Game 27: Duquesne University (Homecoming), Saturday, February 23rd, 4 PM, MASN2/ESPN+

[Copes4Three]

GMU 52
Dukes - 68

We will get blown out on our home court and will be a reminder to our students not to come to the games. The Bonnies loss was really bad. The dukes have 6 guys over 6ft 8 so I don't see us getting a lot of points in the paint. When you play a larger team, floor spacing and 3pt shooting is key, something Mason doesn't have. Even though Duqeuene isn't good, it's an extremely bad matchup. Trying to find ways to double the post and protect the paint means we will be giving up some open 3.s. I have a sense eric williams jr or hughes gets hot and it will be over. This is a meaningful game for Mason which means we lose and disappoint like always.

 

[smccart5]

Welcome back Brian! In your absence the school has established a tradition of having both an outdoor and indoor tailgate .

The indoor tailgate started due to some insane weather one year that forced the tented tailgate inside and people loved it, so they made it an annual thing.

No one enjoys tailgating outdoors more than me, but I've gone to the indoor the last 2 years (since having a kid) and it has been a great event that has improved every year. With the new location and additional features, this year seems likely to carry on that tradition.

When discussing with fraternity brothers our plans, there is always a divide between those who want to do the outdoor and the indoor. Reality is, very easy to do both. It's only $30 for the indoor and that includes 2 drinks, unlimited tastings and buffet food as well as all the entertainment they have set up for kids and families.

Buy a ticket for $30, go get your lunch and free Mason beanie hat at the indoor (give me your drink tickets), and then you can leave at any point if you want to go swing by the outdoor. I'll probably leave the indoor a little early to swing by and check on our undergraduate chapter and to make sure they are getting in the appropriate amount of trouble.

Yeah i've gone to the indoor every year and it has been solid. They have TVs showing college games, activities, and plenty of booze. great time.

 

[GSII]

GMU 52
Dukes - 68

We will get blown out on our home court and will be a reminder to our students not to come to the games. The Bonnies loss was really bad. The dukes have 6 guys over 6ft 8 so I don't see us getting a lot of points in the paint. When you play a larger team, floor spacing and 3pt shooting is key, something Mason doesn't have. Even though Duqeuene isn't good, it's an extremely bad matchup. Trying to find ways to double the post and protect the paint means we will be giving up some open 3.s. I have a sense eric williams jr or hughes gets hot and it will be over. This is a meaningful game for Mason which means we lose and disappoint like always.

We can try to predict what will happen in the games, but an emerging trend that is coming back up is recruiting. We should ask ourselves, have we won in the recruiting trenches vs the top 5 of this league? Imo, we havent so a top 4 finish would be a bonus.

League is young. It will have some firepower starting next year barring transfers. Question is will Mason be in the mix or will we get surpassed by superior talent?

I hate to say this but Rhodes is doing a great job. Some will say he didnt inherit a dumpster fire like DP did. Well it was pretty close with defections they had. DP has had double the time to fix his fire and while we have seen glimpses of good play we have seen some awful starts to the season and games. And I'm not counting the Bonnie's game.

Everyone has a bad game except for Zion. However, when you are playing above your grade in a league you probably shouldnt be in, your bad game turns into multiple bad games. That's an example of what kier is going thru now. I hope for the best for these guys. But reality tells me we get smacked in Brooklyn in our 2nd or 3rd game.

 

[MasonSAE4]

We can try to predict what will happen in the games, but an emerging trend that is coming back up is recruiting. We should ask ourselves, have we won in the recruiting trenches vs the top 5 of this league? Imo, we havent so a top 4 finish would be a bonus.

League is young. It will have some firepower starting next year barring transfers. Question is will Mason be in the mix or will we get surpassed by superior talent?

I hate to say this but Rhodes is doing a great job. Some will say he didnt inherit a dumpster fire like DP did. Well it was pretty close with defections they had. DP has had double the time to fix his fire and while we have seen glimpses of good play we have seen some awful starts to the season and games. And I'm not counting the Bonnie's game.

Everyone has a bad game except for Zion. However, when you are playing above your grade in a league you probably shouldnt be in, your bad game turns into multiple bad games. That's an example of what kier is going thru now. I hope for the best for these guys. But reality tells me we get smacked in Brooklyn in our 2nd or 3rd game.

