Head Coach: Chris Caputo (31-33; 3rd season)
Theme song: Doomsday (feat. Pebbles The Invisible Girl) by MF Doom
Last season: George Washington lost 13 games in a row with one of the most prolific scorers ever in A10 history because they didn’t play a lick of defense.
I have nothing else to say.
“No one saw the recession coming.” —Gordon Ramsay.
Arrivals: Trey Moss (William & Mary), Gerald Drumgoole Jr* (Delaware), Rafael Castro (Providence), Sean Hansen (Cornell), Ty Bevins (F), Dayan Nessah (F), Mohamed Binzagr
Departures: James Bishop, Maximus Edwards (T), Antione Smith, Babatunde Akingbola
Returnees: Christian Jones, Trey Autry, Jacoi Hutchinson, Garrett Johnson (out for the season). Darren Buchanan, Zamoku Weluche-Ume, Keegan Harvey, Amir Arrington
Potential Strengths: Since his appointment to the nation’s capital, Chris Caputo’s program has become an offensive juggernaut. The Revs shot 35.8% as a team from three, with four players shooting 36% or better. They also collectively knocked down 74.5% of their free throws last season. An up-tempo style is emphasized to generate easy baskets for this team, shooting a ridiculous 90% at the rim in transition last season.
Leading the offensive barrage this season will be all-freshman pick Darren Buchanan, who is immediately in contention for all-conference honors. If the Revs finished, say, sixth in the league, there is no question Buchanan would’ve run away with the Rookie of the Year award.
Buchanan has a knack for bulldozing his way to the basket, scoring on 61% of his shots at the rim. While his three-ball has another level it can go to, he’ll likely continue to post similar numbers to his freshman season.
He and Delaware pickup Gerald Drumgoole Jr are the next 1-2 offensive duo Caputo will utilize. Drumgoole spent last season as the Blue Hens’ second option behind Jyare Davis, a second-team all-CAA pick.
I envision Drumgoole as the second option for this team—at 6’5”, he knocked down threes at 37% last season. Drumgoole’s size also gives him the advantage of posting up and finishing through contact. He’s also very active on defense, which should go a long way for this team. He and Buchanan will be a great duo to lead this team on offense.
Something that Caputo missed was having a stretch big who could help open up the floor. And while Babatunde Akingbola gave them a lot with shot blocking, he didn’t give you much on offense outside of dunks.
Cornell transfer Sean Hansen looks to change that this season. A career 33% shooter from deep, Hansen can open up driving lanes while being a willing passer. For his career, Hansen averages two assists per game, giving GW a new look in setting up others for success.
Providence import Rafael Castro will team up to provide the big-man platoon that GW can thrive on, and return most of the elements that they lost from Akingbola.
Castro’s career DPBM is +3.2 in two seasons with the Friars, which he must maintain if GW wants to see real success this season. Castro is about as good a big man to have on your team to counter other dominant A10 big men—while DaRon Holmes or Josh Cohen aren’t around anymore, there are still quality big men that need to be dealt with—Hansen will be the “offensive” big. At the same time, Castro focuses more on being a defensive anchor.
As for the backcourt, Trey Moss joins from William & Mary along with Trey Autry (Red’s son). Moss gives this team so much juice on offense, last season putting up 13.5 points for the Tribe. Autry seems poised to settle in a more backup role for this group, though he’ll add some toughness on defense while taking away ball-handling duties from Moss.
There are also freshmen Ty Bevins and Dayan Nessah who I struggle with a bit as to what their roles may be for this team. Bevins is a taller guard who will likely see his role more off the ball, and Nessah is another athlete on the wings who can give the Revs some extra juice on defense. Caputo has loaded his roster at both positions with older, more experienced guys, which the freshmen are likely to see limited time.
Potential Weaknesses: A void will be left behind by the absence of Garrett Johnson, who tore his ACL earlier in the offseason. Losing Johnson is an enormous blow for the Revs’ offensive attack—Johnson has tremendous versatility, not just as a scorer, but he’s also a phenomenal shooter who gave a lot of breaks to Caputo’s lead scorers.
Defensively, last season…YIKES. Besides Akingbola leading the conference in blocks by a decent margin (which singlehandedly kept this team within the Kenpom 300 in adjusted defense), George Washington was an absolute train wreck when playing defense.
Under no circumstances can this team afford to regress on defense even more this season. It’s safe to say that Caputo upgraded his team’s porous defense from last season. Adding Castro, Drumgoole, retaining players like Autry, Hutchinson, and Buchanan can contribute to rebuilding this defense. I believe the athleticism has improved this season, and the defense can also improve overall, assuming the strategy on that side changes.
What drives me nuts is when weak defensive teams ask one player to do it all on that side of the floor. The Brooklyn Nets tried this strategy when they had Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden on the team but asked Nic Claxton and Bruce Brown to do everything on defense. And while comparing the NBA to the Atlantic 10 is ridiculous in a vacuum, the idea is still the same. Akingbola was, quite literally, GW’s defense last season.
Had it not been for him being one of the best shot blockers in the nation, who knows where this team would’ve been? Here are GW’s Kenpom numbers for the defensive categories last season with their national ranks and the national average:
Defensive three-point percentage: 34.7% (244th) National Average: 33.8%
Defensive free-throw percentage: 75.7% (344th) National Average: 71.9%
Steal percentage: 8.2% (280th) National Average: 9.4%
Non-steal percentage: 5.8% (357th) National Average: 7.7%
Turnover percentage: 13.9% (338th) National Average: 17.1%
Opponents certainly didn’t have a hard time shooting against this team; instead, it was shooting practice for them in a live game. The most notorious example is their A10 opener against Fordham when the Revolutionaries let the Rams knock down a program-record 19 threes against them. The lack of aggressiveness on defense caused teams not to worry about having the dribble poked free.
If the Revs are going to make any noise at all, defensive improvement is paramount for this group if they are to give themselves a fighting chance. There is no other way around it this season.
X-factor: Jacoi Hutchinson reeks of being this team’s x-factor for 2024-2025. From February 17th to March 6th of last season, Hutchinson went on a six-game tear, posting 14.5 points, 4.3 boards, and 3.7 dimes on 53/100/54 shooting splits. Even though GW went 1-5 during that stretch, Hutchinson showed the league the kind of player he can evolve into. Is that sort of jump coming this season? Expecting a leap like that with Buchanan and Drumgoole on the roster is unfair. He’s got a pitbull mentality on defense; all he needs are the opportunities on offense now that Johnson is out for the season.
Outlook: I still have many questions about how this team will perform, particularly on defense. Losing Akingbola leaves a hole, but the centers Caputo brought in can make up for what they lost. While losing Bishop and Edwards is also a huge hole, I didn’t flag that as a significant concern because of the presence of Buchanan and Drumgoole. As I mentioned earlier, this team needs to pull together on defense if they’re going to make any noise at all. Caputo’s first two seasons in Foggy Bottom have produced some of the worst defensive teams I’ve ever seen in this league. Other than that, scoring shouldn’t be a problem for these guys. They’ll be able to outrun most teams they face, but can they stop others from scoring on them?
Posted In: General Discussion