Beltway Basketball Bonanza- February Fever in full force.

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Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. Read his ballots here.

Hey, is that March in the distance? The final month of the regular season comes at you fast. Conference Tournaments tip off in less than three weeks (Atlantic Sun gets the fun underway March 4) which means it’s catch-up time for those of us obsessed with the NFL Playoffs, Super Bowl, and Emmys/Grammys. So much to cover, and so little time to do so. 

Spoiler alert: we’re likely not going to see multiple teams from the area in the NCAA’s. Georgetown’s in year one of a major reboot and Maryland needs to run a rather rocky table to return to the Field of 68. Virginia’s prospects are looking good even with Tuesday’s home loss to Pitt, but Virginia Tech is simply trying to avoid playing in the ACC Tournament’s “Dreaded First Round”. That tripleheader of non-anticipation comes to Capital One Arena Tuesday March 12. George Mason and George Washington? Starts that took us back to 1984 in Fairfax and 2016 in Foggy Bottom have largely fizzled out. Thankfully we get to extend the Atlantic 10 net into the Commonwealth’s capital as VCU and Richmond each will have chances to make noise (hey, we made the Spiders “local” in 2022). American and Howard? Anything can happen in the Patriot League and MEAC, and each school is in third place at this time. James Madison and Towson? I know they’re no longer in the same conference, but old habits die hard. And one can’t count them out of the Sun Belt and CAA Tournaments until they prove us otherwise.

As we get closer to “Closing Month”, here’s a quick primer of what’s going on nationally:

Team to beat: defending national champion UConn has looked every bit as good as they did last year when they tore through the bracket, and after dropping their Big East opener to Seton Hall have run off a 13-game winning streak where the margin has been nine or more points nine times. Coach Dan Hurley’s team goes eight deep with different players stepping up each night.

Player to Watch: Purdue center Zach Edey ranks third in the nation in scoring and rebounding while leading the Boilermakers to the best record in the Big Ten. He dropped with 23 points and 12 rebounds last month against Maryland in College Park, and the seven-foot-four tower of power has posted double-doubles in eight straight games.

Top Conference Race: I was partial to the Big 12 last year because they played a full round-robin, and even with the addition of four schools (they add four more but lose two this next offseason) it’s still the schedule to be locked into if you have to choose one league to follow. Two games separate first place from seventh place, while six schools are currently in the Top 25 (four others have been ranked at times this winter).

Bubble, Bubble, Toil & Trouble: perennial contender Gonzaga is in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time this century (naturally all is moot if they win the WCC Tournament) while recent national champ Villanova (could 2016 and 2018 be that long ago) is also facing an uphill battle to make the field.

Coaching Carousel: DePaul disposed of the Tony Stubblefield regime last month, and this past week Ohio State set some major offseason dominoes in motion by firing Chris Holtmann after six and a half seasons that yielded four NCAA appearances (they likely would have made the field during the 2020 COVID year) but is on the downward trend of a 16-19 mark last year and a 4-10 Big Ten start this winter. OSU is a big-time job and will likely draw plenty of interesting candidates, one of whom will create a vacancy at his current position.

Cooking With Gus- FOX has always been far from shy when broadcasting sports, and their Saturday night hoops package (that even included a Women’s Basketball stop in College Park for Maryland-Iowa) has brought one of the best announcers back to the big basketball stage. Gus Johnson isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the Howard University graduate and his production staff have turned a regular season package if not into must-see at least must-glance. It’s a shame Turner has no regular season presence as we’ll learn next month when they hitch a ride with CBS for the Tournament.

This Week’s Starting Five:

Up Top- UConn and Purdue remain the top two teams on my ballot and in this week’s AP Poll. It’s been musical chairs below them as the next tier of teams has found ways to lose games (Kansas, North Carolina, Illinois) while some Top 25 fixtures have collapsed (four straight losses for Wisconsin dropping the Badgers from No. 6 to No. 20 the last two weeks). The biggest variances on this week’s ballot from the full poll? I have No. 8 Tennessee 14th and No. 21 Virginia 13th, while No. 15 Alabama just missed my ballot. Other difficult omissions: BYU, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Grand Canyon. 

