Game 6: AT Manhattan College, Wednesday, November 25th, 7 PM, NO TV

[The Great PATSby]

I wouldn't discredit this team. 5 games in 10 days is a lot for any team... Especially when all 5 of those were on the road. I'm not suprised our boys got gassed. They looked gassed in the UVA game after playing well in the first half. Hopefully they can enjoy the Thanksgiving break and catch up on rest in their OWN beds.

 

[TwoFootTackle]

“It’s brutal,” said coach Dave Paulsen. “The schedule would be brutal if you had either a veteran team or a really deep team. We don’t have either.”
http://www.gomason.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=25200&ATCLID=210532138

 

[TwoFootTackle]

While this is certainly true, as far as I'm concerned the honeymoon is now officially over!

 

[Herndon]

Not too high, not too low. This season matters in the final 5 games. If the team looks like they're playing basketball, even if they're not winning, i'm okay.

 

[GMUgemini]

Only 1 word to describe this game - UGHHHHH

Have no explanation for why Shevon did not play more, but I'm hoping the rest of the issues are mostly attributable to fatigue.

During these growing pains, it's going to be important for us to not have knee jerk reactions to individual games, especially considering how Paulsen had the team perform in Charleston.

And while we have questions that don't have obvious answers, we all had TONS of questions during the Coach L era (George Evans being benched at Richmond one year when the #1 seed was on the line?!) and in hindsight after witnessing the Coach L and Hewitt era's, I think we should realize even the soundest basketball fans are sometimes going to be stumped at the decisions even really good coaches make.

There is a trend now of the team falling asleep about 5 minutes into the 2nd half, but I'm sure he has acknowledged and will address it.

In our 3 non-UVA losses, we have had second half leads of 5 or 6, 13 and 16, we could easily be 5-1 and receiving votes if this team was able to finish better and play a full 40 minutes consistently. Paulsen has us in the position of being able to say that previous sentence in only about 6 months, which is pretty incredible all things considered.

I think one of our biggest problems is that there is no one, and I mean, no one on the bench we can turn to for points. Abram? Nope. Murrell? Nope. Jenkins? Nope.

I hope Holloway is ready to play on Saturday, because we desperately need a 6th man who can come in and inject some energy into the offense when it's struggling.

 

[GSII]

whats royals status?

 

[gmubrian]

Not too high, not too low. This season matters in the final 5 games. If the team looks like they're playing basketball, even if they're not winning, i'm okay.

Agreed. To me this year is about seeing if Paulsen can get the team to improve as the year progresses (something the previous person in that position seemed to have no ability make happen). This game was not good in almost any way, even the Thompson playing time is somewhat of a mystery, but, I have agreed with the way Paulsen has handled everything else to date, so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

 

[gmujim92]

I don't like giving up double-digit leads any more than anyone else here, but for now I am content to note that we have led at halftime in 5 of our 6 games.

This is a sign of a team that is well-prepared and coming out of the gates with the requisite mix of energy and execution.

Now we need Holloway and Royal to come back and contribute so DP has an opportunity to keep everybody's legs fresh.

Once we have a consistent 8- or 9-man rotation, I expect these second-half collapses will become a thing of the past.

 

[Pablo]

https://twitter.com/ByGeorgeMason/status/669694283360952321

 

[JimP]

https://twitter.com/ByGeorgeMason/status/669694283360952321

Don't go for the pump fake!

 

[Pablo]

http://www.gomason.com/ViewArticle....89&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=25200&ATCLID=210532138:

“'You’d like to think so,' Paulsen said about improvement after Tuesday morning’s practice, just before the team boarded a bus to New York. 'The evidence here in practice today would not necessarily corroborate that.'

The Patriots, after a day off Monday to get back to class, looked a bit tired and Paulsen was displeased with overall focus. 'This practice was to be expected,' he said after the grind of the previous days, 'but it’s not to be accepted.'"

 

[Herndon]

'This practice was to be expected,' he said after the grind of the previous days, 'but it’s not to be accepted.'"


luvit!

 

[MasonFanatic]

I didn't see much of the game, but I assumed Thompson was taken out because he could not effectively guard a player 9 inches shorter than him and DP wanted to go small to match Manhattan.

I know the coaching staff was worried about the impact of 5 games in 10 days. I don't think this result is a surprise. The surprise is that we were up by 16 with a fatigued roster.

 

[gmujim92]

I didn't see much of the game, but I assumed Thompson was taken out because he could not effectively guard a player 9 inches shorter than him and DP wanted to go small to match Manhattan.

That's what I thought too.

Once Manhattan's only big fouled out and they started spreading the floor with five guards, there was nobody who Shevon could defend. And his size advantage didn't mean much on the other end because they were playing zone and we had trouble getting him the ball anyhow.

DP probably could've gone even smaller and taken out Marko, too -- he got killed off the dribble by Rich Williams -- but we needed Marko to help facilitate the offense.

All in all, it was an unorthodox and difficult matchup even though Manhattan was so shorthanded.