Game 16: GMU (13-2 / 2-0) vs vcu (8-7 / 0-2) on Tuesday, January 9, at 7:00 PM.

[GMUgemini]

having to go to freshmen PG at end of games on road is going to be tough. vcu is bad, there’s no way around it. Going to face a lot better teams. Dayton is probably only loss at home. But Richmond, GW, ST joes, umass all loses. Will be close, 13-5 may be double bye but almost have to be perfect in rest.

I think you’re in your feelings a bit. I think it’s time to step away from the computer.

 

[masonhoops1984]

I think you’re in your feelings a bit. I think it’s time to step away from the computer.

What are you debating there? Experts actually say record will be worse. I think that’s actually a fair assessment. Down would be saying 8-10 win only 1-2 more road games.

 

[gmuballer14]

I'll tell the truth. Our crowd still sucked, what we saw tonight should be our worst crowd not our "best". I still had to sit next to/near obnoxious a-holes wearing black and gold because Mason season ticket holders sold their souls. Can't win when we make 0 3's and they hit 7. We remain their bitch. Had our chance and failed to take advantage, what a shame.

I was talking up Mason at work. Had basketball people watching and came to the game with friends. After this showing they were not interested in watching/coming anytime soon.

 

[GMUgemini]

What are you debating there? Experts actually say record will be worse. I think that’s actually a fair assessment. Down would be saying 8-8 win only 1-2 more road games.

I’m not debating anything, merely giving you advice, advice I would have needed the last 5 seasons or so.

 

[masonhoops1984]

I was talking up Mason at work. Had basketball people watching and came to the game with friends. After this showing they were not interested in watching/coming anytime soon.

This seasons hope for any big crowds is gone. Problem when you have been bad for so long. Just hope Tony is willing to put in the 5-7 years it will take before he bolts. Some of you seem to think he’s gone in 2 though.

 

[masonhoops1984]

I’m not debating anything, merely giving you advice, advice I would have needed the last 5 seasons or so.

Advice on what? So you are saying they will be hot garbage again? Like last 10 years ok. Whatever I’ll play the game. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Who knows, depends on how they respond if they pout knowing it’s A10 or nothing. Sucks NCAA took away the NIT for teams like Mason but alas. Avoid vcu in NY and who knows what can happen. I think 13-5 would be a very respectable season.

 

[mkaufman1]

Rough game tonight. Upsetting as a fan because vcu is midpack and I thought this was the chance to knock them off. It appeared that they knew how to scout us and turn it into a rock fight.as much as this one hurts, Mason has significant opportunities ahead especially if they want to finish top 4. It doesn’t get easier though going to Richmond, going To GW and home to bonaventure.

some thoughts

-thought our defense didn’t let up all night, several times Billups made incredible plays including where he was fouled at the end of half 1 and they didn’t call it.
- details matter and we missed some tonight as Skinn mentioned in the presser. Letting up that 3 to Jackson late, giving up a layup at the end of half 1 cost us. There were also several 50/50 balls and rebounds that just didn’t go our way. The rebound battle was close but it felt like vcu had a ton of second chance opportunities at times.
- if you told me mason would go 0-15 from 3 and only lose by 4 I’d call you crazy. We had several good or okay looks that just didn’t go down tonight. I suspect we will go back and start shooting more of our averages sooner than later.
- 3 assists tonight out of mason. a Lot of that was because of our 3s not going down but still.
-Maddox had a really rough game. Several shots didn’t hit the rim.
-as @Petey Buckets said on Twitter, the call for Okojie to take the ball to the rim at the end was a good play call but he just got a flat tire. He was going to have a layup if he didn’t slip.

Really tough one tonight, but now they can’t let it go into a losing streak. Gotta refocus and still go after a top 4.

 

[TweederGMU]

Had some time to reflect on tonight and what a complete fumble. Opportunity to punch vcu in the face and knock them down even more and we just toss it away. This is probably the worst vcu team in 15+ years.... we have them in our house on our court and we can't hit around the rim putbacks nor a 3 to save our lives. We just HAVE to take care of business at home. That vcu team is a middle of the pack A-10 team at best and we just couldn't put them away. We had a chance to earn some respect tonight and strike more fear in the A-10 and we just blew it.

Curious to know the last time we went 0 from 3 with at least 10 3 point attempts in a game.

The glaring thing that pops out of the Box Score is Maddox being 2-12 shooting. We need him to show up in games, especially home games... these inconsistencies are troubling.

We really need to hire a Harlem Globetrotter to teach Hall ball control and dribbling.... his 4 turnovers were costly as they helped them get out in transition and get easy buckets.

Okojie - Not sure I would put our last possession in his hands to bring up the ball and get to the rim.... he just tripped over himself and thus ball game.