Going Inside- Georgetown (8-16, 1-12 Big East) returns home for a Friday night home game with Villanova. This year’s Hoyas haven’t found home the least bit hospitable, dropping games at Capital One Arena by 25, 34, and 24 points (the losing streak began with a four-point defeat at home to Seton Hall) that include consecutive Saturday matinee massacres at the hands of top ten teams Marquette and UConn. ”We gotta find a way to play better at home,” Coach Ed Cooley said after the defeat to the now-No. 4 Golden Eagles Feb. 3. “It’s not a good look, and that’s not what we want. Once again: very disappointed in our energy, our effort, our connectedness, and we’ve got to figure that out.” Unfortunately as the losses have mounted, so have the questions without any answers. “Let’s call this what it is: you’ve got the number one team in the country in your building. On national television,” Cooley said after the defeat to the top-ranked Huskies. ”So we all gotta kind of look at ourselves here, right? I’m not saying we have to be the most talented team but I’ll be damned if you can’t be the most hungry team and you can’t have effort, energy, and enthusiasm.”

Perimeter Play- George Mason (17-8, 6-6 Atlantic 10) has now enjoyed three two-game winning streaks and two three-game losing streaks in conference play. Tuesday’s 90-67 win over George Washington saw the Patriots play perhaps their best 20 minutes of the season, shooting 61% with only three turnovers in the first half while taking a 27-point lead into the locker room. “The ball got side to side, we made some great decisions,” Coach Tony Skinn said. “Our energy was there, our pop was there, the decision making was there. It’s encouraging to just know that guys are trying to find each other this late, and the ball’s not sticking as much.” Tuesday’s win was a complete reversal of the January meeting where GW scored the game’s first eight points and never trailed. ”Give those guys credit, they played like they were shot out of the cannon,” Revolutionaries Coach Chris Caputo said. “It was obviously not our night, and I thought they had a great night.” Things don’t get any easier for GW as you’ll read below, while Mason gets the weekend off to give guard Darius Maddux (who didn’t play Tuesday) time to rest up his sprained ankle before hosting No. 16 Dayton next Wednesday.

Who’s Open- James Madison (23-3, 10-3 Sun Belt) might not be currently in the mix for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament despite being ranked in the first eight regular season polls and boasting a signature win at Michigan State, but the Dukes are on the threshold of matching their most wins in a season (24 in 1981-82 during the heady days of the Lou Campanelli era). JMU leads the conference in scoring and shooting as well as turnover margin, while ranking second in points allowed and field goal defense. But getting out of third place will be a challenge, as they’ve been swept by second place Appalachian State and don’t face first place Troy (who holds the tiebreaker with App. State) during the regular season. The at-large route remains less than optimistic as the Sun Belt last sent two schools to the field of 68 in 2013. Another cause for concern: after this weekend JMU finishes the regular season with four straight road games.

Last Shot- Saturday delivers a doubleheader with George Washington (14-10, 3-8 Atlantic 10) facing Richmond (17-7, 9-2)at 12:30 p.m. Both the Revolutionaries and Spiders were picked to finish in the lower half of the A-10, and both got off to solid starts. But while GW has lost seven straight, UR remains in the mix for at least a double-bye if not the conference regular season championship. The Revolutionaries also have a major question mark in Darren Buchanan: the freshman missed Tuesday’s game at George Mason with injury and his absence was felt on both ends of the floor. The nightcap has Maryland (14-11, 5-8 Big Ten) hosting No. 14 Illinois (18-6, 9-4) at 5:30 p.m. The Terps have enjoyed a 10-3 edge in the series since joining the two teams became conference foes, with Xfinity Center remaining the lone building in the league where Illini Coach Brad Underwood has not won. Prepare for a shootout between guards Terrence Shannon Jr. (26 points per game this month) and the Terps’ Jahmir Young (28 points in a January win over the Illini in Champaign).

Beltway Basketball Bonanza- Maryland’s D earning a midseason “A”.

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Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. Read his latest ballot here: https://collegepolltracker.com/basketball/pollster/dave-preston/2023/week-13

As February fires up in college basketball, there are no secrets. Most teams are halfway through their conference schedules (now 20 games in the Big East, Big Ten, and ACC) and about two-thirds of the way through their regular season slate, so even if you try you can’t fool teams looking at tape by this time of year. And the sample size is large enough so that if you have a weakness in your rotation or on your roster, everybody knows. Conversely, if your team has an identity and does things well that can’t escape one’s attention.

