There was no British Beer and the Greek and British snacks did not last l Iong! I had great seats with my brother in 114. Felt good until the last 4 minutes of the 1st half.
Game 10: GMU (9-0) at Va Tech (7-2) on Saturday, December 6, at 3:00 PM.
- Thread starter Patriotsince81
- Start date
It’s not showing up in the attendance numbers at EBA.
Everything From Virginia Tech HC Mike Young After Saturday's Win Over GMU
Virginia Tech men's basketball head coach Mike Young spoke to the media after the team's 73-62 victory over George Mason.
www.si.com
Taking care of the ball is critical on the road and today it was the main reason for why we lost.
On top of -
Defensive lapses at certain times
Two missed dunks don’t help either
Tony was also late to switch to zone and that would have at least given us a chance to close out on three point shooters and clog up the middle. Playing man and doubling in the paint due to mismatches led to open threes many of them being uncontested.
Hill had a really poor game. They had a chance to cut to low single digits towards the end but he couldn’t stop turning over the ball.
Good news is it’s one game. The other good news is the issues they had today can be fixed. They have the right roster to do something special in my opt. They just need to put it all together.
On top of -
Defensive lapses at certain times
Two missed dunks don’t help either
Tony was also late to switch to zone and that would have at least given us a chance to close out on three point shooters and clog up the middle. Playing man and doubling in the paint due to mismatches led to open threes many of them being uncontested.
Hill had a really poor game. They had a chance to cut to low single digits towards the end but he couldn’t stop turning over the ball.
Good news is it’s one game. The other good news is the issues they had today can be fixed. They have the right roster to do something special in my opt. They just need to put it all together.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #146
I blame the loss on the black uniforms. 
I blame the loss on the black uniforms.
Don't like black uni's... looks like a bunch of shadows flitting across the court. And you know what happens when one passes the ball to a shadow.
Thanks!
Are there no pressers with the visiting coaches? I would think the press would want reactions from both sides post-game. But I'm not sure I've ever seen one except in something like the A10 tournament when they are playing at a neutral site.
I know we have to take an annual game at a Power 5, and having the opportunity to play at Virginia Tech was a good challenge for the program.
I honestly hate it though. In order to win, you have to play essentially perfect, get every bounce, get every call in your favor and have the other team sleepwalk through the game. My hope is that Mason gets into better MTEs at some point of our lives, and that they get a neutral opportunity. I'm sure the schools that get beat down in Fairfax, feel the same way lol.
Yesterday, Mason didn't play anywhere up to our defensive standard from the jump ball and before they blinked, they were down 7-0. We had trouble defensively very quickly with Hansberry. Even though we settled towards the later part of the 1st half, Tech then went on a run and that was about all she wrote. Offensively we didn't move the ball at all and just looked confused. The shots we got were mostly 1 and done.
Its one thing to not play your best basketball, but the thing that irks me (and I know it irks others too) was the fact our guys were still going for alley oops down big. Instead of just trying to get momentum on your side, getting some baskets and getting rolling, you go for some home run play. Its nonsense. Whatever. /old man yelling at cloud dot gif.
Anyway, onto ODU and hopefully Mason can finish the rest of the non conference with wins. We need all the wins we can to stack up.
I honestly hate it though. In order to win, you have to play essentially perfect, get every bounce, get every call in your favor and have the other team sleepwalk through the game. My hope is that Mason gets into better MTEs at some point of our lives, and that they get a neutral opportunity. I'm sure the schools that get beat down in Fairfax, feel the same way lol.
Yesterday, Mason didn't play anywhere up to our defensive standard from the jump ball and before they blinked, they were down 7-0. We had trouble defensively very quickly with Hansberry. Even though we settled towards the later part of the 1st half, Tech then went on a run and that was about all she wrote. Offensively we didn't move the ball at all and just looked confused. The shots we got were mostly 1 and done.
Its one thing to not play your best basketball, but the thing that irks me (and I know it irks others too) was the fact our guys were still going for alley oops down big. Instead of just trying to get momentum on your side, getting some baskets and getting rolling, you go for some home run play. Its nonsense. Whatever. /old man yelling at cloud dot gif.
Anyway, onto ODU and hopefully Mason can finish the rest of the non conference with wins. We need all the wins we can to stack up.
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The alley oops were maddening. They weren't low level of difficulty plays, try for those plays with a big lead.
That’s the thing though, you didn’t have to play perfect to beat that tech team yesterday. You just had to not shit the bed for a 10 minute stretch of play. That was a very winnable game, against a very beatable team. That was not the duke or Marquette games last season what so ever.
We can stack all the wins we want, at large is pretty much dead. Hopefully the team was watching film today, because we’ve got a few weeks to lock in our defense before the games count.
Team seemed very lethargic for some reason. Mincy, Long and Trout were all way too passive on offense until it was a double-digit deficit and everybody was at least a step slow defensively.
Was expecting our guys to come out with great energy given the opportunity, but there was no edge or aggressiveness and Tech basically pushed us around when it mattered.
