Team is really so much better with Armel. Makes everyone on the floor better. Maceo is real fun to watch when sometimes.

Sidenote, don't ever recall this mentioned, but in doing some googling about Potter, I saw that he was originally committed to play for Mike Jarvis at FAU out of high school, then de-committed after Jarvis resigned.

Sweep! 

Nice to see things go back to the way they should - GW owning the revolutionary rivalry! Since GMU entered the league in the 2013-14 season, we've won 5 of the 7 season series (and one other split; last year was the only year we went 0-3 against them). Interesting that as LA Colonial mentioned earlier, both games ended with the exact same score, 73-67, exactly one month apart. I think Mason's win against VCU worked in our favor, because they seemed to have less energy Saturday with many of their players a step too slow on defense.

Hope AJ Wilson gets back fully healthy for them and Kier somehow makes it back this season. Both great players, and as much as I love Armel, I think Wilson should win most improved in the A10 quite easily.

Offense: Our performance this game told me that this team needed a bit of time off in the worst way after three blowout losses, especially to get healthy. Armel, our savior, makes a world of difference on the offensive side of the ball. It allows the rest of the freshman + Maceo to not worry about creating for themselves, but just do what they do best in score the ball at the spots of the floor they are best at. I especially liked the play calling coming out of timeouts when we had to inbound the ball underneath the basket - one was an alley-oop to JNJ and another was a layup to Maceo where he just backed his man down underneath to create separation. We didn't settle for threes as much today (just 15 attempts, less than 30% of our overall shots) which I think proved to be successful. I know JC wants us to take more threes in the future, but this team in particular might still want to try to get the ball to the hoop unless Jamison and Maceo are on their game. Credit Mason I guess for running us off the line a bit as well. JC was probably livid with the number of midrange shots we took (probably the most all season), but to be fair most went in. Our rebounding effort was much better in the second half, and we were a bit less stagnant offensively with more passes being made per possession.

Defense: The reason we won though was our performance defensively - maybe our best effort since the road UMass matchup seven games ago. The mayhem was definitely in full swing, and there were periods where Mason was very uncomfortable dribbling the ball behind the arc, losing it very often. Unfortunately, we turned the ball over as many times as GMU in the game (15) but generating 8 steals is a step in the right direction for this team. JNJ's performance defensively made me think that he has the chance to lead the league in steals by his junior year. GMU got to the line just 11 times in the game, and I think what they did wrong was not attacking the basket quite enough. There were periods where their guards did, but much of it was too late into the game, and for a good part of the second half they were in the bonus. We also notably did well in transition defense, getting back and even altering some shot attempts. This is the kind of defensive intensity we need to see more consistently, especially when the shots aren't falling.
 
Game Ball: Welcome back Armel! I think holding him out of the URI game was ultimately the right decision to give him an extra week to heal. He didn't show any signs of injury which was nice and looked like the same Armel we've seen for much of the season. Potter was on triple double watch as well with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. Yes, there were 1 or 2 missed layups but his ability to penetrate at will and make the right decisions to either pass or score is just so invaluable. JC also did a good job managing his foul trouble when he picked up his third foul with 15 minutes to go. I believe he only sat the length of a media timeout (4 minutes) before coming back in.

Player Breakdown:
Armel - want to just add that George Mason is a good matchup for him. His last four games against Mason:
3/9/19: 14 points, 4 rebounds in 26 minutes.
3/14/19: 12 points, 4 assists in 24 minutes.
1/15/20: 26 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists in 40 minutes.
2/15/20: 20 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists in 33 minutes (probably would have played closer to 40 if not for foul trouble).

Someone edited GMU's basketball page on Wikipedia (I mean they aren't wrong):

The George Mason Patriots men's basketball team represents George Mason University and is currently owned by ARMEL POTTER.

Maceo - runs a bit hot-and-cold offensively, and it was nice to see him shoot more in rhythm today (again, this is where Armel's presence helps so much - Maceo didn't have to do too much to find space to shoot). When his confidence is up, he is also capable of taking it to the hoop and that dunk he had was awesome (something he does from time to time, I just wish his attack mentality was a bit more consistent, especially since he's 91% from the line). His four threes were nice as well, but where Maceo has been shining is on defense lately. There were discussions as to why Maceo was seeing so much time earlier in the year (even on a team with hardly any depth), and I think he's showing why now even when shots don't necessarily fall. He already has two A10 games this year with 4 steals, and has shown great ability to block shots in transition as well. Armel's rise is the major headline (as it should) but Maceo going from a liability on defense to above average is one of the best stories of the season. I never thought he was going to be as great of a fit in mayhem as he is. Jack is great at getting into passing lanes.

