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It’s a double-header! Ryan and Dom are back with a new episode of the Ryan and Domcast. Listen as they talk about winter, and recap the men’s and women’s start to their seasons and preview the double-header with some help from Natalie Heavren!

Hey10 Sidekick – Day 4

In this episode, Petey and Bryan break down day 4 of the A10 tournament. The episode also features a one on one interview with Kyle Lofton.

PVAMU recap

By: Petey Buckets

We knew Mason would have a big advantage on the boards coming into the game, but a 59-29 advantage is not reasonable. The fact that Mason successfully runs a four-guard lineup that doesn’t shoot threes, doesn’t force turnovers, and doesn’t run in transition makes me think that we’re still underrating Marquise Moore. Let me explain:

– Mason is one of the best rebounding teams in the country despite being undersized at every position. Total rebound rate is 56.1%, good for 14th in the nation, and is sure to go up after yesterday’s game.

– Opponents are taking less than 30% of their shots at the rim, despite the fact that four starters have an average height of 6’2” and the fifth is only 6’7”.

– Marquise takes 54% of his shots at the rim and hits 68% of them, both astoundingly high percentages for a guard.

– Opponents have hit less than 30% from three over Mason’s last nine games.
Mason’s formula for winning the past nine games has been a dramatic rebounding advantage, keeping opponents out of the paint on defense, attacking the rim on offense, and playing great perimeter defense. None of this works without Marquise. None of the other guards rebound as well as he does. None of them can defend at his level, and none of them are even remotely as capable of getting into the paint. In all my years of watching Mason basketball, there’s never been a player that’s so clearly the lynchpin of the team. During the win streak it has become easy to forget that the talent on Mason’s roster is limited because Marquise has been so absurdly good it hasn’t mattered. Happy birthday, Marquise.
Some more stuff:

– Even though it didn’t really feel like it, Mason was totally dominant in the first half. Prairie View was 7/29 shooting, with five of the made shots threes, and only three players scored from the field. All of the Prairie View players not named Zachary Hamilton combined for nine total points. Mason went down 5-0 to start and then took total control until Danny and the Dixons came in to shut it down with about four minutes left in the second half.

– Prairie View had a solid defensive game plan that flustered Mason in the opening minutes. When the ball went into the post, Jalen was swarmed with double and sometimes triple teams that he didn’t seem prepared for. It was clear that Prairie View wanted to swarm the paint and force the ball outside – it worked, as by my unofficial count we didn’t get a shot in the paint in the first five minutes. When the rust came off and the ball started moving around better, driving lanes opened up and Mason got back to its bread and butter – attacking the basket relentlessly.

– Jaire, Marquise, and Ian all took turns checking Zachary Hamilton, who was Prairie View’s only real threat, and they all had mixed results. Jaire couldn’t keep up with him running through screens and Hamilton got himself some open shots that way. Ian did a better job of staying with him, but Hamilton used his length advantage to hit at least one three when Ian was in good position. Marquise did the best job, but Paulsen also had him guarding other players when they were both on the court. It looks like we might struggle with long, lanky shooters, of which there are several in the A-10.

– Otis had a fantastic showing once again. He showed excellent touch in the mid-range, hit two of three from deep, and was even feeling so good about himself he tried to dunk (tried). His improvement this season has been great, both in terms of his ability to command the offense, and the development of his own mid-range game. The thing that consistently concerns me is his decision-making in transition – he likes to put his head down and go hard to the basket even if he doesn’t have numbers, and he ends up throwing up wild shots and hoping for foul calls. He also doesn’t see trailing shooters because he’s not looking for them.

– Temara can’t come back soon enough. They’ve been getting away with Relvao minutes against weaker competition, but given Relvao’s propensity to foul (over 10 fouls per 40 minute pace once again), his slow feet, and his lack of skill on offense, Temara will be needed against A-10 competition or the non-Jalen minutes will get ugly.