I realize this is a different team and it’s useless to compare, but one of the things about Team 59 that I really liked is they didn’t mind mixing it up — even if they weren’t always smooth or efficient offensively, they played with a chip. It even took Duke a half to figure out how to handle the physicality Mason threw at them. Nobody enjoyed playing against those guys.
Not really feeling that with this group, but hoping I’m wrong because the A-10 is no joke this season.
Was expecting our guys to come out with great energy given the opportunity, but there was no edge or aggressiveness and Tech basically pushed us around when it mattered.
I realize this is a different team and it’s useless to compare, but one of the things about Team 59 that I really liked is they didn’t mind mixing it up — even if they weren’t always smooth or efficient offensively, they played with a chip. It even took Duke a half to figure out how to handle the physicality Mason threw at them. Nobody enjoyed playing against those guys.
Not really feeling that with this group, but hoping I’m wrong because the A-10 is no joke this season.
I think Jim says what I was hinting at and didn’t say.
They came out lethargic and lacking an edge yesterday. While perfection in my opinion is needed, I didn’t see any vibe from the tip that showed me they would do what they needed to win. By the time they got going it was late.
I have no idea if VT maybe played their best game of the year yesterday, we just stunk, or somewhere in the middle. My concern is that vcu trashed them by 20, but yet VT took care of us and St Joes by large margins. Maybe it means nothing, I don’t know.
I still think Mason needed to play almost perfect yesterday for 40 minutes, have little to no brain farts, and still get every whistle. That’s just how it is in these games. We haven’t won very many of them over the years.
They came out lethargic and lacking an edge yesterday. While perfection in my opinion is needed, I didn’t see any vibe from the tip that showed me they would do what they needed to win. By the time they got going it was late.
I have no idea if VT maybe played their best game of the year yesterday, we just stunk, or somewhere in the middle. My concern is that vcu trashed them by 20, but yet VT took care of us and St Joes by large margins. Maybe it means nothing, I don’t know.
I still think Mason needed to play almost perfect yesterday for 40 minutes, have little to no brain farts, and still get every whistle. That’s just how it is in these games. We haven’t won very many of them over the years.
Totally disagree with you on the at large comment. Win these last 3 non con( we will be heavy favorites in all 3) games. During conference play you have right now 5 quad 1 chances ( NET: Stl,GW (2), vcu (2) and at least 5-6 quad 2 chances. The A10 has 6 or 7 teams in top 100. Plenty of chances for an at large.
Unless this team gets a lot better I’m not buying we are winning most of those games.
Unfortunately, SLU, GW, and Dayton have our kryptonite this year (skilled bigs who will eat the paint). vcu is probably going to go the way vcu always goes (similar to how this game went—get boat raced for about 6 minutes on either side of the half and spend the rest of the game playing catch up).
I’ve harped on continuity on here. This is a continuity loss. We needed to keep our front court. I know that was impossible from a money standpoint, but even Gio helps our interior defense in this game.
Patriot Blue
Four-star Recruit
vcu has a decent big this year also
GunstonsGhost
Starter
Wanted to start off with something positive...The watch party was the largest crowd I've seen since Tony took over. We easily had 100+ there. Banditos wasn't really prepared for all those people showing up at the same time, but they accommodated well enough.
This looked like a coaching/management failure to me. No one looked mentally prepared for this game. Maybe Allenspach came out the gate ready, but everyone else was MIA. Mincy barely even looking for the ball in the first couple sequences of the game. Ellington exploited around the rim and doesn't have the ability to stretch the floor like Allenspach. Fatt just spazzin out everywhere. Presley can play D, but half of dude's shots don't even hit rim. Troutman? Adebayo? There were a few flashes of raw athleticism, but mostly it seemed like they lacked a gameplan and confidence and that to me falls on the coaches.
This looked like a coaching/management failure to me. No one looked mentally prepared for this game. Maybe Allenspach came out the gate ready, but everyone else was MIA. Mincy barely even looking for the ball in the first couple sequences of the game. Ellington exploited around the rim and doesn't have the ability to stretch the floor like Allenspach. Fatt just spazzin out everywhere. Presley can play D, but half of dude's shots don't even hit rim. Troutman? Adebayo? There were a few flashes of raw athleticism, but mostly it seemed like they lacked a gameplan and confidence and that to me falls on the coaches.
It definitely was one of the rare times during Tony’s tenure where it felt like we had no real plan to attack them on either end. Guys were standing around and ball was stagnant. Even after TOs, we never ran any of the easy bucket-getters Tony is good for 2/3 times a game. Puzzling.
Tech has talent, but they’re not that hard to figure out — Avdalas likes coming off ball screens, Hansberry plays on the low block and Schutt hits 3s. The latter two got whatever they wanted against our defense with very little resistance.
I'm not worried about Dayton and GW as much as St louis because quite frankly I don't think either one is a good coach. Haven't for a while on Grant. He's had the talent every year and still manages to miss the tournament year after year recently. Caputo I don't get the love affair dude becomes unhinged very quickly. Maybe they have that much talent but I think we can knock them off. St Louis yes and vcu as always. The major difference in this vcu team is they don't play great defense but they can score it! It's a very different vcu team than years past.
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