Game 16: St. Joe's, January 11, 8 PM, CBS Sports Network

[Masonfan3]

Can anyone explain to me why when subbing offense/defense we are putting Copes in on offense? Also,with 12 seconds left and down 5 we get a turnover and Hewitt doesn't sub in a shooter but sticks with Copes? It probably wouldn't have mattered but you get a turnover and dead ball so he had the opportunity to put in Gray who has shown the ability to hit the 3 but chooses to stick with someone who has trouble even making layups.

 

[GSII]

Can anyone explain to me why when subbing offense/defense we are putting Copes in on offense? Also,with 12 seconds left and down 5 we get a turnover and Hewitt doesn't sub in a shooter but sticks with Copes? It probably wouldn't have mattered but you get a turnover and dead ball so he had the opportunity to put in Gray who has shown the ability to hit the 3 but chooses to stick with someone who has trouble even making layups.

B/c all the money in his pocket is preventing him from turning to the bench fast enough to make a personnel decsion.

 

[Masonfan3]

B/c all the money in his pocket is preventing him from turning to the bench fast enough to make a personnel decsion.

Yea, with all the issues this team and coach have that is my main problem. All he has to do is put the right players in there to give the team the best chance to win and I could cut him some slack.

 

[GSII]

Yea, with all the issues this team and coach have that is my main problem. All he has to do is put the right players in there to give the team the best chance to win and I could cut him some slack.

But this wasn't something he did well at his last job. Why would he start now? Oh wait, b/c TOC said he's a great X's and O's guy when he got hired. Okay, now all is well.

 

[Masonfan3]

But this wasn't something he did well at his last job. Why would he start now? Oh wait, b/c TOC said he's a great X's and O's guy when he got hired. Okay, now all is well.

Oh I agree with you. Anyone who has followed college basketball knows that. Long term, TOC should have gone with a young energetic assistant who has an X's and O's background. But with our fan base and their love for Larranaga, TOC hired a guy who the average fan knew, had ACC experience and had been to a Final 4. I don't blame him for the hire because he wanted to keep the big donors and the casual fan happy and hiring someone they had never heard of wouldn't have done that. Most Mason fans don't pay attention enough to know that Hewitt was a horrible in game coach but instead saw that "he coached in the ACC" or "coached Chris Bosh." So they were happy but those of us who watch college basketball had our doubts..

 

[EXpatriot13]

After playing pretty well and handling the pressure at vcu, why did Moore only log 13 minutes of playing time?

 

[GMUgemini]

After playing pretty well and handling the pressure at vcu, why did Moore only log 13 minutes of playing time?

Edwards was actually playing well against St Joes. And you aren't going to take minutes from Allen, Holloway or Sherrod to get minutes for Moore.

 

[gmutom]

After playing pretty well and handling the pressure at vcu, why did Moore only log 13 minutes of playing time?

Hewitt actually addressed that in the post-game press conference, which you can see on gomason.com. St. Joe's was sagging off Moore knowing he's not a perimeter threat and playing the rest of our players 5 on 4, so Hewitt went with Edwards and Allen at the point. I thought Corey had one of his better shooting nights with 8 points, but his 3 turnovers were also the most on the team.

 

[psyclone]

Hewitt actually addressed that in the post-game press conference, which you can see on gomason.com. St. Joe's was sagging off Moore knowing he's not a perimeter threat and playing the rest of our players 5 on 4, so Hewitt went with Edwards and Allen at the point. I thought Corey had one of his better shooting nights with 8 points, but his 3 turnovers were also the most on the team.

That move clearly makes sense; to my untrained eye, I didn't pick up that they were sagging off of Moore, but I was curious about his limited minutes.

In retrospect, it was good scouting by St. Joe's and a reasonable counter-move by Hewitt. Given all the complaints about Hewitt's in-game management on these boards (which gets quite tiresome), I'm not surprised that they ignored something he did that was appropriate.

