Game Thread: Toilet Bowl - Mason (1-4) vs UMass (1-4) Wednesday, Jan 22. 7PM

[mkaufman1]

Wasn't there a lot of discussion in the off season about Greene not being able to play the point? I call BS on that. We should've been starting him there with Kier and Miller at the 2/3 respectively. What could've been at least.

I think hes more of a 4th option, if completely necessary option. Since Hartwell is out, XJ is playing 98% of the minutes at the point , but Javon let him get a few minutes of rest tonight since JDS came in to play the 2.

 

[Pablo]

https://www.umasshoops.com/newboard/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16308&start=45:

Re: George Mason 1/22

Post by 78 » Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:08 pm

I have to love this guy...lose their 20th straight conference road game, fall to 1-5 in conference and 2-12 in their last 14, and he’s still optimistic and feeling good. The coach stinks, and once again a hyped recruiting class looks like 2 real solid guys and a bunch of meh. As far as I’m concerned though, it doesn’t matter if they were more talented, because the coach wouldn’t know what to do with better players.

 

[GMUgemini]

I'm finally able to watch some of this game...it's interesting we "went big" in this game -- XJ, Miller, Mar, AJ, Oduro — for a few stretches. Miller didn’t look too comfortable handling the doubles in the back court. AJ’s shot was just a little off, otherwise he might have had close to 20 points in this game. Neither Miller nor Mar did a great job taking advantage of their size at the 2 and 3.

Wish we could develop a few wrinkles in this offense.

 

[psyclone]

I think hes more of a 4th option, if completely necessary option. Since Hartwell is out, XJ is playing 98% of the minutes at the point , but Javon let him get a few minutes of rest tonight since JDS came in to play the 2.

Hartwell, with 14.2% TO rate (Kenpom) is currently ranked 462d for that category. Much better than XJ (23.5%) and Javon (20%). We miss him not only for depth reasons. Not a knock on XJ...he's only a freshman and wasn't brought in to play so many minutes at pg. Kier was at 26% his freshman yr, although not much time as a pg, and improved year over year (at 17% this year).

 

[GSII]

Presser -
https://twitter.com/gmugiantkiller/status/1220167174939082753?s=21

Good question on Calixte.

 

[p8triotfan4life]

Geez, this is a tough group to please. We are 13-6 and have really had only 2 questionable losses on the season (Bonnie and GW) despite having 3 players out for the season with injuries (Kier, Boyd, and Daddy). We should be 15-4, but it is what it is.

Face the facts, we aren't on the level of vcu, TCU, MD, and Richmond this year. All four of those teams have a legitimate shot of dancing. I was hopeful had we been healthy all year, but injuries do happen. Nice resilient win last night! Great job Javon picking up the scoring slack. Best two-game stretch of his career. Keep it going!

 

[GMU_DCU]

I hope the next practice consists of laps for any player besides Jordan Miller shooting a fadeaway jumper. Also learning how to guard the opposing teams best 3 point shooter off an inbound play would be helpful.

 

[GMU_DCU]

Oduro also gets some credit for some of the easy layups his teammates got because he was really effectively clearing out the lane for them late in the second half

Noticed that too...something we haven't seen much of here at Mason.

 

[GMUgemini]

Noticed that too...something we haven't seen much of here at Mason.

It was a big complaint last year from me, I know. Reuter could do it, but, you know, he was Reuter so you had to deal with everything else that went with it. Marko could do it. Sometimes you just need a big dude getting in the way.

 

[gmutom]

It was a big complaint last year from me, I know. Reuter could do it, but, you know, he was Reuter so you had to deal with everything else that went with it. Marko could do it. Sometimes you just need a big dude getting in the way.

Oduro seems to have a high basketball IQ in terms of knowing where to be and when. Points and rebounding aside, he was great last night at setting up in the middle of the court to help break the press, setting screens at the top of the key, helping to facilitate whatever assemblance of an offense we try to run, and sometimes as pointed out just getting in the way to clear a path for teammates to get easy buckets.

His ceiling might be average in terms of overall physical abilities, but his knowledge of the game, deceptive finesse skills and soft shooting touch could make him a very serviceable big man over the next three years.

 

[mkaufman1]

Oduro seems to have a high basketball IQ in terms of knowing where to be and when. Points and rebounding aside, he was great last night at setting up in the middle of the court to help break the press, setting screens at the top of the key, helping to facilitate whatever assemblance of an offense we try to run, and sometimes as pointed out just getting in the way to clear a path for teammates to get easy buckets.

His ceiling might be average in terms of overall physical abilities, but his knowledge of the game, deceptive finesse skills and soft shooting touch could make him a very serviceable big man over the next three years.

Well said. I’d love for him to get a little more “mean” and push guys around a little more but if he can do a lot of what you said, I’m fine with that too.

 

[Mason32]

I’d love for him to get a little more “mean” and push guys around a little more but if he can do a lot of what you said, I’m fine with that too.

Hopefully they can get into a brawl like Kansas and K-State and show that energy like ByGeorge wants our guys to!

 

[tblack33]

Geez, this is a tough group to please. We are 13-6 and have really had only 2 questionable losses on the season (Bonnie and GW) despite having 3 players out for the season with injuries (Kier, Boyd, and Daddy). We should be 15-4, but it is what it is.

Face the facts, we aren't on the level of vcu, TCU, MD, and Richmond this year. All four of those teams have a legitimate shot of dancing. I was hopeful had we been healthy all year, but injuries do happen. Nice resilient win last night! Great job Javon picking up the scoring slack. Best two-game stretch of his career. Keep it going!

I think that there's a difference between not being on the level of those guys, and not looking like we even belonged in the gym with those guys, which is what is causing concern with this team. Looked like there was no preparation or game plan for any of those games.

The GW loss was inexcusable.

Agreed with Javon, have really enjoyed watching him be assertive on the offensive end over the last couple of games. His on ball defense has suffered but I'd attribute that to him trying to stay out of foul trouble which I'm okay with if he's going to be our sole offensive threat.

 

[smccart5]

I think that there's a difference between not being on the level of those guys, and not looking like we even belonged in the gym with those guys, which is what is causing concern with this team. Looked like there was no preparation or game plan for any of those games.

The GW loss was inexcusable.

Agreed with Javon, have really enjoyed watching him be assertive on the offensive end over the last couple of games. His on ball defense has suffered but I'd attribute that to him trying to stay out of foul trouble which I'm okay with if he's going to be our sole offensive threat.

Agree on this point, the TCU loss and vcu loss were really bad. We were completely blown out of the gym. It was a real slap in the face reminding everyone that we are a solidly mediocre team. It really took the air out of the season because it felt like, "oh, we really have no chance of making a run..."

 

[psyclone]

UMass at home beats Duquesne by 9. Tre Mitchell with 25 pts.