Game 29: GMU (14-14 / 7-8) vs UMass (13-16 / 6-11) on Saturday, March 5, at 4 PM.

[gmujim92]

Everyone keeps harping on XJ as being a bad player but let’s look at his numbers before being benched in our losses:

Fordham: 19 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds
vcu: 11 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds
Richmond: 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists (yes 6TO)
La Salle: 16 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds
SLU: 7 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds (he had a bad game against SLU)
GW: 12 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds (also 5 to).

In the vast majority of these games it was team defense that let us down. The secondary problem has been getting too enamored with shooting 3s. In both instances, it’s either design problems or execution problems (in other words, largely on the coaches to get the players to play to their principles).

Those numbers don’t really tell the story of how bad our offense has been the second half of the season and how reliant we’ve been on 3s because if Oduro isn’t scoring we can’t generate any easy baskets.

Forget the elite A-10 PGs, if we had even a Fernandes-level PG this team would be crazy good and maybe NCAA caliber.

 

[GSII]

Forget the elite A-10 PGs, if we had even a Fernandes-level PG this team would be crazy good and maybe NCAA caliber.

Which begs the question....why didn't KE bring one in along with the other 3 guys....and if he thought XJ and Hartwell could handle it, then I dunno what he's smoking. Polite was coming off hip surgery so, there was never a clear cut PG upon Kim's announced arrival in Fairfax. Maybe he tried, however I think it's doubtful. He brought Kambiya in instead.

 

[gmujim92]

Which begs the question....why didn't KE bring one in along with the other 3 guys....and if he thought XJ and Hartwell could handle it, then I dunno what he's smoking. Polite was coming off hip surgery so, there was never a clear cut PG upon Kim's announced arrival in Fairfax. Maybe he tried, however I think it's doubtful. He brought Kambiya in instead.

Kabimba was added after Mbaye didn’t enroll.

As for the PG spot, we already had 4 on the roster and Kim made a point that he wasn’t gonna run off anyone who wanted to stay.

Had Kim truly known what he was inheriting at that spot, would it have changed his approach and would he have brought in a transfer PG with Schwartz, Cooper and Ticket? Only he knows.

 

[JPgmuswim]

Kabimba was added after Mbaye didn’t enroll.

As for the PG spot, we already had 4 on the roster and Kim made a point that he wasn’t gonna run off anyone who wanted to stay.

Had Kim truly known what he was inheriting at that spot, would it have changed his approach and would he have brought in a transfer PG with Schwartz, Cooper and Ticket? Only he knows.

I’d imagine a transfer PG will be on KE’s priority list this off-season despite Dinkins coming in.

 

[gmujim92]

I’d imagine a transfer PG will be on KE’s priority list this off-season despite Dinkins coming in.

He’s already working on it

 

[GMUgemini]

Those numbers don’t really tell the story of how bad our offense has been the second half of the season and how reliant we’ve been on 3s because if Oduro isn’t scoring we can’t generate any easy baskets.

Forget the elite A-10 PGs, if we had even a Fernandes-level PG this team would be crazy good and maybe NCAA caliber.

We scored 90 against SLU, 76 against GW, 80 against UMass, 70 against vcu, 78 against La Salle. You telling me these weren’t enough points to win those games with a good defense?

 

[GSII]

Defense is definitely an issue. Vs Davidson we seemed to defend the back door well but got screened to death (some were moving and not called)....... Vs South Dakota, it seemed we left shooters open bc of the scheme or we were tired. Regardless,.imo we need the vaunted Cheney Temple match-up zone for the A10 tourney. We don't have the legs otherwise.

 

[gmujim92]

We scored 90 against SLU, 76 against GW, 80 against UMass, 70 against vcu, 78 against La Salle. You telling me these weren’t enough points to win those games with a good defense?

You just love to cherry-pick numbers lol

 

[GSII]

You just love to cherry-pick numbers lol

It's a valid point Jim. The defense is bad. If we aren't going to generate steals, then we shouldn't leave shooters wide the F open or allow easy layups. We just lost to UMass for God's sake.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Defensive stats for GMU this year:

3 point field goal percentage allowed 34.6% (237th in the nation)
field goal percentage allowed 42.6% (144th in the nation)
Points allowed per game 69.0 (172nd in the nation)
Steals per game 5.0 (315th in the nation)

NCAA Statistics

stats.ncaa.org

 

[Patriotsince81]

Offensive stats for GMU:

Points per game 71.5 (159th in the nation)
3 point field goal percentage 36.2 (60th in the nation)
Overall field goal percentage 44.9 (127th in the nation)
Free throw percentage 69.6 (241st in the nation)

 

[Masonfan3]

Have to agree with this. There are major deficiencies with this roster. PG is a glaring one, but so is shot creation. We really have nobody who can consistently create their own shot, they need to be set up from a teammate. While there have been growing pains from CKE, talent and lack of depth to me is the story of the season. As sleeper mentioned, when a career walk on is basically your 6th man, you have problems.

