Is this announcer Wallace a dope or what. Think you could ask “Hey coach……what’s the deal with Jacobi?”  Where is Byron when you need him.

Was getting slightly concerned when NJIT stuck with us but was very relieved to see us pull away at the end of the 1st half and later in the 2nd.

DBJ again had a very nice game and had multiple calls not go his way which clearly frustrated him and Caputo (as they should). Castro with another nice game though I was surprised to see him miss 4 FTs as he's been very good from the line so far. Christian Jones looked good again as well and seems to be a promising young player. Big shoutout to Trey Autry as that may have been the most complete offensive game he's had (minus the 2 missed FTs in a row). He was aggressive on the floor, made two threes, and seemed very confident. If he could give us a real 3-point threat off the bench that would be massive.

I know Drumgoole is supposed to be a good shooter and proved that last season, but he's started the year 6/28 from 3. I think that's a large enough sample size to know that something isn't right with his shot. Many of his misses have come from wide open 3s as well. If he can't get those shots to fall we'll be in trouble against better teams. May need to have him not take so many.

All in all, I'll take a 20-point win any day and look forward to our first real test against KSU.

At this time last season, we were talking quite a bit about a lack of defensive intensity as well as too much "hero ball" and questionable shot selection.  There's a lot to be said for how far this coaching staff has come with a team that has had so much roster turnover in such a short time.  These guys share the ball and genuinely look for one another while taking great pride in their defense.  The numbers of "bad shots" GW has taken this season is drastically less than a year ago.

The points made about Jun and Rafael essentially having their way against smaller and less talented teams are fair.  In the case of Jun, I continue to be impressed by how well he handles the ball, passes while driving, and avoids picking up offensive fouls.  Rafael is extremely active but whether his game will be negated by stronger and more gifted players remains to be seen.

Great to see Dayan score his first points, on a nice fallaway shot, but he was still grimacing over his ankle injury.  The unsung hero of the game was Christian Jones.  Ran the offense, scored 9, grabbed 6 boards (second on the team) and played terrific defense.  Am hopeful that Jacoi will be fine to go on Friday but I like the fact that Christian played so well in his absence.

The elephant in the room remains the team's three point shooting.    To be fair and clear, GW is getting excellent looks from 3.  And, our schedule has been such that the team can afford to shoot this poorly from outside and still win comfortably.  However, this will change starting on Friday in St. Thomas.  Continuing to execute an offense this well while shooting so poorly from 3 will not be sustainable at this tournament or against A10 competition.  

GWRising wrote:

Gwmayhem wrote:

At this time last season, we were talking quite a bit about a lack of defensive intensity as well as too much "hero ball" and questionable shot selection.  There's a lot to be said for how far this coaching staff has come with a team that has had so much roster turnover in such a short time.  These guys share the ball and genuinely look for one another while taking great pride in their defense.  The numbers of "bad shots" GW has taken this season is drastically less than a year ago.

The points made about Jun and Rafael essentially having their way against smaller and less talented teams are fair.  In the case of Jun, I continue to be impressed by how well he handles the ball, passes while driving, and avoids picking up offensive fouls.  Rafael is extremely active but whether his game will be negated by stronger and more gifted players remains to be seen.

Great to see Dayan score his first points, on a nice fallaway shot, but he was still grimacing over his ankle injury.  The unsung hero of the game was Christian Jones.  Ran the offense, scored 9, grabbed 6 boards (second on the team) and played terrific defense.  Am hopeful that Jacoi will be fine to go on Friday but I like the fact that Christian played so well in his absence.

The elephant in the room remains the team's three point shooting.    To be fair and clear, GW is getting excellent looks from 3.  And, our schedule has been such that the team can afford to shoot this poorly from outside and still win comfortably.  However, this will change starting on Friday in St. Thomas.  Continuing to execute an offense this well while shooting so poorly from 3 will not be sustainable at this tournament or against A10 competition.

  While I expect that our three point shooting will improve somewhat, I think it is also fair to say that we will likely never become a great or even good three-point shooting team this season. There appears to be no one other than potentially Tre Autry who has the ability to consistently stroke threes with Jacoi possibly being the second. I thought Hansen could be a pick and pop guy but so far he is not. I expect we will see plenty of zone soon in an effort to neutralize Buchanan and Castro.

GWRising, I agree with you which is why I'm going to ask you (and everyone) to put your coaching hat on.  Let's assume that the three point shooting improves marginally but not to the point where GW is in the upper half of three point shooting collegiate teams.  You're CC.  You've installed an offense that is being executed at a very high level.  Shots are almost exclusively being taken in the paint or behind the arc.  You can't ask for better three point looks.  As the competition improves, the margins for error become smaller and the team's W's turn to L's largely due to the subpar outside shooting.

Do you stay with this offense throughout the season?  Doing so may sacrifice some wins but recruits and transfers will see what GW is running and some who can really shoot may say "this offense is for me".  In other words, an investment for the program's future.

Or, do you acknowledge that you don't have the required personnel this season, particularly with Garrett being unavailable, and install a new offense that becomes far less reliant on three point shooting with the hope of winning more games this season?

And, I ask this with the understanding that CC is very much adopting NBA principles in devising this offense and of course, wants to play it if the team could shoot well enough.  Therefore, my question assumes (perhaps erroneously over time) that this team can't shoot well enough on most nights.

