Green Tinted Glasses » george washington colonials

We secretly replaced this post game with an Gmail exchange. Let’s see if anyone notices.

NLP — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:38:47 +0000

Yeah so J Felt and I were too depressed to post game. Writing about the team you love losing is painful. We leave it to the people who get paid by the period to do the post mortem some times so we can spend a few hours days in the fetal position. So today we started exchanging emails while I was repairing the grammar on my surgical fellow’s abstract and voila!

Here goes nothing.

NLP says: Alright J Felt, I’m going to need to be talked down from the ledge. Team US lost on a heart-breaking goal in OT by frigging Frenchy-wannabe Sidney Crosby and more importantly, the Niners were completely beat up by George Washington -this time with no last minute heroics by the back court.

We’ve started conference play 8-1 and now there’s strong reason to believe we could finish 1-6. WTF?

J Felt gets italics today.

In my high school band geek days we referred to “WTF” as “What To Fix” and I think that is especially appropriate here. We have a lot of things that need fixing, especially since it seems that all the coaches in the A14 are sharing notes on how to beat us, Martelli just ignored the email. Its almost painful to watch, the entire squad is playing extremely tight and over thinking everything. This is also known as “choking”, and it’s easy to see on their faces. The guys are so concerned about not making mistakes that they’re making a ton of mistakes. I don’t buy the excuse that ”we can’t beat physical ball teams”, we should be compensating for it and figuring out how to win. We’re not. Who do we blame? Can we blame anyone?

As for the hockey, you seem to forget that I’m a dual citizen and I am therefore legally allowed to change my rooting interests on a whim. However, I was rooting for the USA all the way, especially since they were playing the style of hockey I love to watch. Fast paced and out-hustling their opponents. Canada should send a “Thank You” card to the US for that 5-3 beatdown earlier on, because it really turned Team Canada around, made them realize they can’t just phone it in and expect to win. The USA played 100% the entire time, and got better as the Olympics went on, which was great as well, Canada was just too good in the end.

That being said, I hate Sidney Crosby, I wouldn’t have been upset if Eric Staal had scored the winning goal, but Crosby? That’s worse than Celine Dion covering Nickelback.

Wow, you made the impossible possible. You made Nickelback even worse. That’s suffering, folks.
Best commercial of the Olympics. Much better than that awful GE Healthcare one that played over and over.

NLP says: I kind of figure I could count on you for some Crosby hating since you aren’t a Quebecois. I know this because I haven’t stabbed you in the back repeatedly yet. I guess I’ll have to shelve the “54 40 or fight” rhetoric and just focus my rage on Quebec. Je me souviens? Yeah you’ll remember when I’m going Jeff Gillooly on your knee, Sidney.

Otherwise it was a good Olympics.

But it wasn’t such a good performance Saturday by the basketball team. That final score was no indication of how much a whooping it was. 39 trips to the foul line by GW. That’s jaw-dropping for me when all season long we were a team that made more FTs than our opponents even attempted.

The biggest problem incidently wasn’t turnovers or the GW defense as much as it was on the defensive end. Our interior players got abused early on and the infection of futility spread to the back court. Probably the biggest difference in the game was Shamari and Braswell going to the bench early, and practically everyone being in foul trouble by early in the 2nd half. As bad as I thought out defense was, it was obviously worse when you consider we had to play a little looser to keep from fouling. That means layup drill and offensive rebounds galore for GW.

The larger question, which you alluded to, is how we did we get to that point?

Unfortunately our problems start in the backcourt with DiJuan and Derrio. Though DiJuan is doing a decent job, he’s struggling with traps mightily. Derrio is also turning the ball over in really painful situations, like between the circles and on fast breaks. He’s really good with the ball in the halfcourt once we’re set, and he’s good when he sees the defense, but he seems to loose too many balls when there’s a defender around him. I guess it’s the court awareness and transition to DI where you have to account for everyone, not JUCO where the defense gives up once you start the break.

I’m really getting worried about Wednesday. Despite losing to X, I see Richmond drilling us. Mooney is no fool and he’s gonna know the scouting report. They probably feel like they owe us a beating. We HAVE to solve our problems dealing with physical teams NOW.

J Felt says: It was a good Olympics, and I pretty much just hate Crosby because he looks like a bitch but he’s still pretty good, and he plays for the Penguins. After the thrashing they laid down on the Canes in the playoffs I have some serious disdain.

No more MASN!!!

