Goodbye Josh Oduro

[tblack33]

Wherever he ranks, Josh is certainly making a case to be included w/the great big men we've had since the Larranaga era to today.

The nine names on the list are:

George Evans

Jesse Young

Jai Lewis

Will Thomas

Daryl Monroe

Ryan Pearson

Michael Morrison

Shevon Thompson

Jarred Reuter

That last line is an affront to Danny Dixon and the 7 foot walkon from last season.

 

[Junkees9]

Jarred Reuter? With all due respect, that is a guy who does NOT belong on a list of top Mason big men. Maybe it was because of injuries, but the productivity was not there.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I edited it down to 7.

Mike Morrison, Jalen Jenkins, and Darryl Monroe w/Honorable Mentions but in hindsight couldn't include.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

That last line is an affront to Danny Dixon and the 7 foot walkon from last season.

Jarred Reuter? With all due respect, that is a guy who does NOT belong on a list of top Mason big men. Maybe it was because of injuries, but the productivity was not there.

So you're saying I should've put Erik Copes on instead?

 

[Junkees9]

Copes was a total disaster. He doesn't belong on any list associated with top notch performance. As I recall, Reuter averaged less than 10 points a game with Mason. Lots of hype and probably a very skilled guy but injuries derailed him.

 

[sleeperpick]

Copes was a total disaster. He doesn't belong on any list associated with top notch performance. As I recall, Reuter averaged less than 10 points a game with Mason. Lots of hype and probably a very skilled guy but injuries derailed him.

the sarcasm of the original post has flown so far over your head it might be touching Mars at this point. Of course he doesn't think Reuter is a top 7 Mason big man lol

 

[Junkees9]

Kenny Sanders should be on the list and probably Robert Dykes, too.

 

[mkaufman1]

So you're saying I should've put Erik Copes on instead?

I know we can make a lot of jokes about Copes, but the kid when he was healthy actually was pretty good defensively and on the glass if I can recall. He had that great 7 block game against Drexel before he got hurt. Unfortunately there are many others who have played the position that come to mind with ability before he does in my view.

That said, Josh has shown he has a top notch scoring prowless, added an outside game (its WIP but much improved), and just the other night shown some great ability defensively where he really has improved. He rebounds well and is quickly turning into a very high quality all around big.

I'm always bad at comparisons and rankings but to me hes more of a traditional big than what Jenkins or Pearson were at Mason. I'd compare him to Monroe or Thompson, but both of them were only around for 2 years.

He would have to really win some accolades for me to put him with Jai and Will, as well as make the NCAAs so it would be really hard to put him in front of those guys. Maybe a top 4 or 5? Tell me I'm wrong.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I know we can make a lot of jokes about Copes, but the kid when he was healthy actually was pretty good defensively and on the glass if I can recall. He had that great 7 block game against Drexel before he got hurt. Unfortunately there are many others who have played the position that come to mind with ability before he does in my view.

That said, Josh has shown he has a top notch scoring prowless, added an outside game (its WIP but much improved), and just the other night shown some great ability defensively where he really has improved. He rebounds well and is quickly turning into a very high quality all around big.

I'm always bad at comparisons and rankings but to me hes more of a traditional big than what Jenkins or Pearson were at Mason. I'd compare him to Monroe or Thompson, but both of them were only around for 2 years.

He would have to really win some accolades for me to put him with Jai and Will, as well as make the NCAAs so it would be really hard to put him in front of those guys. Maybe a top 4 or 5? Tell me I'm wrong.

A bit early to say as we're not even in conference play yet, but I'd put him in the Jesse Young/Ryan Pearson/Shevon Thompson level right now, w/a trajectory looking like he could hit the George-Will-Jai level.

Pretty amazing jump in Oduro's play. At the start of last season was getting ripped as garbage by some posters here and even had one who questioned if CKE should even be pursuing him to return. Now, if the season ended today, you could make a strong case for Oduro as POY given he's the A10's second leading scorer, sixth in rebounds, and ninth in blocked shots. I'm trying to think of another Mason player that's had as big a jump in performance and struggling a bit. Marquise Moore and Jesse Young are kinda close.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Kenny Sanders should be on the list and probably Robert Dykes, too.

*Since the Larranaga era

Paul Westhead's first year at Mason was my freshman year, so I can't personally comment on anyone from the Harrington, Barnes, or Nestor eras beyond looking at stats.

If you want to throw in Westhead's players, I think you could consider Kenwan Alford given his great Senior season.

