Game Thread: Mason (5-0) AT #6/#7 Univ. of Maryland (4-0), Friday, Nov. 22nd, 7 PM (Big Ten Network)

[psyclone]

False hope after the game is already decided?
.
I don't know if Kier makes us 20+ points better, but I still think he would have made this a game (on both sides of the ball)

AJ battled. He's going to be a nightmare for A-10 teams if he plays the way he played tonight.

Certainly if Kier makes a few foul shot jumpers against the zone like he did a few times last year, Maryland would get out of the zone for a while and we could resume our effective man-to-man offense which at least would give us a chance.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

cool post

You mad Bro?

 

[mkaufman1]

I mean, we probably needed this game. Our lack of size in the backcourt and our lack of a legitimately sized center who can produce significantly were definitely on display. It's kind of hilarious that they shot poorly, especially from outside and still put up 86 points.

Is what it is. Get Kier back, stay healthy, and get better.

overall the nonconf was soft but this game and TCU probably allowed for a few extra buy games. You get the young kids some good exposure and don’t have to go that far. Hopefully they take the experience and are ready to go for ODU.

 

[JimP]

When Mason was up early, my warped fan mind worried that if we won against Maryland we'd have a letdown and lose to ODU. Tough to lose by 23, but now I think the team will have their heads in the right place against ODU.

 

[GSII]

Im with 52. Stale coaching on DP's part. Why not go zone against their streaky shooters?

 

[MasonSAE4]

Weirdly optimistic after this. It shows what we can do, and we won’t have to run as tight a rotation moving forward. If we can come out every game like we’re playing UMD, we’ll be ok.

Sure there were some frustrating things and some calls by DP I don’t fully get, but I’m convinced all games where we have Miller on the floor most of the night will be competitive.

 

[GMUgemini]

Weirdly optimistic after this. It shows what we can do, and we won’t have to run as tight a rotation moving forward. If we can come out every game like we’re playing UMD, we’ll be ok.

Sure there were some frustrating things and some calls by DP I don’t fully get, but I’m convinced all games where we have Miller on the floor most of the night will be competitive.

Getting Kier back will also be key. It will do two things: one, it will probably make Greene our 6th man instead of a freshman (hard to believe you'd take Hartwell or Miller out of the starting 5 right now), and two, it'll allow Hartwell to not play 37 mpg.

It'll give us a pretty decently solid 9-man rotation, which will allow the team to be more aggressive in the zone press instead of backing off like they're doing now. This team does need a zone backup defense, for sure, something more interesting than the stock 2-3 zone. But maybe Paulsen doesn't want to really unveil that until it matters.

 

[psyclone]

Washington Post coverage on the game from the UMd beat writer:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/11/22/maryland-beats-george-mason-fifth-straight-win/

 

[GMU1983]

Washington Post coverage on the game from the UMd beat writer:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/11/22/maryland-beats-george-mason-fifth-straight-win/

Where is the postgame video?

 

[Herndon]

No one is happy with this besides you so you can feel good about being the only “true” fan of George Mason basketball. At least the people who are frustrated bring legitimate points and stats to the conversation even if they aren’t happy with the way we are playing.

This whole schtick is way more annoying that the people who are doom and gloom.

Both suck, tbh

 

[gmujim92]

It was fun seeing our guys hang with a good team for 15 minutes, but anyone who seriously thought we could beat Maryland without our best player must have been huffing bath salts.

If Kier comes back healthy, this team has a chance to be dangerous.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

It was fun seeing our guys hang with a good team for 15 minutes, but anyone who seriously thought we could beat Maryland without our best player must have been huffing bath salts.

If Kier comes back healthy, this team has a chance to be dangerous.

I was there last night and it was an odd environment. People who complain about our attendance should have seen that crowd. I mean, they had more than we have, but they're a BCS team. I estimate about 6-8k in attendance....

As to the game, it was about what I expected. Their length really bothered us. The other thing I underestimated is how physically strong UMD is. Almost everyone on that team is built like a linebacker and they really outmuscled us on the glass. I'd be more worried if we were missing a ton of uncontested 3s, but most of those shots were with a hand in our face. I'm just hoping all of these games without Kier are going to benefit us in the long run.

 

[KAOriginal]

So far we have beaten who should beat, and lost to who we should have lost to.

Not too much to really be mad about right now.....

 

[Falco]

Obviously we weren’t expecting to win. But remember the glory days when Mason could compete with anyone.

 

[GMUgemini]

Obviously we weren’t expecting to win. But remember the glory days when Mason could compete with anyone.

did you see Pablo’s post about our history with top 10 teams? I mean, hell, we dropped a 20 point loss to Creighton during our final four year.

 

[mkaufman1]

So far we have beaten who should beat, and lost to who we should have lost to.

Not too much to really be mad about right now.....

definitely agree with this. That said they now play a few teams tougher that they should be able to take care of business against. I’m hoping for 2 wins in Cayman before they have a few buy games at home.

 

[patriot2000]

Obviously we weren’t expecting to win. But remember the glory days when Mason could compete with anyone.

Yeah, I miss the very brief era in which we were super-competitive, but this was more in line with the entire history of Mason ball. And we kinda sorta did compete, with two seniors injured, against a top 5-7 team with two potential All-Americans in our first road game. We're doing okay. We've played competition that was beneath us or well above us so far. Let's see what we do in our own league before we celebrate or crucify the team.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Where the hell is this jason Douglas Stanley shooting coming from

I’ve thought for a while that JDS may be one of those guys who just needs a game with 15+ minutes to work through some of his struggles. I hope we can get a blowout one of these days so that he has the chance. Maybe he’d be effective if he could settle down, and maybe he’d be able to settle down with an extended stretch of minutes.

Don’t get me wrong, he definitely has some improving to do. I’m just still holding on to the idea of his potential (offensively) being much higher than what has been shown.

 

[gmutom]

I’ve thought for a while that JDS may be one of those guys who just needs a game with 15+ minutes to work through some of his struggles.

My hope is that Dave is wrong about JDS like he was about Wilson, Miller and Reuter. Coaches often underestimate or overestimate players, so maybe it's possible Douglas-Stanley hasn't gotten a fair shake.

If Dave finally figured out that Miller never should have redshirted (even with Grayer and Mar healthy), that AJ was being used incorrectly or that his entire offense shouldn't go through Reuter, maybe he'll discover that one of his best shooters rode the pine the entire Maryland game until garbage time. One can dream, because this team is in desperate need of a shooting guard.

 

[gmujim92]

My hope is that Dave is wrong about JDS like he was about Wilson, Miller and Reuter. Coaches often underestimate or overestimate players, so maybe it's possible Douglas-Stanley hasn't gotten a fair shake.

If Dave finally figured out that Miller never should have redshirted (even with Grayer and Mar healthy), that AJ was being used incorrectly or that his entire offense shouldn't go through Reuter, maybe he'll discover that one of his best shooters rode the pine the entire Maryland game until garbage time. One can dream, because this team is in desperate need of a shooting guard.

Tom, this staff charts every shot in practice. Jason isn’t shooting it well and he doesn’t bring enough other stuff to the table to earn more playing time. That’s why he’s already been passed in the rotation by a true freshman with six games of college experience.

Considering how short we are in the backcourt without Kier and Boyd, there are minutes available. But it’s up to Jason to earn them.