Photo credit: Abe Rothstein (@RothsteinAbe)
By Abe Rothstein (@RothsteinAbe)
The start of fall marks a new season for the George Washington Revolutionaries.
Coming off of a disappointing season marred by injuries, Coach Caputo and the Revolutionaries have retooled heading into the 2024-2025 season.
New faces:
This team will look very different this season. The Revs lost six players, including James Bishop IV (graduated), Maximus Edwards (transferred to Duquesne), Antoine Smith Jr. (graduated), Benny Shröder (turned pro), Babatunde Akingbola (graduated), and Luke Cronin (transferred to Yeshiva). Per minutes per game averages, GW lost a total of 143.3 minutes, which includes F Garrett Johnson, who will miss the 2024-25 season following a torn ACL in a summer practice. His surgery was successful and he is recovering.
The Revs were aggressive in the transfer portal by bringing in four new players. F Gerald Drumgoole (Delaware) averaged nearly 14 points per game last season on 43% from the field and 37% from beyond the arc.
Drumgoole will manage the small forward position and his 6-5 frame is a big body who can provide multi level scoring.
“[Gerald] he’s a big guard that can play a number of different positions in the backcourt. You know, made 37% or 38% from three on 200 attempts,” said Caputo
Fellow teammates have taken notice as well.
“He can make shots, Gerald. He’s a veteran guy bringing a lot of leadership to this team, a lot of focus,” said Jacoi Hutchinson, the GW starting point guard.
Hutchinson will have a new teammate in the backcourt, hoping to alleviate some of the pressure on the young guard.
G Trey Moss (William and Mary) will be competing for the starting shooting guard position with fellow Trey, Trey Autry. Moss averaged 13.5 PPG last season on over 41% FG.
Besides his scoring abilities, Moss brings rebounding and defense to a team that lost their leading rebounder in Maximus Edwards.
“Trey Moss has been a great surprise in terms of his effort, his athleticism, his energy, he’s all over the glass for a guard, which I think is a great thing,” Caputo said. “He shot the ball at a very, very high level this summer. He’s really worked at it. And I think if that shows up, we’ve got a guy who, again, has got a lot of great experience and a lot of great tools in the toolbox, offensively and defensively.”
“l say Trey Moss, as y’all seen today, crashing offensive glass, keeping the plays alive, hustle guy, can make shots,” said Hutchinson.
Adding two centers was critical for Caputo and staff following the graduation of Babatunde Akingbola.
Rafael Castro transferred from Providence and brings rim protection and a big time lob threat below the basket for the Revs.
“It’s good to have a lob threat when I’m driving to the paint, because I know I could be able to make that play to him,” said Darren Buchanan Jr. when asked about Castro.
“Rafael is a real roll and rebound guy, a big lob threat, just a great athlete,” said Caputo.
Sean Hansen, a transfer from Cornell brings a very different style at the center position than Castro. Hansen was a major contributor on Cornell last season averaging 8.8 PPG, 3.5 REB, 2 AST, and shot over 36% from three. The Cornell transfer brings real playmaking ability from the center position and can open up a lot of opportunities on the offensive end.
“Sean is very typical, you know, a skillful five man that can make a three and is a great pass. He played at Cornell, like in the Princeton offense. So, you know, very much a playmaker from that position,” said Caputo.
Coaches and players alike are pumped about the potential of Hansen in the line up.
“I feel like he’s like a point guard in a big man’s body, and I like that,” said Hutchinson.
The passing game from the center position, including the threat from three point land, can open up the floor for drivers like Darren Buchanan.
The GW center combination has the ability to be similar to the Knicks Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein in terms of difference in playstyle.
Redshirt freshman Christian Jones also has a chance to make a large impact on the team. Jones will be slotted in at the backup point guard and coaches are high on his potential. His shooting and defensive tenacity stick out, as GW will have more depth, and likely will not see a 35 minutes per game player at point guard as they did with James Bishop last season.
“Christian Jones, who I’m looking forward to playing with in the backcourt this year. I think we got the same mindset defensively, and I think it’s gonna be really good for me,” said Hutchinson, with excitement.
True freshman Dayan Nessah and Ty Bevins also will have chances to contribute this season.
Nessah is a big body standing in at 6-7 with a long wingspan. At only 18 years old, Nessah has some development in front of him, but showed some high potential in practice, making several impressive drives to the basket.
After one finish, Director of Player Development Sam Ebersold turned around and said, “he’s like a running back driving to the basket.”
Scheduling:
One of the major topics of contention among the GW fanbase has been the scheduling, specifically in the out of conference play. Last season, the Revs had one of the easiest out of conference schedules in the NCAA, according to KenPom.
