This mega-article is on some guys who have been “with” the team for a while, but either didn’t play last year, in the case of Jalen Haynes, or committed a while ago, in the case of Justin Begg and Bryson Cokley. These three are guys who may not be at the front of your mind due to not seeing them play last season or commit during the offseason.
Most of this was written sometime in June, but I just kind of forgot to post it. Although I tried to go through and update stuff, I may have missed a thing here or there. I definitely should have broken this up into three articles, but it is too close to the season to post separately as this point.
Jalen Haynes
If you go back all the way to last June, nearly a year ago, Jalen Haynes committed to play for your George Mason Patriots. Unfortunately, his transfer waiver was not accepted, and he was not able to play for Mason in the 2023-24 season.
Haynes is a 6’8 forward out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida who played very sparingly as a freshman for Virginia Tech, transferred to East Tennessee State where he was a major part of the offense, and then transferred to Mason but sat out, effectively using a redshirt year.
Jalen has at least two years of eligibility, and a third is not completely out of the picture. He only played in nine games as a freshman, and other players who have played similar amounts in a season have had that season retroactively counted as a redshirt, even if it wasn’t an injury.
Something that is interesting is that Haynes played on the same East Tennessee State team as Richmond Co-A10 Player of the Year scoring guard Jordan King. King took a massive jump after moving into a different environment, who is to say Haynes couldn’t do the same?
Jalen Haynes By The Numbers
Since I already did an article on him, I won’t go too deep into the numbers.
Haynes averaged 14.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists on 57.5% shooting from the field and 63.8% from the line.
As you can see, Haynes shot 71.5% at the rim. For forwards, this is in the 75th percentile. That is pretty impressive, but what is more impressive to me is that his 5.5 field goals attempted at the rim per game is in the 97th percentile. He does a great job at getting to the rim. I will absolutely take 1.43 points per shot at such a high volume.
Another stat that could mean something incredible, or be absolutely meaningless, is that Haynes a 23.1% assist rate in his last five games, which is in the 98th percentile. I can’t find any video of games that late into the season, but Jalen may have been playing point forward near the end.
Jalen Haynes Scouting Report (Full Game vs. Furman – 2/19/2023)
I feel that it is important to note that this game was against Furman, who finished as the 92nd ranked team on KenPom this year. They also made the tournament, beating UVA on that crazy Kihei Clark turnover and Furman deep three. Along with that, they had an NBA draft pick in Jalen Slawson on that team.
Pretty much, this Furman team is built similarly to upper middle of the pack A10 team. I know it is a separate season, but in the 2023-24 season, Loyola Chicago was 93rd. This is an A10 caliber opponent.
On offense, ETSU used him in a pretty odd way. Early in the game, it felt like Haynes was being used like a wing, and then he transitioned more into a point forward role, getting the ball on the perimeter a lot.
The point forward thing might be real, maybe it just started working at the end of the season like the numbers said it did. They had Jalen making entry passes from the perimeter, and occasionally bringing the ball up the court. I definitely saw some flashes of great playmaking. He made a wraparound pass under the basket to a guy who was wide open in the corner.
Speaking of Haynes on the perimeter, when he gets a leverage advantage on his man, whether he created it or the defender did it himself, the transfer forward can beat his guy in a race to the rim.
When someone on his team is driving, Haynes does a pretty good job at sealing off his defender. When he gets the opportunity, the transfer forward uses his 6’8, 250-pound frame to move guys around, both with and without the ball.
Most of the time Haynes was on the court, he shared the floor with someone who wasn’t a threat from the perimeter. With Zach Anderson at the four, that won’t be a problem.
It really does seem like if he can get the ball near the restricted area, the ball is already in the basket.
