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  1. #701
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    Mar 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by CDu View Post
    Agree that Mason could be huge next year. But I think you again are mistaking the system last year if you don't think Coach K stressed feeding the post. He made that a goal last year. He said it numerous times in the preseason. The team even made a concerted effort early on to get him the ball.
    If last season was an example of the coaching staff stressing feeding the post, they did a horrible job.

    Just getting him the ball, and getting him the ball in the low post are two different things.

    If I was a Duke coach, Mason would be setting up shop at the charge line under the basket. Not outside the lane as he did all season. When he received an entry pass, he would be be benched if he put it on the floor. He'd turn and shoot quickly or kick it out, but he would not put it on the floor and he would work hard on getting good low position.

    Last season, Mason rarely got the ball low enough where he could just turn and shoot. He would use his dribble, because he would receive the pass too far from the hoop, (where he was setting screens). He is plenty quick and strong enough to move along the baseline and seal his defender that would be trying to front him. I think most teams would even have to double team him. He just needs two moves, a drop step and a jump hook to go along with his excellent rebounding and transition game.

    It is crazy that after three years, an athletic 6'10 250lb junior big has not got a single reliable low post scoring move, much less two.

  2. #702
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    San Francisco, CA
    Can't help but think of how good Mason was when Kyrie was here. The chemistry they had and Kyrie's ability to find him cutting or in transition show the kind of player Mason can be. Granted, they were alley oops and not post moves, but it does show how productive MP2 can be with a good PG who distributes. Add to that a good post move or 2 this offseason and I think we'll be fine.

  3. #703
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    Feb 2007
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    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Wheat/"/"/" View Post
    If last season was an example of the coaching staff stressing feeding the post, they did a horrible job.

    Just getting him the ball, and getting him the ball in the low post are two different things.

    If I was a Duke coach, Mason would be setting up shop at the charge line under the basket. Not outside the lane as he did all season. When he received an entry pass, he would be be benched if he put it on the floor. He'd turn and shoot quickly or kick it out, but he would not put it on the floor and he would work hard on getting good low position.

    Last season, Mason rarely got the ball low enough where he could just turn and shoot. He would use his dribble, because he would receive the pass too far from the hoop, (where he was setting screens). He is plenty quick and strong enough to move along the baseline and seal his defender that would be trying to front him. I think most teams would even have to double team him. He just needs two moves, a drop step and a jump hook to go along with his excellent rebounding and transition game.

    It is crazy that after three years, an athletic 6'10 250lb junior big has not got a single reliable low post scoring move, much less two.
    And yet he does. And this is for a kid where it was well documented by scouts that he had no back to the basket game coming out of high school. Mason may be athletic in that he can jump high but his coordination with his feet is still pretty bad. He also has a difficult time finishing in traffic as his moves are still slow - mostly due to the feet. I actually don't think Mason is very quick at all. Despite this we are talking about a double figure scorer here with a bad ft percentage.

    Without a true point, K tried to use the high post in pick and roll situations. Many times this worked well, many times it didn't. Simply setting up a big man on the low block over time stagnates the movement of shooters on the perimeter. And we had some really good shooters.

    I would have liked to have seen more post ups as you suggest. But I also realize the makeup of this team and many others Duke has had for most of the past decade. Having a point guard around to keep the ball moving inside and out further opens up the lane for closer postups. Then there is UNC's offense without Kendall, which still had the benefit of an entire frontcourt with lottery talent, but stagnated. So before you criticize the offense realize this one that hasn't had an actual point guard distributor since 2004.

  4. #704
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    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Wheat/"/"/" View Post
    If last season was an example of the coaching staff stressing feeding the post, they did a horrible job.

    Just getting him the ball, and getting him the ball in the low post are two different things.

    If I was a Duke coach, Mason would be setting up shop at the charge line under the basket. Not outside the lane as he did all season. When he received an entry pass, he would be be benched if he put it on the floor. He'd turn and shoot quickly or kick it out, but he would not put it on the floor and he would work hard on getting good low position.