As for the game, I don’t even remember most of the 2nd half. 10 minutes into the game I asked our waitress for another pitcher of Yuengling. Already then I knew the MASN curse was kicking in. I really hate that channel, and I probably let you know that. Its as if our team notices that we’re on MASN and forgets how to play basketball. I know I said we broke the curse with the Fordham game, but does a single digit win over Fordham really count as a WIN? That’s like taking home your grandmother’s bingo partner, you’re actually losing.

“Judy Rose’s office, how can I help you?.” … “Oh, it’s MASN? One moment please.” (call immediately transferred to angry chair-slamming guy who sits in 217)

NLP says:

I also heard they were douches to Matt and cut his feed off. Something to that effect. I would tell you first-hand but with his speech rate the words still haven’t hit my ears. He’s got good announciation though and that goes a long way.

Yeah I’m going to have to agree. We need a self-imposed ban from MASN before someone gets hurt. And I’m talking a lot more than the bruised egos the Niners and us fans are currently sporting.

Remember when everyone agreed that Shamarr leaving the team was a good thing for us. Do you still feel that way? I’m not going to tip my hand on how I feel, so ha ha! You’re on your own.

J Felt says: No, it’s never a good thing when someone leaves the team, whatever reason it is. While I wasn’t suprised in the least to see him go, I still think we could have been better with him here. Derrio did blossom for a few games after Shamarr left, but he’s fallen off as late. You can blame that on being tired, but there’s another aspect that is going unnoticed. Competition. No offense to Ian, but he is never going to contend with Derrio for that two guard spot, and maybe this long slump is because of complatency. He’d never admit it of course, he probably does work his ass off in practice, but there’s no one trying to take his starting job.

I think people forget how important practice is. If there’s no one near your calibre challenging you in practice, you’ll never improve. Just look at Phil Jones’ improvement ever since he’s had to battle K.J., Shamari, and Braswell at practice. If Green is only having to play against Ian in practice, no wonder he’s struggling in games. And yes, we’re talking about PRACTICE.

Maybe Ian is the new Butter when it comes to killing it in practice?
One of the most memorable interviews I've ever seen.

NLP says:

Not a game? Not a game? But Practice? Practice?

I’d take AI right now on this team, even with the neck tattoos (always popular since the Curtis Nash experiment) and broken down body too.

I agree I wouldn’t want to take Shamarr back, but the question was whether we’re still a better team without him, not would we take him back. You did answer that though by saying you thought we could be better with him here. I agree there too. Not only is it addtional competition, but it’s also additional options. Obviously we have a collection of streaky shooters. That’s a challenge, but less of one with more options. Of course there’s a caveat with more options, and that’s less playing time to go around, and as this season showed we fell victim to its consequences -Shamarr leaving. Pity, he could have really fit in well if he bought into the team concept.

Derrio kind of reminds me of Neo on his first visit to the Oracle in The Matrix.

And I have to go on an aside here. The Matrix was the only one they should have made. Reloaded and Revolutions were awful, especially the latter. If you’re the machines, how can you accept that deal? Yeah Smith is wreaking havoc inside the build, but the deal with the humans is untenable. It cuts off their sole form of energy, since the sun is out of the picture. Unless they have some sort of cold fusion energy production scheme worked out, I don’t know how it works.

Anyway, in the visit the Oracle tells Neo he’s waiting on something, and that no one call tell you you’re The One, it’s something you realize. I kind of think that about Derrio and when I recall Utter writing about him talking with his father about his game, it kind of reinforces that. I think Derrio has it in him to be a Me-guard (credit to Powerbait for introducing me to that) unlike any that Lutz has had, unlike any the program has had since H Will. Sorry Jobey fans, I just see Derrio being a more dynamic triple threat (dribble, pass, shoot) threat than Jobey even though Thomas’ mid-range game was awesome by the time he graduated.

That said, I hope Derrio’s confidence isn’t waning. He’s got to believe in himself. I think the fans absolutely do, we’ve seen him do just jaw-dropping things (like the comeback against Fordham). I think his teammates do too, otherwise they wouldn’t look for him on offense. I also think defenses would fear him too if he could get the turnovers under control. How do you guard a kid who’s athletic enough to either blow by you or hit his shot no matter how closely he’s guarded?

Hang in there Derrio. I seriously believe in you. I think we’re an absolute long-shot to win the A10 tournament (which in my opinion is our only way now), but if we were it’d be on your back.

The Phil Jones does remain a good example of competition improving a player, despite my differing view on the source of Derrio’s struggles. Unfortunately he’s the most polarizing guy on the team. People either love what he brings off the bench or he’s labelled as soft and unaggresive. Personally I think he’s physically limited in his explosiveness, but has the size to make up for it; however, deep down I see him as a SF in a C’s body.