The recruiting isn’t by any means broken, but I do think we need to get a talented big, not a four year project or one like Reuter who is talented but undersized. The Bonnie’s, Dayton, Davidson and others all have freshmen bigs making an impact. These guys are going to torment us for years if we can’t match up. As we saw on Sunday, not being able to drive and work the paint makes us one dimensional and makes us easy to shut down.

I like how good DP is developing players, and I think he’d do far more with someone like Toppin than Grant ever will, but we need a healthy balance of instant impact guys and project guys. Right now I think we’re a little heavy on the latter.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

I understand the need as fans to prepare ourselves for the worst, mentally. But if anyone were to read this thread, you would think we are playing Golden State Saturday. It will be a tough game but come on ......

 

[MASONscott]

I understand the need as fans to prepare ourselves for the worst, mentally. But if anyone were to read this thread, you would think we are playing Golden State Saturday. It will be a tough game but come on ......

These boards are so guilty of Recency Bias following good wins and bad losses. Me included.

Not this time! I'm going with a great Homecoming and W. KenPom has us with a 66% chance of a win and the following score.

Mason 74
Duquesne 69

Box score will be filled with pleasantries.

 

[GSII]

I understand the need as fans to prepare ourselves for the worst, mentally. But if anyone were to read this thread, you would think we are playing Golden State Saturday. It will be a tough game but come on ......

It's not about the game saturday(yes its a big game and we will prob barely win). It's about the reality you see when you look around and see other programs able to recruit impact guys like sae4 said above. You gotta wonder how and if we can keep up with our current history of recruiting. Who was the last DP big recruited that was big time for us? Dixon? Calixte yea he's ok, but can't keep him in at that end. AJ...not a big. Reuter, he's the all conf kid right? Its fair to say DP gets an D+ in recruiting bigs despite having one on his Bucknell guys make the NBA.

 

[By George.]

Who wants to go down memory lane with us? Will Thomas joins our show all the way from Belgium in our special Homecoming podcast - HOCO ft Will (to win) Thomas. Hopefully ya’ll are ready to crush some Brewquense on Saturday!

iTunes users - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast...eGuid=https://giantkiller.co/ByGeorge/?p=1009

Everyone else (our website) - https://giantkiller.co/ByGeorge/2019/02/21/hoco-ft-will-to-win-thomas/

If you guys are tired of us advertising on specific threads, we can start a Giant Killer separate thread to push content through just wasn’t sure which was more annoying to you guys.

 

[patriotchild]

We can try to predict what will happen in the games, but an emerging trend that is coming back up is recruiting. We should ask ourselves, have we won in the recruiting trenches vs the top 5 of this league? Imo, we havent so a top 4 finish would be a bonus.

League is young. It will have some firepower starting next year barring transfers. Question is will Mason be in the mix or will we get surpassed by superior talent?

I hate to say this but Rhodes is doing a great job. Some will say he didnt inherit a dumpster fire like DP did. Well it was pretty close with defections they had. DP has had double the time to fix his fire and while we have seen glimpses of good play we have seen some awful starts to the season and games. And I'm not counting the Bonnie's game.

Everyone has a bad game except for Zion. However, when you are playing above your grade in a league you probably shouldnt be in, your bad game turns into multiple bad games. That's an example of what kier is going thru now. I hope for the best for these guys. But reality tells me we get smacked in Brooklyn in our 2nd or 3rd game.

So I’m starting to buy this a little more as we’ve played the younger/rebuild teams. But, I will point out that Mar was our impact freshman last year and regressed before getting hurt. Miller seems to be it this year, so it’s not like we haven’t had impact freshmen.

I will say that if you want to go by the “eye” test. We don’t stack up and it’s starting to concern me. I love that we have nice kids who work hard and have come from winning programs, but at some point we need at least a few who have some physical attributes and work hard etc. We looked undersized and like twigs against UMass (grated Holloway is a big boy) and but, the Bonnie’s drove that point home again Sunday.

The position depth in our recurring cycles is off. And, overall the incoming skill level doesn’t seem to be there. I don’t know how many shooters we’ve brought in that still haven’t found their shot. So far DPs two best recruits he got year one and somewhat by chance.

