Post by hawaii bill on Nov 24, 2013 19:59:57 GMT -5
Entering December we are 2-2, with a loss in our first game and a loss at Kansas. Would like to be 3-1, but 2-2 is satisfying to me. Obviously if George Mason can have a decent year in A-10 play, that will be good RPI win. And Kansas is a good RPI loss.
In December we will play 7 games, 5 on the road. Our homes games are against Marist and St. Bonaventure. Road games v. Fla. Gulf Coast, Fairfield, Dayton, Nevada, N. Iowa. According to Ken Pom, these are all winnable games. According to him, we are a 7 point underdog at Dayton and that is the biggest disadvantage we have. We have a three game road trip at the end of the month Dec. 19th through 28th, Dayton, Nevada, N.Iowa.
Would like to see this team defend its home court and take the Marist and St. Bonaventure games. It won't be easy. This team needs to continue to put in the work, share the ball and work on defense.
If we can take two of the four OOC road games I think that'll give us a good OOC result. That would make us 5-4 OOC, with 7 of the games having been on the road.
OOC is nice this year, but we're hoping mostly to gel and prepare for the MAAC, IMO. Would like to see Robinson and Hines continue to get some minutes. What I don't want to see is Laury and Sean worn out by the middle of February. Seven games in December, a lot of travel. I want to see this team bond and develop together and play with poise and confidence. With all the road games, we're probably going to get a lot of "interesting" calls. Want to see this team keep its composure, not fight with the refs, and take the attitude of that being just one more challenge to overcome.
And for me, my challenge is just to relax and enjoy the ride.
Last Edit: Nov 24, 2013 20:28:50 GMT -5 by hawaii bill
Nice post Bill. Think your formula is spot-on, and also realistic. Beyond just wins and losses these are some of my big goals for the Gaels in December:
1. Isaiah Williams gets his confidence up and starts to feel comfortable in his new role as a D1 star. 2. Sledge and Gomez close to 100% healthy by end of month. 3. Robinson and Hines contributing 15 quality and important minutes per game by end of month. 4. Starting lineup and bench roles pretty much set for rest of season. 5. Go at least .500 in games decided by 2 possessions or less. Be nice to show that we can pull out some nailbiters to build confidence as we head into 2014.
Feel your elation and prognosis but that Mason team will be lucky to beat anyone. If so,we would go undefeated in the A-10. We should get a RPI boost for Kansas but not from "This " George Mason team.
GMU is solid. Maybe not top of A-10, but mid pack is not out of the questioners. Stars aligned in our favor yesterday, and we made a good team look bad. That's all.
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unowho, over the years I've learned that a team is never as good as they look on a great day or as bad as they look on a terrible day. GM was 4-0 for a reason, even if three (??) of the wins were at home. A pretty good team defends their homecourt. I think that they are better than they looked on Saturday. We'll see as it's a long season.
unowho, over the years I've learned that a team is never as good as they look on a great day or as bad as they look on a terrible day. GM was 4-0 for a reason, even if three (??) of the wins were at home. A pretty good team defends their homecourt. I think that they are better than they looked on Saturday. We'll see as it's a long season.
Agree. I just was not impressed with that Mason team compared to past teams. When we play fast and work consistently on defense we will be hard to stop, especially if we get gomez and sledge back to keep the pace. If we can get Robinson to play with the intensity that Hine's did we will be even better. When you are in a position such as what they are, you come into the game hungry and aggressive because those minutes are usuall a rest/foul trouble for one of the starters, so play your balls off.
And then Hewitt calling timeouts when the game was clearly out of reach as though he had a 26 point play to draw up on the whiteboard.(funny) And BTW if Big Jeff was there to watch/evaluate Wright, he should spend more time at Iona because there were several Gaels better than him. JMO
Entering December we are 2-2, with a loss in our first game and a loss at Kansas. Would like to be 3-1, but 2-2 is satisfying to me. Obviously if George Mason can have a decent year in A-10 play, that will be good RPI win. And Kansas is a good RPI loss.