J Felt says: Here’s the thing about The Matrix: it’s a double decker matrix. See, the people in Zion are in the deeper layer of the Matrix, how else would Neo have power in the “real” world? He’s obviously been removed from the Matrix but has only ended up in the 2nd Matrix. Following me? So everyone in Zion thinks they are “free” but they are, in fact, still just batteries. A little depressing. They should have stopped after the first film, we can agree on that

You gotta check your mirrors, just the side of your eye.

I can’t believe you segwayed from The Matrix and Neo into Derrio becoming a star. Did you pull out a white board and brain storm possible movie choices that could be used to describe Derrio? What movie do you think appropriately symbolizes our season?

NLP says: Oooh. Good point. I forgot about Neo’s real world powers too. I’ve ranted about those too. Your theory is plausible. That’d solve the machine energy conundrum.

What movie summarizes our season? Unfortunately Groundhog Day. We’re at the point where Phil Connors keeps getting turned down by Rita every way imaginable. It’s like all the creative ways we can blow a season. PLEASE LET IT END. WHAT RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AND CHARITY MUST I PERFORM? WHAT CATHARTIC MOMENT MUST I EXPERIENCE? I’m going go step in front of a truck/electrocute myself/jump off a building/drive off a cliff with a groundhog at the wheel.

Gameday vs George Washington – Predictions – Bayonet those Bastard Colonials!

J Felt — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:15:41 +0000

An image from today's game.

As you may have been able to figure out, GreenTintedGlasses.net has started to let loose a little bit. Things were so stodgy around here for awhile there, but with this new brave world of At-Larges and Top Four in Conference, we figured it’s time to change things up a bit.

But one thing hasn’t changed, we still HATE George Washington. You should too. Until we beat them by 30 points one day, I will continue to despise the school named after one of our Founding Fathers.

“You guys really need to get over that game in ’06. Leemire DID throw an elbow, you know.”

You know what? Screw you. I’m still pissed about that.

In other words, we HATE George Washington, and the first game this year just made it worse, despite our victory. George Washington led for most of the game by playing tough, physical ball and taking us out of our game plan. And when I say, “tough, physical ball” I mean “beat the shit out of DiJuan if he had the ball.” We still won though, which shows the character of this team. We really have a way of pulling out the close ones, Duquesne excluded. We have always found a way to get that key steal, basket, or defensive stand if the game was close near the end. Look at the Saint Joseph’s game, we hit about 100 key baskets.

You ask “will we win this game?” and to be honest, I don’t know. This has FAIL written all over it, just follow the equation…

Heated Rivalry + Away Game + Tough Physical Defense + MASN = Niners FAIL

But here’s the deal, we’re still going to win. We finally broke the MASN curse with Fordham, and Derrio is due for a big game, and that’ll be today. Our predictions are below, leave yours in the comments.

J Felt – Charlotte 81, GW 74. Derrio goes off, that’s all you need to know.

letsgoNINERS11 – A pretty heated rivalry is starting to form, and a good ole fashioned Niner beatdown in Foggy Bottom becomes the next chapter. Charlotte 75 – GW 67

D-Fo – Last game, Martelli said the Hawks came into Halton and played an “angry” team. Wrong. That’s not anger. That’s Swagger, homes. Charlotte 80, GW 70.

HP – Wolf Blitzer sits in his seat and is amazed at the 49ers’ rediscovered prowess, Good Guys 75, Foggy Bottoms 63.

JRitchie – Charlotte’s finally realized that NCAA hopes are slipping away, the Niners use that desperation in Foggy Bottom for a big win Charlotte 85-GW 68

Brief A10 review (part 1)

NLP — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:52:17 +0000

As conference play draws near, GTG took the opportunity to briefly review the other 13 A10 teams, in no particular order. Seriously. I used random.org to generate the order by which I reviewed each team. First group today, next group tomorrow morning. I like to spread out the e-meth to keep you guys coming back.

Temple Owls (7-2)

Despite the loss of three starters; Dionte Christmas, Sergio Olmos, and Semaj Inge, the Temple Owls look like a team in the early mix to contend for an A10 title. Lavoy Allen has been solid on both ends of the court averaging 12.0 ppg. And 9.4 rpg. Stepping up to replace the loss of scoring with the graduation of Christmas are Sr. Ryan Brooks (13.7 ppg) and So. Juan Fernandez (10.6 ppg). The Owls have performed well against a pretty tough schedule, battling Georgetown to the wire before losing by 1 and a 7 point loss to St John’s at the Palestra. Temple’s managed solid road wins @ Miami(OH) and Western Michigan, and got a very tasty BCS scalp whipping VT 61-50.

