Mason Faces off Against D3 St. Mary’s in an Exhibition

By
Palmer Johnson
-
127
694
Emoticon showing celebration gesture with pumping fists

Woo hoo!

Your George Mason Patriots will be giving you the first live look at the team with an exhibition against D3 St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

About St. Mary’s

The St. Mary’s Seahawks are coached by ’97 alum Chris Harney, who is going into his 20th season, and has a record of 292-200. Harney is also the school’s assistant athletic director, which puts into scale the difference between D1 and D3 sports.

Jake Koverman, a 6’5 wing, was a scholarship player at High Point for two seasons, but had very limited playing time. It sounds like Koverman had a major knee injury that he has had trouble recovering from.

Ademola “AD” Oladipo, a 6’3 forward, had offers from Navy and Alabama A&M, and took an official visit to Fairleigh Dickinson. He committed to Alabama A&M, and it seems like he redshirted and then transferred down to D3 to get playing time.

Luke Adgei, a 6’7 forward, has a brother who played at Loyola Chicago, and then was a part time starter at Longwood.

You may notice the information section for St. Mary’s is pretty short, and that is because the score of this game only really matters if Mason loses. You’re looking more for the rotation and how the players interact with each other on the court, rather than looking for the Patriots to win by 57.

What to Watch For?

Lineups

From my perspective, the contested lineup spots are point guard, the four position, and maybe center? I am pretty confident that Jared Billups and Darius Maddox have locked up the 2 and 3 spots.

At the one, we should look to see whether KD Johnson or Jeremiah Quigley is given the point guard duties. Along with that, we need to look at what offensive responsibilities Johnson is given, even outside of running point.

At the four, it’s probably between Zach Anderson and Woody Newton. I say probably since there’s that 1% chance we randomly see Haynes at the four with Emejuru at the five. Woody and Anderson are pretty different players, with Anderson being a scoring-focused stretch four, and Woody being an everything big wing. If you want offense at the four, you play Anderson. If you want defense, you play Newton.

At the five, it is possible we see Emejuru over Haynes, but I think that is pretty unlikely. Haynes was penciled in as the starter when the roster was finalized, but Emejuru seems to have had an awesome offseason.

I think we see a lineup of Johnson, Billups, Maddox, Anderson, and Haynes. The major question of this lineup is if Johnson and Billups can co-exist at the one and two, since both of them seem to be minus shooters until they prove otherwise. If not, you could see Quigley at the one, or Brayden O’Connor at the two.

That’s the great thing about this team, it feels like there are nine guys who could start and it wouldn’t be a problem. Some AWESOME players are going to have to come off the bench.

Style

We should also look for the pace of play. We heard a lot about the fast pace we were going to get last season, but the team ended up having 63.8 possessions per game, 344th in the country. I think it will be faster, since KD Johnson, Jeremiah Quigley, and Justin Begg, especially Johnson and Begg, seem like more run and gun guys than Ronald Polite was.

Along with pace, we should watch for how much Tony Skinn presses. With a veteran guard rotation of Johnson, Quigley, Billups, and O’Connor, it seems like you could do it whenever you want and be relentless. This team has more depth than last year, and if you only count guys near their floor, there are at least nine guys who can play meaningful minutes on this team.

Another thing we should be looking for is how good of help defenders Haynes and Emejuru are. Whether the shot misses or not isn’t important, I am more looking for whether they get to their spots on time or not.

Young Guys

Hopefully we will get to see some of Austin Ball, Justin Begg, Bryson Cokley, and Stas Sivka.

Ball was getting into the rotation more once Keyshawn Hall was not playing, since somebody had to take the bench role with Woody getting the start. The problem is that if the team is willing to play Brayden O’Connor at the three, the lineup gets pretty tough to crack for Ball. Unless he becomes an plus shooter, it is going to be hard to fit him in. If the team is pressing a lot and needs more bodies, I could see Mountain Mamba getting in the game that way.

