Game 5: GMU (3-1) vs Towson (0-3) on Wednesday, December 23, at 4PM.

[tblack33]

Daddy is a bull in a China shop. No grace but damn he hustles. I’m internally conflicted on my opinion on him.

I love it. On a team full of role players, he’s one of the only one who embraces it. The basketball will get better, but you can’t teach that hustle. More hustle than any other Paulsen player I can think of at Mason.

 

[Herndon]

I take it back. It's ball screens as well.

(also, if Oduro develops a little short lefty jump hook, it'll add a lot to his game)

 

[sleeperpick]

Oduro the hack with another quick 2. Should have 3 with that BS charge fall that sent Towson’s coach off

 

[mkaufman1]

I love it. On a team full of role players, he’s one of the only one who embraces it. The basketball will get better, but you can’t teach that hustle. More hustle than any other Paulsen player I can think of at Mason.

Ian Boyd I feel like played like it, just a bit more in control.

If Daddy finds a way to calm down and let the game come to him, he will be even better. I think it will come.

 

[Herndon]

Jesus calixte tries hard but he's just got frying pans for hands.

 

[mkaufman1]

Definitely better than against VMI, but still way too many random mistakes.

 

[tblack33]

Definitely better than against VMI, but still way too many random mistakes.

This has been tough to judge. This Towson team is BAD at basketball. And they are rusty. We are missing some folks. This has been an ugly game.

 

[Herndon]

Polite's stroke looks good.

Also, Haidara's definitely a 4, huh?

 

[tblack33]

My lord we take these AJ blocks for granted. That was vicious.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Polite's stroke looks good.

Also, Haidara's definitely a 4, huh?

Do I need to get glasses?

 

[mkaufman1]

Yeah this once again will fly against teams in buy games, but man, this is brutal

 

[sleeperpick]

Do I need to get glasses?

Was gonna say for both parts of herndons post I have to disagree. Daddy a 3 and polite is still less than 30% hitting rim on shots this year

 

[GMUgemini]

Wasn’t a pretty half. But good thing Towson sucks.

 

[tblack33]

If we play like this against the top 10 of the A10 we are going to lose a lot of games. I get what we are missing right now but the guys on the court aren’t looking super sharp. And I still don’t know what we are trying to do on offense. Can anyone explain it to me? Legit question.

 

[Herndon]

This is the first time I've really sat and watched the team this year.

Kolek's shooting percentage looks bad, but a few of those have been end of shot clock bailouts, so I'm not sweating it. The kid can play. His value as a secondary ball handler, rebounder, passer is vaguely "Small Jordan Miller" ish. He's clearly been coached, and knows the game. We also need his aggressiveness, as Hartwell is SUPER passive, and Johnson needs help. He'll start the rest of his career, IMO.

I like the Hi/Lo look we were going for, but none of our three bigs are any good at sealing underneath, and so the pass hasn't been there. When it HAS been there, our guys have not been anxious to feed the bigs (I'm looking at you, Javon Greene).

Wilson took good shots. They didn't go down, but I'll live with those looks.

Haidara....man, it looks like he has played VERY little organized ball in his life, but he's got some dog in him.

I still like oduro's game, but needs to go to his left more, because he's got nifty little feet around the basket. Another guy who has clearly been coached.

Polite's probably going to be way better as a sophomore than a freshman. I think the pieces are there for him.

 

[Herndon]

If we play like this against the top 10 of the A10 we are going to lose a lot of games. I get what we are missing right now but the guys on the court aren’t looking super sharp. And I still don’t know what we are trying to do on offense. Can anyone explain it to me? Legit question.

They ran that 2 part play where they do the horizontal ball screen up top, and then pass to the screener (a big), who looks for the other big on the block with guys in the corners/wings a few times.

It's a nice look, and we ought to be able to succeed at it, but the big/big passing isn't there right now, and as I said above, the guy the play is DESIGNED to go to (the other big) has been crappy at getting his guy sealed.

We've also missed a bunch of little chippies around the rim.

Defensively, we're just SUPER DUPER conservative. We basically tell the guards "you're not getting any help, do your best" and we funnel everything toward the bigs, who sit back like Mutombo to defend the rim. I don't hate it, actually. We won't give up a ton at the rim this year, and teams will have to make mid range shots with our guards chasing them from behind.

It's ugly, but given our players, it's reasonable.

 

[mkaufman1]

thats how you break a zone

 

[mkaufman1]

Good few minutes, now run these f**kers out of the gym.

 

[gmutom]

You can't stop Oduro, you can only hope to contain him!

 

[sleeperpick]

Lmao