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 — with permission from CBS and the NCAA — 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. 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 overtime 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 the team allowed its second-fewest points since Nov. 14 (I call that “can you believe the season is underway month”). The Revolutionaries 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,” head coach Chris Caputo said. “And what that requires emotionally in terms of your commitment as a group. And I thought we really got it 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 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 on 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. I 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 head 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 the 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,” 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 this Saturday. Let the jockeying continue.
Starting Five:
Up Top: UConn is the new No. 1 after eight of last week’s top 10 lost. They were No. 1 on my ballot this week followed by former No. 1 Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina (rising), and Houston. Biggest variances: I voted No. 6 Tennessee as No. 11 and No. 13 Auburn as No. 20, while No. 25 Texas Tech was No. 17 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 champions, there’s reason to believe 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 40 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 on 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), Virginia made 15-24 shots in the second half as head 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. “When you’re struggling, 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 in-state 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 10 in here in the first and 15 for the game,” head 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 on Feb. 19.
Who’s Open: American (10-8, 4-1 Patriot League) has won three straight to move within one 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 (10-7, 2-4) on Sunday at noon. The Terrapins 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 while dropping four of their first five league games. Head coach Tom Izzo’s team plays Minnesota (don’t sleep on the 12-5, 3-3 Golden Gophers) before coming to Xfinity Center.
Look past the potential high noon shootout between guards Tyson Walker (averaging a whisker under 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.
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