Right now Maryland (13-8, 5-5 Big Ten) is halfway through their conference slate and enjoying six days off between games against Nebraska and Michigan State, fellow members of the conference’s middle class while also being mentioned in the hunt for NCAA Tournament berths (ESPN’s Bracketology has the Spartans a No. 9 seed in its latest ratings, while the Cornhuskers are one of the last four teams to make the field). Blame a flurry of November losses to Davidson, UAB, and Villanova where the Terps shot 16-72 from three (22 percent) for keeping them an extended winning streak away from being on the bubble.  But while their three-point shooting issues (currently 333rd in Division I) have been easy to see, so has this team’s ability to defend. Because nobody in the conference contains opponents better than Coach Kevin Willard’s crew. ”We’re the number one defensive team in the Big Ten-and it’s not even close right now. I think it’s three whole points on KenPom (ratings system),” Willard said after the Terps beat the Cornhuskers 73-51. “As bad as we’ve been offensively for these guys to come out and play the defense we have just tells you something about the character of these kids.”

The learning curve has been a steep one for the two freshman seeing major minutes, but Jamie Kaiser Jr. feels he and the team are beginning to turn the corner. ”As a team that’s been really our thing because we struggled scoring the ball early, so we just hung our hat on defense all year and now that the offense is clicking we’re really starting to see how good we can be,” Kaiser said. “Personally it took me a while to get used to the (team’s concept of) defense-my teammates know that-but I’ve been really getting used to it and the game’s becoming a little easier for me now.”

Seven of the Terps’ final ten regular season games will be against teams they’ve already faced, no guarantee in a college basketball world where the 14-school Big Ten doesn’t offer a true round-robin like the 11-school Big East. But one feels that progress is being made and the Maryland team taking to the floor Saturday in East Lansing will be much better than the one that faced the Spartans almost two weeks ago. ”I’ve been saying all along that this team is going to be better and better as the season goes on. What we saw in November wasn’t even close to what we’re gonna (do), and I still think that we’re gonna get better,” Willard said. “Offensively we’re going to get better, and if we continue to play defense the way we’re playing I’ll play against anybody.”

Up Top- UConn is No. 1 again on my ballot and overall, followed by Purdue and North Carolina. My biggest variances this week have No. 15 Texas Tech seventh, No. 23 Oklahoma 13th, and No. 9 Marquette ninth. Toughest omissions: Alabama, TCU, South Carolina, and San Diego State. Small school shout-outs: Dayton, FAU, New Mexico, Indiana State, and Richmond.

Going Inside- George Washington (14-7, 3-5 Atlantic 10) has dropped four straight and caught the top two teams in the conference (Richmond and No. 21 Dayton) one week apart. The common thread: they’ve allowed 80+ points in each of those losses. How do they turn things around? ”I think the challenge is how many good defenders are on the floor,” Coach Chris Caputo said after the team’s loss to La Salle. “Because ultimately you’re going to have to make people miss. It’s not scheme–it’s not anything–it’s like there’s just guys that when their hands get the near the ball on jump shots- that player misses.” The slope stays rather slippery in February as they won’t have a game against a school with a losing conference record until they visit Saint Louis February 24. ”It’s not for a lack of trying, but you know what?” Caputo said. “You’re only doing a good job if what you try works. So, we’ll keep working at it.”

Perimeter Play- if there’s one team GW can take a defensive lesson or two from, it’s Virginia (16-5, 7-3 ACC). The Cavaliers allow a conference-low 57.4 points per game (7.9 points fewer than Notre Dame) and have allowed three foes in January (Virginia Tech, NC State, Louisville) to 15 points or fewer in the first half while building what is now a five game winning streak. And while Reece Beekman leads this team in scoring, assists, and steals he’s getting plenty of help from the likes of 6-foot-8 guard Ryan Dunn (three double-doubles in conference play) and Isaac McKneely (20 points against Georgia Tech Jan. 20). Wednesday’s win against Notre Dame puts UVa into sole possession of third place in the conference, and they luck out by facing No. 3 North Carolina and No. 7 Duke once apiece. Saturday they visit a Clemson team that might be under .500 in the ACC but was once ranked as high as No. 13.