Last edited by Gwmayhem (11/19/2024 12:20 pm)

Injecting some levity into this clear 3-point shooting problem: see if Jake Goldberg wants to transfer. 
  Or one of the NCA A&T players who lit us up from the 3.
 

A bit of a side bar - but I’m really high on Dayan. He may have only gotten a few minutes, but he seemed like one of the most athletic players on the court, and had some great passes, really hopeful for when he’s fully healthy and back in the fold.

H&R..71, DC Native has the correct answer.  The team's offense has all but abandoned the midrange shot.  I saw Jun take one towards the end of the game last night and actually noticed how weird it looked since I've hardly seen any over the course of four games.  Simply put, if GW is going to play the offense it plays, they're going to have to improve their three point shooting in order to be competitive.  Against the NJIT's of the world, a cold outside shooting night means very little due to the discrepancy in talent.

There's no doubt that the team is going to have to lift its overall outside shooting to at least the low 30s moving forward, but I have faith in CC on offense that he'll figure out a way for the team to put up points efficiently without this team being as good as last year from outside.

It might be a bit of a lazy comparison, but I am reminded of the first team under CC where the team was so good inside (ranked 11th nationally in 2P%) while only shooting 32% from 3. That team finished just outside the top 100 in offensive efficiency per KenPom. Obviously, that three point shooting number is a lot higher than what this team is at right now, but positive regression is coming the team's way. On that first team a couple years ago, only BA and Max were consistent three point threats and the team still managed (EJ would have maybe been another option had he not been lost during OOC play). I still think this year's team has more threats overall. Obviously Ricky and Jun aren't the exact some player (Ricky was a frustrating watch at times) and Hunter and Rafael aren't the same either (although both are effective at finishing inside, decent at the FT line, and can pass) but point is that CC changed his approach when the team wasn't shooting the three well. Funnily enough, last year the problem offensively was that the team couldn't finish inside at all (and it wasn't just not having any production at center).

That team was also less analytically focused, partly because JB and BA were so good in the midrange and as others have mentioned above this team isn't doing that, but this team can find similar advantages to offset the inability to shoot threes. Moss and Drumgoole have to show consistency on at least one side of the ball as the year progresses - for all of JB's faults defensively, he was a bucket. Right now Moss has one of the lowest BPM on the team according to EvanMiya (poor rating especially on defense). Drumgoole isn't just struggling from 3, he's also 58% at the FT line which is terrible for a guard.

CC mentioning offensive rebounding is interesting. While it wasn't seen against NJIT, extra shot opportunities will help the offense, especially if GW's opponents are going to be out of position playing zone so much trying to take away inside looks. Some tradeoffs will have to be made regarding transition defense, but it may be worth it for this team. As an aside, I was looking at stats on KenPom this morning and never realized just how good GW has been with regards to offensive rebounding since 1997. It's only more recently (the past six teams) that it's been ignored, as the modern way suggests that getting back on defense is more beneficial than crashing the glass for extra shot opportunities. Before that 20 of the previous 22 teams were top 100 nationally in OR%.

The bigger focus should be on defense still. CC will have to adjust the offense once he plays tougher competition this weekend, but outside of Hampton even against poor competition other teams have still been getting too many open looks along the perimeter, or beating guards off the dribble. I think regardless of competition we will be able to see whether the team improves in their ability to switch and limit clean looks. This is D1, anybody can make an open shot regardless of the team, as both NC A&T and NJIT have shown the last two games. Unlike that team two years ago, hopefully this team doesn't have to try to outscore the other team in order to win. The depth is better now, but injuries haven't helped (reminds me of a couple Miami teams that underperformed in consecutive years because they couldn't stay healthy). Rotating in fresh bodies would help if GW could get more guys to play, and to tie everything back to the three point shooting - better defense will keep the game from getting out of hand on a cold shooting night. Otherwise, a ton of threes will have to be shot in order to get back in the game and I think we all prefer that not happen given this year's squad based on what has been shown so far (although again, improvement is coming - hopefully on Friday).
 

If we are not going to become a good 3 point shooting team it will really put more of a premium on maximizing possession differential. GW can do this by limiting GW turnovers, creating opponent turnovers, guarding and limiting offensive rebounds (one and done possessions) while trying to generate offensive rebounds. To me, maximizing possession differential will be the way in which GW can have a chance in most games.

Last edited by GWRising (11/20/2024 11:19 am)

Drumgoole certainly can give us a lift at time and competes hard. And is appreciated for coming to GW.
But offensively is a poor man's James Bishop so far in terms of shooting and scoring--and James was still largely inconsistent at times and may not have helped balanced team efforts.
    So yes, good idea above if the shots aren't falling--and using the roster we have constructed for even a few fresh minutes might help.
Given the reputations and experience of some of our transfers, it would seem we are due for at least a decent, if not a good to real good outside shooting performance from Gerald and the other new players. Just based on the odds.
   That's what we can hope for, to complement the positives, like Jun being Jun, the defensive deflections and Castro's ability to score opportunistically. But certainly not count on the better overall performance, based on what we have seen so far against a weak schedule.
   We'll see what happens in St. Thomas when we play a decent team or two.