On defense, I see why Haynes has a fouling problem. He is an extremely aggressive help defender. ETSU will have him guarding a guy on the perimeter, and then he just flies in and blocks a guy at the rim. Now of course, Jalen doesn’t always get that block, and if the ballhandler knows he’s coming, Haynes will likely get a foul call. With that aggression comes help speed; when Jalen needs to, he can fly into the paint and get to his spot fast.
The transfer forward was a lot more versatile defensively than I expected. Haynes can hold his own on the perimeter pretty well against guys much smaller than him. Jalen was switched onto future NBA wing Jalen Slawson and it wasn’t really a problem.
Mason’s hidden piece does a pretty good job at holding and maintaining the boxout. He gets in good initial position, but makes sure to keep his man out, even if the ball has bounced to the other side.
Areas of Improvement
The obvious one is shooting. Jalen doesn’t have to be good enough for the shot to go in, but you at least want them to have to guard you out there. Along with shooting comes free throws. I hope he’s been working on that all year, otherwise, it could be bad.
Sometimes Haynes is a bit too block-happy, going for a block and getting himself out of position when a contest would have allowed him to be much more flexible. It also got him some goaltends, at least two I saw, and there were some close ones. This seems like a problem that a lot of young big men have.
Jalen’s foul tendency can bring down his defensive ability, as he really wants to avoid getting into further foul trouble. I don’t know if “foul less” is even worth putting, because I feel like you can say that about 75% of big men. If you’re Mason, you want him to be able to play as much as you want him to, without him having to change the way he plays due to foul trouble.
I can’t help but feel like ETSU’s coach did not put Haynes in the best position to succeed. Jalen was sitting on the perimeter a lot, which you would think would help with spacing, but they paid him little attention out there. If his man is going to help and stay inside anyway, you might as well have Haynes camp out in a spot where the defense needs to guard him.
It’s important to note that this game is from a season and change ago. Haynes has been training under Steve Curran, who has a trend of making big men break out between Mason and his time at St. Bonaventure. It is very possible that Jalen has completely transformed his game into something that fits Mason’s needs better.
Where Does He Fit In?
Haynes will likely be the starting five for this team on opening night, with Gio Emejuru being the only other option. I imagine he will also be one of the top options on offense.
Justin Begg
Now, we’ll look at Justin Begg, a 5’11 PG out of the Houston area.
Begg was a three-star in his recruiting class, and had offers from San Houston State, Towson, Texas St., and Longwood, along with reportedly having interest from Alabama.
As you may have guessed by the Sam Houston State offer and him being from Houston, he was an Ekanem guy. Although Ekanem left for Oklahoma State and seemed to have a great relationship with the former Mason assistant, Begg stayed.
There have been a couple articles about Begg written by me, so go ahead and give those a read before this one, as this one will mostly be about stuff between those articles and now.
In June of 2023, Begg visited Mason. In July 2023, Begg committed to playing for your George Mason Patriots. In November, on the first day he could, Begg officially signed with Mason.
I would normally do a “By The Numbers” section here, but there really aren’t any numbers, as I cannot find anything recent, as it seems Begg’s high school doesn’t enter stats into MaxPreps or their athletic website.
What I do know is that Begg led his team to a 2024 SPC 4A Boys Championship, his second in two years.
Oh, and he postered someone.
The future of @MasonMBB is good hands… @JustinBegg2 w/ the POSTER! pic.twitter.com/tFWOE0EoPE
— Marcus Sloan (@bigsloan32) February 3, 2024
Justin Begg Scouting Report
Since Justin Begg was such a big piece of his Houston Hoops EYBL team and their games are readily available, I’ll be watching one of his high school games along with a 2023 Peach Jam game. This way, we’ll get to see how he plays as the star of the team in high school, and how he handles being a role player in EYBL.
Justin Begg with Episcopal vs. Houston Christian
The opposing team, Houston Christian had a Texas A&M Commerce commit guard in Christopher Adlam, and a D3 level 6’3 guard in Darius Dixon. Montana Wheeler, a 2025 5’9 guard with an offer from Mason along with some Power 5 (it is 5 now with the PAC-12 gone) schools, is listed on Houston Christian’s roster, but unfortunately did not play in this game. I would’ve liked to see Begg go up against a high-level D1 player like him.
