Game 26: GMU (13-12 / 6-6) at vcu (18-7 / 11-3) on Wednesday, February 23, at 7PM.

[Earl the Squirrel]

He drove once tonight and A charging foul ensued. Take him off the list please and thanks

He has demonstrated the ability to put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim and has had success doing so when given the opportunity (the Fordham game excepted - as he was being guarded by Ohams). Also has a nice feel around the basket, as was on display tonight. I'll take 8 pts per charge all day long and twice on Sunday.

 

[sleeperpick]

13 and 7 from Oduro on 6-8 shooting isn’t exactly super quiet. It’s not what we are used to, but that’s a solid outing.

Cooper going 1-7 is supremely disappointing, but at the same time 8 from Frazier and 5 from Polite is infinitely more bench production than we are used to (which is a sad commentary that we need to celebrate 13 bench points). So there is that.

Big difference in the game: vcu 20-27 from the line versus 6-12 from Mason. vcu with more made free throws than we attempted.

Oduro had more than half of that when vcu stopped playing defense at the end of the game. He didn’t have a good game. I’m guessing you didn’t watch?

 

[sleeperpick]

He has demonstrated the ability to put the ball on the floor and finish at the rim and has had success doing so when given the opportunity (the Fordham game excepted - as he was being guarded by Ohams). Also has a nice feel around the basket, as was on display tonight. I'll take 8 pts per charge all day long and twice on Sunday.

He didn’t dribble drive on any of those points though. I’m all for him scrapping near the rim but hell no don’t dribble drive from the perimeter. He played well but it surely wasn’t putting the ball on the floor

 

[Earl the Squirrel]

Mason took a 6 point lead with 12:56 left. After that, Mason had 11 fouls called against them to vcu’s 2 fouls until the vcu technical at 1:01.

11-2

vcu leads the A10 in fouls per games, but somehow was able to play incredibly disciplined during that stretch. Remarkable.

Gunnie - nice work! Remarkable indeed.

 

[gmujim92]

Oduro had more than half of that when vcu stopped playing defense at the end of the game. He didn’t have a good game. I’m guessing you didn’t watch?

The worst part is Josh could’ve gone for 30 if he hadn’t been buried on the bench again … Ward was hobbled, Stockard sucks and Deloach is too skinny to guard him. We should have destroyed them in the paint — Oduro must learn how to defend without fouling.

 

[MasonMojo]

CKE will have us ready next season, we will beat these guys. Count on it.

 

[GMUgemini]

Oduro had more than half of that when vcu stopped playing defense at the end of the game. He didn’t have a good game. I’m guessing you didn’t watch?

I watched the first half and the end after teaching. I can’t help it I teach a class right in the middle of Wednesday night game times.

Also, when did they stop playing defense? He had 10 with 1:58 to go and it was a 2 possession game at that point. Playing with fire (a few missed FTs) and the game could have swung the other way.

 

[Patriotsince81]

6-12 from the free throw line.
18 turnovers.
Game.

 

[GSII]

Before it was we had no bench scoring. Got that last night and still lost. Time to look closer at our scheme on offense and defense. Cooper is becoming a disappointment numbers wise. His production is that of a bench player.

 

[EXpatriot13]

Before it was we had no bench scoring. Got that last night and still lost. Time to look closer at our scheme on offense and defense. Cooper is becoming a disappointment numbers wise. His production is that of a bench player.

Ticket has also largely struggled on the offensive side for the better part of a month now. Probably nothing more than fatigue and trying to do too much.

Obviously I never want to lose, but this roster has a decent way to go. Hopefully Dinkins is a stud sooner rather than later, and CKE brings in some reliable depth to spell the starters.

 

[GSII]

Ticket is involved in almost every hustle play. He is always on the floor and fighting for rebounds. We need that.

Cooper just wants to jack threes. When he tries to drive, he always turns around bc he can't get past his man. Imo, CKE should of brought in a real PG instead of him.

Oduro is playing like he concerned about something else. Either he wanted revenge so bad it affected his game or he has one foot out the door.

Schwartz has started going at the rim, but he turns around also to get into his shot, but damn if that turn doesn't scare me into a turnover with someone picking his pocket.

Other than X, no other guard can attack the rim off the dribble. I do like Schwartz and Oduro running a 2 man game while their side is cleared out.

 

[mkaufman1]

Ticket is involved in almost every hustle play. He is always on the floor and fighting for rebounds. We need that.

Cooper just wants to jack threes. When he tries to drive, he always turns around bc he can't get past his man. Imo, CKE should of brought in a real PG instead of him.