IMO we need the following roster moves to make a run at the post season next year:

1. Veteran PG who can create shots for himself as well as teammates. I feel like every team we've played in conference has this guy.....Look at Fernandes yesterday. Its clear to me with XJ and Ronald as our primary ball handlers we are hamstrung right from the opening tip. There's no way both XJ and RP return next year with Dinkins coming in right?

2. A Junkyard dog type inside bruiser would really take some pressure off Oduro. Doesn't need to be a scorer but provides solid defense and gives the team a badly needed edge. Josh for all his talent is a finesse player and would do well playing with and off of a tough guy who provides badly needed toughness. This would also allow Ticket to move to the 3 for stretches of the game where he should be able to shine.

3. A slashing wing type player, who gets to the basketball and can play the 2/3. This might be Fernandez but not sure how much we get out of him year 1. I'm thinking of a kid in the mold of Erik Herring/Sherrod Wright.

I still think the future under CKE is very bright. If you watch the pressers, it almost seem like CKE wants to be honest about the talent on this roster not being where it needs to be but he doesn't want to throw the kids under the bus and I totally get it. But when he says that we are not a finished product, to me he's saying just wait until I completely re-make this roster over in my vision. We can all agree that there will be multiple transfers out and CKE and staff will undoubtedly bring in kids who will improve the roster and make an immediate impact.

Having deficiencies is different than not having talent. I guarantee you that every other A10 team would love to have Oduro, Schwartz, Cooper and Ticket on their team. Do we have a roster that should have finished 1st, no, but we sure as hell shouldn't have finished with a losing record and have loses to LaSalle, UMASS, GW, JMU, and Fordham. We all expected better than what we saw coming down the stretch and I don't see the big deal in saying that. The season isn't over and the team has enough talent to win a couple games in DC so here is to holding out hope...

 

[sleeperpick]

Having deficiencies is different than not having talent. I guarantee you that every other A10 team would love to have Oduro, Schwartz, Cooper and Ticket on their team. Do we have a roster that should have finished 1st, no, but we sure as hell shouldn't have finished with a losing record and have loses to LaSalle, UMASS, GW, JMU, and Fordham. We all expected better than what we saw coming down the stretch and I don't see the big deal in saying that. The season isn't over and the team has enough talent to win a couple games in DC so here is to holding out hope...

No way in hell should we have beaten Dayton, St Bonaventure, Richmond and been within one possession of St Louis, vcu etc. We are a peg below all of those teams but either beat or got damn close to. GW has 2 bonafide starters and Oduro missed the loss, Lasalle: Oduro missed the loss, Fordham: Oduro was in foul trouble and soft as hell and UMASS we missed about 16 points off missed layups and lost to a team with a VERY good PG (one we don't have)

A couple things. When Oduro is really bad or not playing we lose. Why could that be? Well because we have 4 A-10 quality players and 1 goes missing and gets replaced with brickhands Henry, gumby strong Blake Jones and 6 foot 4 center Otis Frazier. That is because our team does not have the talent to replace Oduro's loss of minutes. Similarly to when we have Schwartz hampered with foul trouble (he too commits really stupid fouls like Oduro). Ticket and Cooper forgot how to play half of the A-10 season (both seemed to have a different kind of yips). The majority of the season we had XJ as the third best player behind Oduro and Schwartz because our two other quality guys forgot how to dribble for different reasons.

No way around the fact we had a lack of talent. Ask GW, St Joe's, UMASS and Fordham how hard it is to have only 2 good players. They all seem to all around us in the standings... I mean christ, Ronnie has a 6 point off the bench and our fans all of a sudden think he played great and is not a complete liability on both ends of he court. Richmond has 3 REALLY good players with 2 elite, Davidson has 5 REALLY good players with 2 elite, Dayton has 3 REALLY good players (with 1 a future first rounder), Bona has 3 Elite players with 2 others that are REALLY good, vcu is 10 players deep and has a very quality bench filled with guards and bigs along with 2 ELITE players and finally St Louis has a legit big man who isn't charmin, and a PG that runs circles around ours (literally did), not to mention the A10's best 3 point shooter Jimmerson who couldn't hit the backboard against us.

