2021-2022 Mason roster

[Falco]

Jones is the one guy that English has referred to as a developmental player, and everyone's got him as a starter or 6th man? I love the potential too but I'll hold out until we hear something different.

In Mbaye's recruiting videos he talks about how he wants to play outside. It's clearly important to him so I think we'll see him at the 3/4 for the most part and almost never at the 5.

Agree that Oduro, Cooper, and Schwartz are the 3 definite starters and after that it's a bunch of question marks. Coach spent a ton of time with Ronny when he got here but then said that Mike Gray reminded him of McKinley Wright. Mbaye looks like the best natural talent remaining but who knows how quickly his game will translate to the NCAA. Ticket is a lockdown defender with two years of experience and a relationship with KE already. However the starting five shakes out, our eight man rotation is gonna be as strong as we've seen since the early Hewitt days.

I hate to say this, but the current roster reminds me of the Hewitt days. Good front-court, and questionable backcourt.

 

[gmujim92]

I hate to say this, but the current roster reminds me of the Hewitt days. Good front-court, and questionable backcourt.

Nothing at all questionable about Cooper. But beyond him there is a lot up for grabs

 

[JPgmuswim]

I hate to say this, but the current roster reminds me of the Hewitt days. Good front-court, and questionable backcourt.

PG is the big question mark right now. But this roster has been built in 3 months. Can’t fairly judge a new coach in his year 1 roster. He’s recruiting some huge targets currently.

 

[sleeperpick]

The way KE posts about Polite you have to think PG is his to lose... I also like Cooper bringing the ball up if Polite gets a little out of control and needs to take a seat. Hopefully Hartwell improves. If Gray can get back to he explosiveness of his soph year of high school I like him to see some mins at backup PG as well. Really hope because of PG depth I don't have to see much of XJ this year (unless miraculously his entire body has healed).

Definite starters are Polite, Cooper, Schwartz and Oduro... your guess as good as any for who fills that 5th spot. I really doubt it is Jones or Gaines so that leaves Mbaye or Henry to me.

 

[Falco]

I want to be clear, I’m very very happy with KE. I think the program is in good hands.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Point guard is a question mark, at the start of the season it’s gonna go to whoever put in the most work this off-season I’d imagine, but I also don’t think that will be set in stone and we’ll see English play with some different combos to find what works for his scorers. I don’t see us getting a ton of points out of the PG position so might come down to who’s the best defensively or who can manage a game the best. I’m not ruling anyone out, including the transfers who aren’t necessarily traditional PGs.

Then some combo of Gaines/Schwartz/Cooper, but for some reason I see Cooper ending up in a 6th man situation. Would be nice to have a shooter come off the bench for once.

Oduro is a lock at the 5 and anyone who says otherwise has paid no attention this off-season.

4 is another question mark and I think we’ll see it move around as English. Could see a scenario where we go small and put our best 5 on the court. There’s minutes to be had there for either Freshman to take though. My long shot call is Gadsden takes it, he had a great ending to last season and would be my pick for biggest jump out of our returning players, but tough to tell.

Cooper as a 6th man? Have you compared his numbers to Gaines? There is no way Cooper is not starting. Gaines is a much better candidate for 6th man IMO. I'd also much rather bring defense off the bench compared to shooting.

 

[tblack33]

Cooper as a 6th man? Have you compared his numbers to Gaines? There is no way Cooper is not starting. Gaines is a much better candidate for 6th man IMO. I'd also much rather bring defense off the bench compared to shooting.

Def. an argument to be made for that. My point of comparison is the talent from their respective programs -- Gaines is coming from a much more talented program where there weren't necessarily minutes to go around for him, I wouldn't look at his numbers as indicative of his ability in this case, but who knows. In either situation, I think we are in a better spot than last season, and it'll be exciting to watch two talented guys compete for minutes at those spots, and hopefully make each other better in the process.

 

[mkaufman1]

Good to see some off season discussion.

I'm not really sure who is going to be starters. I do think that Cooper/Schwartz/Oduro are the locks at the 2/3 and 5 pending something miraculous. I think our defense is going to be much improved with the length ability and experience the new guys bring.

I could see Gaines being the 6th man off the bench probably behind Cooper and Schwartz. Just depends on what he shows in practices etc. If his defense is the big piece of the puzzle, he will get some quality minutes for sure.

Like everyone said PG is the big question mark. Polite and Hartwell will probably have the best chance over Gray and XJ at starting at least to begin. If I had to guess today, I would probably go with Polite just because he played better towards the end of last season.

