The Dude wrote:

DC Native wrote:

GW's average year end KenPom rating for the last 23 years, which is far back as the database goes, is 146.7. So they are projecting this to be about as average a GW team as you can get.

For context, the average KenPom ratings for our coaches over that time are:
Hobbs: 119.1
Lonergan: 90.2
Joseph: 205.7
Christian: 231.3
Caputo: 210

That's pretty incomplete, given that Mojo was the 32 year old interim Coach after the ML is fired for player abuse fiasco, and quickly replaced by JC neither of whom was ultimately successful cleaning up the Chernoybl post firing from the ML/Nero mess.

No KenPom in the Jarvis years but GW was far higher than where the program is now obvi, and the sport has changed so much as it is the A10 isn't the old A10, having so many of the top programs bolt, now we live in the Power 5 And NIL era etc etc
 

What on earth could possibly be incomplete about the facts that DC Native has pointed out?  Unless another view fits one's narrow, twisted agenda, any sane person would conclude that an average rating or record over the entire span of a coach is far more important than looking at solely the first two years.
 

Thanks for posting, Dmvpiranha.  No surprise that Patrick Stevens was behind it.  He has historically done a great job of getting to know the team before writing about it.

Two bold thoughts:

1) I hate to put enormous pressure on any one player; however, I wouldn't do it if I didn't think he was up to the challenge.  In Jacoi Hutchinson last season, I saw a player who really showed he could play coming off the bench during the season's first half, followed by a player who continued to progress throughout the year after being given even more opportunities.  By February, he was often guarding our opponent's best guard/wing, efficiently running the offense, and hitting his fair share of open looks.  Now is the time for Jacoi to emerge as a team leader.  That was challenging with JB and Max having more seniority but neither of these guys were true leaders.  This is going to likely involve being more vocal on the court, pumping up teammates after they've made good plays or when they get down on themselves, as well as calling out inexcusable mistakes.  No doubt that Jun will be taking on this role but frankly, this team can not have enough quality leadership.  And when you are as sound a point guard as Jacoi is, it only makes sense to embrace this role.

2) GW, largely due to its conference schedule, has a legitimate chance of a top 8 finish in the conference.  The keys of course are to beat the teams you are better than on the road while also pulling a few home upsets against notably better teams.  For a long stretch of time, GW possessed the ability to play with virtually any conference team at Smith Center.  It has stopped being this way with a few exceptions.  By and large, the playing well and coming close but losing at home outcomes have to turn a corner and start becoming wins.

To illustrate how the schedule benefits GW in this regard, based on conference preseason rankings, they with play the 6th, 7th, 9th and 15th ranked teams twice, home and away.  Their home games are against the # 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 teams while the single road games are at 5, 10, 11, 12 and 14th ranked teams.  Split the home and homes, win one of the 1-4 games, the #8 game at home, and two out of the four between 10-14 and the conference record is 8-10.  Sweep La Salle and this becomes 9-9.  And in case this sounds too pie-in-the-sky, under CC:

#1 VCU         GW won at VCU last season
#2 Dayton     Gw beat Dayton at home two seasons ago, and has historically had close games at Smith Center against Dayton
#3 St. Joe's   GW split games with the Hawks two seasons ago before falling to them in the A10 tournament
#4 St. Louis   It's true we can't win there, but played them very tough at home before losing two seasons ago (and once held them to 20 points over an entire game this century...it's just always fun to point that out)
#5 Loyola    GW won at Loyola two seasons ago.

This isn't exactly the days of Temple and Xavier, back when GW could hardly ever beat these schools.  Of course, the schedule can also backfire, as in we can't beat anyone on the road while coming close but losing to many of the home opponents.  Am not suggesting this can't happen.  Nevertheless, what I am saying is that if this team can get back to rising to the occasion at home, it's final place in the standings could be a pleasant surprise.

GW picked 8th in A10 Conference Preview. Article seemed really optimistic about the team for this season including prediction on breakout season for Hutchinson and quoted on team "George Washington could emerge as a sleeper team in the A10, potentially underrated given the talent they retain and have added through the transfer portal."
https://collegehoopsreport.com/2024-25-a10-basketball-preview/