We have Oduro who is either the best player on the court or a total liability (bad fouls, massive turnover count, lethargic against any physicality) and Schwartz for consistently REALLY good players. We don't match up and are severely lacking talent.

 

[GMUgemini]

Yes, this is true Sleeper, but Henry and Otis are athletic enough to play good defense if played at the right position. No reason why our interior defense falls off a cliff without Oduro on the floor (see: GW). No reason why we should constantly leave shooters open (has been happening since game 1 and never got better).

We aren’t a top 4 team with this roster but we lost games against pillow fight (and in fact we let two pillow fight adjacent teams avoid it by beating us—one on our home court). This isn’t even taking into consideration we couldn’t guard JMU either or ODU (who is not a good team at all).

In other words, English has some learning to do as much as he has to recruit more talent. I’m hopeful he’ll adjust how he expects his team to play.

 

[sleeperpick]

Yes, this is true Sleeper, but Henry and Otis are athletic enough to play good defense if played at the right position. No reason why our interior defense falls off a cliff without Oduro on the floor (see: GW). No reason why we should constantly leave shooters open (has been happening since game 1 and never got better).

We aren’t a top 4 team with this roster but we lost games against pillow fight (and in fact we let two pillow fight adjacent teams avoid it by beating us—one on our home court). This isn’t even taking into consideration we couldn’t guard JMU either or ODU (who is not a good team at all).

In other words, English has some learning to do as much as he has to recruit more talent. I’m hopeful he’ll adjust how he expects his team to play.

CKE isn't infallible by any means, but this whole "our roster is much better than the bad A-10 teams rosters" is a complete BS argument. A walk on is better than every single freshman we have as well as two upperclassmen on the bench. That tells you the talent level.

CKE needs to approve and adapt more, but sheesh we need an influx of talent badly with Schwartz gone this offseason

 

[Patriotsince81]

So we're all in agreement , like we always are! LOL. We suck, we're okay, and we're great at times.
We are the perfect team to star in the classic western The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

My opinion, feel free to agree or disagree.

The good:
10 - 4 (.714) record at home this year is light years better than DP or Hewitt. It needs to get even better from here on out.

Wins at Maryland and Georgia. Any win over a power conference on the road is a good one in my book.

Winning at home vs Dayton.

Beating St. Bonaventure at home.

Playing at #6 Kansas. Even though we lost it was great experience.

Josh Oduro (18.0 ppg, 7.4 reb). Much to look forward to with Josh next season. Yes, he has disappeared at times and struggled against powerful opponents or extremely athletic competition. He and KE should know that and prepare to improve for next season. He needs to look like a choirboy but play like an assassin. If you told me he’d go for 18 and 7 at the beginning of the year I don’t know that I would have believed it.

D’Shawn Schwartz (15.6 ppg, 4.5 reb). His production, maturity, calm demeanor, and leadership will be missed.

Devon Cooper delivered what I thought he would. Is he a bit one dimensional offensively? Maybe. Rely too much on the 3? Probably. But, I’d take him over Javon Green and his head case issues.

Ticket Gaines. The young man just plays hard. ALL the time. Great defender, rebounder, and his offensive production surpassed what I expected. His future is bright.

@gmubrian flying all over the damn country to attend games. Fan of the year in my book.

The new uniforms, I like the throwback look.

Talking with friends and posters before games and at the half in the Gold Room.

Making fun of vcu. It never gets old!

Coaches shows at Glory Days. It’s nice to finally have one.

KE and the staff. Better days are coming. I have to be just a bit more patient at times.

Beer sold at EBA!

Fernandez and Dinkins coming in next year. IF they are as good as advertised they will help turn the tide of the program. Hopefully another recruit or two come in along with transfers. We ned new blood.


The Bad:
4-11 (.266) on the road and “neutral” sites. Want to be top 4? Win at home and go .500 on the road. 13-5 or 14-4 will get it done every year. We aren’t there yet. I sure as hell hope we do because I’m sick of being mediocre and irrelevant.

Our black jerseys. Hate them.

Inconsistent play and production from our point guards by committee.

Our lack of depth. When a walk-on is 6th man you have issues with depth.

Our lack on “innate toughness” which KE referred to in almost every coaches show. I hope the incoming freshmen have it. We need it. You can’t teach toughness, you either have it or you don’t. Apparently some on the current roster do not. If they did KE would not have ever mentioned it.

Getting blown out by vcu on Homecoming. Next year have Homecoming in November as many here have suggested and schedule Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow so we can actually win the damn game!

