Game 22: AT Virginia Commonwealth University, Saturday, February 2nd, 6:30 PM, NBCSN

[FreeGunston12]

Quality insight, as usual

Worst part is we wanted Gilmore to take those shots. He was 17% on 3s this season. Tip of the cap to him for hitting two huge ones after we tied it.

How’d that work out for us? Yes, we want him to shoot those shots - but with at least an iota of a contest is all I’m saying. Late rotations cost us in big moments.

Sorry my opinion doesn’t hold the weight of Almighty Jim, Czar of the Masonhoops board. Must you continue canibalizing Mason fans? You and I have seen eye to eye more times than not. I’m not a toxic troll. I have season tickets and go to every home game while every other alumn under 30 that I know doesn’t give a damn about the team. You disagree with my opinions, fine. Argue against them. Don’t be petty.

I’m really here to talk hoops, not to exchange unpleasantries. Let’s all stick to that, yeah? Too many personal attacks on the boards lately. I have a feeling that I’d get along with any one of you in person, after a beer or two.

 

[Washingtonian]

Mason put on a good pre-game yesterday at Pies and Pints. It was a ten minute walk from the arena.

 

[gmujim92]

How’d that work out for us? Yes, we want him to shoot those shots - but with at least an iota of a contest is all I’m saying. Late rotations cost us in big moments.

Sorry my opinion doesn’t hold the weight of Almighty Jim, Czar of the Masonhoops board. Must you continue canibalizing Mason fans? You and I have seen eye to eye more times than not. I’m not a toxic troll. I have season tickets and go to every home game while every other alumn under 30 that I know doesn’t give a damn about the team. You disagree with my opinions, fine. Argue against them. Don’t be petty.

I’m really here to talk hoops, not to exchange unpleasantries. Let’s all stick to that, yeah? Too many personal attacks on the boards lately. I have a feeling that I’d get along with any one of you in person, after a beer or two.

My apologies. Broke my rule of not visiting this board and posting right after a loss. You’re right, no need for personal attacks.

 

[psyclone]

Could someone please explain to me why Paulsen allows his guards to make the same mistake over and over and not correct it; and refuse to sit the guards because of the same dumb mistake over and over? And why does Paulsen allow his guards to go up against three players over and over again and not bench them for it. I am so sick of this insanity! They don't throw the ball to the open man, they rather create a turnover. They'll never be winners because all they think about are their own numbers. Sad. I'm done. No longer a fan. He can turn into Coach K and he would never have my respect again.

Sounds like a classic case of "cutting off reflected failure" (CORF). Sort of the opposite of "basking in reflected glory"(BIRG).

To get psychological about this:

"Our research indicates that our high Bold managers are likely to overstate their accomplishments and blame mistakes and failures on others. Hence, we are likely to see high Bold managers BIRGing and CORFing more often or to a greater extent than your average Joe as they jockey themselves into position for ego-preservation" (Kevin Meyer, 2012).

For a more academic perspective see:

https://www.hoganassessments.com/birging-and-corfing-from-the-hardcourt-to-the-boardroom/

 

[TheTastee29]

Otis has mad ball handling skills. His confidence off the dribble has resulted in some amazing acrobatic shots falling -- especially last season. In yesterday's game though, his confidence in his ball handling skills allowed him to get trapped far too many times. Hartwell's absence only exacerbated this tendency. Otis needs to pass first up to and over half court if we're going to beat pressure teams like vcu. It would have saved clock and taken vcu out of their game plan.

 

[Petey Buckets]

Talked about this game a little on the new Hey10 pod coming out tomorrow. Tried my best to be impartial but it's difficult. Some notes:

- Credit to Rhoades for a very solid game plan. He was pressing and trapping on the perimeter and content to leave our forwards single-covered in the post. Mason isn't gonna beat you if the guards never get going, and they prevented that from happening. The shooting splits between our guards (5-23) and forwards (18-24) were by design on vcu's end.

- Reuter is worlds ahead of where he was at the beginning of the season. He's finally using that husky boy frame to create space and get his shot off. He looked great.

- Jordan Miller's athleticism in the frontcourt is like a portal to another dimension as far as Mason teams under Paulsen go. We don't usually have athletes in the frontcourt, with the obvious exception of AJ, who has never been able to get consistent minutes. That lob to Miller was clean, and the kind of play we haven't made in years. Miller's got a real nose for offensive boards and he's smooth enough to put them back pretty easily.

- I bitched a little bit about the refs. That sequence with Boyd getting hit in the face, his man hitting an open 3, and vcu getting the ball back for an egregious flop away from the ball was a Siegel Center Special. Don't think they benefit from that or those three second half moving screens when they come back to EBA.

- vcu's depth is a problem. That 9-0 run that buried us was with 4 or 5 non-starters on the floor. That's probably what concerns me most about them.

