Game 1 - American University, Nov 8th, 7 PM, No TV

[MasonFanatic]

Two of the foul calls on Arledge were horrendous. One was 100% a flop and the other one, the AU player pushed off.

 

[Patriotsince81]

We might finish in the top half of the Patriot League, if we were members of the league. Totally discouraged by what I saw tonight. So much for positive vibes, we continue to be a very poor team. Team defense? Doesn't exist. We are just limited by the coach and players we have. I originally hoped for 9 - 9 in the league, now thinking 5 -13 might be better. On a personal note I put out money to move down 11 rows thinking I might be surrounded by better fans. To my dismay I was surrounded by twenty something females texting the entire f8cking game. "Boyfriends" just as bad. What a PATHETIC first game.

 

[MasonFanatic]

I really liked what I saw from Marko and Jalen. And it seemed like Holloway shut down the perimeter on defense... after he came in, AU stopped getting open looks on every single possession.

I didn't see enough hustle from any starter except Allen.

 

[Petey Buckets]

We played down to the level of our competition, the same way we have the last two years. Let's get used to it. Outside of Corey and Marko, this team has next to zero basketball IQ. Some thoughts:

- Arledge's first foul came on that sick dunk, but it was clearly a charge. This is his fourth year in D1 ball. He needs to know better than to run over a guy who's parked in front of him.
- Johnny Williams is a traffic cone on defense. I don't know if his feet are slow or what, but he's constantly out of position. There was one transition basket for AU where Johnny sprinted down the floor and ran directly underneath the hoop to the restricted area. This led to an easy layup for an AU big because Johnny was in no position to contest.
- Johnny looked like the elephant who's afraid of the mouse on two of Darius Gardner's drives.
- AU ran a 2-1-2 for a few possessions early in the first half and it did a pretty good job denying entry passes to our bigs. They went away from it after 34 got in foul trouble but it was disheartening to see how flummoxed (again) we look against the zone.
- Our defense is going to give up a ton of open 3's again this year. I think the trade-off the coaching staff is going for is that all the trapping and doubling will lead to a bunch of turnovers, but good teams will exploit the way we overplay passing lanes and leave shooters open. Be prepared for vcu to score 120 against us.
- On that note, the quality of our perimeter defense was about the same all game long. AU came out impossibly hot and cooled down as the game went on, but it wasn't because we were guarding threes any better. They missed a lot of open looks in the second half.

It's a really good sign that this team can grind out wins against uppity opponents. 10-0 to close the second half is no joke. However, I'm going to downwardly adjust my expectations until we beat the shit out of the bad teams like we should.

 

[Washingtonian]

I felt most of the charges/blocks called tonight were legit, based on the new rules:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/co...ng-questions-rule-changes-college-basketball/

Fortunately, the NCAA's men's basketball rules committee reacted accordingly. Though there has been much overreaction about these rules changes, most of them weren't technically changes. The committee simply moved language that had already been in place from the back of the rulebook to the front. The upshot is that there should be a lot less physical contact by defenders this season. If a defender impedes another player's progress at all -- using his body, his hands, an arm bar, whatever -- then the ref is supposed to blow his whistle. That will also be the case regarding the long-tolerated instances of bumping cutters and setting illegal screens.

One rule that the committee did explicitly change is the block/charge rule. This has gotten far less attention, but I predict it will have a greater impact. In the past, all the defender had to do was establish his position before the offensive player left the ground. Now that position will have to be established before the offensive player begins his upward motion. Think about different that is.

 

[gmujim92]

Even for the first game, pretty telling that Moore got exactly zero minutes of PT.

So much for Allen playing exclusively off the ball.

If Edwards doesn't get his a** in gear, Allen will be playing almost exclusively at the point and Holloway will find himself in the starting lineup at the 2.

That's the lineup I've been hoping to see anyhow.

 

[patriot2000]

Talked to Williams after the game. All he had to say about the shoulder was, "It separated." He claimed he will be back for the next game. Could be full of crap, but he did not seem concerned at all.

It has been typical for Mason to play down to the competition early in games, and we have often misjudged a Mason team based on one game, so I am refusing to be pessmistic. But, because I have seen this movie before and it didn't look any different, this is the least optimistic I've been since 1997.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk

 

[GMUgemini]

This game felt too much like last year for my liking:

Come out flat to start both halves
Spot an inferior teams 15 points before turning on the heat
Turn off the heat once they tie or take a small lead and trade baskets for the next 10, 15 minutes
Keep the other team hanging around until the last 30 seconds so the game could go either way

Very little progress has been made as a team.

 

[GSII]

Anyone see the vcu broadcast on Masn? It was the worst production of a game i've ever seen. Only had sound from one camera angle. vcu rolled, but refs called alot of hand check fouls on vcu in first 5 mins, 22 total. We got called for 16 to compare.

