Game 23: GMU (15-7 / 4-5) vs Loyola Chicago (15-7 / 7-2) on Wednesday, February 7, at 7:00 PM.

[mkaufman1]

The NFL lost me about 10 years ago. I gave up on the NBA before that when Latrell Sprewell said something to the effect of "How the hell am I supposed to feed my family on 14 million a year"? Baseball is losing me because Harper, Soto, etc. all took the money and ran. Don't get me started on Ohtani. If we start having to reshape and rebuild the roster every year college basketball then Mason will lose me. I'm holding out hope that qualities like loyalty, honor, and commitment aren't dying. Time, as always, will tell.

Hate to break it to you man, but the age of having guys stick around for 4 years, and coaches for 30 is most likely dead.

There might be some adjustment once the free covid year guys dwindle but otherwise this is the new normal for college hoops.

The good news and bad news is that every year can be good or bad with the drop of a button. A roster rebuild could lead to great things, or it could lead to nothing.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

There is a way this could benefit a program like ours.

Let’s say, one year we are able to get a collective of players that have made decent money for 2 or 3 years and in final part of their college careers, getting significantly more playing time is lore important to them.

CTS and crew could take advantage of that dynamic.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Hate to break it to you man, but the age of having guys stick around for 4 years, and coaches for 30 is most likely dead.

There might be some adjustment once the free covid year guys dwindle but otherwise this is the new normal for college hoops.

The good news and bad news is that every year can be good or bad with the drop of a button. A roster rebuild could lead to great things, or it could lead to nothing.

Agree, but I'm holding out hope that we'll get enough "character" guys who were raised right. LOL.

 

[gmujim92]

Agree, but I'm holding out hope that we'll get enough "character" guys who were raised right. LOL.

I like to think I was raised right, but I also like money and don’t blame anyone else for trying to get as much of it as they can lol.

 

[GMU79]

The NFL lost me about 10 years ago. I gave up on the NBA before that when Latrell Sprewell said something to the effect of "How the hell am I supposed to feed my family on 14 million a year"? Baseball is losing me because Harper, Soto, etc. all took the money and ran. Don't get me started on Ohtani. If we start having to reshape and rebuild the roster every year college basketball then Mason will lose me. I'm holding out hope that qualities like loyalty, honor, and commitment aren't dying. Time, as always, will tell.

Me too. I used to live and die by my teams, year round. I watched tons of games (NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAAF, NCAAB), but no more. Maybe it's my age, but I told my wife after last night's game, "I don't have 2 hours of my life to spend like this anymore."
I don't watch one eighth of the games I used to watch (Mason being the exception), but darn, I sure would like to get out of this crappy time-loop we have been in for the past 50 years (Coach L years excepted.) I'm sick of it.
I love Tony, and I truly believe he can win here. But still, my clock ticks on.
Sorry for being morose, but that's where I am.

 

[Jack Strop]

Looking at the box score it looks like Kelly had an efficient night, but he looked off last night. Seemed like he wasn't looking to do much at the top of the key on offense and his defense was terrible.

Then the consistent turnovers from Kelly and Hall.

Lack of minutes and production from the bench. I don't understand the use of Henry and Ball for a couple of min. I feel like Henry should have gotten more playing time with how soft Kelly was playing on defense. Not sure if he is still hurt or what.

Like was mentioned above, too much standing around and watching on offense. Not enough screens and this is one of the wort passing teams I have seen at Mason.

Just very frustrating to go from 13-2 to this...

Kelly is playing tentative because he knows that he cannot get into foul trouble—he's the only 5 currently healthy and available. He got his offensive numbers, but clearly his defensive effort stumbled. Malik? My kingdom for Malik.

 

[GMUgemini]

Per the court case that upheld the TRO for 2nd time transfers, all players can transfer as much as they want without penalty of sitting out. That case was appealed and agreed to be revisted at seasons end. Unless they win the appeal, the ncaa is looking at a shit show going forward. Players might even transfer during the ncaa tourney, lol.

One key point that never gets mentioned is the effect of football on basketball and other sports. College football players can't leave until year 3. All the NIL and transfer stuff in college basketball is being influenced by football motivies. If college basketball players are free to leave for Pro's anytime and the NBA after one season, then why are they getting the same 'benefits' as football players who are 'stuck' in college longer?

Remember this, Rome fell from within.

This is a good point. An 18 year old can sign a G-League or overseas contract right out of high school (and some are starting to). They aren’t stuck with an NCAA “monopoly” in the same way football players are.

 

[GMUgemini]

Me too. I used to live and die by my teams, year round. I watched tons of games (NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAAF, NCAAB), but no more. Maybe it's my age, but I told my wife after last night's game, "I don't have 2 hours of my life to spend like this anymore."
I don't watch one eighth of the games I used to watch (Mason being the exception), but darn, I sure would like to get out of this crappy time-loop we have been in for the past 50 years (Coach L years excepted.) I'm sick of it.
I love Tony, and I truly believe he can win here. But still, my clock ticks on.
Sorry for being morose, but that's where I am.