Agreed...Kelly looked gassed at the end.

vcu didn't win this, we gave one away.

 

[EXpatriot13]

Realistically we will finish in the middle, maybe top 5-7.

This is what we have to fight like hell to avoid. The puddle of mediocrity that losses like this have led us to by end of season.

The goal should still be top 4 finish and putting ourselves in position to make a run in Brooklyn. It starts with bouncing back on Saturday and not letting this loss snowball. I think we’ll learn a heck of a lot more about this team on Saturday than we did tonight.

 

[GMUgemini]

Advice on what? So you are saying they will be hot garbage again? Like last 10 years ok. Whatever I’ll play the game. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Who knows, depends on how they respond if they pout knowing it’s A10 or nothing. Sucks NCAA took away the NIT for teams like Mason but alas. Avoid vcu in NY and who knows what can happen. I think 13-5 would be a very respectable season.

I’m saying you are obviously upset we lost tonight and it’s bleeding into your posts here. I’m not asking you to make any predictions about the rest of the season right now. Sometimes it’s just a good idea to walk away and let a day go by before coming back to discuss what happened.

For whatever it’s worth, I don’t think vcu is going to be in the bad loss column at the end of the season. It was a missed opportunity to get a monkey off this program’s back and it sucks they couldn’t finish the job. But this is not a season ending loss.

 

[MasonFanatic]

vcu only had 12 points off turnovers. I know the unforced turnovers were absolutely maddening, but vcu came in averaging 20+ points in transition in their wins. I thought we did OK limiting the damage.

Okojie had a step, that was a sure basket or FTs, maybe even an and-one (although those refs did not seem inclined to give anyone an and-one tonight). That was one of the few times we actually got a clean drive into the paint. I hope he isn't too hard on himself. The game never should have come down to that play in the first place.

It's absolutely wild that we probably could have won this game even without making a 3. Just needed better execution, and needed to value the ball more. Too many times we were holding a box out and staring at a loose rebound only for a vcu player to sprint in and grab it. I thought vcu got way more than their share of rebounds that hit the floor.

 

[MasonFanatic]

I know it's vcu and we hate them and all that, and I'm sick of being humiliated, but this doesn't really change the outlook for the rest of this season much. Top 4 and a double bye is still in play. We were always going to drop a couple of games to midpack teams along the way. We just hoped none of them would be at home.

 

[GMU79]

vcu only had 12 points off turnovers. I know the unforced turnovers were absolutely maddening, but vcu came in averaging 20+ points in transition in their wins. I thought we did OK limiting the damage.

Okojie had a step, that was a sure basket or FTs, maybe even an and-one (although those refs did not seem inclined to give anyone an and-one tonight). That was one of the few times we actually got a clean drive into the paint. I hope he isn't too hard on himself. The game never should have come down to that play in the first place.

It's absolutely wild that we probably could have won this game even without making a 3. Just needed better execution, and needed to value the ball more. Too many times we were holding a box out and staring at a loose rebound only for a vcu player to sprint in and grab it. I thought vcu got way more than their share of rebounds that hit the floor.

I noticed that too. Seems like vcu got every loose ball and we were just looking at it...then, going after it.

 

[Earl the Squirrel]

It sucks to lose to vcu at home but I wouldn’t be discouraged about the outlook for this team.

0-15 from 3 you would figure you aren’t even in the game most nights. We were in it for all 40 minutes.

I’m very impressed with our coaching staff this year as well. Mason had great focus and energy on the defensive end most of the night. They dialed up the perfect scenario at the end with the perfect matchup for Baraka. Just an unfortunate slip.

Couple of bounces our way and we would have had the W. It might sound crazy, but I hope we get to see them again in the A10 tournament. I think the story will have a much happier ending if we see them again.

I concur. We played a GREAT game defensively. Staff had this team ready to go. If we give this level of effort defensively, it means we'll never be out of games, even when we toss a "Riley Trone-like" goose egg from beyond the arc. We gave ourselves every chance to win but in a game like this you can't afford to miss two 1:1's late like we did (We're a good FT-shooting team!). You can't slip with the game on the line. You can't miss wide-open corner threes.

Not the end of the world but it still stings. A couple of observations:

1. Key giveth and Key taketh away. Made some absolutely insane buckets down the stretch when we desperately needed someone to step up. Love his game and skill set and he's our dawg, but vcu was sitting on that spin move of his. Twice (2) tonight he was picked clean by a double-team from a vcu guard who knew it was coming and just waited on the weak-side. And when he does it between the FT and the 3 pt line, it leads to brakeaway baskets the other way.
2. As the home team, we should have tried to draw more contact. Hall needs to get to the stripe more than 2 times.
3. We shot - count them - seven (7) air balls this game from various spots on the floor. Just a weird anomally, I hope. Pablo can probably tell us if this is has ever happened before -

Onward and upward!

