Game Thread: Mason (6-1) vs. Nebraska (3-2), Tuesday, Nov. 26th, 7:30 PM (Cayman Islands)

[gmutom]

One of my main concerns this year was enough solid perimeter shooters to stretch a defense, and we saw last night why having that luxury is so important. We had five different players hit at least one 3, and we shot 44-percent from behind the arc. Not only did this open up driving lanes when they had to extend their defense, but it also spread the floor to create more opportunities for us to crash the boards offensively when we did miss. (Think about how impressive it is to have 34 in one game.)

All that said, my concern tonight is we search the islands for Fool's Gold by launching up another 22 threes. I'm all for firing away when open within the confines of the offense, but the law of averages with this team shows we are unlikely to hit another 11 threes tonight. In fact, if I was NM State, I'd sit back and dare us to shoot. Fortunately, I'm sure Coach Dave has a game plan that takes that into consideration.

 

[GMU_DCU]

Hope they concession stand will be selling extra popcorn for the fan fight at the next game.

 

[tblack33]

Great win last night, hoping that I can stream a replay didn’t get to watch it live. Refreshing to finally see us stomp someone, it seems like all of Paulsens teams thus far play up and down to their opponent so this was a nice change of pace. AJ is a monster but I think everyone can agree he does his best work at the 4. Having him come off the weak side of our help side defense to erase shots is a huge difference maker. Javon really playing up to my preseason expectations of him these last few games, hopefully Kier coming back has lit a fire in him to not lose minutes and force Dave to find them somewhere else.

I’ll eat the crow on my predictions for this team for now and enjoy what we’ve been able to do in the non conference but still count me in the cautiously optimistic camp for what this team can do in the A10 this year.

Also big LOL at the people in this board who still think they get to decide what a real fan is. Let’s all just agree that if you attend home games and take the time to post about Mason in a message board of 40 people we can consider you a fan, even if you have differing assessments of the team.

#Epstein didn’t kill himself.

 

[The Great PATSby]

I am nearly responding to these idiotic posts. sleeperpick was the same poster who chastised and belittled Oduro during the preseason.

Oh the Irony.

"i'm not sure I will miss Moore if he decides to leave. Not a huge fan of his game." - p8triotfan4life March 16, 2015

 

[Bricker]

I would also like to fight someone at the next game. Doesn't matter who. No grappling, please. Standard fisticuffs.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70KzypL7fzs&t=0m50s

 

[Bricker]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70KzypL7fzs&t=0m50s

lol -- yeah but we really have to play it up. too bad they have those nice handrails at Eagle Bank now 0r you could toss me down the stairs into the opposing team's bench.

 

[Herndon]

Oh the Irony.

"i'm not sure I will miss Moore if he decides to leave. Not a huge fan of his game." - p8triotfan4life March 16, 2015

Meh, I though AJ would never be more than an exciting but flawed backup. He's probably been the best player on the team so far this season.

We are random knuckleheads on a message board. We are going to be wrong from time to time about evaluating how 18 to 20 year olds develop.

 

[sleeperpick]

Back to basketball. For those of us who watched Hoiberg at ISU we know he likes to play small but usually has a big man with great touch and skills (Niang and Burton). To me it looked like everyone on that team was completely out of control. Do we think “the mayor” will be able to get his groove back in the college game?

 

[p8triotfan4life]

Oh the Irony.

"i'm not sure I will miss Moore if he decides to leave. Not a huge fan of his game." - p8triotfan4life March 16, 2015

nice stalking, I stand by that comment. I am a bigger fan of Hartwell. Kid is an cold-blooded shooter.

 

[By George.]

Keep the same energy in the gold room next week sir.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

but sleeper, we dealing with an injury to our starting center, what are we suppose to do? No one wants AJ at the 5 including DP but if our opponent goes small, we have a lineup to match it. I think Oduro will solidify himself as the starter in due time. Love to critique Paulsen but with injuries and being 7-1...it’s a bit tough right now.

 

[gmubrian]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

but sleeper, we dealing with an injury to our starting center, what are we suppose to do? No one wants AJ at the 5 including DP but if our opponent goes small, we have a lineup to match it. I think Oduro will solidify himself as the starter in due time. Love to critique Paulsen but with injuries and being 7-1...it’s a bit tough right now.

I hear this how do we match the other team’s lineup frequently on here. Especially, referring to Paulsen’s approach.

Is that really what people think he is doing?
When does it become time for other teams to have to match our lineup?