Oduro is playing like he concerned about something else. Either he wanted revenge so bad it affected his game or he has one foot out the door.

Schwartz has started going at the rim, but he turns around also to get into his shot, but damn if that turn doesn't scare me into a turnover with someone picking his pocket.

Other than X, no other guard can attack the rim off the dribble. I do like Schwartz and Oduro running a 2 man game while their side is cleared out.

I agree with most of your thoughts here but few things.

1) Cooper may be flawed although I think its just that like with the other guys on the team (Oduro, Schwartz, Gaines) the book is out on him. Stay on him like white on rice and don't let him shoot open looks. Simple as that.
2) I don't think bringing in another PG instead of Cooper was where the focus was. When English came in he had 4 guys to work with who could play PG with XJ Polite Hartwell and Gray. I think its fair to say that he had to give those guys at least a chance to pan out for a year. Obviously everything has gone wrong at that spot, needing to overuse XJ, and not having any other productive option a lot of the time. Hopefully Polite can have a good finish to the season and stay healthy.
3) I agree with Schwartz going to the rim and then doing the turnaround. He needs to be quicker because he leaves himself open for a turnover by stopping too long.
4) I think teams have also adjusted to Oduro a lot the last few games. Its obvious that they know he fouls on defense and now needs to take his game up a notch by knowing how to work with tough double teams coming. Considering where he was and where he is now, I have full confidence that he is going to work through it and continue to get better.

The roster has flaws and like everyone has said, I really hope that next year we see a substantial improvement. Top 4 should be achievable and we should see a build towards an NCAA run for year 3. But top 4 is solely dependent on hitting gold with transfers and having really good production out of the freshmen. It certainly should be a better year with more depth and wins at the minimum.

 

[NewPatriot]

2 things:

Oduro is now the #1

Ticket is involved in almost every hustle play. He is always on the floor and fighting for rebounds. We need that.

Cooper just wants to jack threes. When he tries to drive, he always turns around bc he can't get past his man. Imo, CKE should of brought in a real PG instead of him.

Oduro is playing like he concerned about something else. Either he wanted revenge so bad it affected his game or he has one foot out the door.

Team growth and maturity isnt linear; improvement isnt always reflected in the won- loss column

Oduro's containment is now the #1 item on every opponents scouting report. Opponents are employing different strategies to take him out and make Mason beat them in others ways.

The challenge for CKE ,Mason and oduro to adjust and respond to those strategies.

vcu's defense is designed to speed up the opponent, blow up screens and force opponents to make decisions from uncomfortable posesssions.

In Mason's case, they single covered oduro and sent a second delayed defender(baldwin or william) to dig at his dribble when he started to make his post moves.

They forced him to pick up his dribble and hold the ball with perimeter shooters out of position (not ready) for a kickout.He wasn't able to get to his sweet spots because he picked up his dribble.

His frustration got the best of him and committed some stupid fouls.

He did manage to gather himself at the end at hit some crucial shots at the end of the game.

Mason also found ways to attack vcu without oduro thru schwartz.

Getting back polite helped. In spite of some freshman mistakes, he made an positive impact on the game and relieved some ball pressure off XJ.

Mason did a great job defending vcu in the second half. It took some extraordinary playmaking by Ace Baldwin for vcu to win.

Overall, Mason showed alot of grit and resilience.

They will win 2 of the next 3 and possibly run the table by beating davidson at the Belk.

 

[GSII]

Keyword...."playmaking". Not on Masons roster. Yet.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

As much as we hate them, vcu is a solid program that's been churning out consistently good teams for two decades. Rhoades is in his fifth season after being handed a finished product and has a roster of 7 Juniors and Seniors he's had the luxury of coaching for multiple years in his system. The loss sucks, but at their place w/some reffing that was more favorable to their style of play, it's not shocking.

Next season we'll return 4 of 5 starters (Oprah says to put the positive vibes out to the universe, so Coop is coming back for Super Senior year), the bench continues to develop, Dinkins, Fernandez and Buchanan (thank you, Oprah) are going to be a super-trio, we'll have some supplemental help from the portal TBD, and w/a year of head-coaching under his belt CKE is an even better program leader.

 

[GMU_DCU]

Before it was we had no bench scoring. Got that last night and still lost. Time to look closer at our scheme on offense and defense. Cooper is becoming a disappointment numbers wise. His production is that of a bench player.

I cringe every single time Cooper puts the ball on the floor. Good thing he can shoot a spot up 3.