does have self-control at times). Their leading scorer Rataj from Oregon State went scoreless which obviously couldn't happen for Germany to win.

There's no doubt though that Benny's fiery personality on the court could be an issue if he gets too frustrated. That's where I think having slightly more depth will help this year and CC can sit him down if he's getting too erratic. I did notice that when Benny subbed out after a bad stretch and later subbed back in he was a bit more in control for a while. He definitely needs resets from time to time.

Overall, I thought his defense was pretty good although there were possessions where I would have liked more aggressive switching instead of just camping out in the paint. His passing wasn't bad either. I still see him as a guy who is definitely deserving of a lot of minutes. I really like that he's always moving off the ball offensively and knows how to get himself open. That continues to be my frustration watching Zam when he attempted 6 of his 7 shots from 3 in the last game in that he is sometimes too passive and doesn't make defenses really have to guard him.

I was really impressed with Israel's Wolf who currently plays CBB at Yale. I wish we recruited some of those high skill guys that Ivy schools seem to always find from all over the country (although I guess we did get one in Garrett through the transfer portal). Along with former GW target Poulakidas, I wouldn't be surprised if Yale wins the Ivy and wins a game in the NCAA tournament. They always seem to recruit well.