The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day Three

On the third day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me

Three balls a-rainin'
Two more automotive wormhole websites
And a bald guy and some random hor-seys

This is hard for me to admit, but I may have been wrong.

Once. You doubted me once. Don't do it again.

At the beginning of the college basketball season, with 64% of its scoring and 55% of its rebounding gone to graduation and transfers, I told you that our Tribe wasn't going to be very good. I said, in fact, that a ten win season would represent one of Tony Shaver's great coaching jobs. I lamented the squad's lack of experience, and more importantly, of depth.

That same team I dismissed four weeks ago just went on the road, made up a double-digit second-half deficit, and beat a decent George Mason team, 77-70. What made that win all the more noteworthy was that it was played entirely according to Mason's tempo and style. The Tribe had been more accustomed of late to rolling into the triple digits, having topped the century mark three times in their previous four games.

At 6-2, with at least one more highly winnable game left before conference play begins at the end of the month, this team will almost certainly top ten wins. And while I still think there are reasons to doubt the Tribe's chances in the league, they'll certainly be competitive.

How in the hell did this happen?

For starters, let's talk about some ungodly shooting. At press time, W&M was second in the nation in three-point shooting percentage, making 47.3% of their triples. The Wrens' 12.3 made threes per game ranked third in the country. Shaver's boys are fourth nationally in true shooting percentage, a robust .646, and third in effective field goal percentage at .612. Hell, they're even fifth in free throw percentage, making 80.9% of their freebies.

The dagger that capped the win over Mason on Wednesday came from senior guard Connor Burchfield, who drove to his left before rising and firing a three-pointer from the top of the key. Your humble blogger was sitting courtside courtesy of FOG:TB Clifford, close enough to call out to Burchfield in a conversational tone and give him some verbal dap during a break in the action. He reciprocated with a gleeful thumbs up. We kinda bonded.

My pal Connor

Burchfield has always been a dangerous stationary shooter. He led the nation in three-point percentage as a sophomore, making 56.3% of his attempts. But his lack of defensive ability and overall game limited his minutes and his impact. He never averaged more than 5.4 points or 14.4 minutes a game in his first three seasons in green and gold. This year, thrust into a starting role out of necessity, he's continued to shoot the lights out, making 54.7% from deep (he's fifth in the nation in true shooting percentage, and seventh in three-point percentage) and scoring 13.1 points per game. He'll get exploited on defense by quick, athletic guards this season, but the fact that he's holding his own is a big part of W&M surprising (to me) start.

Sophomore transfer Matt Milon's also knocking down better than half of his threes, at 54.0%. He's the team's most effective offensive player, 17th in the nation with a 139.5 offensive rating. He's sixth nationally in effective shooting percentage, and seventh in true shooting. With 15.0 points per game, he's second on the team in scoring.

David Cohn's recording 7.1 assists per game while scoring 10.9 points on 47.6% three-point shooting. Sophomore wing Justin Pierce is also making 47.6% of his threes, tallying 14.4 points, and pulling down 9.5 rebounds per game. All told, six players in the regular rotation are making more than 50% of their shots, which is preposterous, and probably unsustainable.

Tony Shaver told the Daily Press's Dave Johnson, “This is the best shooting team I’ve coached here. We’ll be a fun team to watch.” He knows a lot more about basketball than I do, it turns out.

We're all the way down here in this post, and I haven't even mentioned the Tribe's best player. One of the reasons all those shooters get decent looks is the danger represented by Nathan Knight in the post. The 6'9" Syracuse native went for 27 and 7 against Mason, making 10 of 15 from the floor and seven of eight from the line. He's averaging 20.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game, good for 18th in the nation in Player Efficiency Rating.

After seeing him in person for the first time, he's even more impressive. He's a very smart player, with a great feel for the pick and roll, which he and Cohn ran several times to get layups. He uses his body effectively, sealing defenders to create easy baskets, and finishing well at the rim. For a big man, he's got a great touch, knocking down 80% of his free throws. It is no exaggeration to say that he's got a chance to be the best big man in my time as a Tribe fan, with much respect for the great Tim Rusthoven - Beasthoven never averaged close to 20/8, nor did he have Knight's skill.

There's a dark cloud to all this silvery-lined offensive excellence. Teams that live by the jumper tend to die by it on nights when it doesn't fall. But the bigger issue to me will be W&M's depth. Nine guys got time against Mason, but two of them got fewer than five minutes of run. When Knight picked up his third foul in the first half, the Wrens found themselves with five guards on the court, effectively. 6'7" reed-thin Paul Rowley guarded the post. They got away with it last night, largely because Knight managed not to pick up his fourth foul, but that's a narrow margin for error for our guys.

The Tribe goes to Columbus, OH to play Ohio State tomorrow, then takes a breather against D-III Milligan before heading to Fort Worth to take on 20th-ranked TCU in their final non-conference matchup. They're going to lose both road games, so they'll likely take a 7-4 record into CAA play.

If you'd have given me that after W&M's 100-64 loss to High Point to open the season, I'd have signed for it and never asked twice. I might've even called that a Gheorghemas miracle.