JNJ - another thread was started for him, but I'll just summarize my thoughts here. Nelson is already ahead of the learning curve defensively, and it's not surprising that he is already leading the team in steals per game in year 1. He is also very easily our most athletic/dynamic player on the floor, although I always get real nervous every time he goes for a dunk and a defender undercuts him. It's crazy to think he's only been playing basketball for a couple of years. He certainly has a bright future. His areas for growth in the offseason is better passing offensively/cutting down on turnovers (he has already shown an improvement here from earlier in the year, but can be even better - I still see him as more of a SG than PG), and most notably shooting. If he can develop an outside jumper, JNJ will be very hard to guard. His free throw shooting as well - just 64% this year which is okay as a freshman, but a guard needs to make his FTs. Nelson accounted for all five of our misses yesterday. Still, this is now six straight double figure scoring games (and 9 of the last 11 games) for him, which is always impressive for a freshman.

Jamison - knows his role in the offense, but I just like that he doesn't force things. He put up the quietest 13 point effort that you'll ever see. When he is in a good position to score, he will shoot it, but he doesn't mind deferring to a teammate when closely guarded which shows great trust in his teammates. He quite easily could have taken 3-5 more attempts but decided against it because they wouldn't have been great shots. His four point play was very impressive, but the play that stuck out to me was him putting the ball on the floor, squeezing through a couple of defenders, and attempting a layup late in a shot clock possession which ended up being called for goaltending. That was very impressive (although probably close to a travel). Battle is also coming around defensively - I still think he needs to improve at times closing out on guys, but he had a couple steals and a block so he's coming around. He definitely won the matchup against GMU's Mar, who went to his high school in Minnesota.

Chase - not the best of games finishing inside the paint, but his late basket from Armel was huge (another beautiful set play - everyone was hugging the three point line which allowed Chase to get free underneath for a big basket to keep us ahead by 3). Paar was unfortunately in foul trouble for much of the game, understandable because guarding Wilson is no easy task (he had a late basket where he drove and his momentum carried him past the hoop, but somehow he still managed to throw the basketball in backwards which was just crazy). Next rematch against Hughes should be interesting to watch, but poses another challenge.

AT - nice to see him back healthy. His rebounding was much appreciated to help us bridge the gap in rebound margin, and that three point play in the game was nice to see (AT seems to finish better when fouled which has been curious to see all season). I still find Toro to not be the best of finishers though and he still had a missed layup attempt in the game. I am not quite sure why that is the case - whether it's because he puts too much spin on the ball or some other reason. He is a bit slow to go up with the ball and I think still has some lingering hip injury issues because he his unable to get up too much vertically. I will still gladly welcome his rebounding though, and think that is useful for stretches when he is healthy. Just glad to see him playing again honestly.

Shawn - didn't have the best of games, although he did assist on one of Maceo's threes. Glad he is earning more playing time than he was midseason though. I still like his swagger at the point, and although he is susceptible to coughing up the balls at time (understandable) he's had some real bright moments making passes this year. I still appreciate his performance from that last game at least getting us over the 50 mark against URI.

Ace - didn't realize he even played five minutes. He is usually good for a basket more often than not but was much quieter than usual.

Mezie - the bad version showed up unfortunately. He couldn't stay with his man defensively, committing 2 fouls in 5 minutes. Offensively, he airballed a three from the corner that I don't believe was altered. I'm just disappointed he hasn't had the breakout we all hoped for. He looked good in that open practice and Kenner, but just hasn't been able to translate it on the court. His length could be useful defensively, but I just don't know how he fits in JC's system. JC reportedly recruited him out of HS so I guess maybe that connection will keep him around. I want to see him succeed because he has all the intangibles, but sadly hasn't put it together yet.

I would say we have a good chance to avoid the play-in game at this point, which would honestly check the final box on the list for JC's first year. The next road game against Duquesne will be tough (but technically it's a road game for them as well with their arena getting renovated). It definitely feels like we have at least a small chance with Armel back. The two games we need to win moving forward are the La Salle and Fordham games at home. I'd be happy with finishing 7-11. On to the next!
 

First time we’ve swept a home and home partner since we did it George Mason I’m 2017.

It's amazing to see TC hate on JN in game threads every game and basically no one else and then see everyone else's comments about JNJ (which I agree with).  

Real nice victory away from home where we seemingly defeated the officials about as much as we defeated the Patriots.  Probably the worst officiating of a game I've seen all year.  GW was fortunate to make enough plays ion the second half to win it.

Yes, JC went to AT as his third choice early on and stuck with him.  And, it paid off.  I can't recall the last time this happened.  I hardly think that JC doing something one time proves an argument that the coaching staff has always been willing to do this under the right circumstances.  And as has been pointed out in this thread, JC was willing to play AT and Chase together, something which GWRising believed would never happen and something which JC has likely considered and rejected.  