On offense, Justin’s primary role was driving and kicking to the open man. It felt like somebody was getting an open shot, whether him or someone else, every time he touched the ball. So many times the defense collapsed onto him and then Begg hit a wide open man.
The Houston area native used hesi move that was just unstoppable to these high school guys. He used it more to get past his man and cause help to come, and then to pass it to his open teammate. Seeing that was more impressive to me than if Justin had taken a contested layup and made it.
Begg moves in a different gear than everyone else. Justin hits that hesi move, and all of a sudden he is under the basket with everyone scrambling to get in front of him, and three of his teammates are open.
More on his passing, Begg is definitely able to make outlet passes. He also throws a nice lob.
I think the 5’11 guard has movement shooter potential. He was the inbounder in the half-court under the basket, then darted to the corner and with the help of this teammates’ screens, hit an open moving three.
Justin would trail a lot when his team was running in transition, which seemed like was to either conserve energy or to get an open trailing three.
Begg was such a vital part of the offense that Houston Christian was denying him the ball when he was sitting in the midcourt corner, so clearly they understand how even if Justin isn’t making shots, he is generating offense every time he touches the ball.
I showed you that poster earlier. That was from this game.
On defense, Begg was defending Dixon, the 6’3 D3 guard, a lot. That is A10 level guard size. Justin wasn’t generally a point-of-attack defender, but he wasn’t getting exposed either.
The 5’11 guard surprisingly is able to get chase-down blocks, being athletic and instinctive enough to time them.
It seemed like their coach wanted Begg to use as little energy as possible, so that he could use it all when he had the ball on offense. It isn’t what I would have done, but they won a championship with this.
Despite the moderate lack of activity when off the ball, Begg would hustle out of bounds to get loose balls, and was usually able to get them back in the direction of his teammates.
Further on that, Justin didn’t come out of the game until they were up 15 with under four minutes left, and still came back in with two left.
Justin Begg with Houston Hoops vs. Brad Beal Elite
For those who don’t know, this was an EYBL Peach Jam game. I can’t find the stat, but something like 85% of players at this level go on to play division one basketball, so there aren’t any easy games.
There were some dudes on that Brad Beal Elite team. For one, Jeremiah Fears, a four-star 6’3 combo guard, committed to Illinois. They also had Tyler Tanner, a 6’0 guard who committed to Vanderbilt. And these are just the guards. Also on that team was wing Landren Blocker, a guy who had an offer to Mason but went to Louisiana Tech.
On offense, Begg moved very well in the fast break and half-court with the ball, even when surrounded by D1 athletes. He could really push the pace when he wanted to.
It really seemed like Justin was the only guy on the court who was looking to pass. I really liked when I saw him making no-look passes and using his eyes to get his opponents to open up passing lanes for him.
When the opposing team pressed, Begg handled it very well.
Justin was so good at going across the court toward the three-point line, and then curling toward the basket with the ball in his hands. It seems like Begg turns at such a more efficient rate than everyone else, while not really losing any of his speed. If he has the help of a screen, it is simply over for the other team.
The crafty guard has a nice floater and can shoot it over guys who have a decent size advantage on him. Maybe not centers, but if a 2 or 3 is between him and the basket, he’s pretty much open.
On defense, Begg was guarding Tyler Tanner, the Vanderbilt commit, and it was not a problem. He also guarded Fears, the 6’3 guard committed to Illinois, and it was also not a problem. Justin had a little more trouble with Fears, but he was not a turnstile. Fears broke him down with his dribble but that is an Illinois guard, he’s going to do that in the Big 10 guys too.
Off the ball on this end, when his guy is moving and he knows it, Begg can stay glued to him.