Despite being a not-so-stellar team shooting the ball, Temple is outstanding on defense, forcing opponents into shooting just 37% from the field, and limiting possessions by excelling at taking care of the basketball. At this early juncture it’s hard to gauge how strong a contender Temple might be for the A10 crown, but upcoming contests against Villanova, Seton Hall, and Kansas will us plenty about the Owls and their post-season chances.

Fordham Rams (2-5)

You know a season is off to a rough start when just weeks after ending the university’s administration sent a letter of support for its basketball programs. Despite managing to hold-off the transfer of Jio Fontan, the Rams began the season with a listless 1-5 start including losses to powerhouse programs Maine and Hartford. That auspicious start (your sarcasm meter should be exploding) prompted Fontan to leave the program a second time, finally securing his release from the Fordham administration. The next day zombie-in-training Dereck Whittenburg was finally canned by the AD, ending 7 years of frustration. Although Whittenburg had some nice moments (2005-2006 season where he lead an inexperienced team to a winning season) the mood has steadily deteriorated. Despite the firing of Whittenburg, one has to wonder how committed the university’s administration is to its sports programs, particularly basketball. One look at Fordham’s lack of success and its stagnant facilities are all one needs to question if the A10 is really the right league for Fordham.

In more positive news, interim head coach Jared Grasso lead the Rams to a suprising 93-77 victory over a respectable Stony Brook team. Word has it Grasso intends to play at a quicker tempo than his recently deceased, I mean departed, predecessor, something that worked well for Ron Everhart in his first year at Duquesne. Despite the departure of highly regarded Fontan, the cupboard isn’t completely bare at Fordham. Chris Gaston is a terrific young forward, averaging 17.3 ppg, 11.6 rpg, and 2.7 bpg in his freshman season. Sr. guard Brenton Butler is also scoring the ball well (13.3 ppg) , however, this is coming with a stagnant 31.8% from the field. Fordham has a roster loaded with youth, however it’s a bit early to weigh in on their performance, particularly with a recent coaching change. With upcoming games against Saint John’s and Villanova coming up, things do not get any easier for the Rams; however, there are a few winnable road games to close out the non-conference slate against Hampton and Kennesaw State.

Saint Louis Billikens (5-3)

Not so svelte coach Rick Majerus has a roster full of young talent in Saint Louis, though the prize of the class is yet to play for the Billikens. In a move reminiscent of several 49er signings past, the NCAA has yet to clear Cody Ellis to play this season. Across the first eight games, the Billikens have performed as you’d expect many young teams; winning at home and losing the road/neutral contests. Saint Louis is led by a pair of sophomores in Willie Reed and Kwamain Mitchell. Reed has been excellent in his second season averaging 14 ppg and 10.6 rpg. His best performance came against pre-season All-American Luke Harangody with a 20 point, 15 rebound performance in a loss. Another forward, Brian Conklin, has also posted quality performances in the early season with strong games against Nebraska and Iowa State.

The task to compete in the A10 will be tough for Saint Louis relying on such an inexperienced roster (the only upperclassman is out for the season). Things though are looking up for Saint Louis and I would not be surprised for them to play spoiler for an A10 team looking to get a conference tournament bye or NCAA tournament bid. The Billikens are young, dangerous, and likely on the rise, especially if Cody Ellis gets eligible sooner than later. That’s if Majerus can focus on coaching and not complaining about the geography of the A10 conference.

Saint Bonaventure Bonnies (4-3)

Saint Bonaventure gets a lot of flack on Ninernation.net, and I don’t think it’s all deserved (I like to pick on them, but that’s mostly because of Olean, NY… dreadful town). The Bonnies are a respected program that’s given the Niners more trouble than we’d like to admit, and has done a good job of rebuilding from the ashes of Weldergate under the direction of Mark Schmidt. In early season action, St. Bonaventure has posted a 5-3 record with losses against Saint John’s, Illinois State, and Mississippi State. The only surprise thus far was the magnitude of the loss in Starkville, a 52 point thrashing at the hands of the Bulldogs. The Bonnies return to action against DII Le Moyne tonight, a game they should easily win. As a side-bar, the A10 should not be permitting regular season games against DII schools, particularly when the mascot is not indigenous to the region.

The Bonnies are led by a pair of transfer seniors, Chris Matthews (12.1 ppg and a crowd-pleasing 48% from behind the arc) and Jonathan Hall (12.1 ppg, 2.9 apg) and a very talented So. big man Andrew Nicholson. Nicholson has improved both his scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (8 rpg) without sacrificing his shooting (still above 60%). Pretty impressive for a Canuck (had to get a dig in on J Felt). Top reserve Michael Davenport has also played well averaging just over 9 ppg on 54.9% shooting. Overall the Bonnies are one of the best shooting teams in the country thusfar (field goal percentage-wise) and have rebounded the ball quite well. This though has come against somewhat weak competition and after tonight’s game the non-conference slate gets tougher with games against Syracuse and Niagara. They also need to do a much better job defending the perimeter. Regardless, the Bonnies continue to improve under Schmidt and could be a middle-of-the-pack A10 team once conference play begins. Oh, and check this out.

