Laying a Foundation

Wearing a sweat-drenched shirt and a smile, Maceo Jack declared Thursday's GW men's basketball workout a success.

After launching more than 300 jumpers over 45 minutes of non-stop action, the sophomore from New York knew the best measure of his performance would arrive to his phone via a color-coded chart the next morning, though.

Following every workout under head coach Jamion Christian, the Colonials receive a report detailing their shooting percentages broken down by spot on the floor. If someone's not keeping up, the rest of the group knows it.

"It's definitely a different mindset we've got to have," said Jack, who made a team-high 64 3-pointers last season. "Everything matters. We want to focus on every single shot and every single detail. It's really nice to have that type of accountability because it will only pay off in the end when the season comes."

Christian has made the most of a busy first month in Foggy Bottom, laying the foundation for his vision for the program. The new coach wants to bring an analytical approach to everything the Colonials do, in addition to creating a family atmosphere that stretches far beyond basketball.

That's meant carefully choreographed and evaluated workouts to reinforce the values Christian prizes on the court and nearly as much work off it to get to know the players and build trust in his plan for the Buff and Blue.

That brand of culture won't be built overnight, but Christian believes his squad is headed in the right direction.

"The guys have been great," said Christian, who guided Mount St. Mary's to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances before leading a quick turnaround at Siena last season. "They've allowed me to coach them. They've listened. They've done what we've asked them to do, and they've really continued to improve, which has been exciting.

"Usually after the first two weeks or three weeks, the guys start to die down a little bit. Our guys have not. They've stayed hungry, they've stayed focused, and I think we've grown closer together as a team."

Christian set the tone for what he's all about in his first meeting with the group last month, asking each of the Colonials to share one thing they wanted out of their college experience going forward. To the delight of the coach, many of the responses had little to do with basketball.

Each morning, Christian sends a link to the team group chat meant to highlight a theme on his mind. Slowly but surely, the Colonials are understanding the coach's formula for success.

"It's really cool because they show us his values and what he really cares about in his program and what he wants us to follow through with," Jack said. "It's nice to have a little reminder of that every day."

Christian's plan is laid out in a GoogleDoc always ready to be accessed and edited on his phone. The "Action Document" is part to-do list, part road map for the program's future.

Some items are simple tasks for Christian to complete ("Buy new whiteboards"), but most are less tangible goals for the team to be tracked over time ("Grow Confidence").

His first month checklist? "Get them working harder. Get their enthusiasm up. Observe our natural toughness and natural togetherness."

The goal is to learn as much about the group as he can now, so the Colonials are set to dive into preparations for the season when they report for summer school on July 1.

"We're not really trying to make a rushed judgement on playing time or anything like that," Christian said. "It's about us figuring out what we have within that locker room – how we can maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. It could be a position for somebody. It could be a role change. Whatever it is that we think is going to help our team win and be at our very best."

Many of the workouts so far, split into individual and full-team sessions, have focused almost exclusively on passing and shooting, fundamentals integral to Christian's preferred style of play.

A staple of the coach's philosophy, the reports include a grade for each player – 70 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent on two-point field goals earns an "A", 60-69 percent from 3 and 60-74 percent on 2s is a "B", and so on.

"You're either going to get in there and get better or you're going to continue to be last on the chart – that's on you," Christian said. "Obviously, our time is limited, so we've got to build this internal motivation within the guys that's just really special."

Along the way, Christian is teaching the Colonials to sweat the small stuff. They run a sprint to the opposite end line and back when they air ball a jumper or leave the ball unprotected for the coach to swipe it.

"You've got to pay more attention, have more focus and limit your bad plays," sophomore captain Justin Mazzulla said. "The team with the least amount of bad plays usually wins the game, so you want to do what you can to control that."

On Thursday, Christian celebrated his 37th birthday with a high-tempo session. The coach bounded onto the Smith Center court and doled out a round of high-fives before sending the squad into a shooting drill with an enthusiastic "Hey, let's have a great day!"

Hundreds of shots and one spirited rendition of Happy Birthday later, the Colonials left the floor confident they'd done just that, taking another small step forward on the long march to the 2019-2020 season.

"Right now, we're just building the groundwork," Mazzulla said. "We're getting the right bricks and trying to build from the bottom up. We're taking it one day at a time, one brick at a time."

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