– Outside of Otis and Marquise, the rest of the team looked quite rusty on offense. Otis and Marquise were 17/29 from the field for 43 points. The rest of the team was 10/32 for 32 points, with no one scoring more than six. It will be a long night against VCU if we only have two players scoring.

Some closing thoughts at the end of non-conference play: the most dangerous thing about this team is that they’ve found an identity. As recently as the James Madison game I was despondent that Mason would suck yet again. I’ve seen people say that we were overreacting to the slow start at the beginning of the season, and I don’t think I agree with that. There wasn’t a reason to believe an undersized team that couldn’t shoot threes and runs a four-guard lineup would magically figure it out, but that’s what happened. Dave Paulsen knows what he’s doing. Sure, he needed Marquise to turn into Russell Westbrook before things fell into place, but there aren’t many coaches who would be able to take this roster and make them competitive. There’s a lot of season left, but the job that the coaching staff and the individual players have done to turn it around has been tremendous.

WE WANT VCU!! WE WANT VCU!!

 

666

6 wins in a row: After an abysmal start to the season, which many expected, the Patriots are now riding a somewhat unexpected 6 game winning streak. The latest win being the most impressive, as Mason walloped Penn St. 85-66 in Happy Valley. Let me repeat that, Mason, the team that lost to Mount St. Mary’s, Towson and struggled against D3 Lebanon Valley College just capped off a 6th consecutive win versus a Big 10 school on the road. So what clicked? What’s changed since the 1-3 start?

Shortened Bench: Paulsen has now identified his starters (Otis, Moore, Kier, Grayer, Jenkins) and is opting to rotate in Boyd, Newman and Troy with Relvao getting some additional minutes but in a limited role. That adds up to be an 8.5 man rotation which leaves off the likes of Abram (former starter), Dixon, Murrell and Tate. If you look at Mason’s first game versus Towson, Paulsen used 11 players and shot an inefficient 42% from the floor and was outrebounded 39-22. Fast forward to Penn State and excluding both Danny Dixon’s and Kam Murrell’s 1 minute of playing time, only an 8 man rotation was used and Mason shot more efficient (51%) and out-rebounded the Nittany Lions 44-29. Although a 6 game sample size may be small, the numbers don’t lie and there appears to be a correlation between the two.

Shorter Lineup: Mason’s starting lineup is ranked 322nd in the nation in terms of average height. So we’re small, very small. You would make the conclusion that a short team simply cannot compete with bigger teams on the boards. That’s where you’d be wrong. Mason has out-rebounded their opponent 5 of their last 6 games. This is an incredible feat considering we’re starting a four guard lineup and our center only stands at 6’7. Marquise Moore especially is defying conventional wisdom by leading the team in rebounding with 10.3rpg and only standing at 6’2. In fact, Moore is top 25 in the nation in rebounding. The average height of the 24 players ahead of him is 6’7. Additional kudos to freshman Justin Kier for averaging close to 6rpg at only 6’4. When asked about how Mason’s guards are out-rebounding taller lineups, Moore responded after the Mercer win “its 90-95% will, we just want it more.”

By George will be traveling up to Philadelphia for the UPenn game at the historic Palestra. Follow us at our new Twitter @ByGeorgeGMU for pictures and in-game analysis. Go Mason!

Back in the day, if we wanted to see some incoming freshmen play, We’d go to Georgetown and watch a Kenner League game over the summer. Since Mason pulled out of that summer tradition, the only way to see incoming freshmen before our first game of the season is during our open practice held every October. By George was there and here are some notes:

Freshmen
Troy- here today gone -Tamara: Probably showed the most impressive performance by any player on our team during the scrimmage. Physically speaking, Troy looked complete. Great frame, tall, moved well for his stature (6’8). Troy attacked the rim at will and had a scorer’s instinct. After seeing Troy win the dunk contest and dominate the scrimmage in front of large crowds, it appears as if there’s no moment too great for Troy. He almost thrives off of pressure and attention.