Due to Justin’s smaller size, if he is guarding a guy in the corner, the 5’11 guard has to stay pretty close to him, since he likely has both a height and length disadvantage. When Begg gets too far away, he can use his speed to get back there fast, but if the guy makes a move to the side, it is tough for him to turn.
When Justin got switched onto a forward in the post that the broadcasters had talked about getting interest from Power 5s, he held ground long enough for a bigger teammate to come over and help.
His teammates had someone trapped in the corner, and instead of running in transition, he stayed near half-court just in case someone tried to make a desperation pass. It didn’t happen, but Justin was prepared and showed off his basketball IQ.
Speaking of basketball IQ, Begg dove for a loose ball and was able to intentionally throw it toward his teammate. That’s his quick processor.
It applied to both offense and defense, but Begg was getting way too many rebounds for a guy who’s 5’11 and surrounded by Power 5 level players.
Justin used his smaller size to his advantage at times, with it allowing him to be able to slip through screens on both offense and defense.
Areas of Improvement
I’d like to see Begg have a higher motor on defense, but I think that was partially due to his coach’s wishes.
Sometimes Justin struggled off the ball on defense in the EYBL, losing his man and letting his opponent get backdoor cuts past him.
Where Does He Fit In?
If we are assuming that KD Johnson will get major time at point guard, and with Jeremiah Quigley being a guy that I believe in a ton, it will be tough for Justin Begg to get playing time as a freshman. This is not an indictment of him, the team is just so deep. Between the one and two, you could have KD Johnson, Jeremiah Quigley, Brayden O’Connor, Jared Billups, and Darius Maddox ahead of him. Those are all quality players.
I could see Begg playing somewhat of a Tre Wood role early on, where he is brought in mostly as a second point guard against teams that are pressing heavily, or in times where Mason needs a scoring spark off the bench.
We were spoiled with Baraka Okojie getting significant playing time as a freshman last year, but this is a pretty different situation, since I think that both Johnson and Quigley are better than the PG competition Okojie faced.
If we look forward past this season, I think Begg would slot into competing for the point guard spot with Jeremiah Quigley. I think he can be a very good player in this conference, I just wouldn’t count on him contributing in a major way right away as a freshman for a team who’s looking like they could be competing for a top four seed.
Bryson Cokley
Now, we will be looking at Bryson Cokley, a 6’5 wing out of Christ School in Asheville, North Carolina.
I’ve done an article on Cokley already, his commitment one, so I will try not to double up on too much. Long story short, this is a guy who committed to play for Wake Forest before his junior season, but decommitted the following summer.
Mason picked him up before his senior season. The timing is important to me, as the staff could have waited longer, either to see if someone “better” pops up or if they could use the spot for the portal, but Skinn wanted this guy, and he wasn’t risking waiting.
Bryson Cokley By The Numbers
In Cokley’s senior season, he averaged 7.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.9 blocks on 50% from the field, 38% from three, 71% from the line, and an eFG of 58%. That is efficient. In three of his four seasons, he shot 38% or better from three.
Bryson is unrated on 247, but has a three-star 85 rating on On3 that puts him at 284th in the country, and a three-star rating from rivals.com.
Bryson Cokley with Christ School vs. Providence Day
Providence Day has Trajan Thompson, a 6’6 wing with offers from High Point, Sam Houston State, Robert Morris, and Queens of Charlotte. Thompson is a three-star on On3, rated as the 143rd player in the country. They have another 6’6 wing in Nick Hailey, who has offers from Western Carolina and Ole Miss. And another wing, this time 6’5, in Jonah Lawrence, who has an offer from Western Carolina
This one doesn’t really matter in terms of evaluating Bryson’s competition, but they have a 5’11 PG in Braxton Winston who’s committed to playing cornerback for Wake Forest.
Altogether, Cokley is going against some very good competition, as this is the NCISAA 4A Boys Championship.
