Game Thread: Mason (9-1) vs. American (3-4), Saturday, Dec. 7th, 7:00 PM

[FreeGunston12]

Crazy that we have two weeks off now. I hope that doesn’t cool this team off.

 

[mkaufman1]

Great second half. Loved the energy XJ brought this game, especially on defense. Good to see Kier making those plays at the end where he finds a seam and just glides to the rim impossibly.

this XJ kid is something else. The ability to finish, the speed in transition. 9 boards tonight too.

 

[GMUgemini]

Crazy that we have two weeks off now. I hope that doesn’t cool this team off.

We get a tuneup game after the break before a pretty huge three game stretch. Would love to come out of it 2-1.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Honestly, I think you can put the slow start tonight on the refs. They were pretty horrible. And that’s my opinion after a game where the walk-ons got in.

I thought we played pretty well, start to to finish, aside from forcing some errant shots around halftime.

Been watching the Conference Championships so cant comment on that, but does seem like a lot of fouls on AJ & stat line was really low. ESPN doesn’t have minutes up on the box score yet but guessing two quick ones in the first half putting him on the bench early?

it’s not just tonight though, several games this year that the team has come out slow & down at half before pulling ahead.

 

[GMUgemini]

We’ve had to make this adjustment a few times already this season. I think it was a nice experiment, but a failed experiment.

The 1-2-2 was responsible for our comeback against NM St. though. I think we are overplaying it now to get practice.

 

[GMUYoda]

Quirky stats: We were outrebounded 39-33

We forced 17 turnovers and had 8

Only 6 assists tonight though

 

[FreeGunston12]

Quirky stats: We were outrebounded 39-33

We forced 17 turnovers and had 8

Only 6 assists tonight though

Limiting them to one shot was key in our second half run.

 

[GMUYoda]

Limiting them to one shot was key in our second half run.

Agreed... but just 6 assists the entire game isn't good

 

[GSII]

Not even in the Coach L years did we go 10-1. Wow!

We never played almost entire OCC at home either. VS cupcakes. SOS is 303 so nothing to brag about.

 

[GMUgemini]

Agreed... but just 6 assists the entire game isn't good

You can credit clearing out the paint for most of our assists.

Still, they’ve got to start looking for the cutting big on the pick and roll. Couple of times this game American doubled the ballhandler on the pick and left the big wide open and we didn’t even look in his direction. Probably left 6 easy points on the floor l.

 

[KAOriginal]

We never played almost entire OCC at home either. VS cupcakes. SOS is 303 so nothing to brag about.

Why not follow the P5 business model that works even for their cellar dwellers? More home games, more wins, leads to putting butts in seats and donations. Build that happy following. No one really cares if you are 8-8 in the ACC they just like their season tickets, see good conference games and "hope" for more.

THEN work on scheduling tweaks when you think you have a year to do some tournament damage.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Been watching the Conference Championships so cant comment on that, but does seem like a lot of fouls on AJ & stat line was really low. ESPN doesn’t have minutes up on the box score yet but guessing two quick ones in the first half putting him on the bench early?

it’s not just tonight though, several games this year that the team has come out slow & down at half before pulling ahead.

Yeah. In those other games, I was posting about how bad we looked, the offense being terrible, etc. That was just not the case tonight.

AJ did pick up some BS foul calls and played very few minutes. But it wasn’t just the calls on him. The refs really dictated the play in the first half.

 

[Falco]

Why not follow the P5 business model that works even for their cellar dwellers? More home games, more wins, leads to putting butts in seats and donations. Build that happy following. No one really cares if you are 8-8 in the ACC they just like their season tickets, see good conference games and "hope" for more.

THEN work on scheduling tweaks when you think you have a year to do some tournament damage.

My exact thoughts going into this season. zero expectations going into this season.So racking up wins seems like a good idea to me.

 

[sleeperpick]

Another half time adjustment to go ahead. But why do many slow starts this season?

So negative man. How dare you?

 

[sleeperpick]

Go mason. Beat those f**king Russian pussies

 

[mkaufman1]

Why not follow the P5 business model that works even for their cellar dwellers? More home games, more wins, leads to putting butts in seats and donations. Build that happy following. No one really cares if you are 8-8 in the ACC they just like their season tickets, see good conference games and "hope" for more.

THEN work on scheduling tweaks when you think you have a year to do some tournament damage.

I don’t mind this philosophy too much. They played local rivals, they played JMU, ODU (albeit in Cayman), and took two buy games that probably helped pay for a few extra home games.

Going forward it’ll probably be fairly similar although hopefully they can get 1-2 less buy games. They have the MWC challenge which will help.

That said, finishing the non conf season over 10 wins is very good, and I’m hoping gives good momentum for conf play.

 

[Patriotsince81]

10 - 1.

 

[GreenLantern]

We never played almost entire OCC at home either. VS cupcakes. SOS is 303 so nothing to brag about.

Maybe so but I still think it a morale booster. Wins are wins

 

[GMU_DCU]

Love a little bit of payback for last year. Cant complain with 10-1, this team has beaten everyone they should have beaten so far on the schedule. The team came out focused after the timeout in the 2nd half and XJ on Nelson defensively was a nice adjustment. Mar with a couple big plays when the game was still close, the elbow jumper and block. Kier looked nice finishing off plays in the second half. Off night for Jordan Miller, just seemed out of it. Late to 50/50 balls and slow on defensive rotations. Fun night out at Eagle Bank, crowd had more energy then the last couple games too.

 

[GMUgemini]

I don’t mind this philosophy too much. They played local rivals, they played JMU, ODU (albeit in Cayman), and took two buy games that probably helped pay for a few extra home games.

Going forward it’ll probably be fairly similar although hopefully they can get 1-2 less buy games. They have the MWC challenge which will help.

That said, finishing the non conf season over 10 wins is very good, and I’m hoping gives good momentum for conf play.

Wouldn’t mind seeing two to three more top 150 teams on the schedule on top of the MW Challenge and the holiday tournament, but sometimes that’s hard to predict.