Hoops Magic dropped its 2nd game, losing to Alex Len by 10 points.  not sure scores or outcomes are particularly relevant in this league except to say Len looks like a lottery pick & one man wrecking crew.  md also had some kid who knocked down a slew of 3's (#20).

this was keithan savage's game.  if savage isn't the second coming of carl elliott... every thing about him reminds me of elliott, his body his attitude, his game.  it was a bit eiry watching him.

our guard play will be just fine.  mcdonald may take a while to fully run the offense but so far i like what i see.  he produced a couple of real sweet bounce passes today setting up layups.  he's clearly an unselfish player who plays without an ego but who has shown real skill on both sides of the ball.

i paid some atention to paris today (did not realize who he was yesterday).  its funny, in my mind i had him pegged as a true bigman, an option to clogg up the middle.)  so i was a bit surprised to see him in real life.  he showed off considerable offensive skill today with some super moves.  but he's more like a slightly heavier version of kopriva.  more of a big 3 than a power forward and definitely not center material.  i   see him physically in the group including kopriva, mikic and garino.

learning who paris is, underscores just how important the larsen signing was to us.  and how much we will need pellom and armwood to be there.

larsen did not get as many minutes today as yesterday and did not stand out quite as much.  this was partly due to a much better game from moses.  larsen continued to show considerable offensive skill.  i worry a little about his defense and rebounding.  he reminds me a little of warren in that he doesnt play above his head.  what warren never learned to do was use his body and girth to clear space.  theres no reason to think larsen can't learn to do this.

kopriva.  i firmly believe kopriva will be a star for us.  he was a lot closer than people gave him credit for last year.  he wasn't quite able to keep his man off the basket, or to control the rebound.  his 6-10 footers were not quite there.  but he has the potential for a great mid range game.  i am convinced  he is going to thrive in lonergan's system and be a big asset.  he will validate the qualities and skill set ml values so highly in his recruiting strategy.

FB Pops...

That post got me really believing that we are getting there. OK, I want to start with two observations of your coverage... (1) this won't happen overnight; and (2) We have so many more scoring parts than we had last year. --and, because of injuries and resting players--we haven't seen everyone who will be impacting our system.

Of note:

1. Paris is a fast offensive big man. I did note that you knocked him down to a "big 3" ... however, I know that he will be a gtreat 4/5. What we do know about Paris is that, even as a freshman, he is totally capabie of ringing up 10 in a half. In an organized game, he will be more than adequate as a rebounder.

2. The more that people see Larsen, the more that they expect. That's not a bad thing, nbut it shoud be clear that we have, as a group, established a very high expectation.

3. While many have as much as dismissed him from the team, Mikic is a quality part of a starting GW five. What's more, he isn't a shooting moron, but has to be encouraged to pick his spots.

4. We have some quality in the backcourt. Throw in the 3 and we have some of the best talent from any GW team in recent memory. With Lasan improving over last year and the addition of the 2 guards and Pato, we have a lot more points than the year of Taylor or nothing. Again, it most likely won't be a straight line improvement, but it is there.

Smith and Larsen... say no more. If you haven't heard it before, those two will present problems right out to the box.
 

The final point of interest: We DO HAVE almost 11 players who can make a strong argment to play ball. This team "WILL RUN" and this team "WILL PRESS."  This program will go after the opponent. What's more, What's more, The guys joining the team will be more than willing to shoot the tempo up and out of the gym. In fact, if we don't see it early on, it would be that Lonergan isn't tipping his hand..

Finally, this team is fast.With Kopriva more assertive in a loose fun game, we should see a number of new players hitting the score card on a regular basis--also folks that many here dont' thing are going to score. I will make a "herve" point here... Paris will be much more effective in a game where ti opens up. He is big and he is fast. Sure a 7 footer will be able to lean on him in a slow game set play situation, but we are going to be running. This is an uptempo team as it is constructed. I know that I am way out on a limb here, but look at an increase in GW scoring by about 8 to 15 points a game.