If the courts turn college athletes into mercenaries I might quit on college basketball in the same way I quit on the NFL.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Kelly is playing tentative because he knows that he cannot get into foul trouble—he's the only 5 currently healthy and available. He got his offensive numbers, but clearly his defensive effort stumbled. Malik? My kingdom for Malik.

Yea, I think this is a direct result of having fouled out of the last game with 10 minutes left. He knows he has to be on the court.

 

[Jack Strop]

Sit for a year while making probably decent to good money is a small sacrifice that most players will make if given the opportunity.

For programs like ours going forward, it is mostly a one season team. Only hope is of one of us on these boards get vastly wealthy and turn our NIL collective into a competitive one.

Or some other outside financier.

I firmly believe that NIL collectives are largely unsustainable, especially for teams that are not consistent winners or have deep traditions. Donors and businesses who seek NIL endorsement are going to realize that the return on their investments will be sparse and inconsistent at best. I don't know how many collectives are currently struggling, but I get the sense that it's most of them.

 

[GSII]

Lets face it. In today's landscape, players don't give a shit about the fans or the school. They are hardly part of the University anymore. Like 81 hinted above, they just care about short term money.

 

[mkaufman1]

Kelly is playing tentative because he knows that he cannot get into foul trouble—he's the only 5 currently healthy and available. He got his offensive numbers, but clearly his defensive effort stumbled. Malik? My kingdom for Malik.

Yea, I think this is a direct result of having fouled out of the last game with 10 minutes left. He knows he has to be on the court.

I agree that Kelly played tentative because he has to stay on the court.

However, he only finished last nights game with 2 fouls, so he had room to be more aggressive especially as the game wore on. I just didn't see any pushback against their big oaf , or attempt to come and help him out when he obviously was struggling / playing tentative etc.

 

[GSII]

I agree that Kelly played tentative because he has to stay on the court.

However, he only finished last nights game with 2 fouls, so he had room to be more aggressive especially as the game wore on. I just didn't see any pushback against their big oaf , or attempt to come and help him out when he obviously was struggling / playing tentative etc.

And Malik was available!

 

[dr. gunnie]

The frustrating thing for me is the inconsistency in how we are losing. One game we can't hit an outside shot, the next we can't rebound, then it's defense. One game we only have 2 turnovers, a week later we have 17. I have no idea what our identity is.

 

[GSII]

The frustrating thing for me is the inconsistency in how we are losing. One game we can't hit an outside shot, the next we can't rebound, then it's defense. One game we only have 2 turnovers, a week later we have 17. I have no idea what our identity is.

We don't have an Identity b/c we let the players do what they want on offense. After 10 games, every opponent knows what you are going to do. When we struggle on offense, it then leads to poor defense. I don't understand the lack of direction here and in past coaching regimes. The Virus was king of just letting them play b/c he believed he had the better athlete. Dumb.

I love that Tony is pissed. B/c Im pissed. Everyone pissed.

 

[GMUgemini]

We don't have an Identity b/c we let the players do what they want on offense. After 10 games, every opponent knows what you are going to do. When we struggle on offense, it then leads to poor defense. I don't understand the lack of direction here and in past coaching regimes. The Virus was king of just letting them play b/c he believed he had the better athlete. Dumb.

I love that Tony is pissed. B/c Im pissed. Everyone pissed.

I didn’t realize that shooting 59% from the field and 33 FTs was “struggling in offense.”

We were up 8 at the half and scored 44 points. We then came out and let them score on 8 of their first 10 shots while also shooting well ourselves. The difference being they sent us to the line a bunch and we kept going 1-2 and they whittled us down and then we just collapsed.

 

[gmulion]

I didn’t realize that shooting 59% from the field and 33 FTs was “struggling in offense.”

We were up 8 at the half and scored 44 points. We then came out and let them score on 8 of their first 10 shots while also shooting well ourselves. The difference being they sent us to the line a bunch and we kept going 1-2 and they whittled us down and then we just collapsed.

17 turnovers is struggling.

 

[Patriotsince81]

17 turnovers is struggling.

They took 53 shots, we only got off 37. Ball game.

 

[gmulion]

Yea, I think this is a direct result of having fouled out of the last game with 10 minutes left. He knows he has to be on the court.

What good is he on the court if he isn't going to play defense? Great he scored 12 points, but he gave up 21 points to Rubin and Adelekun. Plus he was constantly late with his help defense.

 

[GMUgemini]

17 turnovers is struggling.

Yes but more than half of them were in the first half. We had 3 TOs in the first 2 minutes of the game.

The difference is we held them to 37% shooting (31% from 3) in the first half and gave up 71% (71% from 3) in the second half. That had nothing to do with our TO rate (because it was higher in the first half).