Game 10: GMU (4-5) vs Navy (6-2) on Tuesday, December 7, at 7PM.

[GMU79]

Free throws, gentlemen. Try making them!!

 

[GMUgemini]

Yeah. No fault to Hartwell but there were at least two occasions when he was in perfect position and just got shot right over for threes. Then he tried to contest a third such attempt and got that foul.

I like Gray’s defense a lot more than Hartwell. Hartwell just gets exploited too much. Every team we face engineers their offense around getting their best shooters onto Hartwell and you can’t hide him forever. Don’t know if I would trust him with 15 minutes a game backing up XJ yet. But Hartwell’s ballhandling doesn’t make up for his limitations on defense right now.

 

[gmujim92]

It’s obvious what Frazier adds to the team beyond points. He gives us another long, athletic guy like Ticket who is a bit of a junkyard dog with steals, rebounds and hustle plays. Not sure why he hasn’t played much but he needs to be out there more.

 

[Patriotsince81]

I like Gray’s defense a lot more than Hartwell. Hartwell just gets exploited too much. Every team we face engineers their offense around getting their best shooters onto Hartwell and you can’t hide him forever. Don’t know if I would trust him with 15 minutes a game backing up XJ yet. But Hartwell’s ballhandling doesn’t make up for his limitations on defense right now.

Hartwell blows. There, I said it. He adds nothing to either end of the floor.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Nice to get back into the win column. Major props to Otis tonight. If he can bring that every night I would love to see him get a lot more minutes.

 

[FreeGunston12]

I like Gray’s defense a lot more than Hartwell. Hartwell just gets exploited too much. Every team we face engineers their offense around getting their best shooters onto Hartwell and you can’t hide him forever. Don’t know if I would trust him with 15 minutes a game backing up XJ yet. But Hartwell’s ballhandling doesn’t make up for his limitations on defense right now.

This may be true, but we need to figure out how to play with Hartwell this year so we can play with Dinkins next year.

 

[Patriotsince81]

This may be true, but we need to figure out how to play with Hartwell this year so we can play with Dinkins next year.

We play Hartwell this year by not playing him. Dinkins will be head and shoulders better in every way.

 

[Falco]

This may be true, but we need to figure out how to play with Hartwell this year so we can play with Dinkins next year.

I don’t understand your logic.

 

[gmujim92]

I don’t understand your logic?

Pretty sure he’s referencing the fact that Dinkins is 5-10 like Hartwell … the difference is Dinkins is an alpha dog personality, he plays bigger than his size

 

[GMUgemini]

I don’t understand your logic.

The logic right now is there is no one else on the roster to take those minutes.

XJ will be back next game. If he looks as gimpy as he did before COVID, Hartwell is going to have to play 20 mpg minimum. If XJ looks more like he did at the start of the season, I’d say split the time between Gray and Hartwell so neither is playing more than 10 mpg and give Frazier most of the remaining minutes at the 2/3/4 (so long as he keeps earning them).

 

[Falco]

Mason isn’t getting an at large bid. Use the rest of the non conference to give the freshman some minutes. Figure out who will be able to provide valuable minutes for conference play.

 

[FreeGunston12]

I don’t understand your logic.

Yeah. Just that we are going to have the same problems if we switch Dinkins onto opposing 5s.

Pretty sure he’s referencing the fact that Dinkins is 5-10 like Hartwell … the difference is Dinkins is an alpha dog personality, he plays bigger than his size

He may have an alpha dog personality, but 5-10 155 is 5-10 155. Listed the exact same height and weight as Hartwell. No one that size can guard D1 centers, so we'd better teach Oduro when to switch and when not to switch.

 

[gmujim92]

Yeah. Just that we are going to have the same problems if we switch Dinkins onto opposing 5s.

He may have an alpha dog personality, but 5-10 155 is 5-10 155. Listed the exact same height and weight as Hartwell. Noone that size can guard D1 centers, so we'd better teach Oduro when to switch and when not to switch.

Yeah that’s all true. My problem isn’t that Hartwell can’t guard opposing bigs — we shouldn’t expect him to. It’s that whoever he is guarding tends to score at a pretty high rate so it feels like we’re playing 4 on 5 defensively.