    Last season, Mason rarely got the ball low enough where he could just turn and shoot. He would use his dribble, because he would receive the pass too far from the hoop, (where he was setting screens). He is plenty quick and strong enough to move along the baseline and seal his defender that would be trying to front him. I think most teams would even have to double team him. He just needs two moves, a drop step and a jump hook to go along with his excellent rebounding and transition game.

    It is crazy that after three years, an athletic 6'10 250lb junior big has not got a single reliable low post scoring move, much less two.
    I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're so used to UNC's talented big men that you have a very skewed view, thinking all big men are capable of the same things.

    Mason really isn't as talented as you describe. He's neither quick nor strong nor fluid, but he IS a good leaper, and I could see how that might trick non-nuanced observers. Most importantly, he doesn't have touch. Duke has helped him develop some touch on his hook shot, and he might've even turned a corner with his free throw shooting this season (70% from mid-Janary on , but it's still a work in progress. Mason only scored 15ppg his senior year in high school and should not be expected to perform offensively at the same level as someone like Zeller, who scored 33 ppg his senior year of high school. They just don't have the same God-given abilities.

    That said, Mason has gotten better every year, improving from a 4/3 guy his freshman year to a 7/8 guy his soph year and now an 11/9 guy his junior season, with offensive ratings that progressed from 98 to 103 to 107 respectively. Like you, I think he would be poised for a very nice senior season, something like 14/10 with 110+ offensive ratings going by his previous progressions.

    The biggest key is to continue getting reps up so the touch on his hook can go from semi-reliable to reliable his senior season with more range on the shot, which is key for him because I don't think he has the strength or perhaps center of gravity to maintain deep post position (biggest adjustment opponents made on him this season was to use their leverage to drive him off the blocks).

    But who knows if he'll stay.

  5. #705
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    Feb 2007
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    Hudson Valley
    Quote Originally Posted by Zeke View Post
    I hope so. However, my question was do you know any of our players in recent years that are science majors? Also, do you know who it was who majored in physics and graduated with a 4.0 gpa? I think it was about 1990
    Jay Buckley, who played for Vic Bubas, got a Ph.D. in Physics. i was a physics major about 5 years later and the profs in the department were still in awe of his accomplishments.

    However that is irrelevant to the current discussion.

  6. #706
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    Jan 2009
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    Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Quote Originally Posted by Wheat/"/"/" View Post
    If last season was an example of the coaching staff stressing feeding the post, they did a horrible job.

    Just getting him the ball, and getting him the ball in the low post are two different things.

    If I was a Duke coach, Mason would be setting up shop at the charge line under the basket. Not outside the lane as he did all season. When he received an entry pass, he would be be benched if he put it on the floor. He'd turn and shoot quickly or kick it out, but he would not put it on the floor and he would work hard on getting good low position.

    Last season, Mason rarely got the ball low enough where he could just turn and shoot. He would use his dribble, because he would receive the pass too far from the hoop, (where he was setting screens). He is plenty quick and strong enough to move along the baseline and seal his defender that would be trying to front him. I think most teams would even have to double team him. He just needs two moves, a drop step and a jump hook to go along with his excellent rebounding and transition game.

