The GW
HATCHET
October 28, 2024 Vol. 121 Iss. 11
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER • SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904 • ONLINE AT GWHATCHET.COM
2024 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ARWEN CLEMANS | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
BASKETBALL GUIDE
ALL REV’D UP Buchanan, ‘never’ satisfied, returns for year two with Revs JADEN DEGRUY REPORTER
RYAN JAINCHILL BASKETBALL EDITOR
Darren Buchanan Jr. had no intention of leaving GW after his breakout redshirt freshman season. Many wondered if a second transfer was in the cards for Buchanan. With three years of eligibility left, a power four conference team could have offered the sophomore forward a lucrative Name Image Likeness deal that would trump any offer from GW. He finished with 15.6 points per game with 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in
his breakout campaign last season, cementing himself as not just a rising star on the team but in the NCAA. After the Revolutionaries finished the 2023-24 season with a 15-17 record and dead last in the conference, Buchanan faced a choice — stay at GW for another season or transfer for the second time after spending his freshman year at Virginia Tech. Buchanan decided to remain a Revolutionary. Ahead of the 2024-25 season, he has his sights set on the team’s triumph and filling the shoes of some of the team’s since-departed greats — not his individual play. It’s been a “challenge” to step into a leadership role on the team, Buchanan said in a press conference earlier this month, point-
ing to his younger age as a sophomore, but he’s “more than ready.” “Last year we lost, so my only goal this season is to win,” Buchanan said. “I couldn’t care less about what I do personally. I know everything that I want comes with the team’s success.” With six new players on the 2024-25 roster, Buchanan and his teammates spent the summer and preseason in the gym and on the court to learn each other’s playing tendencies, like being shot first or pass first. During breaks in practice and during games, Buchanan gives clarification to teammates while uplifting players who make mistakes and cracking jokes to keep the mood light. See BUCHANAN Page 3
Engel looks to lead as lone senior on women’s basketball team SANDRA KORETZ SPORTS EDITOR
Forward Maxine Engel is the lone senior on the women’s basketball team and the sole player who has spent her entire collegiate career with the Revs. Of the five starters at last year’s season opener against Howard, none are on this year’s roster, and out of the 1,812 points netted last season, just 244 are accounted for by Revolutionaries on the roster for the upcoming 2023-24 season. In her fourth year on the team, Engel has emerged as a key leader and veteran presence among players filled with youth and inexperience. But she wasn’t sure if basketball was in the cards
when she came to GW. Engel started out at GW as a walk-on, opting to join the team without a scholarship offer. She said leaving behind her basketball career in her high school days in Memphis, Tennessee, was not an option she was willing to accept. “I decided to play basketball because I didn’t want to regret walking away from it,” Engel said. “GW was a great school, firstly, academically, and just being in D.C., I met the staff, met the team and just realized I wanted to be a part of it. I walked on and worked really hard.” After a high school basketball career where Engel netted more than 1,000 points by the time she was a junior, she joined the Revolutionaries and started in 11 out of the 19 games she
played in during her freshman year, averaging 3.5 rebounds and 6.4 points per game. Her sophomore year, she started in two of the 14 games she played in, accumulating a total of 30 points across the season. In her first year, she also logged 66 rebounds, good for the most in her college career so far, compared to 38 during her junior year. Entering her fourth year with the team, Engel will lead nine new players who joined the squad for the upcoming season. Guard Paige Mott joins the Revolutionaries from Northwestern University, guard Makayla Andrews hails from Lafayette College and forward Mariona Plantes Fortuny comes from Lafayette and the international Spanish circuit. See ENGEL Page 3
Men’s basketball picks up transfers looking to turn tables RYAN JAINCHILL BASKETBALL EDITOR
Four transfer students will debut on the men’s basketball team this season, bringing a combined 14 seasons of Division I NCAA play onto the court.
Rafael Castro
The 6’11” redshirt junior forward towers over the Revs’ roster. The Dover, New Jersey, native committed to GW this spring after spending three seasons at Providence College, where he primarily was a bench piece. Castro says he hopes to harness his height in the paint this season to create opportunities for his teammates during their matchups this year. “I get a one-on-one matchup and a high or low post, killing that and making them double me and spreading it out to my teammates
for shots,” Castro said. Last season, Castro appeared in 34 games with the Friars, averaging 2.9 points per game on a Providence team that finished with a 10-10 record in Big East play.
eraged 13.5 points per game for the Tribe, paired with 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. “The main thing for me was to take a step in a different conference,” Moss said.
Trey Moss
Gerald Drumgoole Jr.
For this redshirt junior guard from Orlando, Florida, GW will mark the third school he has attended in four years, after hopping from the University of Florida to William & Mary, now bringing his skills to Foggy Bottom. Moss said he’s a two-way player that hopes to be dependable and trustworthy on and off the court. “My role would be just a twoway player, be an everyday guy,” Moss said. The Orlando, Florida, native began his college career at USF, where he spent two seasons with the Bulls, playing in 31 games his freshman season and eight games his sophomore season before redshirting and transferring. Last season, Moss av-
The 6’5″ guard from Rochester, New York, will suit up for the fourth school of his college basketball career by joining the Revs this season. Drumgoole finished out his undergraduate career at the University of Delaware last season. With the Blue Hens last season, Drumgoole averaged 13.9 points per game, paired with 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Sean Hansen
The 6’9″ graduate student forward from Ramsey, New Jersey, joins the Revs, adding another piece to a revamped front court. Before transferring from Cornell this fall, the former Big Red captain averaged 8.8 points per game last
ARWEN CLEMANS | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR From left to right, transfers Trey Moss, Rafael Castro, Sean Hanson and Gerald Drumgoole Jr. pose for a portrait in the Smith Center.
season with 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Hansen’s transfer to GW comes after three seasons at Cornell. “I just want us to win the A-10
Championship,” Hansen said. “I don’t really have any personal goals. My goals are more team oriented. I want to see us do big things. That’s my one goal.”