Photo credit: Atlantic 10
By Abe Rothstein (@RothsteinAbe)
With another season ending with an early exit in the Atlantic 10 tournament, the rebranded George Washington Revolutionaries hope that the change goes further than the moniker. Look no further at the roster turnover, as only two major contributors return to Foggy Bottom.
Thankfully, for GW, the major returners are senior James Bishop, who finished 13th in the NCAA in scoring (21.6 PPG), and redshirt sophomore Maximus Edwards, the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year.
Head Coach Chris Caputo and staff were active in the transfer portal, bringing in multiple contributors. Darren Buchanan Jr., Benny Schröder, Babatunde “Stretch” Akingbola, Garrett Johnson, and Antoine Smith Jr. are all new talents brought into Foggy Bottom.
The common denominator on most of them is the lack of college experience. Between those five transfers brought in, there were a total of 41 games played last year, and only 10 if you were to remove Antoine Smith Jr. from the equation. Benny Schröder played in only six games last year for Oklahoma, and Stretch Akingbola played sparingly for the Auburn Tigers. Most notably, Stretch saw time in a win against George Mason. Stretch’s feelings on the Revolutionary Rivalry can be seen here, in a wonderful profile from my colleague Cameron Mays.
The lack of playing experience surely has a major effect on the analytical rankings such as KenPom and Bart Torvik. KenPom has the Revolutionaries at 217 with the 152th ranked offense, and the 297th ranked defense. The Bart Torvik rankings are far less kind to the Revs with them listed as an abysmal 293. Without playing time for many faces on the roster, the analytical output is not favorable. Though, these rankings should be taken as a grain of salt at this point of the year.
What’s New?
The Revolutionaries are looking to improve on both ends of the ball, and while the staff has certainly looked to improve the defensive side, there are some rough patches that will hit the Revolutionaries this season.
Bringing in new talent was key for Caputo and staff, and the basketball side was not the sole factor in bringing in certain players.
“That’s sort of where you have to find a balance, you can’t sacrifice the character fit of GW,” said Caputo. “But yeah, I know we’re gonna have some growing pains because we’re new.”
In addition to the five transfers brought in through the transfer portal, four major freshman recruits were brought into the program. The original signing class had three guards, Christian Jones who played at the same high school as Max Edwards, Our Savior Lutheran in the Bronx. Trey Autry, a high IQ guard who is notably the son of Syracuse Men’s Basketball coach Adrian Autry, and Jacoi Hutchinson, a DMV native who played his senior year at IMG Academy in Florida, a prep school powerhouse. Hutchinson is rated to be the highest recruit in GW basketball history by 247 Sports. Zamoku Weluche-Ume, brought in later in the recruiting season, is from London, and played on the Great Britain FIBA U-20 team where he averaged 9.7 ppg, to pair with 3.6 rpg.
Out of the freshman recruits brought in by the staff, I would expect to see Hutchinson and Autry used the most out of the four. It is possible that one of these two young guards could see time in the starting lineup. Both players have impressed so far in practice, and this goes beyond the hardwood. Trey Autry was described to me as “essentially another coach on the court.” Jacoi Hutchinson will excel as a passer in the lineup, as he demonstrated in the Capital Classic High School All Star game last year. These two guards are further ahead in their development, but Jones and Weluche-Ume will have their chances to make an impact down the line.
GW: Offensive Powerhouse?
The Revolutionaries came into last season with pretty low expectations. Shortly after the loss of E.J. Clark in the doomed Hawaii MTE, the rotation was down to six. On the backs of James Bishop and Brendan Adams, who both played upwards of 38 minutes per game last year, the offense thrived. As the year carried on, teams picked up on the immense talent of both Bishop and Adams, and started to force looks from elsewhere. The lack of shooting from the outside severely hurt GW when they needed it the most, and Caputo looked to end that problem in the transfer portal.
“I think there’s two things that are clear,” said Caputo. “We have more depth, we have more versatility, and more shooting and yet, you know, we also have a lot of younger guys.”
Much as to how they played last year, expect sets in the five out, with Stretch Akingbola becoming the screener in the pick and roll game as the Hunter Dean role. The versatility of guys such as Bishop, and Max Edwards, who both thrive when attacking the basket, will now have the ability to kick out to Benny Shröder and Garrett Johnson. GW now has multiple threats from outside, which opens up a treasure trove for this offense.
“Last year’s team could really score and lead our league in scoring and I don’t think anybody really thought that was going to be the case coming into the season,” Caputo continued. “And yet we were able to do that and we tried like hell to get better defensively, but ultimately, we just didn’t have enough bodies, enough versatility. I think we have a little bit more of that now. So [we’re] finding a way to be more balanced.”
Defensively the team is far improved. Stretch provides GW with major shot blocking potential at his 6-foot-10 frame, and the added depth will help immensely. Darren Buchanan Jr. will block in as a power forward and should provide an immediate spark for GW on both ends of the floor in the former D.C Gatorade Player of the Year’s return to the District.
The offense has only added weapons to the best offense in the Atlantic 10, and the defense will take a step up this season.