The era of GW having a single guard who is both in charge of the ball and also the main scorer is gone. Lonergan's little secret is that we can now bust it up the court and we are deep enough to pressure the hell out of the opponents. The fact that Smith is already looking like the Hulk means that more talent is going to be waiting in the second wave. If I'm not right, I will eat a plate of dried squid. (idle threat, I grew up in Hawaii).

DM,

you are right about the speed.  that was one of the impressive parts of savage's game - he flat out explodes and although he showed it less often i think mcdonald can run as well.  throw them together with bynes and kromah and pellom and armood and a couple of other guys who can catch and pass and we have the makings of quite a running team.  our depth should be impressive as well.

as for paris, i hope you are right because the middle is the one place we don't have much depth, especially if pellom is questionable.  But seeing him in person - he did not look 6'9", 245.  To me, he looks a couple of inches and many pounds smaller than larsen.  its part of why i didn't recognize him saturday.  i was looking for someone much bigger.

 We have upgraded at all positions in my opinion, no doubt about it.  Still, lets not get too dependent on the freshmen quite yet.  If we are to show significant improvement, it will be from Kromah, Kopriva, Smith and maybe Mikic, as well as Armwood being eligible.  Assuming Pellom is playing, I think he has maxed out.  May take a bit for the guards to catch up, but I think we are going to like Savage/McDonald, and I do see Larsen as an upgrade over Jabari almost out of the gate..  

The Maryland player who hit the slew of 3's was Nick Faust and he should be one of the top players in the ACC next year. Alex Len was definitely a one man wrecking crew, he was even hitting 3's. Kethan Savage was the most impressive Colonial today, he had to be the leading scorer for Hoop Magic despite not starting. He probably had 20-25 points, they should start announcing the leading scorers for games at the Kenner League. He also was not backing down from guarding or attacking N.Faust, despite how well N.Faust was playing. K.Savage even stole the ball from N.Faust 2 or 3 times. I'd compare K.Savage more to a scoring guard more than Carl Elliot. From what I recall, C.Elliot was more of a distributor than scorer. K.Savage is a scorer and will thrive playing off the ball where he can attack the basket and knock down jumpers.

Dwayne Smith and Lasan Kromah played well as their teams won. Both players did what they always do in the Kenner League, I guess the question for them is will it translate to the season. I wouldn't worry about Kevin Larson today, he was just going against a BEAST today in Alex Len. A lot of people will struggle against a highly skilled 7-footer like Alex Len.

Welcome back Thomas! Year after year, always quality!

second herve's comment. For what it's worth, I think that 2012 will be much easier and more productive for our two scorers, Dwayne and Lasan. Both players will benefit from a player like Garino. btw, I think that both will also benefit from the trio of bigs joining the squad. I am reminded, for instance of herve's point that I share that we all undersold our expectations from Larsen. My point is on Smith and Kromah is that they always got a man and at least a half when they got into the paint. This will start to end and folks are going to have to take them on with a single defender. That's a different story.

 Picture

thomas,

any word on armwood's status?

Sounds like Hoop Magic coach is giving the GW frosh more PT.  Nick Faust is a BEAST. He is definitely one of the best in the ACC.  What great experience to play against a kid of his caliber.  For a FROSH to attack/guard Nick Faust had to be a tough task.  That's what you call a "tough day at the office".  Savage should sleep well tonight....as should ML.

boston pops, I thought one of you guys would know why Armwood hasn't played yet. He wasn't even there today.

Another very interesting note about today's Kenner League action was the team Can't Be Stop(yeah, they chose Stop instead of Stopped) had Obama Secretary Of Education Arnie Duncan on the team. He didn't start, but came in and was able to hold his own. He actually scored 7 points in the first half and none in the second half. He hit a 3-pointer, dove out of bounds for a loose ball which got a reaction from the crowd and was playing great defense on some of Georgetown's players. He also had some nice passes, but his teammates were unable to finish. This was the first time I kept track of a player's stats in the Kenner League, the numbers I've thrown out about stats of GW players are guesses!!

