Game Thread: Mason (11 - 3 / 0 - 1) vs St. Bonaventure (9- 5 / 1 - 0), Wednesday, January 8th, 7:00

[sleeperpick]

AJ also has zero post moves, which was brutally evident tonight. It’s dunk or nothing. i would have liked to see Odoro, but I’m guessing he’s too slow on defense for OO. Calixte has some nice moves, but gave up size on D.

As with MSS we have no answer for a talented or somewhat talented big man right now.

I pray for these fellas when we play DU. we might not score 30.

He has no post moves against 6 foot 9 centers because AJ does not belong on the f**king post. How hard is that to realize? Not just you just half our fans

 

[tblack33]

some of these kids have been under dave 2-3-4 years, and they don’t know how to be tough or battle adversity? And they’ve played much of their lives too. Like come on. And the fact is they just lost 2 in a row, so you think they’d be ready to adjust.
Guess not.

Lol if your team isn’t tough or able to battle through adversity...that’s kinda on you chief. His pressers are honestly just laughable at this point. Can anyone tell me how our practices went leading up to this?

 

[patriotchild]

He has no post moves against 6 foot 9 centers because AJ does not belong on the f*cking post. How hard is that to realize? Not just you just half our fans

hes a forward. He should still have post moves or some ability to get to the rim. The kid can jump out of the gym for crying out loud but can’t make his way around a center?

 

[Patriotsince81]

Lol if your team isn’t tough or able to battle through adversity...that’s kinda on you chief. His pressers are honestly just laughable at this point. Can anyone tell me how our practices went leading up to this?

The practices were the BEST. Everyone executed perfectly and no one missed a shot. Zero turnovers!

 

[MasonSAE4]

Interesting. They really looked to be similar in height and build when standing next to each other all the time. but I'll take your word for it. One thing I've noticed is that almost all the bigs on teams we played this year seem to have that unstoppable baby hook. I keep on wondering why AJ hasn't developed that shot, because it's really the only option when he's up against stronger big men.

He was announced as 6'10. Even if he's closer to 6'9 he's got two inches on AJ minimum. And yeah, he's not the most jacked center ever but he doesn't really need to be.

 

[mkaufman1]

Lol if your team isn’t tough or able to battle through adversity...that’s kinda on you chief. His pressers are honestly just laughable at this point. Can anyone tell me how our practices went leading up to this?

yeah, I know. I saw hewitt coached toughness tonight. Not good.

If Dave thinks Oduro isn’t good enough to play when AJ obviously cannot play the position because he’s undersized and it’s unnatural than damn maybe I was right that this kid should have gone to a NEC school. I don’t even think he’s that bad to not play him and put aj in a position to succeed. But as Gmu Jim says I am not masons basketball coach Herr Paulsen so I don’t know shit

easy man. I have no clue why Oduro didn’t get many minutes tonight but he gave some good effort the few mins he was out there and hasn’t been half bad this year. I think we should be focusing the attention on why dave is losing control and the team looks unfocused in general versus attacking some frosh who is getting his first taste of d1 hoops.

 

[sleeperpick]

hes a forward. He should still have post moves or some ability to get to the rim. The kid can jump out of the gym for crying out loud but can’t make his way around a center?

Osun is a perennial type of player that Bona Stole from Jim B at Syracuse. AJ is your prototypical wing 4 that paulsen has no idea how to train offensively but to his credit has trained how to be patiently defensively. This is horrible how we can’t realize a 6 foot 7 kid shouldn’t be playing against true centers. Paulsen is an idiot and has been for a while. Glad the boards are switching. It’s so sad to watch

 

[mkaufman1]

The practices were the BEST. Everyone executed perfectly and no one missed a shot. Zero turnovers!

and everyone farted and it smelled like daisies.

 

[patriotchild]

I just want to know where the super soakers are now and Are they filled with all of our tears?

 

[sleeperpick]

yeah, I know. I saw hewitt coached toughness tonight. Not good.


easy man. I have no clue why Oduro didn’t get many minutes tonight but he gave some good effort the few mins he was out there and hasn’t been half bad this year. I think we should be focusing the attention on why dave is losing control and the team looks unfocused in general versus attacking some frosh who is getting his first taste of d1 hoops.

My focus is why Dave should not be playing a kid at the 5 and ruining his career and then signing these kids that he believes in so much then benched in order to play kids out of position.

