The official go-to-guy

[gmujim92]

Right on about this. I am not going to miss Wright taking entire halves off or Allen dribbling the ball off his foot or picking up the ball for no reason. They were good players though and will be missed but it won't be that difficult to replace their production.

Yes it will.

Then again, we sucked with them. We can just as easily suck without them.

 

[DeepValue]

The thing that needs to be replaced the most is our system. My point is that Mason will not win using the current system unless we have the NBA talent it was designed for. Hewitt would make a perfect D League coach.

 

[gmujim92]

The thing that needs to be replaced the most is our system. My point is that Mason will not win using the current system unless we have the NBA talent it was designed for. Hewitt would make a perfect D League coach.

I agree completely with this. I've seen a couple D-league games on the NBA channel and it's all isolation, 1-on-1 stuff allowing the players to showcase themselves for NBA teams.

Even with Hewitt's recruiting magic, this is not a system that's ever going to be consistently successful with the level of talent we get at Mason.

Regardless of who our coach is, we need to go back to a system that relies on sharing the ball and passing up good shots for great shots.

Paul Ball, both pre- and post-Larranaga, has been proven to be an epic failure at Mason. Time for a change NOW.

 

[KAOriginal]

Even with Hewitt's recruiting magic, this is not a system that's ever going to be consistently successful with the level of talent we get at Mason.

Even with NBA talent it didn't work so well....or he wouldn't be our coach...

 

[Pablo]

I'm just hoping that the next AD will force the requisite changes for Mason to successfully compete in the A10.

 

[undertherock]

I mean first break it down and look at our point guard situation first. Now let's face it, neither of the two point guards are scorers in Edwards and Moore. But what we saw of Moore, wouldn't you guys agree that he was playing unselfish entertaining basketball during the season? If he could become a true facilitator I think our team could be in good shape. You know when Holloway has an open three it's an easy knockdown. Hewitt needs to work on our strengths. And like I stated early I'm really not worried about the frontcourt at all. Guard play for us will be key next season. This post doesn't even mention working Lockett and Mayimba into the starting five rotation. I still haven't figured that out yet. For now let's go

Starters:
PG - Moore
SG - Holloway
SF - Jenkins
PF - Royal
C - Copes

Bench:
Marko
Mayimba
Lockett
Jackson
Edwards
Gray

If Moore and Holloway work on their game, I'm really not concerned. If Moore struggles let the senior Edwards fill in. The freshmen class will add a spark off the bench as will Marko. The way I see it is that two scorers graduate now the rest of the team can step up and play as a team. GUYS WILL WANT TO STEP UP. If you play basketball you will understand.

 

[EXpatriot13]

I personally don't think Holloway should start. He should obviously play major minutes, but I don't think he creates enough for himself or his teammates. He's a great shooter, I just don't think he should start.

 

[gmujim92]

I mean first break it down and look at our point guard situation first. Now let's face it, neither of the two point guards are scorers in Edwards and Moore. But what we saw of Moore, wouldn't you guys agree that he was playing unselfish entertaining basketball during the season? If he could become a true facilitator I think our team could be in good shape. You know when Holloway has an open three it's an easy knockdown. Hewitt needs to work on our strengths. And like I stated early I'm really not worried about the frontcourt at all. Guard play for us will be key next season. This post doesn't even mention working Lockett and Mayimba into the starting five rotation. I still haven't figured that out yet. For now let's go

Starters:
PG - Moore
SG - Holloway
SF - Jenkins
PF - Royal
C - Copes

Bench:
Marko
Mayimba
Lockett
Jackson
Edwards
Gray

If Moore and Holloway work on their game, I'm really not concerned. If Moore struggles let the senior Edwards fill in. The freshmen class will add a spark off the bench as will Marko. The way I see it is that two scorers graduate now the rest of the team can step up and play as a team. GUYS WILL WANT TO STEP UP. If you play basketball you will understand.

Are you Paul Hewitt? Or perhaps related to him?

Nobody else would have Gray buried on the depth chart behind three freshmen.

 

[masonjoe]

Starters:
PG - Moore
SG - Holloway
SF - Jenkins
PF - Royal
C - Copes

One shooter in the entire lineup and he's often feast or famine. Also, two players who at times look severely offensively challenged (Copes, Moore). But hey they all played great defense last season right?

 

[Pablo]

Are you Paul Hewitt? Or perhaps related to him?

Nobody else would have Gray buried on the depth chart behind three freshmen.

I don't know who "undertherock" is, but we really need to know who is returning before we can speculate on the role of players like Vaughn Gray.

