Exhibition Game #1 - St. Thomas vs George Mason - Mon • Oct 23, 2023 • 07:00 PM

[By George.]

No one is anointing Okojie, he will obviously have growing pains and did last night. But his size, physicality, and quickness are pretty evident.

Could Dinkins improve? Maybe. Does he have better/more talented players in front of him? Yes.

Oh…I’m anointing him alright

All HAIL Baraka

 

[GMUgemini]

I'll never argue depth. I just personally don't see him getting consistent playing time unless a number of more problematic scenarios unfold in front of him on the roster.

I think that’s hard to say at this point. He might not play or he might get a consistent 15 a game. I think it’s pretty clear that when we go live Polite is getting at least 30 a night. Maddox also looks like he’s going to be getting over 30 a night. Outside of that, who knows what the rotation will look like.

 

[thebiasedannouncer]

I'll never argue depth. I just personally don't see him getting consistent playing time unless a number of more problematic scenarios unfold in front of him on the roster.

I think I agree with people that we may see Dink in some FT situations if we don't see improvement on that, but he is noticeably slower than the three other PGs we have and that imo might keep him out of the system.

 

[EXpatriot13]

I think that’s hard to say at this point. He might not play or he might get a consistent 15 a game. I think it’s pretty clear that when we go live Polite is getting at least 30 a night. Maddox also looks like he’s going to be getting over 30 a night. Outside of that, who knows what the rotation will look like.

I just don't see how Dinkins jumps guys like Wood and Okojie who were brought in by Tony's staff, unless they get hurt or flat out stink.

I'm not trying to s*** on Devin but he's in a situation where the new staff brought in new guys at the position he plays...and he's coming off a freshman season where he showed little on a team that lacked depth.

 

[GMU_DCU]

6 assists on 22 Field Goals, would like to see that number increase. Not sure if it was lack of 3 point shooting cutting down on easy assists or having the freshman running the point most of the night. Still impressed with Okojie and Maddox. Hall, Billups, Newton, Kelly and Ball didn't show much, but it's still early. Did like the rebounding from Hall, expected his offensive game to be more polished though. Onward to WVU.

 

[smccart5]

LOVED the Henry slams. He should get plenty of those opportunities with better guard play

 

[gmujim92]

6 assists on 22 Field Goals, would like to see that number increase. Not sure if it was lack of 3 point shooting cutting down on easy assists or having the freshman running the point most of the night. Still impressed with Okojie and Maddox. Hall, Billups, Newton, Kelly and Ball didn't show much, but it's still early. Did like the rebounding from Hall, expected his offensive game to be more polished though. Onward to WVU.

Feels like it’s gonna take Hall some games to figure out where he fits in the offense and build confidence in that role. Is he primarily a guard/slasher or forward/banger? Looked for most of the game like a guy who can do a lot of stuff well but wasn’t really sure how/when to do it within the system.

I think it will come with time on task.

 

[gmutom]

Feels like it’s gonna take Hall some games to figure out where he fits in the offense and build confidence in that role. Is he primarily a guard/slasher or forward/banger? Looked for most of the game like a guy who can do a lot of stuff well but wasn’t really sure how/when to do it within the system.

I think it will come with time on task.

The first name to pop in my head when I watched Hall last night was Ian Boyd. He just strikes me as a high-motor guy who will do everything and anything to help his team win.

Ian was kind of a jack of all trades in that he learned to score inside and outside, he rebounded, played defense, took charges, and wasn't afraid to take the big shot. Hall's not there yet, but he certainly has the talent, athletic ability and swagger to be a very similar player.

 

[gmujim92]

The first name to pop in my head when I watched Hall last night was Ian Boyd. He just strikes me as a high-motor guy who will do everything and anything to help his team win.

Ian was kind of a jack of all trades in that he learned to score inside and outside, he rebounded, played defense, took charges, and wasn't afraid to take the big shot. Hall's not there yet, but he certainly has the talent, athletic ability and swagger to be a very similar player.

My Mason player comp is Pearson, but with more guard skills and less power. I think we’d all be pleased if he develops into a badass on that order.

 

[smccart5]

My Mason player comp is Pearson, but with more guard skills and less power. I think we’d all be pleased if he develops into a badass on that order.

Ian Boyd will forever be in Mason lore for his 3 game winning shots in a row, a truly unbelievable accomplishment. With that being said, lets all hope he has more of a Pearson career.

Big question for Hall---does he have post moves?

 

[GMU79]

Ian Boyd will forever be in Mason lore for his 3 game winning shots in a row, a truly unbelievable accomplishment. With that being said, lets all hope he has more of a Pearson career.

