Game 1: GMU (0-0) at #15 Auburn (0-0) on Monday, November 7, at 8:00 PM.

[gmubrian]

Is Blake Jones injured ?

We were asking ourselves the same question. He might not have gotten in because it wasn't a matchup that favors his skills. I also don't recall him having any issues during the shoot around earlier in the day. Now, he was the only one on the bench that never got out of his warm ups.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

We were asking ourselves the same question. He might not have gotten in because it wasn't a matchup that favors his skills. I also don't recall him having any issues during the shoot around earlier in the day. Now, he was the only one on the bench that never got out of his warm ups.

I love Jones' potential, but would not have wanted to see him trying to handle the ball against that type of defense.

 

[gmubrian]

Auburn has huge entitled frat boy energy. It's a really solid school, but it's packed full of rich white Southern private school d-bag in OluKai sandals, Over Under tees, and Costa sunglasses.

That said, it does have a great vide (was up last time we played) and it's not huge so they pack it in because there's not a lot to do in The Plains.

I'll take this opportunity to point out that everyone I interacted with while in Auburn (most of whom were Auburn fans/students) was polite as can be, going out of their way wishing us good time during our stay and during the game. As I discussed with some of the other Mason fans at the game discussed, it could have been that they didn't see us as a real threat and were being kind out of a sense of pity, which in hindsight, seems like they would have been justified in that take.

 

[EXpatriot13]

I love Jones' potential, but would not have wanted to see him trying to handle the ball against that type of defense.

I don't think it would have looked any different than what we saw from every other guy wearing a George Mason jersey last night.

 

[GMUSSTN]

I'll take this opportunity to point out that everyone I interacted with while in Auburn (most of whom were Auburn fans/students) was polite as can be, going out of their way wishing us good time during our stay and during the game. As I discussed with some of the other Mason fans at the game discussed, it could have been that they didn't see us as a real threat and were being kind out of a sense of pity, which in hindsight, seems like they would have been justified in that take.

We played like any other buy game team they would have brought in for a home opener, not a team expected to compete for a top 4 seed in the A10.

 

[gmubrian]

Believe it or not, I understood all of it...including your sarcasm. And I do know that the dislikes are not compliments. My responses were made to get a rise out of you, which I obviously did. (Probably breaking one of the rules.) But, it was worth breaking a rule to defend myself over what I consider to be an overreaction to my comment on your part. I repeat, we are exactly where we were (ON THE COURT) as we were when KE got here. I am hoping and expecting improvement, but so far what I said was exactly correct. No apologies for telling the truth.
One more thing...There have been numerous fingers pointed at the coaching on here besides me.

mkaufman1 pretty good job addressing this, but, I feel compelled to chime in...

While you are correct that our record doesn't look at all different, that is a topic for the end of year 3, likely year 4 or later (that is the earliest Mason would take any action).

That being said, I think there are some factual problems with your assertion that what is "on the court" is the same. I see huge differences "on the court":

I see a senior laden team (whereas we always seemed to have the youngest team in the country under DP)
I see two of the top recruits we have ever gotten at Mason on the court. (our recruiting consisted of only the under the radar guys under DP)
I see a team on the court that has good size (we were always woefully undersized under DP)
I see multiple successful transfers on the court that are filling needs (not a single successful transfer under DP)

Has this resulted in more wins yet? No, it hasn't. It would have been nice, but it is still a little early to start making that a point of contention given that other things seem to be going in the right direction.

 

[sleeperpick]

Who said that? I love these strawmen arguments that tear down the point nobody made.

do you get on Twitter at all during Mason games? Have you met a man named @gmujim92 ?

 

[tblack33]

Who said that? I love these strawmen arguments that tear down the point nobody made.

Attached, there were multiple others throughout the thread.

 

[GSII]

So 7 mins in to the game and I notice:

1. Singleton coughs the ball up as our main PG. Doesn't look like a PG at all.
2. Ojiako shoots jumpers for his free throws!??! Ummm... what
3. Cooper has to knock down wide open 3's. Cmon man.

But the first 5 min were decent. Open 3's missed by VJ and Ticket. Some of the best looks all game.

 

[GSII]

While this team is older, they haven't all gotten old together. It's gonna take time for the multi-headed PG to mesh with the others. I did see some better chemistry while Polite was at PG. Hopefully, Singleton (barely made one of 2 fts btw and didn't attempt a jumper is worrisome) and Dinkins (who looks like the more polished in terms of all around skill for a PG) can mesh. And fast.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Attached, there were multiple others throughout the thread.

Holy lack of nuance Batman!

No, these statements aren't the same.

A. "The Patriots aren't going to play another team that physical the rest of the season"
B. "we won’t face big physical teams that apply pressure this season"

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

My hope is that we see this team progress as the year moves along. My gut tells me that Auburn is gonna be a really good defensive team that struggles at times to score in the half court, so the shooting percentage doesn't bother me as much as the rebounding issue. I also, thought Auburn did a nice job of not collapsing immediately after one of our guys got into the paint. They trusted their back line to erase those mistakes and not leave shooters.

Also, there is zero chance we see the combination of size and athleticism from any A-10 team that the Auburn bigs presented. Anyone who says otherwise is just full of it.