This season will likely be similar, but the Revs do have a major game on their schedule. During their midseason tournament in the Virgin Islands, George Washington is scheduled to take on Kansas State in their opening matchup, marking a major game for the program. Kansas State has been a perennial NCAA tournament team under head coach Jerome Tang and will be a major test for the Revs.
Caputo was asked about the out of conference schedule, an area in which fans and writers have been giving the GW staff major flack.
“I appreciate you asking me,” said Caputo. “I read an article. No one ever called me and asked me any questions about it.”
Coach Caputo dove into a detailed explanation regarding the conference guidelines and recommendations in the new college basketball landscape.
Here is the transcript of the full answer from Caputo:
“But no, I look, I think first of all that, if I would go back and say, the metrics tell us how to schedule, right, and you look at schedules across the country, right, you’re going to play certain amount of home games that you hope that you can play well for the NET, you’re going to play a certain amount of neutral site games this year. We got Kansas State at a neutral site, right? And then you’re going to try to find some home and homes that make sense, like last year for us. You know, that game was Hofstra, you know, a team that’s won 20 games for like, the last six years, right? I did that with nine newcomers, including six freshmen, right? When you look at our exempt event [MTE] this year, Kansas State in the first game, and then a rack of really, really good upper mid major, whatever you want to call them, teams who will come here, you try to ask some people, Hey, will we start that series? The answer is no, right? And so what we have to do is now go on the road to do is now go on the road to American and Old Dominion. Old Dominion has been a program that’s been good in basketball for 50 years right now, get that game returned, right? And so now, hopefully the next year, you give yourself some flexibility with those return home games to potentially go challenge yourself on the road, knowing you might not get that game return. But I think if you look at the teams in our league, no teams in our league, very few played more than two road games. The exempt events are trying to keep out teams from the Atlantic 10. They’re going from eight to four. It’s becoming much more difficult. The fact that we’re able to get Kansas State on a neutral site in the Virgin Islands, I think, is a huge win for our program. And then again, for the NET, we’re going to go try and play home games that we feel like, ‘hey, we should be able to play well and maybe position ourselves with the metrics to do well’. That makes sense. Yeah, so is that sort of the instruction of the league? Did they sort of provide? Well, the league’s going to say, it’s funny and I’m going to be respectful of the league here. But when I got the job in April of 2022, I got a piece of paper that said, this is the league’s rules about the net. By the time I got to the league meetings, and I didn’t agree with it, what I read, I said, I disagreed. And I came from a place where I get two at large bids, at George Mason and. When we got to league meetings, the commissioner said, Hey, listen, we’re scrapping that. She realized there’s a new way of looking at this. Our League’s got to win 80% of the non conference however you get there, however you get there, you got to win 80% of the non conference games. And for teams like in my case, last year, I got nine newcomers and six freshmen. How can I get to 80%? We actually took care of business in the non conference, and before injuries, we were going to get ready to take care of business for the league in league play. That’s going to be our goal every year. As we get better and better, you know, then you start to think about, okay, you know, maybe Dayton last year, they’re thinking about seeding if they’re healthy, okay. The other thing I would say about our league is I sat at the league media day and they asked me about what I thought about the league coming off a year where we got one bid and people were not high on us. And I said, Oh, I’ve been in mid-major multi bid league for many years. I know what that looks like. This is what this league looks like, and then we have two teams make the tournament. Both win a game, neither of those teams win our regular season. Our league is terrific. I mean, whatever the NET says, I can tell you, you’re getting a lot in our leagues. You’re getting a lot of bump in our league, right? And so, you know, I think that that’s just a narrative that needs to change. But if our performance doesn’t show that in March, then I don’t have to tell you, because I think we also had, a team in the Final Four of the NIT that didn’t win our league. So we’re at a heck of a league, and we’re going to schedule like the teams that are in multi bid league.”
A long winded answer, I thought it was important to share the entire thing.
The Revs will be starting a home and home against Old Dominion and American, with both games being on the road this season.
Practice Observations:
- Zamoku Weluche-Ume had a sick poster, throwing down a dunk on Dayan Nessah.
- Ty Bevins and Rafael Castro were both held out of practice with minor injuries, but were held out as precautionary measures. No reason to worry.
- The leadership of Darren Buchanan Jr. and Jacoi Hutchinson are apparent and both will take a major leap this season.
- After practice, players were running sprints and Weluche-Ume was the only member of the team with more to run. Trey Moss and Gerald Drumgoole chose to get up and finish the runs with Weluche-Ume.
- GW has been emphasizing defense during the summer practices and so far this week. The Revs look to upgrade from the bottom of the A-10 defense they have had the past few seasons.
- The new video boards look great, and people will be able to view the stats from GW and the opponent.
- Ty Bevins put on 10 pounds of muscle since coming to GW.
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