Exhibition Game: John Hopkins University, Thursday, November 1st, 7 PM, ESPN+

[gmujim92]

Everyone thinks Otis is getting a break this with the added depth. I think he has to work even harder but in a different dept in order to get the rest of these guys' minds right. Didn't watch the game but it sounds like nerves were frazzled a bit.

I think they just need to find the happy zone between being aggressive and being smart. That can be difficult against a team that by all rights shouldn’t be able to hang with you. Easy to get frustrated and start doing too much when things go badly.

Hopefully our guys get back to moving the ball and creating good shots because we only have 2 (maybe 3) players whose strength is beating their man off the dribble.

 

[Falco]

Everyone seemed slow except Otis and Kier. I am going to make a conscious effort to not over react as I did last year. Maybe it was a good thing that Mason played poorly so they bust their butt before Penn.

 

[Five Two]

I suggest letting the AD know how you feel in the form of a haiku or a sonnet or if you must, one of those anonymous notes where you cut individual letters out of magazines.

What are the crazies going to do when magazines are only available in digital and not print? I would struggle trying to craft a haiku.

 

[mkaufman1]

I agree but what concerns me is we returned everybody from last year, added Reuter and some good freshmen AND we had the advantage of an oversees trip that enabled us to play games and practice early (not to mention build chemistry). The unforced turnovers and missed wide-open shots were very surprising.

There's always going to be rust in the first game (exhibition or not), but I don't think anybody saw that performance coming tonight against an undersized D3 team. Lots to work on, but the positive like you said is that we have a lot of time to work on it.

I hear you, I think we all expected something more like the last time Mason played an exhibition game (a 40 point win) versus limping to a 10 point win over a D3 school. That said, lots to work on, plenty of time to do it.

I definitely agree that there was forcing of things and trying to do too much. There was no reason why they had to keep trying to make hard passes versus keeping it simple and getting good shots etc. Oh well.

I just got back from not watching the game and I can say definitively it is time to panic.

I suggest letting the AD know how you feel in the form of a haiku or a sonnet or if you must, one of those anonymous notes where you cut individual letters out of magazines.

Can you ask for someone to set themselves on fire too?

 

[dr. gunnie]

I have it on again right now - it's as ugly today as it was last night.

I wasn't expecting perfection, but I thought we would have less rust with so much returning and so much practice time before the season.

After hearing Paulsen gush about Reuter, I was expecting a lot more.

I'm pumping the brakes.

 

[mason89]

Yes, our guys looked shaky especially on offense, but this was a good example of why exhibition games in a real game atmosphere is more important than a controlled scrimmage. It gives the players the opportunity to get those first game jitters out of their system. If you noticed, most of the missed shots were long, not short...an example of too much adrenaline. Most...not all...of the turnovers were from trying to do too much, not from lack of concentration. I would prefer this type of game over a blowout...more of an opportunity to see what is wrong and fix it. Many "teachable moments."

Finally, I know this was a D-III team, but they're a pretty good D-III team (preseason ranked #15). Also, their head coach is a former Paulsen assistant, so he knew what he was going to run.

No need to hit the panic button yet.

 

[99 Patriot]

Agreed with most of what I've read. Also, make no mistake, John Hopkins was awful. This was not playing an underrated team, they were really bad.

Maybe most confusing to me was all the high ball screens that just led to a second defender blocking the lane, especially screens that started on the wing with Justin or Otis going short side. Our bigs never really rolled or popped, just just clogged things up and we did it a LOT. It did open 2 successful backdoors and about 8 more that resulted in turnovers. In the second half we ran our offense through the post on a few consecutive possessions and both times it led to wide open looks, one missed open 3 from Goanar and one easy lay-up from Justin. Would like to see more of that.

While Otis and Justin were stronger and had some nice drives, they also didn't value the ball nearly enough. I'd actually say Ian was maybe our strongest player out there. He is usually about a 4th option when on the court, but he did his normal little things, seemed quicker on defense and was appropriately aggressive.

Lot to work on obviously. The defensive intensity was stepped up, but I think guys need to figure out their roles on this new, deeper team.

 

[EXpatriot13]

Yeah it’s a seperate app

Maybe it's different for Google devices, but it's not a separate app. It's built into the ESPN App under the "Watch" section.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I was probably most disappointed with the new short sleeve hoodie shooting shirts. I don't mind short sleeve hoodies - that's all the rage with the kids, I get it... but pretty blah with the yellow and one color name in green on the front.

 

[gmubrian]

During our final four season, especially during the tournament, I would always have fans of the the teams we had just beaten tell me how their team just didn't look good, or had an rare bad game, etc. Oh how I hated hearing that over and over again. I would explain to them that our team was defensively focused, so that is what we do, we make the other team look like they are playing poorly.

Well, Hopkins led the entire DIII in defensive efficiency last year. I know they are undersized compared to us, but so was our final four team (compared to some of the power houses we went up against) and they managed to make the other teams offense look bad.

So, just a thought, maybe a good Hopkins defense made our offense struggle more than some would have expected against a DIII opponent.

 

[GMUSig03]

I expected to come on the boards this morning to see lots of the sky is falling over reactions - thanks for not disappointing!

We had a terrible shooting night (Otis missed all 3 FT's for god's sake), and were slopping with the ball in an exhibition with an extended rotation. Just more fuel for Paulsen's coaching fire for next Tuesday. My prediction is that we look like a totally different team against Penn.

My few takeaways from open scrimmage and exhibition:
*I predict Kier will be leading scorer
*Otis will stay the same, or have a slight dip in scoring percentage, but lead A10 in assists
*Boyd will be most improved player
*Reuter will average a double double (note that he only played 20 minutes last night) or close to it.

 

[Falco]

We had a terrible shooting night (Otis missed all 3 FT's for god's sake),

I saw he front rim all the misses. Usually that means you are tired. I expect this to be a non-issue as he becomes more game conditioned.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Overreaction (positive or negative) is a time honored tradition at this time of year.

If we blow JHU away = National Championship year

If we struggle against JHU = Complete breakdown of society edging on a subsistent existence in a post apocalyptic landscape.

 

[GreenLantern]

Just signed up for ESPN+ so I am now ready for all my OT games!

 

[GMUSig03]

Just signed up for ESPN+ so I am now ready for all my OT games!

Don't forget about Women's soccer semifinal that is just starting and on ESPN+!

 

[GreenLantern]

Don't forget about Women's soccer semifinal that is just starting and on ESPN+!

Now on my phone at work!

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Gols! (for the wrong team though)

 

[smccart5]

The team was moving the ball well, and Reuter was making some good passes from the post to the open man, that was good to see. Lots of good shots that didn't go in, hopefully that turns around. The turnovers bothered me more, Mar had a silly travel call outside the 3 point line toward the end of the game- just really careless.

 

[patriot2000]

Of all the seasons I had season tickets, we went undefeated at home once. We lost a D3 exhibition that year. And looked bad doing it.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[JBiggs]

Of all the seasons I had season tickets, we went undefeated at home once. We lost a D3 exhibition that year. And looked bad doing it.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

Exactly. There's very little you can take away from exhibitions. Same with the NBA preseason. No need to panic.