 

[By George.]

If Dave thinks Oduro isn’t good enough to play when AJ obviously cannot play the position because he’s undersized and it’s unnatural than damn maybe I was right that this kid should have gone to a NEC school. I don’t even think he’s that bad to not play him and put aj in a position to succeed. But as Gmu Jim says I am not masons basketball coach Herr Paulsen so I don’t know shit

Calixte and Oduro need to play more, let’s start there first. They need to foul more, they need to bang the paint harder and we need to find some toughness....ASAP. Mason has lacked (what looks to be) a big man coach since DP got here, I think it shows on the court.

 

[tblack33]

yeah, I know. I saw hewitt coached toughness tonight. Not good.


easy man. I have no clue why Oduro didn’t get many minutes tonight but he gave some good effort the few mins he was out there and hasn’t been half bad this year. I think we should be focusing the attention on why dave is losing control and the team looks unfocused in general versus attacking some frosh who is getting his first taste of d1 hoops.

Put me on the confused about Oduro train too. I’ve been pretty pleasantly surprised with him this year. You don’t usually see freshman big men that polished offensively. Have loved his hustle last few games. I think he’ll eventually become serviceable/replacement level in the next two years. But dude couldn’t get any run tonight? I get trying to play the matchup but if we’ve got 15 minutes to throw at Gonar I’d imagine Oduro would have been given more of a shot given our rebounding issues.

 

[mkaufman1]

My focus is why Dave should not be playing a kid at the 5 and ruining his career and then signing these kids that he believes in so much then benched in order to play kids out of position.

fair point - my head is starting to spin so I probably should put down the phone haha

 

[sleeperpick]

Calixte and Oduro need to play more, let’s start there first. They need to foul more, they need to bang the paint harder and we need to find some toughness....ASAP. Mason has lacked a big man coach since DP got here, I think it shows on the court.

That’s my point. I hope I’m wrong on Oduro but it looks like Dave is agreeing with me since he refuses to play the kid. Let him and calixte split time at 5 and not ever play AJ there again unless we play a team of circus clowns

 

[mkaufman1]

Put me on the confused about Oduro train too. I’ve been pretty pleasantly surprised with him this year. You don’t usually see freshman big men that polished offensively. Have loved his hustle last few games. I think he’ll eventually become serviceable/replacement level in the next two years. But dude couldn’t get any run tonight? I get trying to play the matchup but if we’ve got 15 minutes to throw at Gonar I’d imagine Oduro would have been given more of a shot given our rebounding issues.

yes all of this. Where was he tonight? He’s 6’9 and 240. Give him some run.

 

[Patriotsince81]

yes all of this. Where was he tonight? He’s 6’9 and 240. Give him some run.

Blind squirrel & DP. No difference.

 

[sleeperpick]

Bona is a year away and just did that to us. Can’t wait to play Dayton. Luckily I won’t be present because of work but Jesus that’s gonna be hard. Where’s Jim and Quentin and Herndon at? I gotta hear why I shouldn’t jump off deep end. Well I know Herndon knows nothing about basketball so where are the other two guys

 

[Patriotsince81]

Where’s Jim and Quentin and Herndon at? I gotta hear why I shouldn’t jump off deep end. Well I know Herndon knows nothing about basketball so where are the other two guys

Who cares?

 

[GMUgemini]

Put me on the confused about Oduro train too. I’ve been pretty pleasantly surprised with him this year. You don’t usually see freshman big men that polished offensively. Have loved his hustle last few games. I think he’ll eventually become serviceable/replacement level in the next two years. But dude couldn’t get any run tonight? I get trying to play the matchup but if we’ve got 15 minutes to throw at Gonar I’d imagine Oduro would have been given more of a shot given our rebounding issues.

It does seem really odd that you'd give Calixte and Oduro 35 minutes at the 5 against huge UMD, but are so scared of Osun that you'd abandon them in this game.

Also, remember at the beginning of the season when AJ was getting open and actually hit a couple of straight away 3s? In other words, it feels like Paulsen has really overly reigned this team in and his lack of confidence is leading to a team-wide lack of confidence.

 

[Patriotsince81]

In other words, it feels like Paulsen has really overly reigned this team in and his lack of confidence is leading to a team-wide lack of confidence.

Interesting point to consider.