That was quite the performance Mason put on Hofstra last night. The kiddies seemed to have every answer and fairly drubbed the Pride. Not many rocks thrown when you shoot 56% from both two and three. The Patriots have two straight road wins and are looking awfully tough.
It’s also another roadie win in the CAA, where we may be close to changing the mantra from “win at home and steal a few on the road” to “warm up the bus and drive around your hometown.”
Two significant notes, and we’ll move on. First, Cam Van Winkle appears to be in fine form. Long put up 27 points, seven assists, and only two turnovers and played generally studly throughout the contest.
I could be wrong, but perhaps Jim Larranaga was using the entire nonconference slate to experiment with his team. He knew what CAA: LAMM whined about in early December–moving Long to the wing and giving the offense to Andre Cornelius is his best option. Maybe Larranaga planned this move over the summer because he wanted to see some things in games that weren’t as important as conference road games.
The second item is the end-game. Hofstra fans are rankled that Ryan Pearson threw up (and swished) a three with 38 seconds to play in a 16-point game.
To me, that may be sketchy and it may not. Personally, I have no problem with it. Pearson is a kid, an emotional kid who sometimes doesn’t make the best decisions, and he was playing in front of a bunch of family members. He gets a pass. Pearson is a kid playing basketball and having fun. It’s what they should do for goodness sake. I say have at it. Heck, I’ll even give Pearson 40 minutes and as many shots as he wants–it was a homecoming and the kid should soak it up.
The angst I’ll completely buy into is why the heck Mason had three starters on the floor in the final minute of a high-teens victory. That’s very bad form. Coaches get credit for putting their kids in a position to win games, so they should also own it when they make a mistake and put their kids in a position to make them look bad.
January 20th, 2010 at 11:34 am
I also found it interesting that after the game, Pecora was quoted as saying something in the neighborhood of “Well, that’s Mason.” Was he referring to the fact that Mason has consistently waxed his team since the Tony Skinn incident or that Coach L is known to be a bit smug and willing to run it up?
January 20th, 2010 at 11:54 am
I would be the first one to call out Larranaga if I thought he was trying to rub Hofstra’s noses in crap; that kind of stuff is not only unsportsmanlike, it’s unnecessary and puts forth a negative image of your program, players and coaches. I don’t think that was the case, mostly because Hofstra didn’t have enough healthy bodies last night to empty the bench once the game was clearly out of reach, and Mason’s starters were struggling to stop them even after Chuckie fouled out.
Hofstra never really surrendered. It seemed like the game was hanging in the balance between an 8-12 point margin for most of the second half and the Pride was one good run away from being right in it. Mason kept Hofstra at bay by keeping the starters in the game and answering buckets with buckets. If Larranaga had gone deep into the bench even by the 3-minute mark, he probably would’ve had to put the starters back in just to keep the lead. Who knows what happens at that point?
I’m sure if he had it to do over again, Larranaga probably would’ve gotten the starters out with a minute left. The game was over at that point. But every coach’s first responsibility is to his own team — cue Herm Edwards’ YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!! — and the opposition’s feelings come in a distant second.
January 20th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
… or the bench players aren’t yet where Coach wants them to be. Not making excuses, just hypothesizing.
January 20th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
[...] much at the end of the GMU-Hofstra game resulted in one team “running up the [...]
January 20th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Jim–I completely agree your starters are in the game late if the lead is 10 with 3 minutes, but it was 16 with three minutes to play, and worse, three starters on the floor at the end.
Juice–the bench players get better in games by playing in games. Every coach will tell you about the huge difference in practice and games.
Coach–definitely a little of both.
January 20th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
[...] too bad, I’ll try to work up something pregame. But for now, I’ll leave you with this nugget from last night’s action in Hempstead, where things turned icy at the end of the Patriots’ blowout victory. Share and [...]
January 20th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
WHAT? Pearson was more than likely shooting another three (which, he can hit – that’s what we should be talking about) for the many hometown fans in attendance. He could have just as easily missed. He didn’t. Good for him – he had a great game, again.
Yes, maybe the starters should have been out. To be honest, I was thinking that myself. I agree with Jim – HU was still fighting to the end, so why pull the starters when the game was still on? Chaz Williams was hitting nearly ever three he threw up as well. I admired their never-say-die attitude.
So, Mason is supposed to just give up to make the Pride and Pecora feel better? Pecora…it’s “nuts” that he doesn’t have more to worry about…I guess a desperate coach will try anything to motivate his suffering team to play better…he’s now let his team give up career-highs to guys from VCU and Mason over the past week…and they’re a defensive team?
January 20th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Mason has two guys that can bring up the ball, Cam and DJ. DJ got pulled with over a minute to go and Hofstra was still pressing… who do you want to bring the ball up? Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Not trying to do that Gunnie. I guarantee you the back of the Mason bench goes to the scorer’s table and Hofstra doesn’t press. You’ve seen enough games to know that’s how these kinds of games play out.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
I posted this on the Zone earlier and I’ll just restate it here:
On the surface, criticisms of our starters still being in the game that late seem to have merit, but this is a team that was finally playing with confidence for a full 40 mins on the road. Coach L probably wanted them to play the whole thing out, and it isn’t like we really need to get our freshmen more minutes, those that are going to contribute have seen plenty.
Perhaps it’s rationalization, perhaps not. I think the argument can be made either way with each team seeing it from their side. But the team was playing confidently and ending the game with confidence is good for a young team’s psyche.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:10 am
I guess Mason is supposed to assume the game is over when Charles Jenkins goes out of the game with five fouls. Hmmm. I guess the rest of the HU players don’t have it in them to play til the closing buzzer. Interesting.