James Bishop, the Mentor
Of course, you can’t bring up a conversation about Revolutionary guards without talking about James Bishop. His statline was unmatched in the A-10, as he was the first player since 2003 to average over 21 points and five assists in the conference. Coming into this year, Bishop was snubbed for the Bob Cousy Award watch list, a list of the nation’s top point guards. I would look to see if the impact of having a true point guard such as Jacoi Hutchinson on the floor would bring Bishop to more of an off-ball role, something that he played with the emergence of Brayon Freeman two years ago.
Bishop, who is a monster on the court, is the polar opposite off the court. In his free time, he enjoys crocheting. He says he learned it on YouTube and has not yet provided anybody on the team with lessons, he is still waiting for someone to ask. Even though he isn’t passing on any crochet advice, Bishop has become a mentor to the young guards, both on and off the court.
“I just try to be a veteran on the team, like you said, I’ve been here a while.” Bishop said. So I kind of know how college basketball works, you know, how to conduct yourself, so I just try to give them a little tidbit, they know how to play basketball really well already. So I just try to input here and there just little things that I might see.”
Bishop, while quiet has certainly made many of the young guys feel at home.
“[Bishop] has been in college for a while, you know, a lot of people know who he is. He’s got a lot of accomplishments and him just kind of being that vet we have,” said freshman guard Trey Autry. “Somebody that you can talk to, you can always call or text or you want some advice, you know, he’s always there for you and then just like he said, we know how to play, but he’s always giving advice. Just staying in the gym.”
Throughout practice, Bishop was talking to the young guards, giving them pointers on the different sets. On a few instances, encouraging guys to take the shot when they passed quickly after getting the ball.
“Obviously, we can see the performance and the work that he’s put in when we play. So everyone wants the same success. So he always is on us about getting to just checking in how we are,” Autry concluded.
James Bishop: Chasing a Record
James Bishop finished the 2022-2023 season with one of the great seasons in the rich history of basketball in Foggy Bottom. For the first time since SirValiant Brown in 1999-2000, an A10 scoring title was brought back to GW, and Bishop became the first member of the GW basketball team to make the All-Atlantic 10 First Team since 2005-2006.
Prior to this season, Bishop sits at 12th on the GW all time scoring list, though he is only 732 points away from Chris Monroe and his 2,248 points in first place, spanning the 1999-2003 seasons.
However, this season might be a difficult one to achieve the record for Bishop. With a focus on adding depth to a team that often ran a six man rotation last year, Bishop will not be seeing the almost 39 minutes per game he saw last year. Instead, expect the lower to mid 30’s.
The Revolutionaries were ecstatic to have Bishop return to Foggy Bottom after a period of uncertainty as to whether or not he would return. The staff connected Bishop with some NBA minds to help make the decision whether to return to DC or hit the professional ranks. Fortunately for GW, Bishop came back for some unfinished business.
“I think we got a lot more talent than we ever had. We got a little bit of inexperience and a lot of guys that haven’t played yet,” said Bishop. But we got a lot of guys that want to learn, ready to play, getting better every day.”
This year, with as much talent as ever on the team, the scoring record is not the main focus.
“I think my goal really is just to win to leave that winning legacy at George Washington. I think that’s the one thing that I haven’t been able to necessarily do like how I wanted to,” mentioned Bishop. “So this year I really want to win and just be a better leader. You know, there’s a lot of young guys, so just try to pull back into them and leave the spot a lot better than I came in with it.”
Winning. Something that both players and fans are longing to bring back to Foggy Bottom, and James Bishop has a plan to make it happen.
Notes and tidbits:
- First off, the new court looks fantastic. It’s extremely bright, and reflects the city in a great way.
- The new seats in the Smith Center are really comfortable. They are certainly an upgrade from what the old seats were in the lower bowl.
- Everyone on the team seems to be really happy, both players and coaches. While there are 11 total newcomers on the team including walk-ons, chemistry on the court might take a little time, but players seem to be meshing very well.
- Keegan Harvey has put on 20 pounds of muscle this offseason.
- James Bishop looks absolutely jacked compared to last year.
- Assistant Coach Zak Boisvert can bench 300 lbs.
- I’m working on a story about new strength coach Rob Handerahan, who came to GW after 26 years at George Mason. There is a noticeable difference in the fitness of the players this year, and Handy should be getting the credit. He’s awesome and I hope you stay tuned for that story.
- Coach Caputo has done an incredible job in reaching out to the GW community as a whole. He has been attending meetings with different student organizations and is doing everything possible to have GW basketball ingrained within the community. He attended my fraternity chapter meeting, after I only asked him to send a video to play, he offered to come in person. He spoke with the group for over thirty minutes detailing the rich history of the program, and how the ability to bring it back to how it once was starts with fans coming to the games. In addition, he opened up to a Q and A where he answered questions ranging from the potential sale of jerseys in the new campus store, to how he schedules games, and his plans for the team. This outreach already has convinced many people who were in attendance to be following the team and attending games this year. The community outreach has been real and plentiful.
- The idea of a Notre Dame matchup was floated prior to the firing of Mike Brey.
- A future home and home with a Power 5 team seems more unlikely given the state of scheduling and analytics today.
- Fellow WRGW writer Liam O’Murchu wrote a wonderful profile on Benny Schröder, check it out.
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