I always believed  Arnie Duncan was a guy who thought he was good at basketball because he dominated scrubs who think they can play(like me) in pick-up games. I thought A.Duncan just played in "celebrity" leagues/games against wanna-be ball players, not something with legit players like the Kenner League. I was told that A.Duncan regularly played in the Chicago Pro Amms(Chicago's version of the Kenner League) when he ran the Chicago Public Schools

 you all failed to mention that Arne Duncan showed up and played in the KL?!

http://wapo.st/NjG3hl (notice how i formatted the link to open up in another tab/window rather than take me out of the message board. I dream of a day when all gwhoops.com links do this).

TMY,  .... FAIL....  why don't you scroll all the way up to the post right before you.  We will skip the rest of your post.

 Arne Duncan was a GREAT player for Princeton back in the day. Not surprising that he played well this weekend, from what I read he still plays in the Obama games all the time and is in very good shape for somebody his age. Very cool for the players to get to play against somebody like that. 

I love the enthusiasm but I don't see "star" plastered on Kopriva. More like solid role player who evolves into a captain type down the road. Great to hear larsen is playing well. He will be playing a lot, early. 

 I thought Duncan played at Harvard?

DEA,

think of it this way, if kopriva does blossum into a star, just how good could we be?  he's got the tools and the court savvy to make this system work and i think we will see the reward from all those minutes ml sacrificed last year. 

it seems to me we will be playing much bigger a good part of the time where we will have larsen and pellom or armwood or pellom & armwood on the floor together with guys like kopriva, smith, mikic, paris playing the 3.  that should make our mid range and interior games more effective.  last year those guys mostly had to play up against bigger opponents

FBP, see what happens if you think in terms of last season? It just doesn't fit. First, you are missing probably our best three (other than my opinion that it may be Lasan)... in Garino. The tendency is also to say we will go big because we can. I think what we will do is more often than not, go smaller and very fast. Paris will be a 4 or 5.

(imho)

maybe it'll depend on matchups and who we are playing whether we go big or small.  i know you're a big garino fan and i liked what i saw in the one game i was able to watch.  the biggest difference between this year and last will be our depth.

i'm a huge good kromah fan.  good kromah can do everything on a basketball floor.  among this group of players i see him spending more minutes in the guard rotation.  and i know i'll get a lot of shit for this but i'd like to see what he could do running the offense.  his passing skills are underrated and i think he handles the ball well enough.  the added responsibility might just keep him focused.  mcdonald and savage hold great promise but they are both freshmen and even in best case scenarios they won't log anywhere near the minutes TT played.  we only have 4 guards on the roster - not a lot, particularly when 2 are freshmen.  

I've never seen armwood play, but i've seen pellom and larsen and if armwood is as advertised i can see ML playing 2 of these three together an awful lot.  i think ml was frustrated by how much we were pushed around inside last year.

12 deep - a nice problem to have.

 You are right it was Harvard, my mistake. 

I will venture a guess that Armwood will play the most minutes of any big next year. He's not a big scorer but he is very active and excellent defensively. There's a reason he started so many games at Villanova even though he couldn't put the ball in the basket. 

Updates from Ron Bailey (1, 2) on i95ballerz.

GW team playing tonight (thursday) at 8:50 .  Make sure to take a copy of the rosters with you and fill it out if you figure out any new names.  Early game is UMD vs Arne Duncan.

Forgot to mention that they're playing the GMU team.  I'm sure Kethan & Joe will be itching to show Holloway what they think of his All-Met POY award.

What would be the best way to get to the game if I live by campus?

Walk or take the blue bus that picks up outside the Metro.  Entrance to Gtown is at 37h and Prospect.  Google maps will do you nicely. 