Who plays the 4 is another question I have as does everyone. I'm guessing its Henry's to lose at this juncture. Hopefully Gadsden can help there as well. Obviously Mbaye and Jones could possibly take some minutes but I don't think they will at the beginning. They'll need some adjustment to D1 basketball.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

But Oduro and Henry are quite literally the only "bigs" on the team.

Kind of. But if you look at some of our past Bigs like AJ Wilson, Jalen Jenkins, Ryan Pearson, or Will Thomas, they were all close to that 6'7" 235 lbs range. D'Shawn Schwartz is 6'7" & 232 lbs. Nobody is ever going to confuse Schwartz w/Jai Lewis or Darryl Monroe, but if CKE wants to play a 4-Guard offense w/Oduro in the middle, guys like Schwartz and Gaines potentially give him that flexibility w/out being completely overrun in the paint on defense.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Cooper is an all around baller. He’s a streaky shooter but his form looks great. He shot 50% from 2, 37% from 3 and 79% from FT. He started and played in 31 games and had games of 8 and 10 threes shot. He is not scared to shoot it. He has some bad stretches last season but he’s been a shooter since high school. We need guys confident to step into 3’s, we’ll take 37% all day.

Also averaged 5 rebounds a game which would've tied for third w/AJ & Javon on our roster last year and 2.4 Assists which would have led our roster. (& also 2.4 turnovers which would've been second).

Agreed on Cooper looking like an all-around baller. He was 2nd Team All OVC w/out being in the top 5 in any single category, but Top 10-20 in all of them. Looking at his game log, had 3 games where he went for 20+ points, had 5 games where he grabbed 7+ boards, and 7 games where he had 4+ assists. Definitely not a one-trick pony.

 

[GSII]

Cooper is going to the biggest impact player of the 3 transfers, imo. Like QD said, he is productive everywhere. I'm just thrilled to have some true and capable ballers on the team finally. Everything looks great up to this point. Let's hope we just don't throw the ball out there and hope the players figure it out like The Virus did.

 

[gmujim92]

I would’ve considered it unlikely for Mason to lose the A-10 Rookie of the Year and then upgrade that position, but that’s exactly what KE did. Pretty impressive.

 

[GMUgemini]

I just don't see Henry being able to remake himself into a perimeter player in one offseason and think he'll be best suited for being the one inside around 4 shooters. This might change against some of the "bigger" teams we play, but a lot of A-10 teams run small lineups anyway.

I also wouldn't predict whether or not Mbaye or Jones will be ready to start right away. If KE is right and Jones really is a PAC 12 level player, I can't see why he couldn't start on day one. His experience with the U19s and training with senior A-League players should give him a leg up on being used to the speed of the college game.

It's also entirely possible that Gaines does take that last spot. He can supposedly guard 4 positions. Schwartz is also big enough to guard most opposing 4s, so it could be Gaines winds up being your "3" and Schwartz your "4" (not that this distinction is going to matter much in a 4-out).

 

[Dawgs99]

Good to see some off season discussion.

I'm not really sure who is going to be starters. I do think that Cooper/Schwartz/Oduro are the locks at the 2/3 and 5 pending something miraculous. I think our defense is going to be much improved with the length ability and experience the new guys bring.

I could see Gaines being the 6th man off the bench probably behind Cooper and Schwartz. Just depends on what he shows in practices etc. If his defense is the big piece of the puzzle, he will get some quality minutes for sure.

Like everyone said PG is the big question mark. Polite and Hartwell will probably have the best chance over Gray and XJ at starting at least to begin. If I had to guess today, I would probably go with Polite just because he played better towards the end of last season.

Who plays the 4 is another question I have as does everyone. I'm guessing its Henry's to lose at this juncture. Hopefully Gadsden can help there as well. Obviously Mbaye and Jones could possibly take some minutes but I don't think they will at the beginning. They'll need some adjustment to D1 basketball.

IMO, Henry does not have the skill set to play the 4. To me, he's the backup to Josh at the 5. I can't see him playing away from the basket in a 4 out system.

 

[mkaufman1]

IMO, Henry does not have the skill set to play the 4. To me, he's the backup to Josh at the 5. I can't see him playing away from the basket in a 4 out system.

Agreed that he doesn’t seem like he could play away from the basket. But perhaps his focus would be more of a defensive 4 helping out the guards and wings.

no idea honestly, but I guess we’ll find out during the season.