 

[GMUgemini]

One shooter in the entire lineup and he's often feast or famine. Also, two players who at times look severely offensively challenged (Copes, Moore). But hey they all played great defense last season right?

If we play a two in, three out offense (highly doubtful) it could work. Royal supposedly has three point range, so if he rotates with Jenkins in the post and pops out, we can have Jenkins (from the high post) and Moore (from the perimeter) driving into the paint looking to either get to the rim, dumping off to Copes underneath, or kicking out to Holloway or Royal for a three. Would also love to see getting Jenkins the ball cutting to the basket, no one is going to be able to stop him from getting to the rim.

It's going to require A LOT of movement off the ball, though, to get those two open.

And who knows, maybe Jenkins and Moore work on their perimeter game and can become reliable shooters (provided they are wide open) and we have four players who can hit shots from the outside. Jenkins has reliable range out to about 20 feet right now, I don't see why he can't extend that out with a lot of work this offseason.

I would prefer to see Gray, though, work his way into the starting lineup, personally, or at the very least give us 20 minutes a game off the bench at the 2 and 3 spots. He's the only other proven three point threat on the team next year.

 

[undertherock]

Gray was mentioned last on the depth chart because I wasn't sure if he is returning or not. You guys keep saying Moore isn't a shooter but his mid-range shot isn't really that bad and it will only get better. Copes has to be in the starting line-up you're crazy if he isn't, he's the only true center on the roster with experience. Defense can always be improved. That starting 5 I mentioned was a hypothetical. I have no idea where Lockett and Mayimba fit in as previously stated. I'm hoping they force themselves into the starting rotation if they prove to be the best shooters outside of Holloway

 

[undertherock]

I personally don't think Holloway should start. He should obviously play major minutes, but I don't think he creates enough for himself or his teammates. He's a great shooter, I just don't think he should start.

I see what you're saying but if he could learn to drive to the basket more and add that element to his game, he could be the top scorer on the team.

 

[GSII]

Keep wasting your time talking about what if scenarios re the roster. The only constant for us is our idiot coach who will continue to disrupt the mental flow in his players' heads like he's been doing for years. Who will have zero timeouts at the end of games. Who thinks "letting them figure it out" is actually coaching.

 

[Pablo]

Keep wasting your time talking about what if scenarios re the roster. The only constant for us is our idiot coach who will continue to disrupt the mental flow in his players' heads like he's been doing for years. Who will have zero timeouts at the end of games. Who thinks "letting them figure it out" is actually coaching.

IMO, Hewitt has a good basketball mind, but he's trying to do too much himself. I just hope that he recognizes the problem, and hires a top assistant (before next season) whom he trusts.

 

[GSII]

IMO, Hewitt has a good basketball mind, but he's trying to do too much himself. I just hope that he recognizes the problem, and hires a top assistant (before next season) whom he trusts.

I agree pablo. But for how many seasons is he going to repeat the same mistakes.

 

[GMUgemini]

IMO, Hewitt has a good basketball mind, but he's trying to do too much himself. I just hope that he recognizes the problem, and hires a top assistant (before next season) whom he trusts.

He's also too stubborn and has been trying to shoehorn his system in with players that can't make it work: then when he is forced to adapt, we get a simplistic version with no teeth (a press that leads to a layup drill, a basic 3-2 zone that still can't prevent dribble drive penetration, an offense that looks more like an amoeba than something symmetrical where the players don't seem to know where to be or where each other are). To him, what he's doing "should" work and so he just needs the players to "just get it" and all will be perfect.

The problems are in the schema. I don't know that an assistant coach, no matter how good, how well respected, can fix this particular flaw in Hewitt.

 

[undertherock]

Damn I can't talk about anything player related without hearing a Hewitt comment. Y'all make it difficult to have hope

 

[MasonCrew]

We make it difficult to have hope? Did you just become a fan a month ago? Hope is all we have at this point. But for what is a simple coin flip.

I hope Hewitt turns everything around, and Mayimba, Royal, Locket, Porter, etc... all become instant impact players. I hope Moore improves as a PG. I hope Holloway plays tougher D and hits shots more consistently. I hope Gray and Copes become the players I think they can be. I think it's fair to say that everyone on this site hopes we do well next year.

But I also hope that our new AD brings in some serious change on the court and internally. Mason Basketball is not in a good place right now, and that really doesn't need to be expanded on.

I'm a generally hopeful person when spring hits, but I don't see us being good next year. I hope I am wrong. I've just seen this show before and the ending is terrible.

 

[gmujim92]

We make it difficult to have hope? Did you just become a fan a month ago?

Apparently he lives under a rock. That might explain it.