Who’s Open- Saturday at 6 p.m. the best local rivalry is renewed when Richmond (16-5, 8-0 Atlantic 10) visits VCU (13-8, 5-3). The Spiders have been the surprise of the A-10 after being picked 11th in the preseason, while the Rams were the second-hottest team in the conference before blowing a 20-point lead at St. Bonaventure Tuesday night. Expect a defensive duel as UR ranks second in the conference in scoring defense and turnover margin while Coach Ryan Odom’s team defends the three better (29%) than anyone else in the conference. For those curious, Chris Mooney’s Spiders are second. Both teams have played the transfer portal well, with the Rams’ top scorer Max Shulga (15 points per game) following Odom from Utah State and ex-East Tennessee State scorer Jordan King (19 points per game) leading everyone in the A-10 after 21 games.

Last Shot- Georgetown (8-12, 1-8 Big East) meets No. 9 Marquette (16-5, 7-3) Saturday at 2 p.m. in a rematch of a December blowout (81-51) where the Golden Eagles scored 28 points off of 19 Hoya turnovers. Coach Shaka Smart’s team has won five straight and leads the conference in turnover margin. The Hoyas priority is finding a way to contain Tyler Kolek (14 points per game plus a conference-best seven assists per contest) while finding a way from Jayden Epps to get his shot (the sophomore’s 19 points per game lead the Big East but he shot 5-17 and 1-8 from three against Marquette in December).

Beltway Basketball Bonanza-“January Jockeying” for George Washington and George Mason.

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Full disclosure: I’m a sucker for alliteration (see the above title for this feature, my in-season weekly Nationals Notebook, plus the double whammy of the College Football Corner and Presto’s Picks in the fall). And while I’ve long been a fan of March Madness, I’ve lately gone with the label “February Fever” for schools vying for conference/seeding/bubble/contention in what I’ve referred to as the sport’s “Moving Month” (alliteration again). It’d only be fair to give January the same treatment, and while we’re just learning about schools as they begin conference play in earnest it’s not too early to trot out “January Jockeying” as teams already have a body of work (15 or so games played in November and December). And a few of our local schools have made their mark in the sport’s “Show Me Month”.

George Washington (14-3, 3-1 Atlantic 10) is off to its best start since the NIT Championship season of 2016. After suffering a triple-overtime loss to tip off conference play, the Revolutionaries have bounced back thanks to a last-second shot at VCU, a gritty OT win over Davidson, and a torrid start that ended with a 75-62 victory over George Mason (13-5, 2-3) on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. GW has led the conference in scoring from start, but defense travels in the A-10 and Monday they allowed their second-fewest points since Nov. 14 (I call that “Can You Believe the Season is Underway Month”). The Revs held the Patriots to 5-28 from the field over the first 18 minutes of the game. ”I just challenged them a little bit about how we have to be better than the sum of our parts on that side of the ball,” Coach Chris Caputo said. And what that requires emotionally in terms of your commitment as a group. And I thought we really got so I’m very happy with it now. Again, it doesn’t mean it’ll last, but at least for today it was there.”

What seems to always be there is this team’s offensive ability, as James Bishop IV may rank second in the A-10 in scoring but he is by no means doing it alone: forward Darren Buchanan Jr. and guard Garrett Johnson have seemingly played catch with the conference’s Rookie of the Week award, while Maximus Edwards and Antoine Smith Jr. have also had their big games. ”It’s great to have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things,” Bishop said. “It takes the pressure off of everybody. It takes the pressure off of making shots and doing things like that and and we can just focus on effort and intensity because the last of our problems is scoring the ball.”

While the Revolutionaries have won three straight, there’s a reason why “January Jockeying” remains the rough draft (or at least the secondary draft) of a season’s story. Three of their next four games will be away from the Smith Center, including matchups against unbeaten in the conference No. 21 Dayton and Richmond (unbeaten in the league Rhode Island comes to Foggy Bottom Feb. 6). ”I’m happy with the way we’ve responded and I’ve got so many guys who are going through this for the first time–all of this: playing time, shots, minutes, winning, losing, road. That’s a lot to get people to try to understand. think they’ve been willing learners,” Caputo said. ”But again, it’s only four games in so we’ve got a lot of basketball to play.”

