Folks, don't you think that maturation of both Pops and Elliott is the reason for our great run?
Both had sparkling moments in the past and some real dog games. Elliott could get out of control and not feel the game. Pops could be putting everything down on night and then disappear the net or just make a series of silly fouls.
Both players would end up on the bench during serious stretches of games in previous years. Now, that isn't happening. While they have good games and weaker performances, they are both usually producing predictably fine play.
I remember Elliott's amazing play at the end of the West Virginia game at the BB&T and knew that we had a scorer. There were those amazingly brilliant passes as a freshman. Of course, they would also indicate that you had better be watching the game if you were at courtside, or you could end up with a facial.
For Pops, we see a player who has developed a sense of how to seal his defender and block out his opponent without the use of his arms and hands. Pops gets into them with his weight and power and he is carving out large pieces of the lane. That is making the rest of Pops' game so much better. The better the seal, the easier the catch.
Hobbs has gotten the point guard that he recruited in Elliott. AND, he has him for net year, as well. I gave my tickets to the LaSalle game to an old AU friend who is a writer and used to cover sports before moving onto bigger and better things. He made an interesting point that GW is a great slashing team, but sensed that we may not shoot from the outside as well as we happened to perform against LaSalle. When he heard the figures for the season, he was a bit surprised. Elliott was the most interesting. He is built like a linebacker, can really handle the ball and pass like the best, but he is also hitting college 3's at an amazing rate.
If Elliott's shot keeps improving, I don't think that he will have to look to football for his pro sports future. He is playing his game right now.