I don’t think we are fixed next year, especially down low. There’s the potential development and emergence of players on the outside, but we have to hope for it and hope no one regresses. Miller may be the closest player we have to meeting the A10 “eye test.”

It’s getting frustrating to see us in year 4 still struggling in recruiting and wins and vcu seems to take a little hit but pick right back up with a new coach and other teams in the league are also looking to turn the corner in years 1-2 of a new hire.

 

[PoorManProfit]

The Dukes, like most of the teams in the A10, are lousy.

Duquesne 72
G Mas 71

 

[sleeperpick]

Not quite sure if the multiple posters who have called Duquesne "lousy" or "dookie" have ever actually watched them play. they are a very young team, often streaky but definitely on the same level that we are on (especially if our guys are as hurt as our "insiders" say they are"). I mean Ian Boyd can barely use a pencil because his wrist is so hurt according to our "insiders".......

The Pat Dome will be rocking GMU65-Duquesne 61

 

[MasonSAE4]

Not quite sure if the multiple posters who have called Duquesne "lousy" or "dookie" have ever actually watched them play. they are a very young team, often streaky but definitely on the same level that we are on (especially if our guys are as hurt as our "insiders" say they are"). I mean Ian Boyd can barely use a pencil because his wrist is so hurt according to our "insiders".......

The Pat Dome will be rocking GMU65-Duquesne 61

People on here are so gosh darn dumb sometimes. No one seems to grasp that programs rise and fall each year. Duquense is a good program moving in the right direction, and Dambrot is the real deal.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I mean Ian Boyd can barely use a pencil because his wrist is so hurt according to our "insiders".......

Do kids still use pencils these days?

 

[sleeperpick]

Do kids still use pencils these days?

haha I think they still use Scantrons

 

[GMUgemini]

Not quite sure if the multiple posters who have called Duquesne "lousy" or "dookie" have ever actually watched them play. they are a very young team, often streaky but definitely on the same level that we are on (especially if our guys are as hurt as our "insiders" say they are"). I mean Ian Boyd can barely use a pencil because his wrist is so hurt according to our "insiders".......

The Pat Dome will be rocking GMU65-Duquesne 61

I don’t think you have to be an insider to know that a taped wrist means said wrist is hurt. Or that Calixte hasn’t played the last two games, or that Javon Greene didn’t come back in the second half of the last game, or That Goanar Mar broke his foot and hasn’t played since. I don’t know about Otis or Kier.

All that being said, I am deeply concerned about this game, especially what our defense has looked like in the last 5 games.

Sincere Carry is legit. Eric Williams is legit.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

This game will tell all. Duqesne is tough but if we can't beat them at homecoming in front of a packed house and with so much on the line, then well ........

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Less than 600 tickets available for public purchase on TicketMaster. Good sign.

 

[mkaufman1]

Do kids still use pencils these days?

My new boss has a pencil sharpener. Haven’t seen one of those in ages.

I don’t think you have to be an insider to know that a taped wrist means said wrist is hurt. Or that Calixte hasn’t played the last two games, or that Javon Greene didn’t come back in the second half of the last game, or That Goanar Mar broke his foot and hasn’t played since. I don’t know about Otis or Kier.

All that being said, I am deeply concerned about this game, especially what our defense has looked like in the last 5 games.

Sincere Carry is legit. Eric Williams is legit.

I agree. Both of these guys can fill it up from deep if left wide open. I’d be concerned with how the defense has looked that it could happen again. And I’m hopeful some of the injuries healed up during the week off and guys feel better, but who knows. They may have to just push through with what they got.

Big game in many ways, a lot on the line and a full crowd, many of which only come for Homecoming.

 

[GMUSig03]

I don’t think you have to be an insider to know that a taped wrist means said wrist is hurt. Or that Calixte hasn’t played the last two games, or that Javon Greene didn’t come back in the second half of the last game, or That Goanar Mar broke his foot and hasn’t played since. I don’t know about Otis or Kier.

All that being said, I am deeply concerned about this game, especially what our defense has looked like in the last 5 games.

Sincere Carry is legit. Eric Williams is legit.

All the injuries were mentioned by DP in the SBU postgame.

 

[99 Patriot]

Thank god we made the decision on Jordan when we did. With Ian, Greg & Javon banged up, imagine what our lineup would be if Jordan was still redshirting.