So I watched the replay of he SMC game twice. Partly becaue Mason wins make me happy, but also to see what stood out.
PH lighting it up all three games, BA making some Alpha Male moves to the basket asserting his will. Marquise Moore had some beautiful drives to the basket, this kid will be clutch for us in the future.
But J2 really stood out. He made some boss like, really aggressive moves offensively. I tell you man, I did not know he had that in him. He looked under control and made his moves to the basket with a purpose and this affected SMC's defense as they had to respect J2 leaving our shooters more open to do some damage. He looked like a really skilled big man. Looked way better when I watched the game a second time.
J2 hd 14 hard earned points. If he can do that with any sort of regularity, we may have the ingredients to turn things around a bit. We may have 6 losses already, but as far the A10 goes, we're starting fresh. My only goal this year is to finish in the top half of the A10. Before the Hawaii tournament I thought there was no way, but now I am much more optimistic we can reach that goal.
And before people say "Wow, is this what GMU ball has come to, hoping for top half finish in their conference" ZIP IT! A top half A10 finsh would mean:
1. Players figured out how to cohesively work together
2. Hewitt made adjustments and improved as an in game coach
3. That we can compte in the 6th ranked conference in the country
4. That we most likely would have a winning record
I am no fan of Hewitt, but he managed to win at Georgia Tech and more importantly Siena. To win at Siena, I am assuming you have to be at least a decent coach. I think BA, PH and now J2 have figured out their roles and know how to play within whatever this system Hewitt has.
If Sherrod could have contributed even half of his usual performance, we would ave easily come out of that tournament 2-1 and an even closer game with #14 ISU.
A New Year brings new hope and let's hope the small improvements we seemed to have made in Hawaii is not an anomaly. GO MASON!!!!!!!!!
PH lighting it up all three games, BA making some Alpha Male moves to the basket asserting his will. Marquise Moore had some beautiful drives to the basket, this kid will be clutch for us in the future.
But J2 really stood out. He made some boss like, really aggressive moves offensively. I tell you man, I did not know he had that in him. He looked under control and made his moves to the basket with a purpose and this affected SMC's defense as they had to respect J2 leaving our shooters more open to do some damage. He looked like a really skilled big man. Looked way better when I watched the game a second time.
J2 hd 14 hard earned points. If he can do that with any sort of regularity, we may have the ingredients to turn things around a bit. We may have 6 losses already, but as far the A10 goes, we're starting fresh. My only goal this year is to finish in the top half of the A10. Before the Hawaii tournament I thought there was no way, but now I am much more optimistic we can reach that goal.
And before people say "Wow, is this what GMU ball has come to, hoping for top half finish in their conference" ZIP IT! A top half A10 finsh would mean:
1. Players figured out how to cohesively work together
2. Hewitt made adjustments and improved as an in game coach
3. That we can compte in the 6th ranked conference in the country
4. That we most likely would have a winning record
I am no fan of Hewitt, but he managed to win at Georgia Tech and more importantly Siena. To win at Siena, I am assuming you have to be at least a decent coach. I think BA, PH and now J2 have figured out their roles and know how to play within whatever this system Hewitt has.
If Sherrod could have contributed even half of his usual performance, we would ave easily come out of that tournament 2-1 and an even closer game with #14 ISU.
A New Year brings new hope and let's hope the small improvements we seemed to have made in Hawaii is not an anomaly. GO MASON!!!!!!!!!