Karmari-Hello… Newman: We’ve got another short shorts guy on the team. Karmaris’ frame while thin was still lean and long perfect for a SG in the A10. He was pegged as a deep threat coming out of high school and his performance on Saturday lived up to the hype. Not only did he sink a few three’s but his form left Mason fans salivating over the thought of finally addressing our need for a sharp shooter.

Justin-where there’s smoke, there’s Kier: Not much was known about Kier coming out of Spotswood VA. We may’ve known his high school stats and seen his mixtape on twitter but it was difficult to place his role on the team. I think it’s safe to say that he will be used a quasi- PG/SG type of player who actually may see some serious minutes. Paulsen placed him with our starters during the first scrimmage game (Most likely backing up Grayer who sat due to an ankle injury) and we could see why. Kier has some length to him and can also handle the ball pretty well. I think he’s one player to keep an eye on as the season progresses. He may be an under-the-radar type of kid that may end up starting at some point.

Ian –he’s definitely not a Boy-d: When By George arrived to practice early, most of the players were already warming up. I distinctly remember thinking, wow; I didn’t know we were bringing former players back for this scrimmage. Upon closer review, that former player was actually our freshman Ian Boyd. Already dawning a full beard and a more developed body than any senior we have, Ian appears to be ready to hit the ground running. His football athleticism seemingly creeps its way into his basketball game. He jumped so high for a rebound; I thought I was witnessing AJ Green pull down a Hail Mary pass. Even on a fast break he was able to stop on a button to allow his defenders to over pursue, leading to an easy bucket.

Daniel-Relv…ah..oh..fuck it: As a redshirt freshman, Daniels strength is his overall body build. He’s big, like built Ford tough big and Mason can certainly use that this year with the departure of Shevon. Rocking two knee braces throughout the scrimmage, it was difficult to notice any hitch in his step due to his tendentious. He displayed some solid low post moves and will provide some additional depth to an already depleted position.

Other notable standouts:
Otis-Living on a prayer-ston: Otis showed up and did Otis. He’s our clear captain and just did everything right during the scrimmage. Whether it was floor management, dribbling, getting to the hoop, shooting threes, wow this kid can do it all.

Dany- VCU can suck our Dix-on: The days of little skinny framed Dany are behind us. Say hello to a more built frame which led to more confidence on the court. Will Dany ever become a massive A10 bruiser? No, but he will set screens and light you up with some finesse game including some nice jumpers and an improved hook shot.

Marquise-Gimme some-Moore: Similar to Otis, Quise delivered what we know and love. He attacked the rim and at times just scored at will. I didn’t really see any issues with his previous injuries; he had some nice spring to his step. He also might still be one of our best rebounding guards of all time.
Paisano’s Delivery Guy: Dude straight delivered like 40 pizzas. You the real MVP.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Good
-The Quick Change couple sounded pretty lame when we read it on the lineup card but wow, it was actually pretty amazing. Kudos to GMU for booking the former America’s Got Talent duo. I once saw Erik Copes rip off his warm up gear in just under a 1 second only to foul out 2 mins later.
-The dogs, again, another lame sounding performance that actually turned out to be pretty spectacular and delivered some of the loudest crowd reaction of the night. These dogs were jumping, twirling, spinning, catching Frisbees; you could make an argument that they almost stole the night. Troy at one point was holding the entire team back (a la Monmouth bench) after a dog caught a Frisbee.
-Green Machine delivered another classic opening intro. What else can you say about the nation’s number one pep band? They killed it.
-50 years of Mason Basketball. The hype video did just that, it hyped me, hard. It was great seeing clips of Mason greats coupled with some of our current players. Really put the program in perspective.
-The Dunk contest. Finally, after years of doing the same open scrimmage, we fans got to enjoy a more entertaining contest. Troy and Jai (Boogie) specifically delivered some legitimate dunks…like; I was actually kind of blown away (check out our IG for slo-mo videos). Also cool seeing Darrel Green as one of our celebrity judges, welcome to Mason Nation.

