Welcome Mike Gray

[Falco]

Stud.

Polite is more of an off guard, these 2 will compliment each other well.

I'm getting excited again!!

 

[mkaufman1]

Having XJ, Polite, and Gray in the backcourt means you have 3 very capable ball handlers and physical big guards. Add guys like Frazier and Kolek to the mix as well.

I guess we'll see if this is the level of talent that helps Mason compete a little better in the A10. We'll have to wait and see when everyone hits the court.

 

[tblack33]

Having XJ, Polite, and Gray in the backcourt means you have 3 very capable ball handlers and physical big guards. Add guys like Frazier and Kolek to the mix as well.

I guess we'll see if this is the level of talent that helps Mason compete a little better in the A10. We'll have to wait and see when everyone hits the court.

I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on this, where do we think the minutes are going to come for any '21 guards? Are we assuming that one of Polite/Kolek/Hartwell/XJ will transfer out? There's 80 minutes available for what will be 5 guards at those 2 positions, if no one leaves I don't see much of a chance for any '21 guard to have significant playing time unless they are flying WAY under the radar in highschool. Barring transfer/multiple injuries, I don't see any way that a '21 guard plays any real minutes until 22-23.

 

[mkaufman1]

I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on this, where do we think the minutes are going to come for any '21 guards? Are we assuming that one of Polite/Kolek/Hartwell/XJ will transfer out? There's 80 minutes available for what will be 5 guards at those 2 positions, if no one leaves I don't see much of a chance for any '21 guard to have significant playing time unless they are flying WAY under the radar in highschool. Barring transfer/multiple injuries, I don't see any way that a '21 guard plays any real minutes until 22-23.

I get what you are saying but this stuff generally works itself out. You'll have Hartwell as a senior, XJ as a junior, Kolek/Polite as sophomores and Frazier as a sophomore. I suspect we'll continue to see on occasion some 3 guard lineups which will push Frazier to more of a 3 spot perhaps or even Kolek if hes physical enough on defense to play more of a 3. I have no clue though, and could be wrong.

Generally speaking, you don't want to count on freshmen to play major minutes. We all have been conditioned to it because of the lack of depth and options that Dave has had, but if all goes well, someone like a Mike Gray won't play until his 2nd year. Much like this year with the 4 freshmen class of Henry/Kolek/Polite/Frazier, none of them will probably contribute major minutes unless inevitable injuries occur.

Also, chances are you might see attrition and transfers. If all of these guards are outplaying Hartwell, and its easy to be immediately eligible, he might be odd man out. Not saying I want him to leave or he doesn't have a place on the team, just sometimes you get recruited over. It happens. Someone also might not work out at this level.

 

[gmujim92]

I get what you are saying but this stuff generally works itself out. You'll have Hartwell as a senior, XJ as a junior, Kolek/Polite as sophomores and Frazier as a sophomore. I suspect we'll continue to see on occasion some 3 guard lineups which will push Frazier to more of a 3 spot perhaps or even Kolek if hes physical enough on defense to play more of a 3. I have no clue though, and could be wrong.

Generally speaking, you don't want to count on freshmen to play major minutes. We all have been conditioned to it because of the lack of depth and options that Dave has had, but if all goes well, someone like a Mike Gray won't play until his 2nd year. Much like this year with the 4 freshmen class of Henry/Kolek/Polite/Frazier, none of them will probably contribute major minutes unless inevitable injuries occur.

Also, chances are you might see attrition and transfers. If all of these guards are outplaying Hartwell, and its easy to be immediately eligible, he might be odd man out. Not saying I want him to leave or he doesn't have a place on the team, just sometimes you get recruited over. It happens. Someone also might not work out at this level.

Couldn’t agree more. I think we’ve all become conditioned to relying on freshmen, but our best teams typically had a veteran core and guys had to wait their turn for a year or two before major playing time opened up.

Getting back to that model will hopefully pay dividends because there’s a ceiling to what you can accomplish by relying too heavily on freshmen at our level.

 

[GMU_DCU]

http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/michael-gray

Damn, he needs to hit the weight room.

 

[sleeperpick]

Damn, he needs to hit the weight room.

He’s bigger than 75% of our current guards. If this is sarcastic I apologize ahead of time.

 

[GMU_DCU]

He’s bigger than 75% of our current guards. If this is sarcastic I apologize ahead of time.

The verbal commits site lists him at 0 lbs

 

[sleeperpick]

The verbal commits site lists him at 0 lbs

missed that one

 

[gmujim92]

The verbal commits site lists him at 0 lbs

No worries Handy will get him to a solid 35 lbs by graduation day.