“A lot of basketball to play” has to be music to the ears of George Mason Coach Tony Skinn, whose Patriots may not have been as good as their 13-2 start but not nearly as bad as the current 0-3 stretch against fellow A-10 Southern Wing members VCU, Richmond, and GW. And the coach sees a cure for their current ills. ”I think our connection just needs to get a little bit tighter. I think again you have a bunch of different guys, and I said it, I knew it…when you play so well “the curve” is coming,” Coach Tony Skinn said. “That’s just part of what the game gives you, and we probably need a little bit of humbling just to kind of get back to the core of how we got off to a hot start, but these guys have bought into what I’ve asked of them.” St. Bonaventure comes to Eagle Bank Arena Saturday. Let the jockeying continue.

This week’s Starting Five:

Up Top- UConn is the new No. 1 after eight of last week’s top ten lost. They were number one on my ballot this week followed by former No. 1 Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina (rising), and Houston. Biggest variances: I have No. 6 Tennessee 11th and No. 13 Auburn 20th, while No. 25 Texas Tech was 17th on my ballot. I’m also the only voter to have NC State or Villanova ranked. Small school shout-outs: Dayton and Grand Canyon. Difficult omissions: Creighton, BYU, Ole Miss, Florida Atlantic, and Iowa State.

Going Inside- Georgetown 8-9 (1-5 Big East) battled the Huskies this past Sunday in Hartford, coming up short 80-67. Despite the defeat against the defending National Champs, there’s reason to believe that the team is coming together on the defensive side of the floor. ”I think we’ve taken a step-not a major step-but we’ve made some progression, we’ve made some positive strides,” Cooley said last week. ”Still got a long way to go. We gotta be way more physical on the ball, off the ball, alertness, we gotta be able to rebound somebody’s first miss.” The Hoyas wrap up the month by playing two of three games on the road, and while the Big East standings remain a tough ladder to climb they’re going to face three schools (Xavier, Butler, Providence) that are all under .500 in league play. But it’s not the big picture the Hoyas are focused on at this time, it’s the next forty minutes and hungry/wounded foe. ”The big picture never gets you beat, it’s the small things that have a big impact,” Cooley said. ”And I think that’s what happened to us in the (conference) game that we won, and in the games that we lost it’s the small things that really come to bite you in the tail.”

Perimeter Play- Virginia topped Virginia Tech 65-57 Wednesday as the Cavaliers carved out a 25-15 halftime lead while shooting 33% to the Hokies 6-22 shooting with 10 turnovers. And even though Tech was able to bounce back after intermission (15-32 FG and 7-18 from three), UVa made 15-24 shots in the second half as Coach Tony Bennett’s team had 18 assists on 25 made baskets for the night. “I thought we moved hard, harder than we’ve been moving,” Bennett said after the game. “When you’re struggling (four losses in six games) you’re always looking for some adjustments and we just tried to really move. And screen well-we didn’t do it great at times-but the player movement, the ball movement, the cutting was there in a way it hasn’t been.” While the Cavaliers (12-5, 3-3 ACC) end a two-game slide their Commonwealth counterpart has now dropped two straight, tormented once again by turnovers. “Winning on the road is hard enough, you just can’t do that. We had 15 on Saturday against Miami, and then ten in here in the first and 15 for the game,” Coach Mike Young said. “It’s bothersome. So, we gotta get better.” Both teams are on the road this weekend, with the Hokies (10-7, 2-4 ACC) playing at NC State and UVa visiting Georgia Tech. They’ll meet again in Blacksburg February 19.

Who’s Open- American (10-8, 4-1 Patriot League) has won three straight to move within one half game of conference-leading Lafayette. Under first year head coach Duane Simpkins the Eagles have found their stride offensively, ranking second in the conference in scoring while ranking first in shooting and three-point production. AU shot 59% in Monday’s win at Loyola-Maryland, with junior guard Elijah Stephens leading the way with 17 points. Next up? Games with Lehigh and Holy Cross (combined 2-6 in the conference).