 

[GMUgemini]

Hewitt actually addressed that in the post-game press conference, which you can see on gomason.com. St. Joe's was sagging off Moore knowing he's not a perimeter threat and playing the rest of our players 5 on 4, so Hewitt went with Edwards and Allen at the point. I thought Corey had one of his better shooting nights with 8 points, but his 3 turnovers were also the most on the team.

With as bad as our shooting is most nights, it's too bad we can't utilize the old ODU strategy of throw it up on the rim and go get it. But our rebounding is worse than our shooting.

 

[Harry]

Should see a good crowd for umass game

At least 135 from the UMass alumni association local chapter, coming from the pregame celebration at Brion's.

Wouldn't it be sweet if the stars align and Mason pulls of the upset against a ranked opponent.

 

[EXpatriot13]

St. Joe's was sagging off Moore knowing he's not a perimeter threat and playing the rest of our players 5 on 4, so Hewitt went with Edwards and Allen at the point.

Ah, gotcha that makes sense. Corey played well in the first like 8 minutes of the game. Didn't do much of anything the rest of the game. But I understand the move, should have checked out the presser.

 

[Walter]

Has anyone seen the Bring Football to GMU Facebook page? They seem a little crazy to me.

 

[JimP]

It seemed to me that St. Joe's upped their intensity on D in the 2nd half, while GMU of course, did not. Hewitt needs to find a way to motivate this team at halftime, whether the team is winning or losing. Dude can't motivate or X and O.

 

[EXpatriot13]

Hewitt needs to find a way to motivate this team at halftime, whether the team is winning or losing. Dude can't motivate or X and O.

It's just not going to happen. Sucks.

 

[mkaufman1]

Has anyone seen the Bring Football to GMU Facebook page? They seem a little crazy to me.

Yeah I tried talking to them and they really hate everything about GMU sports and didn't have much to offer in terms of positivity. Oh well. I actually had to unlike the page because it was getting so ridiculous. They also posted that bringing football would bring a higher caliber of student.

 

[Cool Disco Dan]

Hewitt actually addressed that in the post-game press conference, which you can see on gomason.com. St. Joe's was sagging off Moore knowing he's not a perimeter threat and playing the rest of our players 5 on 4, so Hewitt went with Edwards and Allen at the point. I thought Corey had one of his better shooting nights with 8 points, but his 3 turnovers were also the most on the team.

Why the hell would you admit that? So if MM is playing well, other teams now know to just lay off him and Hewitt will give him the hook.

Frankly, I don't give a rat's a how teams are playing MM -- he needs to play. Didn't Hewitt say (all offseason) that it took him a year and a half to figure it out, but he figured out that BA should be on the wing? And Corey's logged solid minutes in nearly 100 college games - we know what he is, which is a steady backup PG. I'd rather see MM playing 30 minutes a night launching air balls from 3 than splitting the PG minutes w/ CE and BA.

 

[azgmu]

Yeah I tried talking to them and they really hate everything about GMU sports and didn't have much to offer in terms of positivity. Oh well. I actually had to unlike the page because it was getting so ridiculous. They also posted that bringing football would bring a higher caliber of student.

Higher caliber of student, heh. Mason was never a great school on it's surface, but it was always a convenient school for first-rate Northern VA professionals to go to to take a few classes. So the school always has a handful of people who really know what they're doing. Larranaga was able to tap into that mentality pretty well, by realizing that it only takes a few good people who work hard and know their stuff in order to do something special. On the other hand, building a complete program from the ground up is something that I don't think will ever jibe well with the Mason mentality.

 

[gmutom]

Why the hell would you admit that? So if MM is playing well, other teams now know to just lay off him and Hewitt will give him the hook.

Normally, Hewitt's substitutions drive me nuts, but I give him credit for actually adapting to counter what the other team was doing. I agree with you that Moore should be starting and getting the bulk of the minutes over Corey, but it's tough to argue that the instinct didn't pay off last night.

I was also happy to see Gray get some minutes, so hopefully last night was a sign that we'll see some more adjustments moving forward.

 

[MasonFanatic]

Has anyone seen the Bring Football to GMU Facebook page? They seem a little crazy to me.

Someone should ask them where they plan to get $85-$100M