I understand the annoyance that Alum1, Joel Joseph and LSF are expressing, but a few things:
1. When you gain more talent than you lose in Portal Kombat, that's a win and says something about culture and fit.
2. In this era of college basketball, you need to treat your players like stars, even when they aren't.
3. The only narrative that is within the realm of plausibility to get fans engaged and excited is one of growth and development. Retaining players who are devloping is essential to that narrative. 

TL;DR: I am sorry that we're not getting the "Shitty players return to subpar team" graphic you seem to want from the department's marketing team.

Official Athletic Department press release

https://admin.gwsports.com/news/2024/5/20/mens-basketball-bolsters-roster-with-four-transfer-additions

Don’t get the objection to running it back. Highlighted by Johnson and Buchanan Jr returning, Caputo is bringing back the highly regarded freshman class including Jones despite many here expecting some to jump ship. Shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that our struggles in conference play after the first 4 games also coincided in part with injuries to Darren and Garrett, both keeping them entirely out of the lineup or significantly compromising their abilities to contribute on the court. In an era where the transfer portal lures many, GW avoided a large exodus. Given all the ragging here on Max’s play and frustration with his turnovers and defensive indifference, don’t see his transfer as undermining the program’s progress. I, for one, was thrilled Buchanan announced his return right after Max posted his departure and was glad to see the school trumpet the return of its core.

Alum1 wrote:

Poog wrote:

Don’t get the objection to running it back. Highlighted by Johnson and Buchanan Jr returning, Caputo is bringing back the highly regarded freshman class including Jones despite many here expecting some to jump ship. Shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that our struggles in conference play after the first 4 games also coincided in part with injuries to Darren and Garrett, both keeping them entirely out of the lineup or significantly compromising their abilities to contribute on the court. In an era where the transfer portal lures many, GW avoided a large exodus. Given all the ragging here on Max’s play and frustration with his turnovers and defensive indifference, don’t see his transfer as undermining the program’s progress. I, for one, was thrilled Buchanan announced his return right after Max posted his departure and was glad to see the school trumpet the return of its core.

 
Well, let’s start with the fact that “running it back” is a term almost universally used in the aftermath of a successful season, in which a tea, won a championship, or outperformed or generally had a positive experience.  That help?

Yeah, that would help if it were an accurate explanation of how the phrase is “almost universally used.”  But you seem to enjoy your empty glass so no reason to look on the bright side of all the players returning with 3 years of eligibility remaining.

I'll opt not to run into the run it back fray.  Instead, I'll comment that I would have given it about a 10% chance that Jun, Jacoi, Garrett, Trey and Christian would all be coming back, and that's exactly what has happened.  I'll add that I'm not sure that any of these players deserve much blame for last season's performance, and all but Christian (who we simply don't know about yet) hold tremendous promise.  Not since Joe-Kethan-Pato-KevLar-Zeke came together could you find a core group of GW teammates with this much potential.

Therefore, I'll leave things by simply congratulating CC and staff for keeping this nucleus together.  No easy feat in this day and age.  And, by commending these players for coming back despite going through a frustrating season. 

Of all the legendary dumb, self-inflicted things we've done (and sorry to those who can see no wrong), this is certainly a thoughtless choice. But probably wouldn't make the top 50 or more, especially if we add in the entire university, which seems to revel in embarrassment as a brand name.
    But perhaps one could have just used the more descriptive Coming Back. Or if keeping Run It back, add Aiming Higher or use the regrettable, but apt in this case and Raising High or Raising Higher.
    Why that couldn't be done in the first place is a good and apt question.
     Unfortunately, the answer is that this is GW.

Depends on how effective his replacement is.
Like him or not for other reasons, Max was a known quantity in scoring and rebounding.
If someone with his stats and A-10 experience was on the market, we would salivate over him.
   And Duquesne, at least, apparently did.

jf wrote:

Depends on how effective his replacement is.
Like him or not for other reasons, Max was a known quantity in scoring and rebounding.
If someone with his stats and A-10 experience was on the market, we would salivate over him.
   And Duquesne, at least, apparently did.

If anything, Max was an unknown quantity during 2023-24.  He shot over 50% from the floor in just 7 of 32 games.  He scored 15 or less in 24 of 32 games and 10 or less in 11 of these games.  He had two games where he scored at least 21 points and 5 games where he scored five or fewer points.  His assist totals exceeded his turnover totals in just 25% of his games.  Max was occasionally capable of being that guy one would salivate over but he was just unable to be this player on anything resembling a consistent basis.  And of course, he demonstrably got down on himself and/or others when things weren't going his way.  This team would never have endured such a long losing streak if Max performed as consistently as he did during his first year.

Am not putting all of the blame at Max's feet as there was plenty of blame to go around.   

Max was definitely the best rebounder on the team which will be missed. I think Trey started to make strides in that department late in the season, but obviously the rebounding will have to be by committee. Hopefully the new frontcourt of Castro/Hansen can pick up some of the slack as well (on a side note, I hope CC also signs some walk-on bigs to add depth to the roster if the last scholarship isn't being used). By all accounts, GW was a decent (not great) defensive rebounding team last year, but the counting stats are somewhat inflated by the pace they played at.

I'm less worried about shooting/scoring and other offensive abilities that Max is leaving behind as I have confidence that CC + staff knows how to put points on the board regardless of who is on the roster (although made tougher without JB moving forward). Max played too much in isolation and was a turnover machine when he had the ball in his hands. If there is one positive I see with the additions, it looks like the pieces are there to play more like a team - both Moss and Drumgoole seem to be good passers within the offense.

At the end of the day, perhaps Max was just not ready to be the #2 guy in the backcourt and is much more effective as the #3 guy as he was his first year. Unfortunately, he was the only guy with real experience on the team outside of JB and was put in a position he wasn't ready for.

Of course, Max staying or leaving doesn't matter if the team doesn't improve defensively. Max wasn't great defensively last year, but neither Moss nor Drumgoole rated out as good defenders (although the former was hurt by playing on a terrible team). I would have sacrificed a few points of production if the players coming in had better defensive numbers coming in.

GW73 wrote:

Of course, I thought year 2 for CC would be better than his first season.

Last year's team certainly had more raw talent throughout the roster but showed just how important experience is in CBB. The A10 was weaker in CC's first year at the helm but even with a team of six players the fact that most were upperclassmen seemed to overcome deficiencies in talent. Last year, about 2.5 players had played extensively the year before. Now that every year is a free for all CC has adjusted accordingly but again I don't know how the poor defense has been addressed outside of hopefully internal development from the returners that you mentioned.
 

MG14 wrote:

Brayon back in the portal:

https://twitter.com/ThePortalReport/status/1785274974619550149

Looks like Bray is headed to Bethune-Cookman. He can probably make first-team all conference in the SWAC if he can keep it together both on and off the court.