Last Shot- Maryland (11-7, 3-4 Big Ten) meets Michigan State (11-7, 3-4) Sunday at noon. The Terps have no monopoly on “team trying to bounce back from multiple early-season stumbles” as the Spartans began the season ranked No. 4, only to lose opening night to James Madison before dropping four of their first five league games. Look past the potential high noon shootout between guards Tyson Walker (averaging exactly 20 points per game) and Jahmir Young (32 per game on the Terps’ recent road trip) and prepare for a defensive duel: the Terrapins allow the fewest points per game in the Big Ten while the Spartans rank third. MSU also leads the conference in defending the three, while Maryland’s woes outside the arc (347th in Division I at 27.9%) have been well-documented. 

George Washington Men’s Basketball Preview.

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Life comes at you fast in the Atlantic 10. During Coach Chris Caputo’s first season at George Washington he witnessed some incredible runs-by opponents against his team. Most notably a 24-0 run by Saint Louis in January and a 28-0 run by Duquesne in February. After going 16-16 and 10-8 in the Atlantic Ten last winter (firsts for the program since 2016-17), this season began with a bang Monday night in the team’s 89-44 win over Stonehill. And this time they were the ones with the run, putting the game out of reach with a 21-2 surge to start the second half. “I thought the way we did it too-the fashion in which we did it was good,” Coach Chris Caputo said afterwards “The stops, the runouts, the threes. Some effort plays.”

GW led the Atlantic 10 in scoring last winter, but in order to win consistently in conference play-especially as you face teams for the second time in February and third time during the A-10 Tournament-you need to be stout defensively, or at least somewhat competent. Last year’s team allowed the most points per game in the conference, and one cause for confidence that things will be better is the addition of Auburn transfer Babatunde Akingbola. The 6-foot-10 graduate student goes by the nickname “Stretch”. “We really like what he brings defensively: his effort, his energy, his leadership, his character. We needed rim protection desperately, we got it with him,” Caputo said. “He’s got a different skill set than some of our bigs from last year but I also think gives us a real presence at the rim.”

One of the keys to the strong second half start Monday was the hot shooting of redshirt sophomore guard Maximus Edwards, who scored 12 of his 19 points after intermission. The 2022-23 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year (first for the program since 2000) will be asked to play more of a primary role this winter. “Maybe not a different role but a larger role in terms of his usage. The guy is a great rebounder-he had 20 rebounds in a game last year-I think he can take that and become a really good on-ball defender, a guy who’s got good hands and goes after the ball.” What is the Stratford, CT native focusing on this fall? “Just taking care of the ball and making the right reads,” Edwards said. “Shooting when I need to shoot, passing when I need to pass, crashing the offensive and defensive glass more and just making open shots.” Edwards also knows he’ll be tapped to be more of a leader this season. “Last year I was looking at JB and BA (James Bishop IV and Brendan Adams) when I was feeling down, I’d go up to them and now I’m the person people come to,” Edwards said. “I love helping them and talking to them, I just love when they come to me to talk about things-uncomfortable things-because that’s how much they trust me.”

The lynchpin of this roster remains fifth-year senior James Bishop IV, voted All-Conference last season and a preseason All-A10 pick this fall. The Baltimore native averaged 21 points with five assists last season and directed the offense despite not having that reputation (he had more assists last winter than his previous three years combined) before Caputo’s arrival. “I’ve been very lucky- you know when I got here people said we needed a point guard and the more we watched James the more we realized he was that guy.” Caputo said. “He’s unselfish, he’s very coachable, when you watch our games he’s the guy who that makes it so much easier for everybody else.”

Bishop gets to work with an infusion of talent, with six freshmen coming to campus this year as well as five transfers that include Oakton, VA native and former Princeton Tiger Garrett Johnson (he had a team-high 21 points in the win over Stonehill). “I like their energy, they’re really hungry. Hungry to compete, hungry to play,” Bishop said. “And then we just got a lot of different guys with a lot of different skills. We’ve got a lot of guys that can make different plays on the floor. A lot of shooting on the floor. We got a lot more versatile this year.” A lot more versatile but still a work in progress in the first couple of months as the team works the kinks out of the system. “We’re going to make mistakes early in the season but it’s about watching them on film and then going out and fixing them,” Bishop said. “If we continue to fix our mistakes and continue to bring great effort and great energy by the time conference starts we’ll be ready to go.”

