Game 27: GMU (18-8 / 7-6) at Loyola Chicago (19-7 / 11-2) on Saturday, February 24, at 4:30 PM.

[mkaufman1]

Looking back on the teams that have beaten us this season, it occurred to me that most are very physical defensively and used constant bumping and grabbing to take away the flow of our offense,

Charlotte, Tennessee, vcu, Richmond, UMass and Loyola all certainly fit that description.

GW and Saint Joe’s are the obvious exceptions.

Given that the home whistle is a real thing, feels like our guys need to get stronger and more accustomed to playing through repeated contact.

Only beating teams that allow you freedom of movement and to comfortably run your stuff doesn’t seem like a recipe for the kind of success Tony is looking for.

Agreed completely but the game we played against them in Fairfax was much different. I suspect they changed their style knowing how they could play at home. It reminded me of those Shaka era teams with 9000 finger painters screaming at the Stu for w hours.

Regardless, round 3 if it happens will be more like the Fairfax game. The schedule gets easier for the next few so no real excuses to not finish strong regardless of style.

 

[Yossarian]

From now on I’m embracing the George Costanza model when it comes to picking Mason game outcomes.

 

[GSII]

On the broadcast they said Valentine visited Shaka at Marquette to learn his flow offense. Apparently Jollay was on the Marquette roster at the time and Valentine couldn't offer him enough NIL money to leave. Despite Chicago having better side walks.

 

[GMUgemini]

Agreed completely but the game we played against them in Fairfax was much different. I suspect they changed their style knowing how they could play at home. It reminded me of those Shaka era teams with 9000 finger painters screaming at the Stu for w hours.

Regardless, round 3 if it happens will be more like the Fairfax game. The schedule gets easier for the next few so no real excuses to not finish strong regardless of style.

They played us the same way in Fairfax. Half their team was in foul trouble and we were in the bonus within like the first 5 minutes of the second half and we shot 33 FTs for the game.

The problem is we did not play good defense in either game (barring the first half of the game in Fairfax).

But yes at the very least when you’re getting bumped and they’re over playing you, please be strong with the ball and force them to foul you instead of coughing it up over and over again.

 

[mkaufman1]

They played us the same way in Fairfax. Half their team was in foul trouble and we were in the bonus within like the first 5 minutes of the second half and we shot 33 FTs for the game.

The problem is we did not play good defense in either game (barring the first half of the game in Fairfax).

But yes at the very least when you’re getting bumped and they’re over playing you, please be strong with the ball and force them to foul you instead of coughing it up over and over again.

Maybe I should clarify. There’s a difference of being physical and not being called for every foul, versus being physical and giving up 10-20 percent of what fouls should be called. Estimation but you get the pt.

But otherwise agree, we didn’t play defense either game and really let them dictate half 2 in Fairfax and the entire game in Chicago.

Hopefully if we see them again it’ll be different.

 

[Mason2006Patriot]

Next year, we will have Jalen Haynes to play bully ball with against Loyola Chicago

Fighting fire with fire

 

[Yossarian]

Next year, we will have Jalen Haynes to play bully ball with against Loyola Chicago

Fighting fire with fire

I was trying to comfort myself with that prospect, too. Let’s boot up Jai Lewis v2.0.

 

[gmujim92]

Next year, we will have Jalen Haynes to play bully ball with against Loyola Chicago

Fighting fire with fire

Nobody on our schedule is going to enjoy the experience of trying to guard Jalen. He is literally a mountain of a man. Anybody who tries to body him up is gonna wind up in the third row.

 

[GMUgemini]

Nobody on our schedule is going to enjoy the experience of trying to guard Jalen. He is literally a mountain of a man. Anybody who tries to body him up is gonna wind up in the third row.

A year of seasoning for Okojie and Hall, an offseason of working on his jumper for Billups, the addition of a big boy post player in Haynes, a summer of getting stronger for Ball. A coaching staff with a full season of lessons to pour over. Next year could be pretty good if the staff can hold everyone together.

 

[GSII]

A year of seasoning for Okojie and Hall, an offseason of working on his jumper for Billups, the addition of a big boy post player in Haynes, a summer of getting stronger for Ball. A coaching staff with a full season of lessons to pour over. Next year could be pretty good if the staff can hold everyone together.

I wonder what role diet plays in a teams performance?
We better get these guys on a good food program. Plant based doesn't work for athletes or anybody really, imo. Seems like LoC is on an all steak plan and it shows. They play like hunters each possesion.

 

[Verdad]

I wonder what role diet plays in a teams performance?
We better get these guys on a good food program. Plant based doesn't work for athletes or anybody really, imo. Seems like LoC is on an all steak plan and it shows. They play like hunters each possesion.

I'm guessing you haven't looked at the amount of protein in a lot of plant based foods - there is a ton.

 

[gmujim92]

I wonder what role diet plays in a teams performance?
We better get these guys on a good food program. Plant based doesn't work for athletes or anybody really, imo. Seems like LoC is on an all steak plan and it shows. They play like hunters each possesion.

Most of their rotation players are grad students, seniors and juniors who have been in college strength and conditioning programs and are effectively grown men.

Credit to Valentine for being able to bring together such a veteran team. They are significantly more physical than our group and it shows in the way they guard.

