Game Thread: Long Island University (0-2) at Mason (2-0), Wednesday, November 13th, 7 PM (ESPN+)

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By George.

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If you had legitimate fun watching that tonight than you are a weirdo man. That was not fun at all. Even green machine did sabotage with a weirdo instead of the ginja ninja and power with an awkward white dude. Hell the MC pronounced Paisanos “piizzano”. This team is so George Mason University it hurts

Usually we are team Sleeper, but have to disagree here. I had fun watching the game, it was compelling. We saw Mason overcome bullshit early foul calls, we saw Paulsen explore different lineups to try and match the small but fast LIU team and we saw Jordan Miller emerge. We’re not great, we know that but I wouldn’t classify the game as not fun. No win for us should be assumed and every win should be appreciated. Yesterday was nothing more than another stepping stone for a young team. DP is showing progress, calling dead ball plays and set plays. LIU, Navy and Longwood all ran zone vs us including LIU running a triangle and 2 and we still found shooting lanes. Zones aren’t easy for a young team that can’t shoot.

We won Sleeper, worry about Maryland in a couple weeks.
 

Bricker

Starter
Imagine being such a miserable jerk that a game our team actually won by 6 points, to go 3-0 to start the season, with their top player injured, causes you to respond with how much the team is going to lose a future game to the #7 team in the country on their court.

Cool.
 

sleeperpick

Hall of Famer
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Usually we are team Sleeper, but have to disagree here. I had fun watching the game, it was compelling. We saw Mason overcome bullshit early foul calls, we saw Paulsen explore different lineups to try and match the small but fast LIU team and we saw Jordan Miller emerge. We’re not great, we know that but I wouldn’t classify the game as not fun. No win for us should be assumed and every win should be appreciated. Yesterday was nothing more than another stepping stone for a young team. DP is showing progress, calling dead ball plays and set plays. LIU, Navy and Longwood all ran zone vs us including LIU running a triangle and 2 and we still found shooting lanes. Zones aren’t easy for a young team that can’t shoot.

We won Sleeper, worry about Maryland in a couple weeks.
why did Oduro and Calixte play for a combined 19 mins when we were struggling mightly in the second half to grab a rebound ?(yes I understand foul trouble in the 1st)

Our whole section and a guy as I was walking to my car asked why Mar played so much. I read people on here saying he looked more agile and quicker and I just didn't see it. Guy had 3 offensive rebounds off his own clanked 3 pointers that nobody covered him on and had a very clutch basket and steal at the end. Had a relatively horrible second half (with a ton of mins). I don't get him subbing in for the two bigs and AJ at clutch times. (THIS IS WAY BEFORE HACK-A-GREG would have been employed by a 6 man LIU team).

Please help me understand that strategy.
 

sleeperpick

Hall of Famer
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Pretty crazy to not be an Oduro guy yet, he has all the tools.
kid improved a heck ton over the summer and I commend him on that.. deserved more than 6 mins last night... that was flabbergasting... Flowers started playing well when we went tiny


They had 3 starters that were Hartwell sized and only Jordan and XJ in the second seemed to take advantage of that. I don't understand heaving up bad threes versus driving against a small and not that great opponent
 
we have such a negative fan base. I guess this is what 10 years of non-dancing feels like. Folks, it's about time you start changing your bad attitudes, we actually have a good team this year. This team will indeed make some noise. We will get BETTER throughout the year when we add Kier.

All of you naysayers 2 weeks ago were asking how we would score 60 points. Well, we scored 80 last night.
 

GMUgemini

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why did Oduro and Calixte play for a combined 19 mins when we were struggling mightly in the second half to grab a rebound ?(yes I understand foul trouble in the 1st)

Our whole section and a guy as I was walking to my car asked why Mar played so much. I read people on here saying he looked more agile and quicker and I just didn't see it. Guy had 3 offensive rebounds off his own clanked 3 pointers that nobody covered him on and had a very clutch basket and steal at the end. Had a relatively horrible second half (with a ton of mins). I don't get him subbing in for the two bigs and AJ at clutch times. (THIS IS WAY BEFORE HACK-A-GREG would have been employed by a 6 man LIU team).

Please help me understand that strategy.

For much of the second half LIU was playing 5 out with their biggest player on the floor being Flowers, Clark at power forward. Both of those guys would have given Oduro and Calixte fits.
 

By George.

Starter
why did Oduro and Calixte play for a combined 19 mins when we were struggling mightly in the second half to grab a rebound ?(yes I understand foul trouble in the 1st)

Our whole section and a guy as I was walking to my car asked why Mar played so much. I read people on here saying he looked more agile and quicker and I just didn't see it. Guy had 3 offensive rebounds off his own clanked 3 pointers that nobody covered him on and had a very clutch basket and steal at the end. Had a relatively horrible second half (with a ton of mins). I don't get him subbing in for the two bigs and AJ at clutch times. (THIS IS WAY BEFORE HACK-A-GREG would have been employed by a 6 man LIU team).

Please help me understand that strategy.

DP typically matches the other teams lineup, LIU ran 4 guards with Clark being the PF. DP praised Mar in the presser for his D on Clark. I told Petey early on in the game that it was a game where Calixte and Oubre wouldn’t see a lot of minutes. Calixte hasn’t been playing much in the last 10 minutes of games. I didn’t think rebounding was a big issue, lazy turnovers by our guards on our half of the court however was miserable.

DP is going to let Mar work through his struggles with playing time because Mar at his best is one of our most savvy players. I like that DP won’t quit on him.

Look, you know we’re critical of the program but not sure now is the time. We can question our strength of schedule all day but I think we all can agree that we needed cupcakes to start the year and will test ourselves soon enough. I’m not saying we’re a top team in the A10 but we are definitely fun to watch. The ball is no longer glued to one players hands and it makes it easier to root for the team collectively.
 