Always planning our lineup based on the other team seems like a recipe to always be playing down to your opponents level to me.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70KzypL7fzs&t=0m50s

The first 20-25 minutes of that movie might be the best of any movie I've seen. Unfortunately, the rest of it did not live up to that standard. Still a solid flick.

 

[By George.]

I hear this how do we match the other team’s lineup frequently on here. Especially, referring to Paulsen’s approach.

Is that really what people think he is doing?
When does it become time for other teams to have to match our lineup?

Always planning our lineup based on the other team seems like a recipe to always play be playing down to your opponents level to me.

I think, this season, it’s fairly obvious given that we’ve played smaller teams and have closed out the games with Miller, AJ and Mar on the floor primarily. Teams have been in deficits and tried to space us out and hit 3’s. It’s all circumstantial.

Just not sure what Sleeper wants, Oduro to play 40 minutes? He’s doesn’t even like Oduro. We’re in a bit of a tough position right now and yes need to land another young center like yesterday.

 

[sleeperpick]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

but sleeper, we dealing with an injury to our starting center, what are we suppose to do? No one wants AJ at the 5 including DP but if our opponent goes small, we have a lineup to match it. I think Oduro will solidify himself as the starter in due time. Love to critique Paulsen but with injuries and being 7-1...it’s a bit tough right now.

All I said is that tonight I don’t think AJ at the 5 will work because of how large NMST is and the dude took it some sort of the wrong way I guess. He needs to stop taking his viagra before lunch though. Too much on his heart

Bygeorge, I get we have limited options I was simply making a rather obvious comment that either people want to blow out of proportion or just not get

 

[GMUgemini]

I hear this how do we match the other team’s lineup frequently on here. Especially, referring to Paulsen’s approach.

Is that really what people think he is doing?
When does it become time for other teams to have to match our lineup?

Always planning our lineup based on the other team seems like a recipe to always play be playing down to your opponents level to me.

Well, opponents are going to have to game plan for Kier, AJ, Miller, and Greene for sure. The X-factor is how Hartwell is shooting. If he's going to shoot 50% from 3 on a high volume like against Nebraska, this team is hard to stop.

On the defensive side of the ball, if the opponent is going to play 5 out, or play with a center outside of the paint, it's hard to argue for Calixte or Oduro to play a lot of minutes because they have a hard time defending on the perimeter. The flip side of that, it's hard to argue for a smaller lineup against a team like SLU or URI, because AJ and Miller just aren't big enough to go 40 minutes against a team that big. We've got to play our matchups.

If I had to guess against NMSt., Oduro is going to play as many minutes as Paulsen thinks he can get away with and run AJ as much as he can at the 5.

Mar at 6'7 215 isn't all that undersized at the 4, really. So, if we're running Miller, Mar, AJ at the 3-5 we're really only truly undersized at the 5 spot in that scenario, and AJ's athleticism often makes up for his lack of girth.

 

[sleeperpick]

I think, this season, it’s fairly obvious given that we’ve played smaller teams and have closed out the games with Miller, AJ and Mar on the floor primarily. Teams have been in deficits and tried to space us out and hit 3’s. It’s all circumstantial.

Just not sure what Sleeper wants, Oduro to play 40 minutes? He’s doesn’t even like Oduro. We’re in a bit of a tough position right now and yes need to land another young center like yesterday.

And yea i think this is a game tonight where we might need to go big. Oduro is all we have so he needs to see 20 mins tonight at center

 

[Bricker]

nice stalking, I stand by that comment. I am a bigger fan of Hartwell. Kid is an cold-blooded shooter.

I stand by you standing by that comment. Thank god you guys resolved whatever it is we’re talking about.

 

[By George.]

All I said is that tonight I don’t think AJ at the 5 will work because of how large NMST is and the dude took it some sort of the wrong way I guess. He needs to stop taking his viagra before lunch though. Too much on his heart

Bygeorge, I get we have limited options I was simply making a rather obvious comment that either people want to blow out of proportion or just not get

Ah, understood. I guess my point is that, when teams spread us out (like Nebraska did) I agree with AJ at the 5 with this roster. Would agree Oduro needs to play as many minutes as possible tonight.

 

[sleeperpick]

Ah, understood. I guess my point is that, when teams spread us out (like Nebraska did) I agree with AJ at the 5 with this roster. Would agree Oduro needs to play as many minutes as possible tonight.

Definitely, last night Paulsen game planned perfectly. Pretty obvious by the great result.