 

[GMU_Polevaulter]

Not ready to throw them under the bus after one game - first few games are always hard to gauge a team - heck I even saw a ACC team lost to some St. Francis Brooklyn in OT last night and last year we beat UVA -
My take aways:

Get negatives out first:

• Some players did not pick up where the left off in the CBI
• Most of the starters lacked energy and hustle
• SW dispeared on Offense early 2nd half before showing up final 4 minutes

Positives:

• Atmosphere in Pat Center was awesome - felt like a sell out crowd with 6600
• Green Machine - continues to be creative and impress
• BA - played awesome
• Marco - was a different player then last year looked great
• JJ - was tough under the boards - him and copes will make a solid pair
• Did not make as many dumb defensive fouls like last year - fouls called where for most part new rule type
• Fewer turnovers
• PH kept the guys in the game that were putting in the effort

I don't think we knew what to expect from AU - their offense sort of reminded me of NE - they would
drive in, make a pass drive in further and kick out to a wide open shooter

 

[Pikapppatri8]

I am not going to get pessimistic off of this one game. I disagree about the defense. Aside from the first 8 minutes - when the team settled down - the defense was really good and AU did not get that many good looks at threes. The played off screens more effectively.

On the Arledge dunk - it was not a charge - the defender actually moved back into that little Arc after Alredge was in the air. It should have been a charge. Also we had less dumb passes and turnovers that we usually saw last year.

I know many people think we should have had a 10-15 point lead - I would blame the one glaring flaw on free throws for that. However, I also think AU is a bit better than everyone has expected they do have a new coach - so it will be interesting to see what they do in the season.

At least its a win. Kudos to the marketing team - the atmosphere was great.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

I am not going to get pessimistic off of this one game. I disagree about the defense. Aside from the first 8 minutes - when the team settled down - the defense was really good and AU did not get that many good looks at threes. The played off screens more effectively.

On the Arledge dunk - it was not a charge - the defender actually moved back into that little Arc after Alredge was in the air. It should have been a charge. Also we had less dumb passes and turnovers that we usually saw last year.

I know many people think we should have had a 10-15 point lead - I would blame the one glaring flaw on free throws for that. However, I also think AU is a bit better than everyone has expected they do have a new coach - so it will be interesting to see what they do in the season.

At least its a win. Kudos to the marketing team - the atmosphere was great.

AU blows. They have no experience, no inside game to speak of, oh and they have a new coach. Yet we consistently decide to double down early in the game and give up open 3s. Do we even scout our opponents? Yay, for a 3 point win over a Patriot League bottom feeder.

 

[Five Two]

My thoughts:
-Overall, this team is soft. I do like Jenkins and how he gets after it
-Unfortunately, this team is better when Allen runs the point right now. I hope was hoping Moore would get a few minutes last night but there wasn't an appropriate time to get him in
-I'm amazed how we continue to leave shooters wide open for 3s
-Great crowd and student turnout. I predicted 6,200 and there was 6,600. I thought it looked more like 7,000.
-With the band moving to section 109 due to A10 rules (the league doesn't allow the home team's band to be placed right next to the visitor's bench), it would have been the perfect time to move the Platoon to section 108.
-Not a fan of yellow numbers on white jerseys. Makes it difficult at times to identify players.
-Really not a fan of all the different kinds of sneakers our guys wear. Edwards had black and red Jordan's; Marko's looked like sneakers I cut my grass in.
-I was told one of the problems with Patriot Vision is that all digital feeds must go through the A10's portal and that's where the issue was yesterday.
-As bad as we played, we do have to give credit the guys for pulling out the W. Rather play bad and win than play great and lose.

 

[Bricker]

Feels like our guys need a shrink. Seriously. I wasn't at the game-- but I could still see that lost look in their eyes as they struggled to tie it up and take the lead.

How can a team full of upperclassmen lack as much confidence as most of our guys? It's baffling... and I think it's the main thing that will hold them back again this year.

 

[PDGL Hoops]

Very disappointing game to watch. We will not be able to score enough points to hang with the top half of the league. Marco and BA showed they want to play and aren't afraid to score. SW looked like he just expected AU step aside and let him score. Just too soft of a team to compete. We play like tonight and we won't finish .500

 

[smccart5]

wasn't at the game- did anali play? If we were lethargic on D I'd think he'd get some minutes

 

[Washingtonian]

Last night's box score:
http://www.gomason.com/pdf9/2561948.pdf?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=25200

 

[Vurbel]

The most impressive thing I saw last night had absolutely nothing to do with basketball. The ball went out of bounds in the first half and Jenkins got the ball and shook the hand of handicapped person in the front row. The smile on their face was enormous. It was a class act thing to do and says a lot about Jalen as a person.

Now, back to actual basketball discussion...

 

[gmu2006]

The kids playing a scrimmage at halftime were pretty darn good too!

 

[The Great PATSby]

I think the poor basketball we played in the beginning of first half had a little to do with not playing an exhibition game at the Pat Dome. First game of the season, hyped crowd... who wouldn't have anxious or nervous jitters. At least with an exhibition game, you can somewhat get a sense of things and start to calibrate to the atmosphere.