Game Thread: Mason vs LaSalle

[tblack33]

To put this in perspective, the rest of the A-10 in the same time period (2012-2019)

vcu: NCAA x7
Dayton: NCAA x4, NIT x2
Davidson: NCAA x4, NIT x3
Rhode Island: NCAA x2, NIT x1
Richmond: NIT x2
St. Bonaventure: NCAA x2, NIT x1
La Salle: NCAA x1, NIT x1
St. Louis: NCAA x4
George Washington: NCAA x1, NIT x2
UMass: NCAA x1, NIT x2
St. Joes: NCAA x2, NIT x2
Duquesne -
Fordham -
George Mason-

There are three teams who haven't made a meaningful postseason in that time-frame, Fordham, Duquesne (which is probably going to change this season), and us.

Woof. Someone please show this to our “expected value based on basketball spending” crowd.

 

[patriotchild]

Fun stat that I stumbled across in the program:

who is tied with will Thomas for ninth best shooting percentage (.611) in a single season?


That’s right, Greg Calixte. This is why I’m confused he doesn’t get more time this year. He’s got flaws (all our players do) but he can put the ball in the basket when he shoots. Greg also had 17 blocks his freshman year.

I’ve liked Greg’s game since he was a freshman and I see absolutely no reason why he and Odoro aren’t splitting time at the 5 and using AJ in emergencies.

 

[Pablo]

Petey Buckets

@peteybuckets

Good visual illustrations of Mason's offensive struggles here. Not much at the rim, way too much midrange (least efficient shot in basketball)
Quote Tweet

Matt Rhein

@mattrhein86
· 4h
Next we see how @A10MBB at those dreaded analytically dreaded 2-point jump shots. No #A10 team is averaging over a 1 point per shot on these attempts this season. @MasonMBB, what are you doing baby?!

3:38 PM · Jan 10, 2020

 

[FreeGunston12]

Petey Buckets

@peteybuckets

Good visual illustrations of Mason's offensive struggles here. Not much at the rim, way too much midrange (least efficient shot in basketball)
Quote Tweet

Matt Rhein

@mattrhein86
· 4h
Next we see how @A10MBB at those dreaded analytically dreaded 2-point jump shots. No #A10 team is averaging over a 1 point per shot on these attempts this season. @MasonMBB, what are you doing baby?!

3:38 PM · Jan 10, 2020

That graphic is super confusing. It says shots taken at the rim and efficiency in the mid-range. Which one is it? Do I look at the x-axis or at the title of the graphic?

 

[Pablo]

That graphic is super confusing. It says shots taken at the rim and efficiency in the mid-range. Which one is it? Do I look at the x-axis or at the title of the graphic?

Look at the title of the graph.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Look at the title of the graph.

Just curious, how did they define mid range? (Not disputing the conclusion)

 

[Pablo]

Just curious, how did they define mid range? (Not disputing the conclusion)

I assume outside the paint, but inside the 3-point line.

 

[sleeperpick]

I assume outside the paint, but inside the 3-point line.

not sure if the guy making the chart followed that but this is the exact definition of mid range lol

 

[GMUgemini]

That graphic is super confusing. It says shots taken at the rim and efficiency in the mid-range. Which one is it? Do I look at the x-axis or at the title of the graphic?

The problem isn't that we are taking mid-range jumpers (the only really bad shot in basketball is the step inside the 3-point line, but that just happens sometimes), the problem is we aren't very good at them right now, but also can't seem to get better shots (shots closer to the rim or open 3s), so we are settling on them.

But given that we have no real explosive guards who can just blow right to the rim (think Marquise Moore), and we don't have any dominant bigs who can bully their way around the rim (think Will Thomas, Jalen Jenkins, Shevon Thompson), this needs to be a critical part of our offense, but just like the 3, consistency is eluding us -- and we should be much better at taking them: Miller and Kier both have good mid-range games, Hartwell has shown a really nice floater at times, AJ and Oduro should be able to hit them -- we just suck at everything right now on offense.

 

[Pablo]

The shot chart for the SBU game:

SBUnfurled

@SBUnfurled

A shot chart from tonight's game:

8:59 PM · Jan 8, 2020

 

[FreeGunston12]

I assume outside the paint, but inside the 3-point line.

not sure if the guy making the chart followed that but this is the exact definition of mid range lol

Yeah, I get that. I guess just having field goals taken at the rim in there had me thinking he used a stricter area.

 

[Pablo]

not sure if the guy making the chart followed that but this is the exact definition of mid range lol

You may be right! Perhaps, Petey can check into it.

 

[Pablo]

George Mason Men's Basketball
@MasonMBB
·
4h

Friday practice at Tom Gola Arena #GetPatrotic

5:46 PM · Jan 10, 2020

 

[Herndon]

Woof. Someone please show this to our “expected value based on basketball spending” crowd.

I'm on TDY, so I haven't been on this board in the past week or so but what it says is a truly great coach, or a truly shity coach can mitigate the effects of spending (McKillop and Hewitt for example), but all things being equal you tend to get what you pay for.

Since great coaches are statistical outliers that you can't count on getting or retaining, your best bet for success is to pay for it.

JFC, Mason has one of the better econ schools in the country, why is this crap so hard to understand?

 

[Herndon]

Also, that chart is flawed unless it doesn't include 3-pointers, because it is tracking total shots not at the rim, rather than tracking two-point shots not at the rim.

It doesn't say anywhere that three pointers are not included.

I'm not disputing that we take too many mid-range shots, but still that chart is either pretty deceptive or poorly labeled, one or the other.

 

[Petey Buckets]

It was one of three tweets and he simply mislabeled the axes. Replace "rim" with "midrange" in the axis labels and it all makes sense.

For added context, here's the chart at the rim (good efficiency, not nearly enough attempts):

https://twitter.com/mattrhein86/status/1215730746377342977?s=19

And here's the 3 point chart (turrible, we're in the Fordham quadrant):

https://twitter.com/mattrhein86/status/1215739468508028929?s=19

 

[Pablo]

Petey,

Does the mid-range chart include only jump shots outside the paint, but inside the 3-point line?

 

[Petey Buckets]

Petey,

Did the mid-range chart include only jump shots outside the paint, but inside the 3-point line?

That's my understanding, yes. Mid-range is anything that doesn't come at the rim or outside the arc.

The data is scraped from PxP logs so it's very accurate but probably not perfect. The logs classify each shot along a number of options (LAYUP, DUNK, JUMPER, 3 POINT JUMPER, etc) so you're relying on the statkeeper's interpretation of how to categorize the shot. This is probably simple for 3s and long jumpers, but no idea if there's uniformity on how to categorize floaters from 7 feet.

Shot charts obviously much cooler but most schools don't invest in producing those yet.

Edit: layups and dunks are classified as shots at the rim, jumpers are midrange, 3s are 3s

 

[Pablo]

So, Mason needs to reduce the number of mid-range jumpers and shoot more in the paint where it's much more efficient?

 

[GMUgemini]

So, Mason needs to reduce the number of mid-range jumpers and shoot more in the paint where it's much more efficient?

In other words, they need to trust Calixte a lot more than they do and get him the ball in good spots.