What are we good at?

[GMUgemini]

I also looked up that 1979 Indiana State team and they also had Carl Nicks

Indiana State had the benefit of superstar and was not the result of lesser talent operating as cohesive team whose whole is better then the sum of its parts. One is the result of years of program building and a clearly defined philosophy and the other from a generational talent. Take away any of the starting five and Mason was still an outstanding squad. Take away Bird and it's just another inconsequential team. A rather silly comparison.

After looking into the 1970s Indiana State basketball program, I discovered something interesting. The coach who recruited Larry Bird (and Carol Nicks, another future NBA player on the roster) left in 1978 , the year before their run to the NCAA championship game, after having a stroke. Bob King was the coach's name, he left Indiana State with a record of 61-24 in four seasons.

Prior to coaching Indiana State, he was coach at New Mexico for 10 seasons where he amassed a 179-89 record for the Lobos.

 

[Dawgs99]

I really didn't expect you to understand what I was saying about Indiana State. Nor, am I surprised by anything that you "write". Basically, the only thing that you are good at is being disrespectful to other posters. I hope that you are impressed with yourself!

Looks like Hugh is back to reclaim his throne as the biggest d**k on the boards. Many here post things that I disagree with but only one comes across as an arrogant douche on every post.

 

[smccart5]

Agree that we have no identity. I'm confident that we don't have any shady characters on the team though so that's something.

 

[GSII]

Corey Edwards' defense. Holloways sweet stroke. Jenkins' grit. so far only individual things. When they start coaching under team concepts, maybe we'll see this group do some positives as a team.

 

[EXpatriot13]

Holloways sweet stroke.

We haven't seen very much of this so far this season...

 

[Patriotsince81]

Holloway - Overall FG% 36.8. 3 pt % is 29%. FT % is only 60%. Not trying to beat a dead horse but the numbers don't lie. Hardly a "sweet stroke" so far. Hopefully the numbers come up because we sure need them.

 

[GSII]

Holloway - Overall FG% 36.8. 3 pt % is 29%. FT % is only 60%. Not trying to beat a dead horse but the numbers don't lie. Hardly a "sweet stroke" so far. Hopefully the numbers come up because we sure need them.

Sweet stroke meaning it looks good coming out. He's no sniper at the moment.

 

[99 Patriot]

Odd for this team, but it seems our peremeter defense is pretty good so far. Yes, I'm sure someone will say that we give up a ton of open looks that just haven't been falling, but literally if I had to say something I'd say we are making a concerted effort to close out on shooters (albeit at the expense of letting guys waltz past us off the dribble). That's really all I got. Sad.

 

[gmujim92]

Odd for this team, but it seems our peremeter defense is pretty good so far. Yes, I'm sure someone will say that we give up a ton of open looks that just haven't been falling, but literally if I had to say something I'd say we are making a concerted effort to close out on shooters (albeit at the expense of letting guys waltz past us off the dribble). That's really all I got. Sad.

I'm no math whiz, but if the only alternative is giving up shots that are converted at a 90 percent clip, I'm more than OK with letting teams shoot 40 percent from behind the 3-point arc.

 

[JimP]

I agree this team needs to play a lot more zone. At the very least, adapt to the opponent. I think Iowa St. has a bunch of guys who can hit the 3, but the again they are strong on the inside too. That game in particular seems like a "pick your poison" type game. From there though, we ought to adapt to pur opponents strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, we're not used to seeing much adaptation out of Coach Hewitt.

 

[Pablo]

Bench scoring: In 8 of the 9 games, Mason's bench outscored the opponent's. The exception was the Princeton game.

 

[gmujim92]

I agree this team needs to play a lot more zone. At the very least, adapt to the opponent. I think Iowa St. has a bunch of guys who can hit the 3, but the again they are strong on the inside too. That game in particular seems like a "pick your poison" type game. From there though, we ought to adapt to pur opponents strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, we're not used to seeing much adaptation out of Coach Hewitt.

Especially in an unfamiliar arena and shooting background like we'll have in Hawaii, we just have to pack it in and dare Iowa State to bomb us out of the building with 3s.

Otherwise, they will destroy us inside. We have nobody who can check Niang and Ejim without fouling out in about 37 seconds.

 

[99 Patriot]

I'm no math whiz, but if the only alternative is giving up shots that are converted at a 90 percent clip, I'm more than OK with letting teams shoot 40 percent from behind the 3-point arc.

I agree with you, but it's literally all I could come up with. Look at the bright side, when we face all those A-10 teams that struggle to make lay-ups we should be in great shape.

 

[gmubrian]

Turnovers, we are definitely good at generating turnovers. I believe we are a top 40 team in generating turnovers.

Wait, I may have misunderstood where we were supposed go with this...