 

[psyclone]

Sloppy end.

I do want to point out, no minutes for Jones in the 2nd half. He didn't have it tonight. And Otis has either worked his way out of the doghouse or has gotten healthy. Either way, it certainly helps.

Brought Frazier back in with 5 minutes left. Looks like a promotion for how solid a game he had played earlier in the game. Deflections, points, saves, keeping the ball alive which led to second chance points. Impressive game for Otis!

 

[GSII]

Hmmmmm....Mike Gray might deserve a few mins too. Solid game tonight.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Yeah. Just that we are going to have the same problems if we switch Dinkins onto opposing 5s.

He may have an alpha dog personality, but 5-10 155 is 5-10 155. Listed the exact same height and weight as Hartwell. No one that size can guard D1 centers, so we'd better teach Oduro when to switch and when not to switch.

When I listened to the last interview with KE I seem to recall him saying he doesn't want anyone to switch and that it takes "toughness" to fight through and stay with your man. Please correct me if I heard this wrong or misunderstood. Hartwell was a disaster tonight and is every night on the defensive end. He switched every chance he could and it resulted in mismatches. He also can't stay between his man and the basket, far too many layups and open shots for his man tonight. I have a lot of respect for what you post and am not looking to pick a fight, I just think we may be of different opinions when it comes to Jamal. Factor in his poor shooting and, in my eyes, he is the weak link on the roster. My purpose is not to demean or bash Jamal. He is just not an A10 player. I've never questioned his heart or work ethic.

 

[psyclone]

Hmmmmm....Mike Gray might deserve a few mins too. Solid game tonight.

Note on Kenpom from tonight's game---for each player's "Offensive rating":

Oduro 138
Gaines 132
Frazier 149
Gray 138
Cooper 43
Hartwell 88
Schwartz 105

What does it mean?

Here's how Kenpom defines the metric:
Offensive rating (ORtg): A measure of personal offensive efficiency developed by Dean Oliver. The formula is very complicated, but accurate. For a detailed explanation, buy Basketball on Paper.

 

[FreeGunston12]

When I listened to the last interview with KE I seem to recall him saying he doesn't want anyone to switch and that it takes "toughness" to fight through and stay with your man. Please correct me if I heard this wrong or misunderstood. Hartwell was a disaster tonight and is every night on the defensive end. He switched every chance he could and it resulted in mismatches. He also can't stay between his man and the basket, far too many layups and open shots for his man tonight. I have a lot of respect for what you post and am not looking to pick a fight, I just think we may be of different opinions when it comes to Jamal. Factor in his poor shooting and, in my eyes, he is the weak link on the roster. My purpose is not to demean or bash Jamal. He is just not an A10 player. I've never questioned his heart or work ethic.

I think you misunderstand what I am saying. From my view, it was Josh who was making the decision to switch onto Hartwell's man. I think he got it in his head that he can stick with opposing guards on the perimeter and for some reason he thinks that is what he should be doing. To me Hartwell didn't look like he needed Josh to switch to save him. Maybe a soft hedge was all that was needed to give Hartwell the time to fight through the screen.

I am in no way advocating for more Hartwell or implying that Hartwell is a good defender. I am more focused on what Josh is doing there. Fixing Josh's decisions is the idea. Frankly, Hartwell is who he is.

 

[psyclone]

Post-game press conference: https://www.facebook.com/MasonAthletics/videos/george-mason-athletics/489078089103312/

Coach mentions seeing Politte beginning to practice this week and being impressed with him as a PG. Also says good things about Frazier and Gray as well.

Sounds like help is on the way!

 

[gmujim92]

At the risk of drawing @sleeperpick’s ire, I think our best 5 on both ends is Cooper-Gaines-Frazier-Schwartz-Oduro and I want to see more of that group against Georgia.

This isn’t to suggest Frazier is the second coming of Jesus, Gandhi and Mother Teresa.

I just like what we can do with a bigger group defensively and having another scrapper out there. Not like we’re losing much by not playing with a true PG anyhow, given our limitations at that spot.