Yeah their 3-point numbers aren’t great, but all in a very small sample size. No reason to think they can’t or won’t improve significantly given development and opportunity.
2021-2022 Mason roster
- Thread starter CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY
- Start date
Agree, lockdown defenders generally are starters because in an ideal world, you want to keep the other teams best player from getting into a rhythm to start. It’s much easier to get them off on a cold streak than it is to come try to cool them down after they’ve torched us. That being said I have no idea if Gaines will start. I personally would like to see it, but I know he’s also one of our biggest unknowns at the moment. Will be interested to see how it shakes out over the summer.
If Gaines is the defensive stopper he is advertised to be he'll most likely start. If he's as good as KE says I see him being able to lock down anyone 1 - 3. Watanabe at GW absolutely owned Otis much to my/our dismay. I still hate the "flop" but I'll save that for the correct thread.
The video I have seen leads me to believe he will play and contribute this year.
where is he? Recruits report to schools in July. Maybe playing for youth national team?
He's not on the U19 Senegal team. No clue where he is.
He'll be here later this month
Quentin Daniels
Hall of Famer
I went w/Hartwell (at least on Day 1) but otherwise same thinking.
I'm not ready to give up on Gaines as a scoring threat either. And I know that's an odd thing to say when you look at his stats from last season, but the guy was playing sixth off the bench behind a ridiculous rotation of 3 NBA draft picks (two first-rounders & 1 lottery pick), a 5-star do-it-all player, and a former top 100 recruit/3 point shooter. That's a a damn tough rotation to see minutes, not to mention getting into a rhythm to take shots or being the best option to take the shot.
If you go back to his freshman year, before 3 of those 5 where on the team or eligible to play, he still wasn't filling up the basket but did have some flashes.
* 4-7 in 10 min. in his very first game against UNC Asheville
* 6 game stretch from Nov. 30th thru Dec. where he was 4-4 (x3), 2-2 (x2), & 4-6 in FT attempts showing he could get the basket and draw fouls.
* 6 pts against Arkansas going 4-5 from the FT line and 7 pts a few weeks later going 3-4 on FGs.
He's not a Tony Skinn or Lamar Butler, but not 100% sold yet that he's just a one dimensional player either. W/the opportunity for more minutes and a regular spot in the rotation, I can see where Gaines becomes a player that regularly drives to the basket to dunk or draw the foul, as well as a threat to shoot a mid-range jumper if there's not a hand in his face.
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With the scoring we'll have on the floor between Schwartz, Cooper, and Oduro, Ticket doesn't need to become a polished scorer overnight. He really just needs to develop One Thing he can do offensively to not be a liability. Can be getting to the bucket on back cuts, first one down the floor for runouts, spot up 3s, doesn't really matter what - just develop one skill on offense that lets you score 6-8 a game and that's perfectly fine for a fifth starter/lockdown defender type. I'm high on him for a lot of reasons - seems like a great kid, elite defender, and as QD pointed out, was buried behind some outrageous talent at Tennessee.
I have fever dreams of him becoming the guy we put on Lofton, Gilyard, Perkins, Hall, etc. Really hope it works out because I love everything I hear about him.
I have fever dreams of him becoming the guy we put on Lofton, Gilyard, Perkins, Hall, etc. Really hope it works out because I love everything I hear about him.
Couldn’t possibly agree more
FreeGunston12
All-American
Has anyone made a comparison to former Kim English teammate, Tayshaun Prince? If he can be the Mason version, that'd be fantastic.
whoa! putting a ton of stock into the kid who played 50 mins last year. He also would need to grow a couple of inches to make that comparison work wouldn't he?
FreeGunston12
All-American
Well I did pretty much bash his shooting earlier. Not predicting anything. In fact, I think he will see much less floor time than many on these boards.
Just with all the talk of him being a defensive stopper, and given his height and lankiness, the comparison came to mind. Yes, Tayshaun was a whole 2 inches taller. He also famously had a 7-2 wingspan. But this is George Mason and not the Detroit Pistons.
I thought Gaines was an inch shorter than he is and Prince was an inch taller than he is...
Because he’s looking for a guy who will be content with playing 5-8 mpg at best behind Oduro?
One thing to remember from last season -- Oduro frequently got into foul trouble early that sent him to the bench. I think most of us agree that was a result of Paulsen's defensive schemes more than anything so it is probably a non issue this season, but adding some depth down low def. addresses a need, even if it doesn't seem like our most pressing need at the moment. In KimPossible I trust on this one.
Don't feel bad. I thought Coach English was only 6-3 and had much larger nipples.
it certainly is a need, I might even call it our greatest. PG has 4 bodies at least (maybe none of them are our PG of the future, but we have options). The 5 has Oduro and three fringe 4's currently. Maybe it was just the defensive scheme (ole outside defense that allowed a one on one at the rim repeatedly) but I am not buying it as a lot of the fouls resulted from miss timed shot blocking and really slow reaction time and feet on defensive transitioning.
Absolutely … before today we had exactly one big who has played more than garbage minutes in a college game. Adding experienced depth at the 5 can never hurt
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Patriot Brew Blog/Newsletter