    It is crazy that after three years, an athletic 6'10 250lb junior big has not got a single reliable low post scoring move, much less two.
    I agree with CDu in that the team did stress getting the ball in the post early on, but obviously went away from that as the year progressed, rightly or wrongly.
    I also agree with you that getting him the ball and getting him the ball in the key are two different things and I agree Mason (as well as Miles and Ryan) would do better if they could get the ball in deeper. That was never a strength or focus of the team. Since our perimeter players weren't great at feeding the ball into Mason when he was posting up with a man on his back, I think it would have been even less likely that they would be able to get the ball inside to our post players with the perfect timing required to get them the ball on the move in the key consistently.
    I also agree that he is plenty quick and strong enough to seal his defender and that teams would have to double him. I thought VTech did a really nice job defending Duke in the ACC tournament, where they crowded all three point shooters, doubled Austin and Curry off high screens (as did FSU and Lehigh) and doubled Mason whenever he got the ball in the post. Smart strategy, IMO, as without Kelly and with our guards not looking for the screeners and little ball movement, this was an effective defensive st
    rategy with the team the last few games.
    Quote Originally Posted by jipops View Post
    And yet he does. And this is for a kid where it was well documented by scouts that he had no back to the basket game coming out of high school. Mason may be athletic in that he can jump high but his coordination with his feet is still pretty bad. He also has a difficult time finishing in traffic as his moves are still slow - mostly due to the feet. I actually don't think Mason is very quick at all. Despite this we are talking about a double figure scorer here with a bad ft percentage.

    Without a true point, K tried to use the high post in pick and roll situations. Many times this worked well, many times it didn't. Simply setting up a big man on the low block over time stagnates the movement of shooters on the perimeter. And we had some really good shooters.

    I would have liked to have seen more post ups as you suggest. But I also realize the makeup of this team and many others Duke has had for most of the past decade. Having a point guard around to keep the ball moving inside and out further opens up the lane for closer postups. Then there is UNC's offense without Kendall, which still had the benefit of an entire frontcourt with lottery talent, but stagnated. So before you criticize the offense realize this one that hasn't had an actual point guard distributor since 2004.
    I agree that Mason has had some footwork issues, but I think he has improved on this a bunch in his time at Duke and certainly enough that I wanted the ball into him as much as possible. I also disagree a bit about Mason's quickness. I think he is quick for a center and still managed to usually get good shots and position when he got the ball outside and his defender knew he was not shooting so would not crowd him.

    I think you make a good point about the number of good shooters on this team and the focus went away from post play to trying to get good looks for our shooters, which were probably the team's most efficient shots in the half-court.

    I don't think the team needs a Kendall Marshall or Duhon to get the ball inside. I would definitely consider Nolan and Scheyer as distributors and think you could say that for Paulus early on as well. Scheyer and Paulus may not have been creators, but they were distributors who got the ball inside. I also feel that with a typical Duke motion offense (though the offense changes each year, there is usually better ball movement than there was at the end of this year) many players have opportunities to make good entry passes to the post and the team does not need a penetrating point guard, though that is of course a bonus.

    I also agree very much with Troublemaker that Mason's skills are not the same as Zeller's. UNC has been fortunate that they have had some players that have been excellent at establishing great position, getting the ball and putting up a quick shot. I immediately think of Jamison, Hansbrough and Zeller, who all excelled at that. I haven't seen that from Mason yet, though hopefully we will next year.

  7. #707
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    Feb 2008
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    20 Minutes From The Heaven That Is Cameron Indoor
    Quote Originally Posted by Wheat/"/"/" View Post
    If last season was an example of the coaching staff stressing feeding the post, they did a horrible job.

    Just getting him the ball, and getting him the ball in the low post are two different things.

    If I was a Duke coach, Mason would be setting up shop at the charge line under the basket. Not outside the lane as he did all season. When he received an entry pass, he would be be benched if he put it on the floor. He'd turn and shoot quickly or kick it out, but he would not put it on the floor and he would work hard on getting good low position.

    Last season, Mason rarely got the ball low enough where he could just turn and shoot. He would use his dribble, because he would receive the pass too far from the hoop, (where he was setting screens). He is plenty quick and strong enough to move along the baseline and seal his defender that would be trying to front him. I think most teams would even have to double team him. He just needs two moves, a drop step and a jump hook to go along with his excellent rebounding and transition game.

