Game 17: GMU (9-7/ 2-1) vs St. Bonaventure (11-4 / 3-1) on Wednesday, January 26, at 7PM.

[Quentin Daniels]

CKE made the same comments in the presser..
We don't go to St Louis....party on folks!

* Boston

 

[GMUgemini]

Half Full
If we'd managed just two more FTs against GW (12-19 63%), or had just one more stop or made basket, or if Josh had been good to go, the team would be on a four game win streak and have won 7 of its last 8. The only loss being a competitive game against #6 Kansas on their own court and wins over unanimous pre-season favorite St. Bonnie and Dayton.

Half Empty
If we'd missed just two more FTs against Dayton, or had just one fewer stop or made basket, we'd have lost 8 of our last 13 including one to bottom-feeder GW.

Honest take
The team looks like they're playing really well right now and having a lot of fun on the floor. We should see what their made of with 4 of our next 5 games against Richmond, St. Louis, and vcu, picked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively in the pre-season poll and all currently in the top half of the A10 standings. The short rotation is a bit of a concern with 5 games in 11 days coming up, including road trips to St. Louis, Richmond, and Philly, and Josh having some tendinitis issues in his knee already.

vcu and SLU will be real tests, so playing guys like Polite, Blake, Henry, and Otis 15 minutes could be a real gamble (although Otis's one really great game as a freshman was against vcu in Richmond). I don't know if you'll see Hartwell, Gadsden, or Gray the rest of the season (is Gray hurt right now? Thought I heard something about him not dressing against St. Joes).

Richmond and UMass are interesting because they both have great offenses but godawful defenses so maybe you could get away with resting your starters a little bit more if the bench can show they can score against them?

 

[NewPatriot]

My biggest is Mason's abilty to inbound the ball even against token full court pressure in 3 straight games.

How many times have we called in the second half in the last simply because inbounding issues? 6 more?

CKE needs to make this a point of emphasis in practice.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

vcu and SLU will be real tests, so playing guys like Polite, Blake, Henry, and Otis 15 minutes could be a real gamble (although Otis's one really great game as a freshman was against vcu in Richmond).

I thought Polite had a pretty good game last night overall. Had a few bad turnovers where he dribbled into pressure and should've laid it up on that drive he got right underneath the basket, but still managed 4 assists in 15 min and played solid defense.

I also don't mind when Malik comes in off the bench. He's no Oduro (who is?), but he provides a physical presence in the paint. Minutes are still pretty limited but is an uptick from last year where he saw the court in only 8 games and >3 minutes in only 3 of those. And he's actually leading the team in rebounds per minute played (8+ MPG) just a sliver ahead of Gaines at .265 vs. .263. He's also second in Blocks per minute behind Josh (who ranks 8th overall in the A10). Not the largest sample size, but is over 16 games and does demonstrate he's doing some things when he is in.

 

[Junkees9]

Fantastic game last night against a really good, experienced team. I am increasingly concerned, though, by the lack of depth. Other than Polite, it sure looks like English has no confidence in anyone on the bench. I'm just not sure this is sustainable over time. Will anyone else be prepared to play when one or more of our starters has foul trouble, or even worse an injury?

 

[sleeperpick]

Fantastic game last night against a really good, experienced team. I am increasingly concerned, though, by the lack of depth. Other than Polite, it sure looks like English has no confidence in anyone on the bench. I'm just not sure this is sustainable over time. Will anyone else be prepared to play when one or more of our starters has foul trouble, or even worse an injury?

Gotta win the games in the immediate future. It is blatantly obvious the bench guys sans Henry and Polite (ew) will get any meaningful mins sans injury. Play to win now and figure out an emergency plan if needed. Playing Frazier, Hartwell, gray is completely inverse of trying to win. I’m glad he’s not going anymore than 7 deep and minimally at that

 

[GMU79]

Video highlights:

Love the ball movement without the ball ever touching the floor.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Just to play Devil's Advocate, here's a comparison of Games Played and Minutes Per Game between the current roster and the 2006 Final Four team.