Richmond Spiders (7-1)

I hate Richmond. A lot of us hate Richmond. They seem to have had our number since joining the A10. It’d be easy to blame style and the Princeton, er, Richmond offense but the Spiders are more than a frustrating offense. They’ve got players and one heck of a young coach. So far this season, they’ve played in my opinion the best basketball in the league, particularly over the last three games. Following an early season hiccup against William & Mary, the Spiders have turned it up, with wins against Mississippi State, Missouri (very impressed by that one), and upcoming Niner opponent Old Dominion. Perhaps most impressively for the Richmond Spiders has been their defense. According to statsheet.com the 36% opponents FG percentage ranks in the top 10 in the country.

Richmond is led by a terrific backcourt pairing Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez. Anderson is leading the Spiders in scoring with 17.1 ppg and Gonzalvez second with 12.6 ppg. Despite Anderson’s ability to fill the basket, he’s still a bit of a liability behind the arc, again shooting below 30% from 3 point land. But where Anderson struggles, Gonzalvez thrives, again hitting more than 40% of his long distance attempts. What’s really scary about Richmond is they’re playing well despite Dan Geriot’s sluggish return from injury last season. The post player with the normally deft shooting touch has seen his scoring drop below double figures (8.5 ppg versus 14.3) and his shooting has dropped nearly 10% (38.7% versus 47.3%). Should Geriot start rounding into form, Richmond could go from scary good to downright terrifying, and in my opinion thus far is the team to beat in the A10.

Rhode Island Rams (6-1)

What’s with the A10 and horned animals? Anyway, Rhode Island… yeah, these guys aren’t too bad. Despite the loss of a large chunk of their scoring from last season (Jimmy Baron and Kahiem Seawright) URI has managed a 6-1 start with a nice win over Providence and a defeat of the champions of moral victories, Davidson. The lone loss comes to a stout Virginia Commonwealth team by 2 points on the road. The schedule to date hasn’t been particularly difficult, but some tests are ahead including a road game at Boston College (who lost to Harvard again) and against Travis Ford’s OSU Cowboys at the Mohegan Sun.

The roster is a nice blend of returning players who are stepping up and some new pieces that could be very good contributors down the road. Delroy James (12.4 ppg ) and Keith Cothran (16.7 ppg) are a nice inside-outside pair that lead the Rams in scoring, though both would well served to improve their rebounding and assist-giving respectively. Lamonte Ulmer has seen nice gradual improvement throught his time at URI and provides another option for the Rams in the low post. New addition Akeem Richmond is a familar name for Niner fans as a former recruiting target and has played well thusfar for URI, averaging 8 ppg in just 15 minutes/game of action. Rhode Island is a fairly deep team (9 players getting more than 10 minutes/game), which serves them well given their usual up-tempo style. Though the Rams are still a bit unproven this season, they could definitely make noise in A10 play. Picked to finish 8th overall, it would not be too big of a stretch to see them compete for a conference tournament bye, though I think they are more likely to finish somewhere between 5th and 8th.

George Washington Colonials (6-2)

Following a dismal 10-18 season (4-12 in league play) that was their second losing season in a row, Karl Hobbs has perhaps started to turn things around in Foggy Bottom, and in turn cooling off the hot seat a bit. Ironically the improved play comes with a tougher non-conference schedule than GW has been accustomed to under Hobbs, and may be a prognosticator of a better performance once league play begins. The key for the Colonials so far this season has been strong defense, in particular, dominating rebounding (almost +10 versus their opponents). Upcoming road games at Fat Pat’s Towson Tigers, ECU, and Harvard should give a clear indication of whether the quick GW start is for real or a fluke.

The Colonials are led by Sr. forward Damian Hollis (14.6 ppg, 5 rpg) and impressive Fr. guard Lasan Kromah, who in his first season is putting up 14.5 ppg. on 53% shooting from the field and 47.6% from beyond the 3 point arc. In just 23 minutes per game. Not bad at all. Aaron Ware, Tony Taylor, and Tim Johnson are a trio of guards that also see significant playing time for George Washington with Joseph Katuka getting the starting nod at center, despite playing just 11 minutes per game.

Click HERE for Part 2.