In December we will play 7 games, 5 on the road. Our homes games are against Marist and St. Bonaventure. Road games v. Fla. Gulf Coast, Fairfield, Dayton, Nevada, N. Iowa. According to Ken Pom, these are all winnable games. According to him, we are a 7 point underdog at Dayton and that is the biggest disadvantage we have. We have a three game road trip at the end of the month Dec. 19th through 28th, Dayton, Nevada, N.Iowa.
Would like to see this team defend its home court and take the Marist and St. Bonaventure games. It won't be easy. This team needs to continue to put in the work, share the ball and work on defense.
If we can take two of the four OOC road games I think that'll give us a good OOC result. That would make us 5-4 OOC, with 7 of the games having been on the road.
OOC is nice this year, but we're hoping mostly to gel and prepare for the MAAC, IMO. Would like to see Robinson and Hines continue to get some minutes. What I don't want to see is Laury and Sean worn out by the middle of February. Seven games in December, a lot of travel. I want to see this team bond and develop together and play with poise and confidence. With all the road games, we're probably going to get a lot of "interesting" calls. Want to see this team keep its composure, not fight with the refs, and take the attitude of that being just one more challenge to overcome.
And for me, my challenge is just to relax and enjoy the ride.
Well said Bill. If Robinson or Hines can even be serviceable, it would go along way. Laury is indispensible.
Post by hawaii bill on Nov 25, 2013 21:19:11 GMT -5
Thanks Chels. Mason plays Princeton either tonight or tomorrow so maybe we'll get a better read on them. They were missing two bigs against us so I think we caught them at the right time, not to take anything away from how well we played. Maybe when they return Mason will pick up some nice wins in conference.
This team has shown hints that the sky is the limit this year but yes we will know a lot more about them after these 7 games in December:
7-0: At large potential with 17-3 plus Maac record 6-1: Long shot bubble team, NIT at large 5-2: NIT bubble,even favorites for Maac title 4-3: Maac top 3 3-4: Maac top 5 2-5: Fight to avoid play in 1-6: Maac play in 0-7- Not happening
I am predicting 5-2 which includes upset win at Dayton, losses on road to N Iowa and either Nevada, FGCU, St Bonnie or Fairfield.
I think Manhattan and Iona will be dead even for first. I could see 6-1. This team is long, athletic, can shoot and even plays a little Defense. I think its going to be Cluess's second best team and I wouldn't be stunned for it to finish as his best. "March to the Garden!"
Last Edit: Nov 26, 2013 13:59:39 GMT -5 by Joebird
Good stuff Joebird. Still way too early for projections I know, but RPI Forecast has an interesting breakdown of probabilities for our record this season. Looks like 20-9 and 21-8 are the two most likely scenarios. I would sign for either in a heart beat right now. www.rpiforecast.com/teams/Iona.html
Good stuff Joebird. Still way too early for projections I know, but RPI Forecast has an interesting breakdown of probabilities for our record this season. Looks like 20-9 and 21-8 are the two most likely scenarios. I would sign for either in a heart beat right now. www.rpiforecast.com/teams/Iona.html
If you look at the estimated spreads it has for all games remaining we are only underdogs in 4 games the rest of the way: @ dayton, @ Northern Iowa, @ Quinnipiac(really pick-em) and @ Manhattan. So if we were to win all favored and lose all underdogs we would be 23-6. 5-4 in OOC but 18-2 in the Maac, which I have to believe would win the Maac and get us the automatic NIT bid if we were to lose in Maac tourney. However, as bad as the Maac is, I still have to think 18-2 is nearly impossible.
I know some of you hate this early speculation, but I find it fun. Now god forbid if Laury were to go down with an injury, these forecasts would drastically change.
Joebird, not for nothing, but our game with the Bonnies is at Hynes.
I know I just included St Bonnie as one of the possible other losses with the other road games. Basically I think its a game we probably will win but could be one of the "other" (in addition to N Iowa) losses.
Post by hawaii bill on Dec 8, 2013 20:09:52 GMT -5
Well December couldn't have started any better. We're 2-0 in the MAAC and have a stunning OOC win. Obviously we've got things to work on still, but what team doesn't? This week we get another A-10 team in our building, this one a little better than the last. Let's have a good week of practice and take it to them.
Last Edit: Dec 8, 2013 21:08:43 GMT -5 by hawaii bill