Hooray for Patrick Stevens for covering the game! An actual bylined article in the Post!
Game 18: GMU (13-4 / 2-2) at GW (13-3 / 2-1) on Monday, January 15, at 2:00 PM.
- Thread starter Patriotsince81
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I agree. Ronnie brings a lot more than Baraka - by far - at this point. Polite has proven under CKE that he can get to the hole and draw fouls. Yet, we haven't seen that version of Polite this year, even though he's our best FT shooter (along with Maddox). Polite can also hit the mid-range. Okojie isn't up to the challenge yet.
Two things I'd like to see going forward:
1. Amari Kelly on the drag shooting more threes (got a nice stroke and hits at a high percentage). This will give much-needed space to Hall and Maddox to drive and create.
2. We're clearly challenged offensively at this point. I'd rather go with Polite on the court more and maybe sit Billups a bit.
gmuballer14
Starter
Bright side is now we don't have to worry about Skinn getting poached for at least a year.
Sounds like us. Aarrgghh!
Someone in the presser asked CTS something like, "Did GW look faster than Mason on the court?" The question went largely unanswered. My answer is, "Yes. Yes they did."
Our Patriots have only two games over the next 12 days, so they have to sharpen up in practice. Speed drills, speed drills, and more speed drills—that will kill the turnover problem. Practice with concrete basketballs taken from a magma-hot brick pizza oven (kinda like the Masonhoops logo
). Do coaches even do speed drills anymore?
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I think this is the issue as well.
It seems the majority of his shots lately are him dribbling around and forcing up heavily contested, off balance attempts because he isn't really getting the ball in advantageous positions. As we've gotten into conference play and teams are trying to take him away we need to be better about spacing and ball movement to try to free up Maddox for easier looks.
And part of that problem is poor ball movement to get him open looks.
And lazy passes, poor court awareness of double teams, lousy dribbling skills, too much one on one, and poor shooting. Lots of stuff to fix.
And in today's print edition, it's on the front page of the Sports section, below the fold, with a sizeable picture of a GW player (Buchanan) completing a dunk.
And both at home. I'm hoping this is exactly what the team needs to get back on track.
A little more time to reset, get back in the gym, and install some new wrinkles/adjustments on offense.
And have some great practices. I hear practice is where things are always great.
Oh wait wrong coaching era...
Then start the two of them together with Ronnie moving off the ball, because our offense moves at a snail's pace when he is bringing it up and dribbling at the top of the key. Again, not a slight at Ronnie, who should thrive more at the 2 given his shooting ability.
When an offense is struggling out of the gate like we have for three straight games, sometimes it helps to shake things up a little. Billups could come off the bench, and Tre could offer some spot minutes at the point if necessary.
Ronnie/Baraka. What did Tony say?
Oldsmobile/Ferrari?
Completely agree. I always saw Billups as more of a 6th man/defensive specialist role at the 2 and wanted Tony to make the change with Ronny/Baraka starting. There really wasn't a reason to make the change a month ago since it was working. Now, there definitely is a reason.
While we now have a shorter rotation, we also haven't gotten anything out of our bench (Malik/Woody) which doesn't help. Hopefully the 5 day break will get the guys going again to play solid basketball on Saturday.
Woody Newton’s shooting has fallen off a cliff since he was 14-22 from 3. Since then he’s gone 2-17! And given his length and athleticism he should be getting to the rim a lot more often. He should have 2-3 dunks per game coming in off the bench.
Granted, it's a really bad slump, but he's still shooting a very respectable 41% from behind the arc for the year. I completely agree that Woody needs to penetrate more frequently to diversify his game and keep defenders on their heels, but Tony — a 34% 3-point shooter while playing for Mason — knows better than anyone that shooters need to be able to work their way out of a slump.
Our starters are struggling too much and our bench is too thin for a guy as talented as Woody to not get at least 12-15 minutes a game. If he takes ill-advised shots, bench him; if he's just going through a rough stretch, run some plays to get him cleaner looks and help him work his way out of it.
I struggle with Billups. He's clearly one of the most talented defenders on the court, and he loves to attack the rim whenever he can. But he's been scouted by now as a non-threat from the arc, and so when the ball gets to him in the corner, the defense ignores him, daring the shot, and just catches up on their rotations everywhere else on the court and momentum has to start all over again. Tony clearly loves his defensive intensity. I just hope we can get him some corner 3 tutelage in the offseason so he can become the 3-and-D monster we all want him to be.
Yes. Would love to see more Newton and Billups runouts. They did that some during the OOC and that seems to be missing of late.
Maybe for Billups we can park him at the foul line or on the baseline and flex out Kelly a bit more so he’s not catching the ball in those spots?
imo....
Patriot Pressure needs to generate more steals. We are last in steals. Time to up the pressure so it creates offense.
Hall needs to incorporate 'facilitator' to his game.
Gotta get Woody going on defense. I bet will help his shooting.
Maybe rethink the offense so we are more strategic and less hero ball.
Patriot Pressure needs to generate more steals. We are last in steals. Time to up the pressure so it creates offense.
Hall needs to incorporate 'facilitator' to his game.
Gotta get Woody going on defense. I bet will help his shooting.
Maybe rethink the offense so we are more strategic and less hero ball.
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GiantKiller.co
ByGeorge
Expat Hoops
Fourth Estate
Doc Nix and the Green Machine
Bill Bride - DMV Sports Shots
Patriot Brew Blog/Newsletter