George Mason Basketball: George Mason drops another home CAA game, losses to Delaware

Sunday, February 10, 2013

George Mason drops another home CAA game, losses to Delaware

George Mason never led on their home court against Delaware on Saturday and suffered their third conference home loss of the season. The Patriots last lost to the Blue Hens on their home court 11 years ago. Foul trouble was a big problem in this one and there was some very questionable officiating but the fact remains that Delaware hit their shots and Mason didn't. It was also another home game where the Patriots fell asleep on defense for stretches and yielded a ton of open looks. The offense reverted back to what we saw a lot during this season, a lot of sputtering and disarray. Essentially, Sherrod Wright had a terrible shooting day from the field and Mason just couldn't get anything going as a result. Jon Arledge started off hot but cooled down a lot in the second when play seemed to get even more choppy.

It never really seemed like Mason was in this one and they could never adjust to the flow of the game. Delaware has been the CAA's best at getting to the free throw line and they killed Mason from there. The Patriots have done a good job of getting there themselves lately but just couldn't do it enough Saturday. Even Arledge had his consecutive made free throw streak end at 22. This game was nothing new but simply a reminder that this team hasn't improved all that much since the beginning of the season. Where they go from here is a mystery and winning the CAA tournament would require them to do something they haven't been able to do all season.

I think this picture of Paul Hewitt from Saturday pretty much sums up the season...

[Photo by John Powell]

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Labels: Post Game Recaps

11 Comments:

gmu95 said...: This team is so frustrating. I'm having doubts about next season too - prior to this year I felt we'd be the prohibitive favorite to win the CAA in the '13-'14 season. However, Towson (9-4 in CAA this year) brings all starters back but one, but they gain a transfer who was a great 3 point shooter as a freshman at Vermont, averaging over 12 a game. Towson is progressing, GMU is not. Not a good feeling as a GMU fan.; 7:38 PM
StopWearingPurple said...: Delaware should be given some credit. They ran plays to get their scorers looks and knocked down the shots. They also made a lot of shots when covered. Mason put up way more threes than usual. I am not sure if that was by design or not.

Next year should be interesting. Gujanicic has lost weight, put on muscle, and continues to develop his game (but please stop hoisting threes from the top of the arc). If Arledge’s late season scoring carries over then there will be two go to scorers and the front court could be formidable. I am still worried about the back court. Also, I hope Hewitt figures out who his starters are and shortens the bench next year.; 7:36 AM
Rick Jank said...: Agree about Delaware -- losing to them didn't surprise me. I think we are especially vulnerable to teams with good teamworks skills. Crisp passing, good backside defense ... and a good sense of the game plan. Don't forget, these CAA teams have all played against the Hewitt-directed Patriots a couple of times or more now. They are game planning against us pretty well now, and our ability to adjust to that is questionable at best.; 10:14 AM
Chris Johnson said...: I'll say what every GMU fan is saying...we should have kept Jim Larranaga. Look at him down in Miami...a total team that has shocked the ACC with a 10-0 league start. Paul Hewitt's system and especially recruiting will NEVER be successful here. It wasn't successful at Ga. Tech and it won't here.; 10:23 AM
Bentley said...: I am so thankful now that I canceled my season tickets of 20+ years after Mason screwed up the Larranaga situation. Disgraceful the way it went down and I wanted nothing more to do with the program or school after the way they treated the guy that put the school on the map nationally. (no, academics didn't do that, LARRANAGA changed the school from a commuter school to a nationally known school) Now I watch this sad team on TV and realize that I did the right thing cancelling my tickets and TOC can enjoy the mess he has made. And for those of you that can remember pre-Larranaga days, they were pretty bad. With the exception of the 1988 and 1989 seasons with the talent Harrington/Rick Barnes brought in, Mason was downright horrible and now we are headed back to those days of Paul Westhead and Ernie Nester.; 11:31 AM
Bentley said...: with a solid COC coming into the league, Mason falling to the middle/bottom of the pack, and other teams rising, I would suspect Mason will routinely finish in the 7-10 area of the CAA. This program has been destroyed and needs to be rebuilt from scratch. Won't happen anytime soon with a horrible CAA power rating, bad current Mason team, etc - recruiting just took a serious nose dive.; 11:36 AM
Monèt Sutton said...: The officiating.. Ugh... Not saying that's what killed us but that definitely did not help. Have to wonder if one of those refs had something on the game...; 1:01 PM
Ed Aymar said...: We had a top tier coach and hired an average coach. Average results (middle of the pack in the CAA, middle of the pack in the ACC). Smooth move, TOC.; 1:10 PM
BP99 said...: I agree his system (or lack thereof) won't work here. I wouldn't say "especially recruting" however. He's actually a great recruiter, but that is pretty much his only strength. And it is something that over time will diminish because eventually no prospects are going to want to attend a program that is coached so poorly. What he really fails to do is in-game coaching, and adjusting to the flow of a game. The best coaches can adjust when their original plan isn't working. He simply can't do that. Most of the time it looks like 4 players stand around while the 5th milks down the shot clock then throws up an errant, low percentage shot. Obviously Jim is a better coach, but can we please move forwards instead of backwards, pining over what we lost. He's gone and isn't coming back people.; 1:30 PM
GMURULES said...: At the end of the day, this team is not getting better at all. They make no in game corrections,the offense is horrible and they stink in the second half. I am borderline done and I love Mason hoop. It is coming down to coaching, there I said it. I wasn't going to, but I did. Very disappointed, this team is better than this, esp. in a very weak CAA. Go Coach L. Win it all baby!; 4:12 PM
rosswill said...: And we are paying more money to the mediocre coach than we did to Larranaga. It is painful to watch the slow deterioration of this program.; 12:56 PM

George Mason drops another home CAA game, losses to Delaware

George Mason Basketball

Sunday, February 10, 2013

George Mason drops another home CAA game, losses to Delaware

11 Comments:

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