 

[Petey Buckets]

In my era (2005 and beyond) Mason has a pretty good history of big men. I'd put Will Thomas alone at the top in that time, with Ryan Pearson and Jai Lewis in tier 2. Josh is probably in tier 3 (Shevon, Mike, etc) at the moment but he's very upwardly mobile if he keeps this up.

 

[Herndon]

You know, the argument about offensive skills is I think a tad deceptive.

He uses a broader VARIETY of offensive skills than Will Thomas did, but does variety of skill trump specialty of skill?

To wit, Will was a career .626 career shooter.

Put it another way, Oduro is shooting .597 from the floor this year, his best. Thomas only had one year under .600.

So yes, Will used fewer moves, but the moves he DID use (which, lets be honest, was mainly a Jump Hook/Up and Under series that would have made McHale proud) he honed to being absolutely deadly.

To my mind, "best" is about "results" not "appearance", and Will produced superior results on the offensive end by just about any measure:
Higher FG%
Higher TS%
Lower TO%
Higher OWS
Better ATR
Better Offensive rebounder
Raw scoring numbers are yet to be determined

(which is not to say I don't like oduro. Look at the very first response on this thread, and it was me liking the thing about him that have ended up making him a good player for us (even if he's gotten more athletic). I've been an oduro fan from the jump. He's just not the same level of players as Will Thomas was, even offensively )

 

[mkaufman1]

In my era (2005 and beyond) Mason has a pretty good history of big men. I'd put Will Thomas alone at the top in that time, with Ryan Pearson and Jai Lewis in tier 2. Josh is probably in tier 3 (Shevon, Mike, etc) at the moment but he's very upwardly mobile if he keeps this up.

I agree with the perspective here. I'm not sure if hes closer to the tier 2 guys at this rate though. Shevon had a smaller sample and I have to think hes surpassed Mike Mo? Different type of player than what Mike was from what I remember. Oduro is closer to Pearson in all around ability, minus the random spin fall down for the layup move.

A bit early to say as we're not even in conference play yet, but I'd put him in the Jesse Young/Ryan Pearson/Shevon Thompson level right now, w/a trajectory looking like he could hit the George-Will-Jai level.

Pretty amazing jump in Oduro's play. At the start of last season was getting ripped as garbage by some posters here and even had one who questioned if CKE should even be pursuing him to return. Now, if the season ended today, you could make a strong case for Oduro as POY given he's the A10's second leading scorer, sixth in rebounds, and ninth in blocked shots. I'm trying to think of another Mason player that's had as big a jump in performance and struggling a bit. Marquise Moore and Jesse Young are kinda close.

I can't think of anyone in recent years who has that significant of a numbers jump other than Marquise. I'd agree with that.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Well, duh..AJ Wilson, the A10's most improved player in 2019. Went from averaging 3.7 PPG his first two seasons to 12.2 while doubling his Blocks and nearly tripling his rebounds.

I probably would've thought of it sooner if not for the regression he had last year.

 

[mkaufman1]

Well, duh..AJ Wilson, the A10's most improved player in 2019. Went from averaging 3.7 PPG his first two seasons to 12.2 while doubling his Blocks and nearly tripling his rebounds.

I probably would've thought of it sooner if not for the regression he had last year.

Haha good point. I always suck at remembering these sorts of things off the top of my head usually.

 

[GMU79]

Haha good point. I always suck at remembering these sorts of things off the top of my head usually.

Always usually?

 

[Earl the Squirrel]

Another great big man nobody has mentioned: Mike Dufrene.

He played on the '85-86 teams that almost beat Maryland and Georgetown. From the time the final whistle blew he was extremely adept at getting to Jorge's (a precursor to Brion's) at University Mall. I would walk through the door after a game and see Dufrene already there, with a beer in his hand. This always perplexed me. I often left the Pat Dome before the game had finished - with Dufrene still on the floor - but he would still inexplicably beat me to Jorge's. A real talent, in this regard.

 

[NewPatriot]

I just stumbled onto this...

View: https://youtu.be/78kWlfr1TxM

 

[NewPatriot]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1494387875164692480

View: https://twitter.com/GoMasonSID/status/1494387875164692480?t=up0A1NTDcYPFK20Lef4wgw&s=19

 

[psyclone]

Naturally Josh's name comes up in this POY discussion:

Analyzing the 2022 Player of the Year Candidates

Player of the Year in the Atlantic 10 is always a fun subject to talk about. There are so many factors to think about and discuss pertaining to this award. Who led the league in scoring? Who was the most important player on their respective team? Who dominated the league from start to finish? We

www.a10talk.com