21-'22	GP	MIN		05-'06	GP	MIN
D'Shawn Schwartz G	17	35.3		Lamar Butler G	35	31.9
DeVon Cooper G	17	31.5		Will Thomas F	35	31.9
Davonte Gaines G	17	31.2		Tony Skinn G	34	31.6
Josh Oduro F	16	30.2		Folarin Campbell G-F	35	31.1
Xavier Johnson G	15	28.7		Jai Lewis F	35	30.4
Jamal Hartwell II G	14	18.6		Gabe Norwood G-F	35	21.1
Ronald Polite III G	7	16.1		Sammy Hernandez F	35	11.1
Blake Jones F	17	9.4		Jordan Carter G	28	6.5
Malik Henry F	16	8.3		Tim Burns G	20	6
Mike Gray G	8	7.3		Chris Fleming F	29	4.6
Otis Frazier III G	9	6.7		Charles Makings G	13	2.5
TJ Gadsden G	6	4		Makan Konate G-F	11	2.2
Joel Kabimba F	4	3		Total	30
Blake Buchanan G	2	1
Total	17

 

[GMU79]

Gotta win the games in the immediate future. It is blatantly obvious the bench guys sans Henry and Polite (ew) will get any meaningful mins sans injury. Play to win now and figure out an emergency plan if needed. Playing Frazier, Hartwell, gray is completely inverse of trying to win. I’m glad he’s not going anymore than 7 deep and minimally at that

Yep, gotta win each game as it comes. Worry about the other stuff when/if it happens.

 

[Junkees9]

We are really going only 6 deep now since Hartwell no longer plays.

 

[GMUgemini]

We are really going only 6 deep now since Hartwell no longer plays.

If you combine Blake and Henry's minutes, it's about 7.

 

[gmubrian]

GMU vs St. Bonaventure pics

Great pics as always. You got a good one of "Matty Ice", the person I would vote number one for in-game spirit and enthusiasm. He did his thing (leading chants, playing in the band, and going over to encourage our student section) again last night.

George Mason MBB vs St. Bonaventure

George Mason MBB vs St. Bonaventure Eagle Bank Arena Fairfax VA Wednesday, January 26, 2022 George Mason 75, St. Bonaventure 66 George M...

dmvsportsshots.blogspot.com

 

[GMU1983]

Can anyone find the postgame for mark Schmidt. He did one because there is a picture of it above

 

[GMU79]

Any link to the postgame presser?

 

[gmubrian]

This team often plays to the level of their opponents... just once I'd like them to come out on fire, running on all cylinders, and blow out a top 3 A10 team.

I remember when we blew out ODU by 30 (Jan 4, 1999) with George Evans, Erik Herring, Tremaine Price, for the first time - emerging out of the CAA cellar to claim our spot as a top CAA team. We could use a win like that to build on moving forward.

You came pretty close to getting your wish last night. We had them down big and lead the entire second half, fairly comfortably for most of it.

 

[HoopsAdmin]

Can anyone find the postgame for mark Schmidt. He did one because there is a picture of it above

I think this is it... wasn't loading for me to verify:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1486523612521803779

View: https://twitter.com/GMUGiantKiller/status/1486523612521803779?s=20&t=8BWPd2PtD34srW1xMui2rw

 

[mkaufman1]

I think this is it... wasn't loading for me to verify:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1486523612521803779

View: https://twitter.com/GMUGiantKiller/status/1486523612521803779?s=20&t=8BWPd2PtD34srW1xMui2rw

As I said on the Bygeorge twitter spaces, Schmidt had this look of disdain and frustration that I haven’t seen since Blaine, Matt, Bruiser Pat etc used to take losses regularly at the Patriot center.

 

[allhailme]

As I said on the Bygeorge twitter spaces, Schmidt had this look of disdain and frustration that I haven’t seen since Blaine, Matt, Bruiser Pat etc used to take losses regularly at the Patriot center.

Noticed at the game there was an assistant coach for SBU that kept putting his hands on his head in disbelief after every three pointer that splashed down. Another person close noticed the same thing and joked that we should’ve turned it into a drinking game. Would’ve been wasted.

 

[GMU1983]

I think this is it... wasn't loading for me to verify:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1486523612521803779

View: https://twitter.com/GMUGiantKiller/status/1486523612521803779?s=20&t=8BWPd2PtD34srW1xMui2rw

Thank you!

 

[Quentin Daniels]

As I said on the Bygeorge twitter spaces, Schmidt had this look of disdain and frustration that I haven’t seen since Blaine, Matt, Bruiser Pat etc used to take losses regularly at the Patriot center.

In the corner of the screen, as the shot goes in

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1486498042714877952

View: https://twitter.com/MasonMBB/status/1486498042714877952?s=20&t=W-fBTEfqjT_ZvGmZwE2Umg