 

[gmubrian]

My random observations/thoughts about the game/Loy-Chi (other than repeating stuff that is obvious):

I am on the the "they are talented" side of the debate. Not that they have a player of the year level of talent, but they seem to have decent talent that doesn't drop off and it goes about 11 deep, and they are big! The talent statement stops with 32. He looks at times like he hasn't ever played basketball before.

I don't think their style of rough play is a susceptible to being exposed in the tournament as vcu's havoc style was. Because of the nearly constant pressing, vcu could be exposed when they went up against higher level talent with much faster players. I feel like that is not as big of an issue with Loy-Chi's style of constant bumping and harassment.

They way I see it, they commit what I'll call 50/50 fouls non-stop while defending but then don't excessively foul when shooting. We on the other hand, play pretty solid defense without fouling write up until the point they shoot and we commit an obvious foul. We kind of force the officials to call them on us, while Loy-Chi fouls are much more debatable. I did have to laugh at one of their fans screaming about the foul disparity against them in the first half. Does he not watch how his team plays defense?

It was great hanging out with other Mason fans (several that post/lurk on here) prior to the game. Too bad the game was such a huge letdown.

I forgot to get some Chicago style popcorn to bring home, so I am in trouble with Ms. GMUBrian at the moment.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I did have to laugh at one of their fans screaming about the foul disparity against them in the first half. Does he not watch how his team plays defense?

Yeah, he was annoying. That's something I don't really understand that fans will yell. Is there some unwritten rule that teams have to foul equally? At one point I wanted yell, "Hey ref, the score is 66 to 36! Lets even it up!" to mock him, but he probably wouldn't have gotten it.

 

[GSII]

I'm guessing you haven't looked at the amount of protein in a lot of plant based foods - there is a ton.

Its not just protein. Nothing has more nutrients and vitamins than red meats, organs. that are bioavailable. In the wild, animals make a kill. What do they eat first? Its not the dandelion. They first go straight to the liver and other nutrient dense organs. Liver alone has more benefits than any plant. Our Grandma's taught us that.

 

[GSII]

Most of their rotation players are grad students, seniors and juniors who have been in college strength and conditioning programs and are effectively grown men.

Credit to Valentine for being able to bring together such a veteran team. They are significantly more physical than our group and it shows in the way they guard.

Even more evidence. To have so many different guys from different places suddenly playing this style and level of rugged defense is a testament to something.

 

[GMUgemini]

Its not just protein. Nothing has more nutrients and vitamins than red meats, organs. that are bioavailable. In the wild, animals make a kill. What do they eat first? Its not the dandelion. They first go straight to the liver and other nutrient dense organs. Liver alone has more benefits than any plant. Our Grandma's taught us that.

There are plenty of professional athletes who are vegetarian and they have no problem being strong and fast and competing at the highest level. If someone wants to be a vegetarian they are not putting themselves at a disadvantage.

The carnivore diet is pseudoscience at best, please don’t fall for it. I mean in theory you could wait for an animal to eat enough plant material to collect those nutrients in their liver or you could just eat the plant material yourself and get the same benefits but I a much more efficient way.

 

[GSII]

There are plenty of professional athletes who are vegetarian and they have no problem being strong and fast and competing at the highest level. If someone wants to be a vegetarian they are not putting themselves at a disadvantage.

The carnivore diet is pseudoscience at best, please don’t fall for it. I mean in theory you could wait for an animal to eat enough plant material to collect those nutrients in their liver or you could just eat the plant material yourself and get the same benefits but I a much more efficient way.

Most animals are eating grass not plants. Or they are force fed grains, corn and soy.

Pseudoscience? You do know we as humans have been eating meat for as long as we have been breathing air right? Next you are gonna tell me the 100 ingredients in a plant burger is good for you. Personally, I dont do carnivore per se bc i like fruit, honey, and yogurt. I guess thats called something else. Its has improved my health in every catergory.

While there are vegan athletes, they also need to take supplements for vitamins and nutrients that plants cannot supply. For example, Guys like Erling Haaland or Noah Synder gaard dont take vitiamns bc they eat whole foods like fatty beef, liver, heart, raw dairy, fruit, honey etc.

 

[GMUgemini]

I don’t want to get into a long debate about this, but the “carnivore diet” refers to a fad diet similar to Paleo or Keto or Whole 30, which makes broad sweeping claims not backed up by science and asks you to cut plant-based products from your diet completely. Yes we have been eating animals since we’ve been around but it has never ever been the only thing we ate.

Most people who are vegan have to take supplements because they don’t know how to be vegan not because a vegan diet is inherently absent nutrients otherwise gained from animal protein.

Anyway, your success has to do with what happens when you start being more broadly conscientious with what you eat and avoiding highly processed foods (which it sounds like you are doing—I bet tou are even buying yogurt now that isn’t loaded with added sugars?) You can do that eating mostly animals or you can do that mostly not eating animals. So if it’s working for you and you find it sustainable as a way of life keep going.

 

[gmubrian]

I forgot to post this here and have been too depressed to come in this thread until now…

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1761496048147505293

View: https://twitter.com/realbriandunbar/status/1761496048147505293?s=46&t=3I69vYcoT2YCkzXfiueq1w