Bryson was more of a role player for Christ School, which I think will help with predicting how he plays early on in his career at Mason. He came off the bench, but was in the first set of guys to go in.
On offense, he shows his basketball IQ. Cokley seems to know about when his teammates are going to shoot it, anticipating when he should sprint to the paint to get in position to grab a possible rebound. One time, Bryson followed his teammate on a fast break and was rewarded with the ball bouncing right to him, which he then turned into a tough and-one finish over a bigger defender.
The coach gave Cokley a lot of responsibilities that weren’t just binary decisions, showing how much they believed in his decision-making.
Something I really liked was that Bryson never overdribbled. Once he did a move or two and hadn’t broken down his defender, the former Wake Forest commit would pass it.
Cokley occasionally brought the ball down the court out of an inbound pass.
Bryson hit a nice free-throw line midrange coming off an off-ball screen curl. It is nice to know he doesn’t just sit in the corner and hope they sag off.
Now for some of the dirty work on this end of the court. Cokley got a hustle offensive rebound on back-to-back possessions. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get it to a teammate on either, but at least you saw the effort to get the ball in the first place. Offensive rebounds weren’t rare for him. Rebounding generally translates across different levels for wings and guards.
Another thing that I saw was that Bryson was willing to set off-ball screens, with him getting guys free from their man multiple times.
On defense, Cokley is a pretty good all-around defender. He was guarding Thompson, a D1 wing, who had created enough space to get the ball, but then tried to drive, with Cokley cutting him off, forcing a bad pass that was tipped and taken the other way. On another occasion, Thompson tried to run him toward the basket, but Bryson stayed vertical and sent the shot back to him.
The future 3-and-D specialist also forced Nick Bailey, the guy with the Ole Miss offer, to take contested moving mid-ranges multiple times.
Throughout the entire game, he only got beat once in a one-on-one matchup. Cokley overran his man, and then was never able to get his leverage back. That is going to occasionally happen when you’re playing against D1 level wings every possession.
As an off-ball defender, Bryson is pretty good too. Cokley future wing helped over when his man got beat, blocked the shot, the shooter got the rebound, and then he forced another miss that hit the bottom of the rim.
Mason’s future wing also contests the corner pretty well, knowing exactly how far he can sag off.
When Cokley is navigating around screens, he looks like an NFL edge rusher, bending super well around corners.
Areas of Improvement
Similarly to Brayden O’Connor’s improvement section way back in the spring, there wasn’t really anything. If I had to pick something, maybe Cokley could do a better job at creating by himself, but that wasn’t the role he was asked to play here, and likely won’t be what he does at Mason either.
Where Does He Fit In?
Bryson Cokley is a hard-nosed defender who can shoot and slash on the other end. A moderate projection of him into the A10 is a high-level role player.
I really see a lot of Brayden O’Connor in his game, and I think that’s what his career could look like. Then again, Bryson seems to be more athletic than O’Connor, so maybe that is shooting a bit low.
I really like Cokley, but I don’t see a path to major playing time as a freshman without an injury, through no fault of his own. He could play at the two or three, and you have Jared Billups, Brayden O’Connor, Darius Maddox, Austin Ball, and even KD Johnson at those two spots.
If you look a year forward, Billups and Maddox are gone, and Devin Booker comes in, opening up minutes for Bryson to be a quality bench piece. In his junior season, with O’Connor gone, I could imagine him stepping in as a starter without missing a beat. I am very confident that he will bring value to the team during his time here at Mason. Big glue guy potential.
If you want an A10 equivalent, we can look south to our rivals in Henrico. I could see a Dji Bailey type career trajectory, except instead of that breakout coming as a senior, it could be as a sophomore or junior.
Overall, if you like the idea of Brayden O’Connor, you will likely feel the same way about Bryson Cokley down the road.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, shoutout you. WordPress estimates it will take people 22 minutes to read this, which is the longest I have seen by a lot. Once again, thanks.