    It is crazy that after three years, an athletic 6'10 250lb junior big has not got a single reliable low post scoring move, much less two.
    No offense Wheat, but there is a lot of hyperbole in your post. By your own admission, you only saw a handful of Duke games, mostly the big ones. Up until the first UNC game, Duke made a concerted effort to get the ball to Mason and he had success, including against big frontlines. During that time, the only thing preventing Mason from averaging 15 or 16 points a game was horrid foul shooting. Mason certainly has more that one post move. He was good with the baby jumphook with both hands, as well as a more conventional hook/jumphook with his right hand. In the Virginia game, and a couple of others, he was effective catching it at the left side of the foul line and driving hard to the basket to finish or draw fouls.

    He also scored on baseline moves with reverse layin's or dunks. Up until the 2nd week of Feb, Mason was having a really good year, with the exception of the free throws. Ironically, he improved greatly at the foul line from late Feb on, but Duke stopped going inside and started relying heavily on the 3-Ball. The lone exception was the last UNC game, where Mason had one of his better games of the year, almost exclusively in the 2nd half, where he took it to Zeller and Henson time and time again, scoring 17 points on 7/13 shooting in just 24 minutes.

    It is fair to say that from the first UNC game until the end, Duke stopped going to the post, and started relying too heavily on 3 Point Shooting. The talking heads on the media ran with that, but it was not reflective of the entire year.

    To suggest that Mason has not developed in his 3 years, and does not have a single post move is just a ridiculous statement to make, and not even close to reality.

  8. #708
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    Feb 2007
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    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Newton_14 View Post
    No offense Wheat, but there is a lot of hyperbole in your post. By your own admission, you only saw a handful of Duke games, mostly the big ones. Up until the first UNC game, Duke made a concerted effort to get the ball to Mason and he had success, including against big frontlines. During that time, the only thing preventing Mason from averaging 15 or 16 points a game was horrid foul shooting. Mason certainly has more that one post move. He was good with the baby jumphook with both hands, as well as a more conventional hook/jumphook with his right hand. In the Virginia game, and a couple of others, he was effective catching it at the left side of the foul line and driving hard to the basket to finish or draw fouls.

    He also scored on baseline moves with reverse layin's or dunks. Up until the 2nd week of Feb, Mason was having a really good year, with the exception of the free throws. Ironically, he improved greatly at the foul line from late Feb on, but Duke stopped going inside and started relying heavily on the 3-Ball. The lone exception was the last UNC game, where Mason had one of his better games of the year, almost exclusively in the 2nd half, where he took it to Zeller and Henson time and time again, scoring 17 points on 7/13 shooting in just 24 minutes.

    It is fair to say that from the first UNC game until the end, Duke stopped going to the post, and started relying too heavily on 3 Point Shooting. The talking heads on the media ran with that, but it was not reflective of the entire year.

    To suggest that Mason has not developed in his 3 years, and does not have a single post move is just a ridiculous statement to make, and not even close to reality.
    Mason suffered inordinately from the lack of anything resembling a play-making point guard. Seth Curry led Duke with 2.4 assists per game, an astonishingly low total to lead a team. Mason just didn't get the ball where and when he needed it on a regular basis. Either Thornton makes dramatic improvements in that part of his game or Cook needs to win the PG spot. One of those has to happen next year for Duke. Has to.

  9. #709
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    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Mason suffered inordinately from the lack of anything resembling a play-making point guard. Seth Curry led Duke with 2.4 assists per game, an astonishingly low total to lead a team. Mason just didn't get the ball where and when he needed it on a regular basis. Either Thornton makes dramatic improvements in that part of his game or Cook needs to win the PG spot. One of those has to happen next year for Duke. Has to.
    Agree 100% Jim. Somebody on the floor needs to be able to get the big guy the ball on time and in the right spot. Cook is the more likely solution to that. I did not realize the 2.4 number led the team. That is a sad state of affairs.

  10. #710
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    Feb 2007
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    Deeetroit City
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Mason suffered inordinately from the lack of anything resembling a play-making point guard. Seth Curry led Duke with 2.4 assists per game, an astonishingly low total to lead a team. Mason just didn't get the ball where and when he needed it on a regular basis. Either Thornton makes dramatic improvements in that part of his game or Cook needs to win the PG spot. One of those has to happen next year for Duke. Has to.
    So totally agree. NONE of our guards seemed to create an open passing lane with their ball-handling. Rivers could create a driving lane, but more because of his first step than with the dribble.