If you live by campus (I assume Foggy Bottom) just starting walking up M Street, thru G'town, past the Key Bridge and up the hill at the entrance of Georgetown. McDonough is to the back left-hand side once you come up the hill.

I've heard walking there can take almost an hour.

Can't imagine it is more than 2 miles from Foggy Bottom, maybe even less.  Once you reach the Exorcist stairs, you are just about there.

 Probably 45 mins max. I've done it with young kids before on foot so quit your griping. It's fine.

 Seriously.  Man up.  Do you want to watch your team or not?  Figure out the resources to get there, take a cab, the bus, bike, who cares. 

adclub, there are some of us who are living on a pretty tight budget. Sorry i can't afford to watch a summer league 2-3 times a week and spend 15 bucks on a cab each time.

Then why are you complaining about having to make the excrutiating walk from Foggy Bottom to Georgetown?

I struggle with posting this because I think resourcefulness has been lost on the youth by overbearing and protective parents but here are walking direction to McDonough Area from FB.   I think that's what annoyed me most about your post MG, the lack of effort.  In any event, I apologize for my condescension.  

A beautiful day--and complaining about an hour walk?  Man- I wish I could just up and walk for an hour....one day you'll appreciate the fact you walked that hour.

When I was at GW I tutored at a school that required a 35 minute walk to and from.  I made that walk, appreciating the time.  You should do teh same.

To be fair to MG '14, it may be a little too hot to make long walks on Saturday or Sunday afternoons with tempatures being in the 90's or 100's!!! I think the D6 bus route is close to GW's campus and stops across the street from Georgetown's campus. If you know a player, ask how they get to Georgetown

 Oh SMACK! A former player taking a fan to the woodhshed for his/her laziness! It is an easy walk/bike ride and the busses that go up M and then Wisconsin every 2 or 3 mins can shorten the walking time. Then again, maybe the lack of student attendance lately has been due to the "long" walk from the dorms to the Smith Center!

So i can't look up how to get there because i'm "lazy". First off, i'm not stupid and I know how to walk to Georgetown. Also, why would I want to walk all that way in the heat just to watch summer league. Finally, I have not missed a mens basketball game so I cannot even be blamed for that. The students don't care. 

While MG '14 might deserve the ridicule for asking directions to g-town, he can't be criticized as a fan. If only more current students even knew about summer league, let alone went to a game, we'd be much better off. That said, it's really not that far... "All that way" would be going to American U

 It would take less time to get to American than it would the G-town arena....which I can guarantee you 99% of GW students would have no idea which building it is.

Bender Arena is 4 miles from Foggy Bottom. McDonough is 2 miles from Foggy Bottom.

MG 14- I'm not really sure what you're trying to do here.  First, you asked how to get to the arena. Somebody offered the advice of a blue bus or walking. You responded that walking may take up to an hour....which presumably took the "walk" off the table. Then somebody suggested, walking, cabbing, bussing, or biking. You complained that a tight budget doesn't allow for a cab ride. That leaves bussing or biking.

Then, when people question what's going on--you say that you're nots tupid and you know how to walk to Georgetown...which leads me to wonder why you posted your first question at all. If you knew how to get there, why ask? You know there is no metro to georgetown, you know how to walk to georgetown, and you don't have the money for a cab. Thus, maybe your question really was "what bus do I take to get to the arena." While this is also easy to look up, it's a much more specific question.

If you don't want to walk- fine. But don't call people crazy for suggesting that you take the walk many GW students have made over their time at GW when you ask how to get there...

 When did I ever call people crazy? I have been to the G-town campus once in my life. How am I supposed to know exactly where the arena is? 

And herve, I know that American is technically further away, but it still would take less than 20 minutes to get there.

MG, so it's 2 miles to Gtown and 4 miles to American yet it's quicker to get to AU. i know you walk to Gtown and drive to AU. smart.

Metro.  Less than $2.  Leave the kid alone and move on.