Games Decided by 3 or Fewer Points

[gmutom]

We need a veteran bench coach very badly.

Someone to remind Hewitt of who his best FT shooters are and remind him that it's OK to put 4 guards on the floor when the opponent is pressing.

I agree about hiring another assistant if not two and also agree we should have gone to four guards. One thing I was happy about was seeing Moore, Allen and Edwards out there together. It might be the first time we've seen the three of them on the court at the same time.

Regarding the FT shooting, it shouldn't be lost that we shot 87% without J2 's 0-6 performance. I also find it odd that we aren't talking more about Sherrod going 1-7 from the floor and failing to reach double figures for the 5th straight game.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

For all of our talent limitations, I think the most glaring is on the bench.

I get that Kreider and Skeeters are recruiters first and foremost, and that's fine, but I wonder what Houston is bringing to the table if he's not the guy who has Hewitt's ear in high-stress, end-of-game situations.

I know it's never going to happen, but I'd be very happy if Houston was sent packing in favor of a veteran bench coach (like Mike Deane at JMU) in time for next season.

Hewitt clearly needs help and he's not getting it from the current assistants.

I will say this year I see more fire from Hewitt and more coaching from the assistant s. I even saw Houston for the first time ever leave his feet and coach during the game.

If the excuse is the players don't get it fine. But I better see assistants coaching thier asses off in the meantime. Skeeters actually thus far appears to me the one doing that the most.

 

[MasonFanatic]

Skeeters was supposedly a defensive specialist at USF ...

 

[Scythe]

I still feel Houston was a hire simply to get Copes. Otherwise I can't really explain what if anything Houston has brought to the table.

 

[Five Two]

Prettt crazy he asked if Okoloji was ready to play with under a minute left after he hadn't played the whole game as well.

Good thing Okoloji said no. Sure a guy on the bench the whole game playing at the very end and shooting clutch free throws would have been a good idea.

Was he asking AO to go in as an offensive sub? I would have played AO on the defensive side only.

 

[gmutom]

Was he asking AO to go in as an offensive sub? I would have played AO on the defensive side only.

Just a guess here, but since Hewitt was intent on going with two big men — which I disagreed with in that scenario — it was probably more about trying to find somebody who could replace Marko since he was hurt. J2 wasn't an option due to his FT shooting woes, and Copes wasn't ideal due to his history of being a bad FT shooter.

 

[MasonCrew]

Lost in all this discussion is that Mason basketball notched another close victory last night. Congrats to the coaching staff for really bringing out that fire in our players to win late, close games.

 

[MasonFanatic]

I still feel Houston was a hire simply to get Copes. Otherwise I can't really explain what if anything Houston has brought to the table.

Houston was a well-respected assistant coach before he came to Mason. His name was even mentioned for some low-major HC jobs IIRC.

His first year here, it was quite obvious (at least to me) that he was coaching up our bigs during games, especially Arledge and Morrison. When Arledge finally started to attack the basket late in the year, Houston's reactions on the bench seemed to indicate that he'd been preaching that for a while, and was happy to see Jon finally doing it. But I haven't seen as much of that lately.

It's hard to tell whether he's not doing his job coaching our big men, or whether our roster simply doesn't have the talent and basketball IQ to execute what he's teaching.

 

[Masonman]

@MasonCrew I concur, happy for the victory!

 

[gmubrian]

Houston was a well-respected assistant coach before he came to Mason. His name was even mentioned for some low-major HC jobs IIRC.

That gave me a wild and crazy idea. How about we can Hewitt and let Houston take over the reins. Deal is, he has to do the job for no additional money for the next two years. That way we are not out any additional money that we we don't have to get rid of Hewitt. After two years, we can't really be much worse than we look to be under Hewitt and we move on. If it somehow works out we have landed the next hot assistant coach, well we are ahead of the game at that point.

This could be just crazy enough, but practical enough to work...

 

[Bricker]

That gave me a wild and crazy idea. How about we can Hewitt and let Houston take over the reins. Deal is, he has to do the job for no additional money for the next two years. That way we are not out any additional money that we we don't have to get rid of Hewitt. After two years, we can't really be much worse than we look to be under Hewitt and we move on. If it somehow works out we have landed the next hot assistant coach, well we are ahead of the game at that point.

This could be just crazy enough, but practical enough to work...

and start Copes at point guard so we can tank for next year's draft! Oh, wait...

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Whether just for defense or not (don't know or remember when), any defensive board could result in Anali shooting clutch game free throws after not playing the first 39 minutes. Shouldn't have even been an option barring foul trouble in a competent coach's mind.
He's overrated the guy's defense anyway...