I think the only way that Begg gets major playing time is if KD Johnson isn’t able to play point guard effectively. Otherwise, it’s tough for a freshman PG slotted in as the 3rd at his position to get in much, especially since he’s under 6’0, which makes it much harder to play the 2.

Bryson Cokley could be a glue guy down the line, but there’s just so many guys ahead of him. I like his chances of playing solid minutes next year, since you replace Jared Billups with a freshman Devin Booker, but it is going to be tough to crack it this season.

Stas Sivka is fun, but I think we only see him when both of the other bigs are in big foul trouble. He is definitely a project to monitor though, as there is a pretty high ceiling with him.

Conclusion

Overall, don’t take too much stock into this game if someone random scores a lot of points, as that can tend to happen. Treat it like NBA Summer League, where you’re looking for guys to be mentally on time.

Get excited for the first organized game with the new team, Mason Nation.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

127 COMMENTS

  1. Someobe necessarily help too makee critically articles I’dstate.
    That is tthe first time I frequented your website pahe andd so
    far? I amazed wih the research yoou made to create tyis actual put up extraordinary.

    Exceplent process!

  3. Heello tnis iss kijda off offf topiic buut I was wonndering iff blog uuse WYSIWYG editors orr if you hafe too manually codee with HTML.

    I’m starting a bog sooln bbut havge noo coding skills so I wantwd tto get guidance from someone with experience.
    Any helop woukd be enoremously appreciated!

  19. Have you ever heard of second life (sl for short). It is basically a video game where you can do anything you want. SL is literally my second life (pun intended lol). If you want to see more you can see these second life articles and blogs

  24. ว็ป แท้เงินชัว ไม่โกงมั่นคง การันตีความชัว ถอนไว โอนไว ฝากออโต้ มีทุกอย่างให้เล่น ไม่ผ่านเอเย่นฝากตรงฝากเริ่มต้น1 บาท ไม่อยากถูกโกงต้องเว็ปนี้เลย บอกแล้วนะ

  26. Great goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are just extremely fantastic. I really like what you have acquired here, really like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it wise. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a tremendous website.

  27. I just like the helpful info you provide to your articles. I will bookmark your blog and test once more right here regularly. I am rather sure I’ll be told many new stuff right right here! Best of luck for the next!

  35. hello there and thank you for your info – I have certainly picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise several technical points using this web site, since I experienced to reload the site lots of times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and can look out for much more of your respective exciting content. Ensure that you update this again very soon..

  38. Hey! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa? My blog covers a lot of the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!

  41. I must thank you for the efforts you’ve put in penning this blog. I really hope to see the same high-grade blog posts by you later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now 😉

  44. Aw, this was an extremely nice post. Finding the time and actual effort to produce a really good articleÖ but what can I sayÖ I hesitate a whole lot and don’t seem to get anything done.

  53. Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Thanks, However I am experiencing troubles with your RSS. I don’t understand why I am unable to join it. Is there anybody getting similar RSS issues? Anyone who knows the solution can you kindly respond? Thanx!!

  64. An interesting discussion is worth comment. There’s no doubt that that you need to publish more about this issue, it might not be a taboo subject but typically people do not discuss such subjects. To the next! Best wishes!!

  69. I am not sure where you’re getting your information, but great topic.I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more.Thanks for excellent info I was looking for this info formy mission.

  75. You can definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers such as you who aren’t afraid to say how they believe. Always follow your heart.

  88. whoah this blog is great i love studying your articles. Keep up the good work! You know, lots of individuals are searching around for this information, you can aid them greatly.

  102. Hmm is anyone else having problems with the images on this blog loading?I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’sthe blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

  108. Having read this I believed it was very informative. I appreciate you finding the time and effort to put this content together. I once again find myself spending a lot of time both reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!

  116. Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s really informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future. Numerous people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

  121. Thank you, I’ve recently been looking for info approximately this subject for a long timeand yours is the greatest I’ve discovered tillnow. However, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you sure concerning the supply?

  124. I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this blog.I really hope to check out the same high-gradecontent by you later on as well. In fact, yourcreative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my very own blog now 😉

  126. Hi just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same outcome.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here