Bad
-The Dunk contest. Yes, yes, the dunk contest was awesome but it would’ve been a little better if our participants actually made a few of their dunks. Some of our freshmen had such ambitious first dunks that they couldn’t even make them in the time allotted. Maybe save the 360-windmill-behind the back dunk for the end? Oh well.
– There were some awkward transitions right? Green Machine delivers a loud, high energy performance and then…. Silence… Cough, cough……crickets……someone pick up a microphone!

Ugly
-What the hell was that choir singing at the end? I legit thought it was a funeral service and decided to bounce before they could finish. Nothing pops the season off quite like a solemn, eerie performance of Man in the Mirror performed by bunch of school children. Yikes

As the 2015-2016 NCAA basketball season comes to a close, lets look ahead to the off season and what to look for this summer/fall.

-Bye Bye Bigs, we stand to lose 20 feet 3 inches of length this coming season after Thompson, Marko and Royal all graduate this spring. Keep an eye on Relvao and his progression this off season. We’d love to see Relvao play in a summer league in hopes of shaking off some rust. Meanwhile, we’d like to see Dixon at South Side, preferably eating as much protein as possible in order to gain another 20 lbs of muscle. Unless Temara is starting out the gate, we may actually end up playing Jenkins (6′7) as our starting center.

-Freshmen 15, no not fat but 15 lbs of lean muscle for all freshmen. We hope our freshmen are training/lifting this off season so that they can have A10 bodies by fall. Freshmen are naturally always skinnier due to their age but in order to compete in A10, Mason athletics should assist in bulking up our existing freshmen class so we can fight for positioning and rebounds this fall. See Jalen Jenkins freshman vs. sophomore year.

-Pressure To Add Pressure, perhaps Paulsen is watching the tournament and seeing the benefit of a pressure defense scheme (Syracuse on UVA). It can give any team a valuable momentum shift in certain game scenarios. Mason finished as the worst team in all D1 basketball in forcing turnovers this last season. Is there a direct correlation between turnovers and success? Well, its hard to say but no tournament team finished anywhere close to the bottom of the country in turnovers. Historically, Paulsen rarely has a high turnover rate for his teams but at some point a coach needs to adjust to the modern game.

-Going Away to College, Mason fans are salivating over the recent recruiting class Paulsen is bringing in this fall. Ian Boyd and Karmari Newman have already received all-state honors in both North Carolina and Michigan respectively. Additionally, Kier and Temara are coming to Mason with just as much hype as Paulsen brings more of “his guys” to the team. Last year coach Paulsen was rushed into recruiting a very talented yet underrated crop of freshmen. Look at the success coach had with his late signings last year, and think what he can do with this group of higher rated recruits coming in.

-Kenner League of Legends. The days of GMU and Kenner League (Nike Pro Am) may have come to an end in recent years but I want my Kenner League back! Yes, it’s glorified street ball and will most likely teach players bad habits (see Bryon Allen) but it’s still an opportunity to play against some local talent and get some brand recognition in the Maryland/Georgetown heavy market. Players from Mason’s past collide with players of Masons future. Where else could you have a team named “Higher Level” that starts Will Thomas with an incoming Mason freshman. How cool is that? We loved watching freshmen from AU, GW, Georgetown and Mason all play on teams where they could be paired with an NBA player. Granted the start times, lineups and playing time are all very random from weekend to weekend but it’s hard to pass up an opportunity to see our incoming freshmen for the first time in person. So, please Mason, please bring back Kenner League, if not for the sole reason that I actually enjoy the $1 hot dogs and watching 4 hours of games consisting of randomized Mason rosters. I miss watching a “Tombs” game to see 2 Mason freshmen, then waiting 2 hours to watch “DCX” play with 1 other Mason freshman.

-How’s That Practice Facility Coming? Please break ground this summer on the practice facility. The last thing any Mason fan wants to see are delays or scaling the project down. Please don’t mess this up.