 

[Mason2005]

Cooper/Gaines/Schwartz/Jones/Oduro

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Hartwell and Gaines would be a pretty nice offensive and defensive first guys off the bench combo...

Wouldn't surprise me to see XJ and one of the young forwards be spot starters.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Polite
Cooper
Schwartz
Ticket
Oduro

Polite will be good in transition. With more veteran guards around him, he’ll be able to play more loose, he won’t have to bring the ball up every time.

Here's what I hope shakes out:

1: Polite
2: Cooper
3: Schwartz
4: Mbaye or Jones
5: Oduro

Polite
Cooper
Schwartz
Mbaye
Oduro

Polite
Cooper
Schwartz
Jones
Oduro

Lots of predictions for Polite to start at the PG position. The biggest concern I have (not that CKE has consulted me) is his atrocious shooting. Polite was 13.6% from the 3-Pt line making only 3 baskets on 22 attempts, 2 of those were in the vcu game. The only guards we've had that've shot worse this century are Marquise Moore's 1-for-16 clunker in the 15-16 season, Rashad Whack in 2010-11 (although that was on just 10 attempts) and Gabe Norwood's Soph year in 04-05 (just 15 attempts & played more a G-F hybrid role).

And he's not much better in the paint. His 29.3% FG percentage puts him dead last on the team. Even adjusting for and pulling out his 3 Pt shooting, he's still last on the team at 38.9% in the paint. If he can't improve on that and extend his range, defenses will be able to collapse on him all day and help close out those lanes for teammates to drive and dunk.

Fun fact while looking up some numbers, Bryon Allen was a fellow bricker, shooting 15.4% his freshman year, but brought that up to 39.1% his senior year. Vlad Moldoveanu was also atrocious his only season at Mason at 15.6% on 26 attempts before going on to average 37-39% all three years at AU. So there is hope.

 

[sleeperpick]

Lots of predictions for Polite to start at the PG position. The biggest concern I have (not that CKE has consulted me) is his atrocious shooting. Polite was 13.6% shooting percentage from the 3-Pt line and made a grand total of 3 baskets on 22 attempts. And 2 of those were in the vcu game. The only guards we've had that've shot worse this century are Marquise Moore's 1-for-16 clunker in the 15-16 season, Rashad Whack in 2010-11 (although that was on just 10 attempts) and Gabe Norwood's Soph year in 04-05 (just 15 attempts & played more a G-F hybrid role).

And he's not much better in the paint. His 29.3% FG percentage puts him dead last on the team. Even adjusting for and pulling out his 3 Pt shooting, he's still last on the team at 38.9% in the paint. If he can't improve on that and extend his range, defenses will be able to collapse on him all day and help close out those lanes for teammates to drive and dunk.

Fun fact while looking up some numbers, Bryon Allen was a fellow bricker, shooting 15.4% his freshman year, but brought that up to 39.1% his senior year. Vlad Moldoveanu was also atrocious his only season at Mason at 15.6% on 26 attempts before going on to average 37-39% all three years at AU. So there is hope.

Very fair point towards Polite... only problem is Hartwell is bad at pretty much everything other than wide open 3's and XJ looked about 70 years old playing basketball last year due to some injury. Not sure we have a great PG option right now but Polite was certainly better than Hartwell and XJ last year. Maybe Gray steals the job (that would be best case scenario)

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Very fair point towards Polite... only problem is Hartwell is bad at pretty much everything other than wide open 3's and XJ looked about 70 years old playing basketball last year due to some injury. Not sure we have a great PG option right now but Polite was certainly better than Hartwell and XJ last year. Maybe Gray steals the job (that would be best case scenario)

Sometimes that's enough though. If you've got someone who can knock them down consistently, you have to respect that and keep someone in his face all the time on that drive-and-dish.

But the other thing Hartwell does (or doesn't do) is not turn the ball over. Hartwell only averages a turnover every 26.9 minutes on the floor. For Polite, that's close to double at a turnover every 14.3 minutes. To be fair, Hartwell was a Junior w/three years in the system and Polite a true freshman in a Covid year where practice times were cut short, so you'd expect that ceiling to be a lot higher.

Polite also has a higher assist rate, averaging one 11.6 minutes on the floor compared to 16.1 minutes for Hartwell. Part of that though is Hartwell's ability to actually make a shot. Polite went w/out a made basket in 11 of the 19 games he saw minutes and did have at least one attempt in 9 of those 11.