Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. Read his latest rankings here.
Life comes at you fast in the Atlantic 10. During head 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 10 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, the Revolutionaries 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,” Caputo said afterward. “The stops, the runouts, the threes. Some effort plays.”
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George Washington 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: a 6-foot-10 graduate student that 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,” Caputo said. “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, Connecticut, 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,” he 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 linchpin of George Washington’s roster remains fifth-year senior James Bishop IV, voted All-Conference last season and a preseason All-Atlantic 10 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, Virginia, 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 in the preconference portion of the season, with eight more home games before Atlantic 10 play tips off Jan. 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 the Revolutionaries looks to make strides over the next few months, the Smith Center fans might already be in midseason 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.”
