In my last post I was talking about how good this team can look when all cylinders are firing on Offense. Yesterday’s 91-53 rout over Coppin State was a big example of just that, even if they weren’t facing the most formidable opponent on the schedule. Nevertheless, we got to see them control the entire game, shot over 50% on the night and go 14-for-32 on three-pointers. And hey how about those free-throws? All this while holding the Eagles to under 30% shooting and only three three-pointers on the night. Despite the fact that it may have appeared CSU had given up, it was still great to see a decisive blowout with how this season has gone for the Patriots. Have to like seeing multiple guys have success shooting from behind the arc, if nothing else it’s a confidence boost as the team ends the non-schedule slate.
With league play about to begin, I still feel like we don’t have the same Josh Oduro we did a year ago. While he certainly hasn’t looked bad it just seems like he’s not playing up to the level that he can. Really thought having Ginika Ojiako sub in for him and play solid minutes would give the needed rest in tough games to help him produce more. Maybe we will see that pay off more in the coming weeks. Mason does seem to have more options this year and maybe that is part of it, they have won some good games without needing him to dominate and I guess is a good sign overall. How that will fare in Atlantic 10 games will be a big question for the rest of the season.
Victor Bailey Jr. looks to be the obvious go-to player this season and he’s starting to really shine and shoot the ball well. We’ve seen what DeVon Cooper and Ticket Gaines are capable of and it just seems like a matter of time before they all start clicking at the same time. They will be dangerous this season on offense if they can get that going. I had thought it wouldn’t take this long to materialize but hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. Kim English seems strongly committed to keeping these three on the floor even despite some of the comments he made earlier in the year about having depth and guys being pulled if they underperforming. We’ve seen a few times where that simply didn’t happen so it will be interesting to see how this goes.
Most A-10 teams outside of Saint Louis haven’t done much to stand out during non-conference play. Which would be great it Mason can finally get their stuff together on offense and be a force in a league with a lot of question marks. I’m not ready to go there yet and say that they are until we see them go through the first week or so of conference games. Have to think they will continue to be good at home but it’s a little discouraging to see them only win one game outside of EagleBank Arena. They will be a lot of close road games that they will need to win to crack the top 4 of the A-10. They only play Saint Louis and Dayton once each and both are on the road, those could be the biggest games in terms of deciding where Mason ends up in the final standings.
