For all of the most obvious reasons, I am glad we have a GW Coach's show on television.  I don't recall having ever had this until Karl Hobbs.  It went away under Mike Lonergan and Maurice Joseph, returned under Jamion Christian, and is now in its third year with Chris Caputo.  As a fan base that is generally starving for information, every little crumb is appreciated.  This past Saturday marked the return of the show and if there were any prior off-season discussions regarding how to improve Raise High at GW, they were forgotten by this first episode.

The criticisms start, and almost end, with Jimmy Patsos.   I understand the persona that Patsos is going for.  It was invented, as best I could tell, by Al McGuire who realized that coming off as a street-smart authentic type rather than an overly polished television personality would play well.  It didn't hurt that McGuire had a great sense of humor along with a language unto itself (big men were often described as aircraft carriers, as an example).  Nobody perfected this approach quite like John Madden but in the world of college basketball, many have followed McGuire's lead, from lesser known guys like Bob Wenzel and Bobby Cremins to a comedic genius in Bill Raftery to arguably, the king of all schtick in Dick Vitale.   

The problem though is that Patsos is not necessarily humorous or entertaining.  He has the rare ability to answer his own question while asking it, immediately followed by interrupting CC as he is answering the same question.  The crime here is that CC often has very interesting things to say, far more interesting than Patsos's ramblings.  On Saturday's show, we learned from CC that:

DBJ was one of three players in the country who was both the ball handler and the pick and roller on at least 50 different plays apiece.

It was initially not CC's intention to play Castro and Hansen together.  However, due to Garett's injury, that's something he is now looking at.

As LSF pointed out, the Christian Jones redshirt allowed him to bulk up a bit (he put on 20 pounds) while learning from the bench.

Yes, more of this please.

By contrast, Kevin Burke, who I'm guessing has never coached basketball, effortlessly interviews Caroline McCombs by largely ceding the microphone, thereby allowing the coach to talk about her team.  Did anyone else know that the women's team has traveled to NY to watch Jonquel and the Liberty play?  Interesting stuff but we're likely not getting past the time when Patsos closed down a NY bar if the interview was in his hands.

I'll also raise the subjective point of Jimmy's choice in wardrobe which was comprised of a red and blue checkered sports jacket draped over what looked like a short sleeve t-shirt.  Maybe the college kids are saying "cool" to this look but if so, I can't say that I get this.  

There's a lot to appreciate about Patsos.  He has a passion for GW basketball and really, DMV basketball, which are undeniable.  The references to current hangouts like Tonic and former ones like the 21st Amendment are admirable in moderation.  I don't hear him a lot during games so my impressions are largely confined to the coach's show.  And maybe that's the lesson...that this is the coach's show.  Showing some personality is one thing, dominating the airwaves is quite another.