The Atlantic 10 is previewing all 14 men's basketball teams prior to the start of the season on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Today's first featured team is George Washington, which was picked No. 12 in the A-10 Preseason Poll.
By Patrick Stevens
Special to Atlantic10.com
Jamion Christian inherited an 8-21 team at Mount St. Mary’s in 2012-13 and led his alma mater to an 18-14 mark in his head coaching debut. He did similar work last year in his lone season at Siena, transforming the Saints from an 8-24 team to a 17-16 contender in the Metro Atlantic.
Now, he’s back in the D.C. area, taking over at George Washington after the Colonials went 9-24 last season.
The history suggests Christian, an analytics advocate who also has a history of favoring pressure defense, should preside over an improved George Washington team this winter. The question is, how much?
“I feel like we’re a little bit ahead of where we were at Siena last year in terms of practice, development and understanding,” Christian said. “That’s been really exciting, just learning how much the guys can take in.”
Offensively, Christian believes the pieces are in place to execute his vision of attempting roughly 48 percent of its field goals from 3-point range. Siena ranked 13th nationally in percentage of 3-pointers attempted last year at 47.7 percent according to KenPom.com, and it would come as no surprise if the Colonials (who were 290that 34.3 percent) vault into the national leaders in the category.
“That’s our goal, and I don’t see why we won’t be able to get there,” Christian said. “With guys like Jamison Battle and Maceo Jack --- Justin Mazzulla’s continued to develop, Juice Williams … I think we have enough guys who can make outside shots.”
A look at the Colonials:
Coach: Jamion Christian, first season at George Washington, 118-111 overall in seven seasons
Last year: The Colonials went 9-24 overall and 4-14 in the Atlantic 10, finishing in a tie for 12th. The No. 12 seed in the conference tournament, George Washington defeated Massachusetts in the first round before falling to George Mason a day later to end its season.
They’ll miss: Two of the Colonials’ starters departed. D.J. Williams averaged 13.7 points in his lone season on the floor in Foggy Bottom, while Terry Nolan Jr. transferred after notching 10.6 points per game as a sophomore.
Impact returners: Guard Maceo Jack (11.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg) enjoyed a breakout season as one of the A-10’s most improved players last winter, and he’ll be a major part of Christian’s first Colonial team.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him,” Christian said.
George Washington also enjoys some stability thanks to the return of guard Justin Mazzulla (8.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.5 apg), who was the only Colonial to start every game last season. Look for Mazzulla to play more off the ball this season.
Newbies of note: Christian easily rattles off freshman guards who have played prominent roles for his teams: Elijah Long, Junior Robinson and Donald Carey at Mount St. Mary’s, and Jalen Pickett last season at Siena.
Get ready to add Jameer Nelson Jr., the son of the former Saint Joseph’s star and the 2004 Atlantic 10 and National Player of the Year, to the list.
“There’s a lot of good guards right there who had great years as freshmen,” Christian said. “I’m not a guy who’s afraid to play a freshman point guard. I think there’s some learning adjustments involved with that, but I’m comfortable with that.”
Nelson won’t be the only freshman to make an impact. Forwards Jamison Battle and Chase Paar and guard Shawn Walker Jr. could all contribute in their first seasons.
Reasons to be optimistic: With the relentlessly upbeat Christian in charge, the Colonials’ ethos might best be described as intense positivity.
That’s a welcome development in Foggy Bottom after the program’s slippage from its NIT title team in 2016.
“We set the foundation early on that this was going to be a different experience than what they had, but they were hungry for it,” Christian said. “These are smart guys. They understand organization. They understand the nuances of some of these things. The emotional IQ is something we need to continue to build, and they’ve done a great job of doing that.”
George Washington doesn’t have a player on any of the A-10’s Preseason All-Conference teams, but that isn’t a serious deterrent to Christian.
“Do I think we have one [dominant] guy? No, but I think it’s more dangerous to have multiple guys, and that’s what exciting about that locker room,” Christian said. “We have a lot of guys that can beat you in a lot of different ways.”
X factor: GW’s path to success basically disappeared last season when forward Arnaldo Toro was shut down with a season-ending hip surgery in December.
Toro averaged 10.1 points and 9.3 rebounds in seven games, and he was able to take a medical hardship waiver. He’s healthy now and will play as a redshirt junior.
“I love Toro,” Christian said. “He was a guy I was really excited to coach. One of the things we’ve learned through the years is how to play through the post a bit more. One of the weaknesses I’ve had as a coach when I at the Mount was we didn’t play through the post enough. I’ve been fortunate with Evan Fisher’s development last year and Chris Wray’s development the year before that. Now, walking in here with Toro with two years left, I’ve been fortunate to have some pretty dominant post guys.”
Circle the date(s): It’s fair to start with the opening week --- Christian’s debut is Nov. 5 at Towson, and the Colonials play host to Howard in the home opener four days later. The home-and-home with D.C.-area foe George Mason highlights league play. The Patriots visit Smith Center Jan. 15, with the Colonials making the return trip to Fairfax exactly a month later.
Bottom line: The Colonials are going to take a bunch of threes and play stingy defense. At the very least, things should be more fun than a year ago, when George Washington fielded the least efficient offense in the A-10 in conference play, per KenPom.com. Christian’s history suggests the Colonials could very well make a run at .500 or even a little better in his first season.
Patrick Stevens is a veteran freelance college basketball writer. A former sports reporter for the Washington Times, he has been a contributor to Atlantic10.com for the past six years. Follow him on Twitter at @D1scourse.