 

[sleeperpick]

My hope is that we see this team progress as the year moves along. My gut tells me that Auburn is gonna be a really good defensive team that struggles at times to score in the half court, so the shooting percentage doesn't bother me as much as the rebounding issue. I also, thought Auburn did a nice job of not collapsing immediately after one of our guys got into the paint. They trusted their back line to erase those mistakes and not leave shooters.

Also, there is zero chance we see the combination of size and athleticism from any A-10 team that the Auburn bigs presented. Anyone who says otherwise is just full of it.

Dayton has a top 15 pick big man better and just as physical as Broome. vcu has two big men just as physical as Auburn, UMaSS has Levesque who is a bowling ball and huge from USC last year. Fordham last year has two guys just as physical and large as Auburn bigs. Just because the auburn bigs made Oduro and the rest of the team scared by taunting doesn’t mean they were any more physical than some A10 teams. We didn’t box Broome out once last night (that had nothing to do with him being physical, in fact he’s a finesse player on the block) Okoro at Saint Louis looks like a Space Jam Monstar and bodied Oduro quite a bit (Oduro miraculously didn’t fold under pressure of physicality to him like he did against everyone else)

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

We beat a ranked Maryland team at their home arena last year and we thought an NCAA berth was a given. Early games, (especially the first one) are not great indicators for how the season will go.

But I understand the need to analyze a game to death and make projections about the entire season. We’ve been waiting all off season to do so.

For some reason I I think this season is going to go way better than this game indicated.

 

[tblack33]

Holy lack of nuance Batman!

No, these statements aren't the same.

A. "The Patriots aren't going to play another team that physical the rest of the season"
B. "we won’t face big physical teams that apply pressure this season"

It pains me that we have a degree from the same university. You said that no one was making that argument, I provided you a screenshot of someone literally making that argument, you back track and move the goalpost and infer something different from what the person literally typed.

vcu will be just as physical, if not more, than that Auburn team.

 

[GMUgemini]

We beat a ranked Maryland team at their home arena last year and we thought an NCAA berth was a given. Early games, (especially the first one) are not great indicators for how the season will go.

But I understand the need to analyze a game to death and make projections about the entire season. We’ve been waiting all off season to do so.

For some reason I I think this season is going to go way better than this game indicated.

You could be right, in that we are integrating some new and important players (Ojiako, Singleton, Dinkins, Fernandez) but the rebounding, the turnovers, the passivity, the settling for bad shots, Oduro’s foul issues are all carry overs from last season, which is worrying.

 

[gmutom]

We beat a ranked Maryland team at their home arena last year and we thought an NCAA berth was a given. Early games, (especially the first one) are not great indicators for how the season will go.

Chank, I realize we are early in the season, but based on this one post I think this is going to be one of your best posting seasons ever. I don't want to read too much into one post and get bogged down in writing analytics, but I thought your use of succinct sentences and sarcasm really set the bar high for you and everybody else here on the boards. Congrats!

 

[FreeGunston12]

You could be right, in that we are integrating some new and important players (Ojiako, Singleton, Dinkins, Fernandez) but the rebounding, the turnovers, the passivity, the settling for bad shots, Oduro’s foul issues are all carry overs from last season, which is worrying.

Great points. And even though it is a new season, it's hard to forget that we are 3-10 in our last 13.

So let's not all jump at each other for being a little frustrated. It'll go away if we get on a hot streak.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

You said that no one was making that argument, I provided you a screenshot of someone literally making that argument,

Are you really this incapable of following along, or just realized what you said is BS and now spinning to cover it up?

You see, this is what you posted.
To everyone saying we won’t face big physical teams that apply pressure this season, vcu, Dayton and SLU would like a word.

Literally nobody has said we won't face big physical teams that apply pressure again this season. Nobody. Nobody said that. Nobody.

Duncan posted this
The Patriots aren't going to play another team that physical the rest of the season

You see the word "that" in there? It's making a comparison to the level of physicality. Not an absolute that no other team will show physicality.
(also, he's right vcu doesn't have the size or athletes to be equivalent)

Maybe English is your second language and this is tough for you. Let me give you a comparison. It would be like me saying that was the dumbest thing you typed today. It's not ruling out that you've typed other dumb things today, I'm sure you have, just that that was the dumbest among them. The most dumb thing, not the only dumb thing, just the most dumb.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Dayton has a top 15 pick big man better and just as physical as Broome. vcu has two big men just as physical as Auburn, UMaSS has Levesque who is a bowling ball and huge from USC last year. Fordham last year has two guys just as physical and large as Auburn bigs. Just because the auburn bigs made Oduro and the rest of the team scared by taunting doesn’t mean they were any more physical than some A10 teams. We didn’t box Broome out once last night (that had nothing to do with him being physical, in fact he’s a finesse player on the block) Okoro at Saint Louis looks like a Space Jam Monstar and bodied Oduro quite a bit (Oduro miraculously didn’t fold under pressure of physicality to him like he did against everyone else)

Note that I said combination of size and athleticism and the sheer volume. Auburn had 3 or 4 of these type of guys. If you're telling me that we're going to see that night in and night out in the A-10 then I guess it's time we pack up shop and go back to the CAA.