With the 2023-2024 season just a couple of days away, the men’s basketball team is gearing up to hit the ground running in its second season with Head Coach Chris Caputo at the helm. His first season with the Revs saw the squad attain their best record since the 2016-2017 campaign, finishing 16-16 and 10-8 in Atlantic 10 Conference play.
GW was the highest-scoring team in the A-10 last season, averaging 76.3 points per game. Conversely, they also allowed the most points per game, at 76.7, over four points more than second-worst La Salle, who gave up an average of 72.6. The team started hot in conference play, climbing to as high as fourth in the standings in late January, although the team’s porous defense led to a stretch in which they lost five of six games, save for a double-overtime win against Richmond.
The A-10 tournament saw the seventh-seeded Revs get eliminated in the second round — GW’s first game after earning a first-round bye — by 10th-seeded Saint Joseph’s. The team retained two key contributors, senior guard James Bishop who is returning for his final year of NCAA eligibility, and sophomore guard Maximus Edwards, the reigning A-10 Rookie of the Year.
Bishop is coming off a stellar season in which he averaged 21.6 points per game and 5.2 assists per game, was named to the A-10 All-Conference First Team and scored the third-most points in a season in program history with 691. While Edwards’ first season at GW saw him average an impressive 10.5 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game and 1.4 assists per game, Caputo said he is looking for improvement from the sophomore in his second season.
“He’s worked really hard to get in great shape and to be more detailed about some things,” Caputo said. “Very typical of a freshman to a sophomore year sort of transformation.”
Notably, the team lost guard Brendan Adams, who in his graduate student season finished second on the team averaging 17.1 points per game. His departure, along with other key contributors like forward Ricky Lindo Jr., leaves a gap that the team looks to fill with several new additions.
Graduate student center Babatunde “Stretch” Akingbola was a key transfer portal addition for the Revs after spending four years at Auburn University. Akingbola averaged 1.1 points per game in his time as a Tiger in addition to serving on the SEC Basketball Leadership Council his junior and senior seasons. Akingbola, who was born in Nigeria, is one of four international student-athletes on this year’s roster.
Hailing from Munich, Germany, sophomore guard and forward Benny Schröder is another international addition to this year’s team. Schröder spent his freshman year at the University of Oklahoma, where he appeared in six games in which he averaged 2.3 points per game. The 6’7” sophomore previously played for Bayern Munich’s U16 team and won three championships with the squad.
DMV native Garrett Johnson is aiming to play his first full season since his junior year of high school after injuries and a benign tumor sidelined him, causing him to miss his senior year at Episcopal High School and freshman year at Princeton University. In his three high school seasons, Johnson won Concorde District Player of the Year in 2019 and was named Second Team All-State in 2020. Listed at 6’8” and 210 pounds, the redshirt freshman will play both guard and forward for the Revs.
Returning redshirt junior forward Keegan Harvey has been working on evolving his offensive game during the offseason. After sustaining an injury last year that ended his season, Harvey is eager to return to the court after using the time to reflect.
“Rather than just shooting, I’m working on my dribbling and my layups, too, to be a more well-rounded player,” Harvey said.
As the program looks to build on their performance last season, Harvey has a goal in mind for this year’s team.
“Getting better after each game because that’s what really matters,” Harvey said. “We want to be starting off strong and finishing even stronger when we go into March.”
Despite significant offseason turnover, Harvey said chemistry isn’t an issue for this year’s team.
“We all have each other’s backs. We have our best interest in mind, each and every player,” Harvey said. “We all want to see each other succeed. I feel like that’s what really separates us from teams at GW in the past.”
The Revolutionaries will tip off their season Nov. 6 in the Smith Center against Stonehill College at 8 p.m.