Looking forward to the rematch and seeing how Dave adjusts. I don't think a 17% three point shooter is gonna get hot in Fairfax, and I don't think the guards are going to get locked down either.

 

[GMUgemini]

How’d that work out for us? Yes, we want him to shoot those shots - but with at least an iota of a contest is all I’m saying. Late rotations cost us in big moments.

Sorry my opinion doesn’t hold the weight of Almighty Jim, Czar of the Masonhoops board. Must you continue canibalizing Mason fans? You and I have seen eye to eye more times than not. I’m not a toxic troll. I have season tickets and go to every home game while every other alumn under 30 that I know doesn’t give a damn about the team. You disagree with my opinions, fine. Argue against them. Don’t be petty.

I’m really here to talk hoops, not to exchange unpleasantries. Let’s all stick to that, yeah? Too many personal attacks on the boards lately. I have a feeling that I’d get along with any one of you in person, after a beer or two.

The one problem with our defense is that when it breaks down, it really breaks down and leads to players open on the perimeter for a really long time...like rec league set and shoot long.

 

[MudKat]

They make some damm good pie!!! I'm jealous. The only time living in Jersey doesn't suck is when I'm in Richmond eating somewhat less good pizza than here.

Mason put on a good pre-game yesterday at Pies and Pints. It was a ten minute walk from the arena.

 

[Falco]

Mason took to long to start their offense. I guess that’s what a quality press will do.

 

[MudKat]

I"m not being a hater, but you guys have got to get a site that works.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Finally got to watch the game on tape.

We match up well with vcu, weirdly, better than we did when we had actual better teams. No biggie, yesterday, vcu obviously a very good team when they can hit next to anything on the perimeter--they had a stretch where they did, game over.

Considering Kier sucked, no Hartwell, and Otis was kind of bad (give vcu credit for mixing defenses and their traps, especially in the first half), loss not at all concerning to me.

Good game. Not much else to say.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Yes and Patriots vs. Rams on Saturday and Patriots vs. Rams on Sunday.

It’s a Patriots/Rams weekend extravaganza

Turned into a split series. Which was the more enjoyable game?

 

[Washingtonian]

I read the vcu boards and found Paulsen's post game:

Someone asks about AJ at the very end.

 

[mkaufman1]

This game reminded me of the old CAA games where Mason would be on top and vcu would be a game or two behind and just play out of this world. vcu had a really good game plan to attack Masons depth at guard and make the guards beat them from deep. vcu also got some good luck calls and of course having Gilmore hitting threes helps. That few minute span was the difference and that was that. The Siegel center is really a house of horrors for Mason since they’ve only won there 6 times ever out of 28.

Anyway, onto the next one.

 

[GSII]

That's a bullshit response on Aj question. Yes Greg and Jared played great at the 5. AJ athletic enough to guard Vann who scored 21pts.

 

[GMUSig03]

Finally got to watch the game on tape.

We match up well with vcu, weirdly, better than we did when we had actual better teams. No biggie, yesterday, vcu obviously a very good team when they can hit next to anything on the perimeter--they had a stretch where they did, game over.

Considering Kier sucked, no Hartwell, and Otis was kind of bad (give vcu credit for mixing defenses and their traps, especially in the first half), loss not at all concerning to me.

Good game. Not much else to say.

Exactly how I feel, everything went right for vcu and wrong for us. We couldn't buy a 3 and some of their worst shooters couldn't miss. Just wasn't our night. Hopefully this is just extra motivation when we get them at EBA in front of a large, loud and hopefully sold out crowd.

Regarding Paulsen's comments on AJ - I don't think it was BS, it was the most honest he has been - he believes the other guys are better. From what I've been told, AJ really needs to work on sticking to his defensive assignments.

 

[gmujim92]

That's a bullshit response on Aj question. Yes Greg and Jared played great at the 5. AJ athletic enough to guard Vann who scored 21pts.

Miller has taken whatever minutes AJ might have gotten after Go went down and run with them. Barring injury, he’ll be a starter for the next 3 years.

AJ obviously is in the doghouse for whatever reason. As with the Grayer situation, Dave is only going to talk about it so much.

 

[Jack Strop]

AJ obviously is in the doghouse for whatever reason. As with the Grayer situation, Dave is only going to talk about it so much.

Don't look only at what Coach Dave says about AJ. Coach's non-verbal cues during his answer says it all. There is apparently a disciplinary issue inside AJ's game or an underlying non-basketball problem going on here. DP's little Cheshire smirk indicates to me that AJ will be all right.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I just don't understand why the question keeps being asked. Dave is not going to tell us, and if it's a team issue, nor should he.

Are we expecting him to crack if asked enough like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men?

 

[gmujim92]

I just don't understand why the question keeps being asked. Dave is not going to tell us, and if it's a team issue, nor should he.

Are we expecting him to crack if asked enough like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men?

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE DEW!!!