Big question for Hall---does he have post moves?

Mr. ESPN highlights!!

 

[FreeGunston12]

Feels like it’s gonna take Hall some games to figure out where he fits in the offense and build confidence in that role. Is he primarily a guard/slasher or forward/banger? Looked for most of the game like a guy who can do a lot of stuff well but wasn’t really sure how/when to do it within the system.

I think it will come with time on task.

Clearly Hall is going to end up primarily playing the 4, and might regret losing all that weight.

I won't criticize him too much though. And I will also defend Kelly a bit. Holding St Thomas to 2 of 21 inside the arc without fouling a bunch . . . That might be "patriot pressure ". 32 -2 advantage on points in the paint too. I don't see rebounding numbers, but Hall pulled down a bunch.

 

[gmujim92]

Ian Boyd will forever be in Mason lore for his 3 game winning shots in a row, a truly unbelievable accomplishment. With that being said, lets all hope he has more of a Pearson career.

Big question for Hall---does he have post moves?

His UNLV film showed him scoring around the rim so I’d have to say yes.

He missed the shot, but Tony ran a nice set right after halftime where he pulled Kelly out to the high post and got Hall a duck-in about 5 feet from the rim.

Reminded me of 2010-11 when L moved Mike Mo to the high post so Pearson would have room to operate down low.

Getting Hall post-up opportunities against guards could be a big mismatch for him.

 

[GMUgemini]

Skinn tried to get Hall posted up on smaller players a couple of times and he just didn’t finish the play. Doesn’t mean he won’t later. It’s good to get him reps now in a game that doesn’t matter and that we dominated for large stretches.

 

[Herndon]

I think people are a little confused about patriot pressure. In our podcast, Tony said that he wanted PP to be more of an identity than a reference to our defense. We will play a soft 2-2-1 full court D that drops back into a matchup zone. It’s just going to be for show sometimes but having it as our base allows us to deploy pressure at anytime.

I don’t think we were trying to smother them last night, that doesn’t really help them too much. Our first exhibition game was always going to look pretty vanilla but I liked that we were always in the 2-2-1. We saw some 1-3-1 half court too and I like a matchup zone half court. It allows our guards to be more active in passing lanes and on the ball. We got a good amount of steals just playing active D.

There’s a vibe switch and we can ALL feel it. Welcome home Tony.

What was the structure of the Matchup Zone mostly? Like a classic Temple 3-2? I know you mentioned a 1-3-1 but that sounded like a switchup.

 

[GMUgemini]

What was the structure of the Matchup Zone mostly? Like a classic Temple 3-2? I know you mentioned a 1-3-1 but that sounded like a switchup.

2-2-1 that collapses into matchup zone in the half court mostly.

 

[Herndon]

2-2-1 that collapses into matchup zone in the half court mostly.

Right, but what is the structure of the matchup zone that is collapsed into?

 

[GMUgemini]

Right, but what is the structure of the matchup zone that is collapsed into?

It switches rather regularly. Could be running a 1-3-1 or a 2-2-1 or a point zone that looks like a 2-3 but really isn’t (I think I might have even seen a 2-1-2 with a defender guarding the FT line at one point against St. Thomas).

The biggest feature is that Skinn wants to put pressure on whoever is the ballhandler, especially on the perimeter and so they’re going to largely be man marked and you might even see some switches to keep them out of the paint, but the off ball defenders are marking zones.

Edit: those of you who know more basketball than me check my work. Am I describing it right?

 

[tblack33]

It switches rather regularly. Could be running a 1-3-1 or a 2-2-1 or a point zone that looks like a 2-3 but really isn’t (I think I might have even seen a 2-1-2 with a defender guarding the FT line at one point against St. Thomas).

The biggest feature is that Skinn wants to put pressure on whoever is the ballhandler, especially on the perimeter and so they’re going to largely be man marked and you might even see some switches to keep them out of the paint, but the off ball defenders are marking zones.

Edit: those of you who know more basketball than me check my work. Am I describing it right?

Mainly looked like more of a matchup 2-3 to me IIRC.

 

[gmutom]

My Mason player comp is Pearson, but with more guard skills and less power. I think we’d all be pleased if he develops into a badass on that order.

I have to give Jim props for this comparison. I knew Hall would be a good player, but I wasn’t prepared for him to be a prolific scorer and rebounder this early (if at all). Like Ryan, he is a matchup nightmare, because he can score off the dribble, post up and score on the block, and stroke it from 3.