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New Patriots impressive in debut

George Mason Basketball: New Patriots impressive in debut

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Thursday, November 05, 2009

New Patriots impressive in debut

It was only an exhibition game but the freshmen class looked good in their debut tonight. Luke Hancock, Sherrod Wright, and Vertrail Vaughns stood out the most. Hancock had 7 points, 8 assists and 4 steals, and showed that the extra year of prep school did him well. He might be this year's sixth man. Wright showed his ability to get to the rim and hit the outside jumper. The starters were as expected with Long, Cornelius, Pearson, Birdsong, and Morrison. Long didn't play much in the 2nd half, rumor was he was a little banged up in practice and missed the Georgetown scrimmage last weekend, but he looked perfectly fine in this one hitting the games first three-pointer. Andre Cornelius stole the show with his speedy moves and netted 22 to lead the Patriots. His growth this season will be huge. Wasn't too impressed with Kevin Foster, who was probably shaking off some rust from sitting out last season but did look good around the rim. In the closing minutes he flat out hammered a Virginia State player going to basket in a senseless and unnecessarily rough foul. Johnny Williams was hard to read in this game, as he looked a little lost at times but it could have been him adjusting to the high tempo. Speaking of the tempo ,you had to be impressed with the way the Patriots pushed the ball on the Trojans. We saw a couple of smaller lineups that constantly ran up and down the court, even when the Trojans were pressing. That along with shooting 60% is a great way to open the season. But I hate to say that free throws are still an issue, was is it about them and this team? Your thoughts?

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18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anyone know what happened to Cornelius

11:25 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

DJ was icing his back on the sidelines after he came out. Not sure what happened exactly.


Anybody impressed with how explosive Vertrail was? 9 points in 7 minutes. Looked like he was playing with a chip on his shoulder at times. Maybe feeling like he should have got more minutes...?

3:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A few things I noticed.

Cornelius had HUGE growth between last year and this year. It looks like he learned that even if he plays a half a step slower he is still quicker than anyone on the court, and can control the ball. VERY IMPRESSIVE.

Luke Hancock is VERY basketball savy. Smart player that creates opportunities for others around him, and himself. He will do well here.

The scramble seemed to work well for our starters.

I really don't get the Tate, Hancock, Wright front 3 grouping. No true point guard amongst them.

A lot to be excited about. It's gonna be a fun couple of years. Can't wait to see how we do in Puerto Rico, and with Creighton on the 12th of December.

8:19 AM  
Blogger Ryan said...

I think DJ is alright, looked he may have just pulled something

8:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think what impressed me the most is how comfortable each one of our starters looked with the ball. Hancock looks very ready to come off the bench, and what little bit we saw of vaughns was impressive as well (perfect from the field, arc, and the line). I side with Ryan on Williams; I thought he would have debuted more aggressively.

It'll be an exciting year, I wouldn't be surprised if we exceed expectations.

9:09 AM  
Blogger Mr. Miles said...

I was following the game on gametracker(frustrating)and I was focusing on a couple of stats. One was that we shot the same from 3 point range that we did from the free throw line. That is horrible. Great for 3 point percentage, not so great for free throws. Another stat that jumped out was the amount of turnovers 23. That is to many even for an exhibition. Lots of pluses on the game with the play of the freshmen. The negatives just might be bigger.

9:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought the freshmen looked good for their first game. They did have a lot of rough spots where they didn't seem to know what to do. I'm sure they are still just learning how to play together. I am VERY excited for this year. I think we should do well in the conference.

I don't think we got to see enough of Whack, Wright and Bennett. I can't wait to see more of them.

I agree with the comment about Tate, Hancock and Wright. I thought Hancock handled the ball a lot better that Ike. I think Ike is still lost out there on the court and really shouldn't play much. By now, you would think he would know the system better. I also think it will be another long season for Jimmy Nolan.

9:38 AM  
Blogger Ryan said...

Mooky,

did the stream I post last night not work?

Regarding Tate, I'm kinda getting frustrated again with him. He's just erratic sometimes and keeps making dumb mistakes, traveling, turnovers, etc.

9:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I tried the stream last night and it just kept showing VSU promos...

10:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cornelius cramped up
Morrison slight twist of the ankle-nothing major
Tate did better than last season but one could do nothing but improve over last season.
Starting 5 did well. Wright got more time than he deserved. That time should have been spread out amongst other freshmen and Jimmy Nolan.
Overall nice showing. Should be a good season as long as they do not allow real contenders 80+ points!!!

10:27 AM  
Blogger C Hirsch said...

Any noticeable improvement out of Birdsong, or same old same old?

Ugh, sucking at free throws. We will never get out of this.

11:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

UMM Birdsong.. Traveling, and again traveling. Where is he going? I hope his minutes come down. Coach L what is up with that 2nd unit. Ike at the point? Are you shaking off some rust?

11:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was a great first game. This team could be a real surprise but the free throw shooting and turnovers have me worried.

1:55 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I see the Ike + freshmen line-up last night as a way for coach to gauge Tate's progress. Good players should be able to show something against lesser opponents even when burdened with teammates playing their first collegiate game. Tate showed (less than) nothing and I believe his minutes this year will reflect that.

2:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Birdsong-too much driving to basket. He is so used to playing inside(comfort zone). He needs to step out and learn to spot up and shoot. This should reduce the number of turnovers.

6:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The turn overs shouldn't be reflected on too much, most of them were from ike, forced freshmen turnovers, or the press.

We don't see the press in CAA very often.

Not only did we have a fairly high percentage for 3-pointers, but we also had like 10 of them. I can't remember us having that many in one game since 05-06/06-07 years.

Our free throw shooting was awful, but I'm sure after seeing that Coach will make these guys do a couple thousand in practices. Its something each player shouldn't need to be encouraged to do, but sometimes it takes a hard hand to do it.

10:34 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Oh...except for when Dre went 10 for 10 against JMU right?

4:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

dre's 10 for 10 was a statistical anomaly. He then went 0 for 30+

4:49 PM  

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