 

[psyclone]

Just realized that Bamasile was in the game for vcu but only for 12 minutes. I thought he was supposed to be a significant contributor once he got his waiver approved. Completely forgot about him until I saw the box score.

 

[psyclone]

Had some time to reflect on tonight and what a complete fumble. Opportunity to punch vcu in the face and knock them down even more and we just toss it away. This is probably the worst vcu team in 15+ years.... we have them in our house on our court and we can't hit around the rim putbacks nor a 3 to save our lives. We just HAVE to take care of business at home. That vcu team is a middle of the pack A-10 team at best and we just couldn't put them away. We had a chance to earn some respect tonight and strike more fear in the A-10 and we just blew it.

Curious to know the last time we went 0 from 3 with at least 10 3 point attempts in a game.

I think Tony in the post game said that it has been something like 14 years ago.

Also pointed out that Okojie is the fastest guy in the league and also leads the team in the number of fouls he draws. So putting it in his hand with very little time left made sense.

 

[masonhoops1984]

I know it's vcu and we hate them and all that, and I'm sick of being humiliated, but this doesn't really change the outlook for the rest of this season much. Top 4 and a double bye is still in play. We were always going to drop a couple of games to midpack teams along the way. We just hoped none of them would be at home.

I’m saying you are obviously upset we lost tonight and it’s bleeding into your posts here. I’m not asking you to make any predictions about the rest of the season right now. Sometimes it’s just a good idea to walk away and let a day go by before coming back to discuss what happened.

For whatever it’s worth, I don’t think vcu is going to be in the bad loss column at the end of the season. It was a missed opportunity to get a monkey off this program’s back and it sucks they couldn’t finish the job. But this is not a season ending loss.

I’m saying you are obviously upset we lost tonight and it’s bleeding into your posts here. I’m not asking you to make any predictions about the rest of the season right now. Sometimes it’s just a good idea to walk away and let a day go by before coming back to discuss what happened.

For whatever it’s worth, I don’t think vcu is going to be in the bad loss column at the end of the season. It was a missed opportunity to get a monkey off this program’s back and it sucks they couldn’t finish the job. But this is not a season ending loss.

I disagree, vcu is bad. Their record speaks for itself. They mentally own mason though and it is not changing. Mason will never win. This is the worst vcu team in 20 years and still lay an egg.

vcu focuses only on basketball it’s a crap school and it’s all they care about and so be it. Mason honestly should have just stayed in the CAA and outspent everyone in that league. With no NIT anymore it’s basically no more march ever unless they can find a way to change the narrative and tonight showed they are no where closer to doing so.

They choked plain and simple. vcu may not be a bad loss by net but who cares it’s a game you have to win if you ever want fans back again. Or 3-5k is what it is. the A10 is a 1 bid league unless Dayton can get in. They lost a key player though so that may be up for debate.

I highly doubt Mason can run off 3-4 games in a row in NY when they can’t even beat a bad vcu team at home. Honestly as sad as it may sound beating vcu was very important for fans, for recruiting for donations for a lot of things.

He’ll they could finish 15-3 in A10 lose in semis and nothing really changes. No march post season basketball, no more fans than they have now and no more donations than what they currently have. They have to find a way to change the narrative. Now it’s in every kids head that wasn’t here before on this team, this was as golden of an opportunity as they were ever going to get. Oh well. Maybe they can rack up some double digit wins, Hall goes on to play pro ball and life goes on. That’s about sums it up.

Until someone wants to change the script. They are the exact same team, sadly playing in what has become a 1 bid league, it’s beat vcu or it’s a disappointing season. Have to wonder if staying in CAA and at least avoiding vcu would have been better. He’ll look at JMU, a dumpster fire basketball program. Stopped playing, ODU, Mason and vcu and get ranked in an absolute clown show conference.

 

[MasonSAE4]

I know it's vcu and we hate them and all that, and I'm sick of being humiliated, but this doesn't really change the outlook for the rest of this season much. Top 4 and a double bye is still in play. We were always going to drop a couple of games to midpack teams along the way. We just hoped none of them would be at home.

Disagree. That’ll be a team we’re jostling for a top four spot with and we just ceded the tie-breaker to them.

 

[MasonFanatic]

2. As the home team, we should have tried to draw more contact. Hall needs to get to the stripe more than 2 times.

I thought we drew plenty of contact early in the game, didn't get any calls, and then started playing more timid offensively (e.g. taking back-footed 3s).

 

[MasonFanatic]

Disagree. That’ll be a team we’re jostling for a top four spot with and we just ceded the tie-breaker to them.

If they play defense like they did tonight, yes. But their defense in their first two A10 games indicated they wouldn't sniff the top 4. I'm not ready to consider them a top 4 contender until we see how they do in their next few games.