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Mason32

Starter
we have such a negative fan base. I guess this is what 10 years of non-dancing feels like. Folks, it's about time you start changing your bad attitudes, we actually have a good team this year. This team will indeed make some noise. We will get BETTER throughout the year when we add Kier.

All of you naysayers 2 weeks ago were asking how we would score 60 points. Well, we scored 80 last night.

Ok who are you and where is the real P8?
 

GMUgemini

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
The rate Mason is allowing opponents offensive rebounds is #313 in the nation. That's pretty bad playing against 3 schools #250 or lower

The Navy game was bad, definitely.

LIU was crashing 3 guys on the offensive glass in the second half and created a lot of scrums for boards. It didn't help we had a small lineup in there with no one able to just clear space and grab the ball.

Mar and Calixte need to work on establishing rebounding positioning. Calixte is going over the back a lot and Mar just almost never seems to be in a good position to clear the boards on the defensive end.
 

Bricker

Starter
The Navy game was bad, definitely.

LIU was crashing 3 guys on the offensive glass in the second half and created a lot of scrums for boards. It didn't help we had a small lineup in there with no one able to just clear space and grab the ball.

Mar and Calixte need to work on establishing rebounding positioning. Calixte is going over the back a lot and Mar just almost never seems to be in a good position to clear the boards on the defensive end.

Yeah over the first three games it feels like the entire team isn't always in a good position to get those boards. Saw that again last night. Gotta eliminate those second chances as the schedule gets more difficult.
 

dr. gunnie

Administrator
Staff member
why did Oduro and Calixte play for a combined 19 mins when we were struggling mightly in the second half to grab a rebound ?(yes I understand foul trouble in the 1st)

Our whole section and a guy as I was walking to my car asked why Mar played so much. I read people on here saying he looked more agile and quicker and I just didn't see it. Guy had 3 offensive rebounds off his own clanked 3 pointers that nobody covered him on and had a very clutch basket and steal at the end. Had a relatively horrible second half (with a ton of mins). I don't get him subbing in for the two bigs and AJ at clutch times. (THIS IS WAY BEFORE HACK-A-GREG would have been employed by a 6 man LIU team).

Please help me understand that strategy.

My guess is trying to give him some confidence and break the slump he’s in now against inferior competition so he’s ready to go against the better teams. Dave’s just trying to prepare this team for the long haul.
 

By George.

Starter
The rate Mason is allowing opponents offensive rebounds is #313 in the nation. That's pretty bad playing against 3 schools #250 or lower

Touché but was specifically talking about closing out LIU. Navy clearly inflates those numbers and that was with Calixte and Oubre on the court.
 

Falco

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023
we have such a negative fan base. I guess this is what 10 years of non-dancing feels like. Folks, it's about time you start changing your bad attitudes, we actually have a good team this year. This team will indeed make some noise. We will get BETTER throughout the year when we add Kier.

All of you naysayers 2 weeks ago were asking how we would score 60 points. Well, we scored 80 last night.
I agree with everything you just said. But that’s what makes last nights game frustrating to some. The team is really good/balanced, but they still looked sloppy against an inferior opponent.

Perhaps the sloppy play is a result of paulsen testing out lineups. But at the end of the day they won. Time to move on
 

By George.

Starter
I agree with everything you just said. But that’s what makes last nights game so frustrating. The team is really good/balanced, but they still looked really sloppy against an inferior opponent.

Maybe Paulsen wants to experiment with lineups still. But Mason should blow out LIU. it’s obvious Mar is a shell of himself, put Calixte or Oduro in the game.

At the end of the day they won, time to move on

Expecting blowouts under DP is like me expecting my mom to not overcook the turkey this Thanksgiving. Throw some gravy on it and force the swallow. It always tastes better the next day on a sandwich though.
 

GMUgemini

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⭐️ Donor ⭐️
Expecting blowouts under DP is like me expecting my mom to not overcook the turkey this Thanksgiving. Throw some gravy on it and force the swallow. It always tastes better the next day on a sandwich though.

There have been a few in the DP era. But to expect a blowout early in the season without two guys who were probably going to feature heavily in the rotation (including your best player) is probably hubris. LIU didn't get blown out by URI and Clark didn't even play in that game. We were actually missing three players last night, but Dady is still a major work in progress, so not sure how many minutes he would have actually gotten.

Also, please don't tell me anyone wanted Oduro or Calixte guarding Flowers on the perimeter when LIU was going small and 5-out. Also, in a close game late, you're going to want your best FT shooters on the floor and I'd trust the guys out there last night to knock down their FTs over either Oduro or Calixte right now (Oduro's shot looks pretty good to me, though).

Also, yeah, Mar rattled out a lot of shots last night, but he didn't look not confident out there, in fact I'd say he looked pretty damned confident. One thing he does that I wish the other players would do move often is make really good choices off the ball about where to find space in the defense and present himself for a pass. He also made some good passes against LIU's zone in the first half that could have been assists if the shots fell. He also only took one bad shot the entire game (when the shot clock was winding down and he failed to notice until the last second). He's got to work harder on the glass. He's got to make more of the shots he does take, but with the way he's playing I don't have a problem giving him the minutes he's getting (especially if Calixte keeps getting over the back fouls and having to sit on the bench).
 
I agree with everything you just said. But that’s what makes last nights game frustrating to some. The team is really good/balanced, but they still looked sloppy against an inferior opponent.

Perhaps the sloppy play is a result of paulsen testing out lineups. But at the end of the day they won. Time to move on

sloppiness can be excused the first month or two of a season. If it continued in January I would understand your gripe. For all of the sloppiness, followed with dazzling plays. patience my friend....patience.
 
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