They’ll have plenty of opportunities before Atlantic Ten play begins, with eight more home games before Atlantic 10 play tips off January 3 against Fordham. “For a younger group we wanted to try to give ourselves an opportunity to play at home a good bit- we do have to return to South Carolina, we go to the Bahamas and play some good teams-Ohio U in the first game,” Caputo said “I think for us-we’re challenging ourselves but we’re also giving ourselves an opportunity to try to blend as a group with all these new guys.” While his team looks to make strides over the next few months, the Smith Center fans might already be in mid-season form. “I thought the fans were incredible. And that’s really what we’re trying to get to here where it’s like that every night,” Caputo said Monday night. “And if it is, we’re gonna have created an incredible environment here-really second to none. Because this building’s just built for noise.”

George Washington Men’s Basketball Preview-Colonials’ New Coach sees a high ceiling.

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There is a new era underway in Foggy Bottom–again. Chris Caputo takes over as the third new Head Coach at George Washington since 2016. The Colonials haven’t had a winning season since 2017 while becoming a regular in Wednesday’s dreaded First Round at the Atlantic 10 Tournament (the program hasn’t reached the quarterfinals since 2016). But Caputo does not see a crater to climb out of as much as the possibilities of the past that he embraces. “Some of the things that have happened here- Sweet Sixteens, multiple NCAA Tournaments in a row, winning the NIT-all of those things. They’ve been done-and if they’ve been done they can be done again.”

Caputo is no stranger to March success: he was a first-year assistant on the 2006 Final Four team at George Mason under Jim Larranaga and followed his mentor to Miami in 2011, where he’d see an ACC Tournament championship and multiple Sweet Sixteens while also being on the bench for the 2015 NIT Championship Game. “I like the stuff he’s bringing in from his old program at Miami. They went to the final eight last year,” senior forward Ricky Lindo Jr. said. “So he’s bringing a lot of what they did into what we’re doing this year: be quicker defensively with the personnel we have.”

Lindo is one of seven players who averaged 10+ minutes on last year’s team to return, and the new coach can’t underscore enough how comforting it is to have a solid nucleus in place. “For me the benefit of not having a mass exodus per se where that has happened a little bit in college basketball,” Caputo said. “There is some continuity-we do have an older group, we do have some experience. It’s been great for me to have an older group, not a lot of younger guys to bring along within the transition.”

While Lindo led the Colonials in rebounding, blocks, and steals, James Bishop was GW’s top scorer not only last year but the season before. The Mount Saint Joseph (Baltimiore) graduate knows he’s far from a finished product and where he has to improve. “Know which shots to take and which shots to give up . Try to take down some of the difficulty (he was 39% and 32% from three last winter) in some of the shots I’m shooting,” Bishop said. “Being able to hit the open guy and also just move without the ball better so I can get some open looks and get other guys open looks.”

Armed with Lindo inside and Bishop outside give the new coach a head start at putting together a solid starting five, rotation, and locker room. “I couldn’t ask for better guys. Those two along with Brendan Adams and Hunter Dean-veteran guys with a lot of experience that have been great to work with in my first year,” Caputo said.”I think when you take over and you inherit some guys-you don’t know what to expect. I couldn’t be happier about the type of people I’ve inherited.”

The schedule begins November 7 when Virginia State comes to the Smith Center. The non-league slate involves the usual cast of locals (American, Howard, Radford, Coppin State) plus a trip to Hawaii over the Christmas weekend before beginning Atlantic 10 play on New Year’s Eve against new-to-the-league and 2019 Final Four team Loyola Chicago. And while the new coach does not know what sort of results he will see just yet, he does have and idea of what he wants to see on the floor consistently. “When you are playing ‘winning basketball’ that doesn’t mean you win-but you’re doing the things that go into winning,” Caputo said. “Playing defense, rebounding, and sharing the ball. Playing hard-playing with purpose. If we can get to that point, I think that’s a good start for us in the first year.”