Having game against Wisconsin canceled due to Covid.

Not having Brion’s Grille to congregate at as a community to celebrate wins and drown sorrows after a loss.


The Ugly:
South Dakota. It should go back to being a territory!

Our losses to JMU, ODU, and LaSalle. Just to name a few.

I could point out individual stats that are pathetic but I won’t.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

The home record is huge. Even though we didn't have a season any better than most of DP's, man at least we seem to be out of the embrassing home loss rut. Makes a difference with casual fan.

UMass is disappointing, American losses are flat out embarassing.

 

[Pablo]

So we're all in agreement , like we always are! LOL. We suck, we're okay, and we're great at times.
We are the perfect team to star in the classic western The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

My opinion, feel free to agree or disagree.

The good:
10 - 4 (.714) record at home this year is light years better than DP or Hewitt. It needs to get even better from here on out.

Wins at Maryland and Georgia. Any win over a power conference on the road is a good one in my book.

Winning at Dayton.

Beating St. Bonaventure at home.

Playing at #6 Kansas. Even though we lost it was great experience.

Josh Oduro (18.0 ppg, 7.4 reb). Much to look forward to with Josh next season. Yes, he has disappeared at times and struggled against powerful opponents or extremely athletic competition. He and KE should know that and prepare to improve for next season. He needs to look like a choirboy but play like an assassin. If you told me he’d go for 18 and 7 at the beginning of the year I don’t know that I would have believed it.

D’Shawn Schwartz (15.6 ppg, 4.5 reb). His production, maturity, calm demeanor, and leadership will be missed.

Devon Cooper delivered what I thought he would. Is he a bit one dimensional offensively? Maybe. Rely too much on the 3? Probably. But, I’d take him over Javon Green and his head case issues.

Ticket Gaines. The young man just plays hard. ALL the time. Great defender, rebounder, and his offensive production surpassed what I expected. His future is bright.

@gmubrian flying all over the damn country to attend games. Fan of the year in my book.

The new uniforms, I like the throwback look.

Talking with friends and posters before games and at the half in the Gold Room.

Making fun of vcu. It never gets old!

Coaches shows at Glory Days. It’s nice to finally have one.

KE and the staff. Better days are coming. I have to be just a bit more patient at times.

Beer sold at EBA!

Fernandez and Dinkins coming in next year. IF they are as good as advertised they will help turn to tide of the program. Hopefully another recruit or two come in along with transfers. We ned new blood.


The Bad:
4-11 (.266) on the road and “neutral” sites. Want to be top 4? Win at home and go .500 on the road. 13-5 or 14-4 will get it done every year. We aren’t there yet. I sure as hell hope we do because I’m sick of being mediocre and irrelevant.

Our black jerseys. Hate them.

Inconsistent play and production from our point guards by committee.

Our lack of depth. When a walk-on is 6th man you have issues with depth.

Our lack on “innate toughness” which KE referred to in almost every coaches show. I hope the incoming freshmen have it. We need it. You can’t teach toughness, you either have it or you don’t. Apparently some on the current roster do not. If they did KE would not have ever mentioned it.

Getting blown out by vcu on Homecoming. Next year have Homecoming in November as many here have suggested and schedule Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow so we can actually win the damn game!

Having game against Wisconsin canceled due to Covid.

Not having Brion’s Grille to congregate at as a community to celebrate wins and drown sorrows after a loss.


The Ugly:
South Dakota. It should go back to being a territory!

Our losses to JMU, ODU, and LaSalle. Just to name a few.

I could point out individual stats that are pathetic but I won’t.

Good stuff! But, for clarification the victory over Dayton was at home and South Dakota was part of the Dakota Territory.

 

[ephoops]

KenPom regular season stats (29 games):

Conference Only stats (16 games):

 

[GMUMiked]

Some thoughts after the game on Saturday:

Tough loss, going to be hard for me to get excited to go to the game on Thursday.

Got in late, did Cooper do the whole senior night deal?

Scary moment with Blake collapsing. Glad to read here it was just a chest bruise.

Fernandez is really good.

Clear to me Polite ain't the answer at the point, at least not anytime soon.

What was the deal with the Van Halen synth kicking in while Schwartz was shooting free throws? Good thing he made it, KE would have blown a gasket.

Concerned about where the scoring is going to come from next year with Schwartz and Cooper leaving. Point guard should be the transfer priority but I really hope we can bring in another transfer who is a confident scorer like Schwartz and Cooper are, ideally with more than one year of eligibility left.