This has never been a Toro vs. Armel debate over who is more valuable.  Armel has become this team's "closer"; he finishes out games by scoring, getting to the line, and making good decisions like the pass to Chase off of the double team.  But let's look at Toro's impact.  Oduro had scored 9 of Mason's first 13 points on 4-5 shooting before AT had entered the game.  When Chase picked up his second foul, JC incredulously went with Ace again instead of AT.  On consecutive possessions, Oduro posted Ace up within 3 feet of the basket.  A defender has to "front" a post player when he is this close to the basket; otherwise, there is maybe a 95% chance that the post player will score or get fouled this close and without a double team.  The next time down the court, and I'm not kidding about this, Ace decided not to guard anyone.  He was in the paint close to the foul line guarding nobody.  For God's sake, we even have a board that indicates who you should be guarding.  By the time the ball got to who should have been Ace's man, another defender had to pick up the guy which left a wide open three point shooter who subsequently received the pass and nailed the 3.  AT immediately came in for Ace at that point.  When AT entered the game, GW was down 16-8.  They proceeded to go on a 12-2 run which gave them the lead at 20-18.  Am not suggesting for a moment that AT was even close to being solely responsible for that run.  However his defense, referred to as a liability by GWRising, was stellar.  Oduro went 2-7 from the floor for 4 points for the remainder of the game.  And maybe, that 12-2 run is fueled by the fact that the team plays more confidently with AT on the floor than Ace.   

The whole AT issue had little to do with Chase starting ahead of him.  It had everything to do with why he wasn't playing at all, or was only playing in garbage time, or for that matter, why the coaching staff thinks Ace is a better choice than AT.  These are the somewhat inexplicable things.  I hope Saturday's performance will be considered a springboard of sorts but then again, I thought we'd see a bump in AT's playing time after the Davidson win, and we clearly didn't until Saturday.

Finally, I applaud The Ross-Man's post about Tennessee Colonial.  TC, what exactly do you have against JNJ?  Sure he has some flaws but so does everyone on this team.  He provides the team with great energy, amazing hops, and  a great nose for the ball.  His outside shooting will hopefully improve and his ability to take care of the ball already has improved.  He is a freshman playing a ton of minutes out of necessity.  If you were to go back and read your posts from throughout the game, you would have absolutely no idea that he finished with 16 points,. 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist and 3 turnovers playing all 40 minutes against Mason.  One would think from your comments that he should be relegated to the end of the bench.  Just wondering what the beef is....do you feel he should be a less flawed player given who his father is?  Upset that he may not be as good as his father was (a former national POY and a 14 year NBA player)?    

Last edited by Gwmayhem (2/17/2020 11:13 am)

dmvpiranha wrote:

Someone edited GMU's basketball page on Wikipedia (I mean they aren't wrong):

The George Mason Patriots men's basketball team represents George Mason University and is currently owned by ARMEL POTTER.

 

I checked the page and it really does say that. Perhaps the only accurate thing you will find on wikipedia.

Gwmayhem wrote:

That's great GWAA.

GWRising, that's not what I am saying.  You wrote this:

 What this shows is that JC treats each game as its own thing and will play who he thinks will help in given situations.

This statement has not at all been the case with AT until Saturday.

As for Chase and AT playing together, all I said was that you wrote that you thought this would never happen, and that JC has likely considered this and rejected it.

Am not suggesting that JC doesn't have the right to tinker with lineups.  What I am saying, in fact pretty much all I've been saying, is that AT's usage on this team has been to the point of being mystifying at times.  Playing behind Ace?  Really?  Would you like to defend that any longer?

That's all I got on this subject other than to say that I now hope AT plays regularly throughout the rest of the season (excluding games when the contest has already been won and lost).
 

 How do you know that has not been the case with Toro? You are aware that he has been injured and sick. How do you know what weeks he practiced fully and which ones he did not?

This is not a question of playing ahead or behind Ace. It may be more of a question of whether he was healthy and available and the coaches trusted him to be able to play.

Yes and I stand by my point that JC will not play Paar and Toro together. He can't. Neither can chase more mobile 4 men. Because he did it one time for a few minutes does not invalidate my point. I can't be sure but I believe it may have been at a time when Oduro and Calixte were in together which would make sense because neither is mobile. I'd have to go back and look at the game to be sure. You were suggesting a regular lineup of this. I said it will not be a regular lineup. However, because of a matchup he used that lineup for 2-3 minutes does not mean he has seen the wisdom of pairing the two on a regular basis.

AT Hiker wrote:

I think some of you are missing the point about the Coach's decisions regarding Toro. We have no idea what his health situation is game-to-game so why speculate about the reasons he play or doesn't. i have great faith in Jamion and will not second guess him on these type of decisions.

And Jameer will be a first team all-AT freshman

 I agree. That's my point. Unless you know ALL of the facts and circumstances involved you have to give the coach the benefit of the doubt. The idea that has been posted here that this reflects a personal vendetta rather than what's best for the program (which can and has changed from game to game) is nonsensical without a lot more evidence. The same charge was leveled in connection with Mazzulla, again without any evidence. I further think what some are missing is that sometimes you may have to temporarily go backwards to move forward ultimately. I trust that JC has carefully considered all of this and has thought about it way more deeply than any of us here.

Finally, I think these types of claims are distracting us from the real progress being made. It may not yet show up every night in the W-L column but if you can't see that this program is well ahead of where it was one year ago then I'm not really sure what to say. That is notwithstanding any decisions made regarding Toro, Mazzulla or anyone else.

GWRising-- BC had joked about me making the point that they should play the two bigs together.. not targetng you at all.... I had must have missed your previous post and have no problem with your position.... the point was that for short stretches, Paar's stroke from 3 could pay off especially if his man gives him the shot --he showed off his shot this summer.