 

[MasonFanatic]

With our current roster (barring any more forwards signing) we will probably have to use guys like Frazier and Kolek at the 3, at least some of the time. The minutes don't work otherwise.

 

[The Great PATSby]

Good read. Mentions why he chose Mason.

“My goals are to try and help George Mason get a conference championship and also make the NCAA Tournament.”

https://dailyprogress.com/sports/bl...cle_c9127de0-9ed4-5a4e-9317-876a49c14b6a.html

 

[gmujim92]

With our current roster (barring any more forwards signing) we will probably have to use guys like Frazier and Kolek at the 3, at least some of the time. The minutes don't work otherwise.

It’s gonna be nice for once to have some versatility and positional flexibility. It will give the staff options depending on the opponent, injuries, foul trouble, etc., instead of perpetually being stuck in mismatches.

 

[tblack33]

With our current roster (barring any more forwards signing) we will probably have to use guys like Frazier and Kolek at the 3, at least some of the time. The minutes don't work otherwise.

Agreed, but for me personally I don’t love the idea of that. I think that by year 3 Frazier might be okay there, but if Kolek is ever spending minutes at the 3 I think we are in trouble. It goes back to on offense it’s fine if we are running a 4 out small ball line up, but can you ever realistically see Kolek having to guard some of these A10 3s? We would get torched. You can get away with that when you have 2 great bigs to clean things up in the paint but it doesn’t look like we’ll have something like that by that point. When we go small people are talking about Miller sliding over to the 4 and having either Henry/Oduro anchoring it. Defensively, that lineup sounds horrendous.

 

[gmujim92]

Agreed, but for me personally I don’t love the idea of that. I think that by year 3 Frazier might be okay there, but if Kolek is ever spending minutes at the 3 I think we are in trouble. It goes back to on offense it’s fine if we are running a 4 out small ball line up, but can you ever realistically see Kolek having to guard some of these A10 3s? We would get torched. You can get away with that when you have 2 great bigs to clean things up in the paint but it doesn’t look like we’ll have something like that by that point. When we go small people are talking about Miller sliding over to the 4 and having either Henry/Oduro anchoring it. Defensively, that lineup sounds horrendous.

I don’t see Kolek getting time at the 3 unless we’re facing a small ball team and Dave wants him on the floor for his offense.

Also Miller has added a ton of muscle since last season. He can give us spot minutes at the 4 and hold his own when AJ is resting.

 

[mkaufman1]

Yeah keep in mind there’s a lot of mixing and matching that can be done. Also if the other team has a 6’4 guy at the 3 spot, you absolutely can put a smaller guy there. Maybe you bulk up Polite and go Hartwell xj and polite at some points.
I don’t know. Point is, plenty of options and no need to have crazy matchups like having a 6’4 guy guard a 6’8 guy because you have to.

 

[GMUgemini]

I don’t see Kolek getting time at the 3 unless we’re facing a small ball team and Dave wants him on the floor for his offense.

Also Miller has added a ton of muscle since last season. He can give us spot minutes at the 4 and hold his own when AJ is resting.

Yeah, who earns minutes at the 2 and 4 spots behind Greene and AJ are probably the two biggest question marks on the roster.

Don't forget Boyd is on the roster too, Kaufman. I have my doubts about him guarding the 2 spot, so I see him as the primary backup for Miller whenever Miller is playing the 4 or on the bench (unless the opposing 2 guard isn't particularly quick and then I can see Boyd's strength working in our favor).

So right now, tentative depth chart?

PG: XJ/Hartwell
SG: Greene/Polite or Kolek? (could also see some XJ/Hartwell pairings if the frosh aren't ready right away)
SF: Miller/Boyd/Frazier or Dady?
PF: AJ/Miller/Henry (hopefully Henry takes some minutes so we can see more of Miller on the wing)
C: Oduro/Calixte/AJ/Henry (matchup dependent here)

 

[MasonFanatic]

I think we might see Dady at the 4 as well. He has the size for it. I just have no idea how many minutes he's going to play, because we saw so little of him last season before the injury

 

[tblack33]

I think we might see Dady at the 4 as well. He has the size for it. I just have no idea how many minutes he's going to play, because we saw so little of him last season before the injury

Are we talking about the same Dady here? 6'6, 200 lbs soaking wet? Again, if we see Dady at the 4 we are probably in serious trouble on the defensive end.

 

[sleeperpick]

Are we talking about the same Dady here? 6'6, 200 lbs soaking wet? Again, if we see Dady at the 4 we are probably in serious trouble on the defensive end.

a Dady and Calixte lineup is inevitable as Mar is now gone and we all now how fun that lineup was to watch last year for 5 mins a game.