    Mason is developing in the post, more strength and practice on footwork will help, but a season of being a top option on offense would REALLY help in terms of confidence and experience.

  11. #711
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    Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    Mason suffered inordinately from the lack of anything resembling a play-making point guard. Seth Curry led Duke with 2.4 assists per game, an astonishingly low total to lead a team. Mason just didn't get the ball where and when he needed it on a regular basis. Either Thornton makes dramatic improvements in that part of his game or Cook needs to win the PG spot. One of those has to happen next year for Duke. Has to.
    I recall Mason looked a lot like the second-coming of Kareen Abdul Jabbar when Kyrie was around early last season. To some extent it might have been the weaker early season competition that elevated Mason's play, but a lot of it had to do with having a stellar PG feeding him. Now, asking for anything approaching Kyrie next season would be like asking for the best steak in town when, more than likely, Outback would do. I'm not confident Tyler will make that jump. On the other hand, I'm squarely in the camp that thinks Quinn will improve significantly and allow Mason to truly shine (if he's still around).

  12. #712
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    Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Quote Originally Posted by dukedoc View Post
    I recall Mason looked a lot like the second-coming of Kareen Abdul Jabbar when Kyrie was around early last season. To some extent it might have been the weaker early season competition that elevated Mason's play, but a lot of it had to do with having a stellar PG feeding him. Now, asking for anything approaching Kyrie next season would be like asking for the best steak in town when, more than likely, Outback would do. I'm not confident Tyler will make that jump. On the other hand, I'm squarely in the camp that thinks Quinn will improve significantly and allow Mason to truly shine (if he's still around).
    I am like many in that I kind of expect that Cook would be the one to make the defensive jump so that he can play more minutes and create some more opportunities and get the ball in the post more. I think I may be underrating Tyler's chances to be able to improve enough in getting the ball into the post, beating his man every once in awhile to create another passing lane and hitting a few more runners and open jumpers. I have often voiced my preference for other players to play ahead of him (especially Andre), but he did start 19 games this year, communicates well, is a very good off the ball defender and, I thought, improved his on the ball defense immensely this year. I wonder if Tyler may surprise many of us and make the improvements necessary to help the team's ball movement and keep his starting position.

    Since that was completely off-topic, let me add that I hope Tyler and Cook are both part of the reason that the team moves the ball much better for the whole year next year and that Mason gets a lot more touches inside and in good scoring positions.

    Since that was completely off topic, let me add that hopefully the team's ball movement improves greatly so that Mason gets a lot more touches in scoring positions

  13. #713
    Quote Originally Posted by dukedoc View Post
    I recall Mason looked a lot like the second-coming of Kareen Abdul Jabbar when Kyrie was around early last season. To some extent it might have been the weaker early season competition that elevated Mason's play, but a lot of it had to do with having a stellar PG feeding him.
    No offense, but while Kyrie was around early last season, Mason had one (1) game in which he scored more than 10 points. If you take out the Marquette game, he averaged 8.4 ppg in 25.7 mpg, on 54.8% shooting (after Kyrie got injured, Mason shot 58.8% for the rest of the season). In those early games (even including Marquette), he shot an abysmal 41.2% from the free throw line.

    So, while his game against Marquette was somewhat epic, in the other 7 games with Kyrie he shouldn't have reminded anybody of Jabbar, or of any above-average big man. I'm sure having Kyrie in the lineup helped Mason, but the idea that Mason was some sort of superstar with Kyrie is more or less a myth.

  14. #714
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    Quote Originally Posted by Newton_14 View Post
    Agree 100% Jim. Somebody on the floor needs to be able to get the big guy the ball on time and in the right spot. Cook is the more likely solution to that. I did not realize the 2.4 number led the team. That is a sad state of affairs.


    Glad to see a number of the 5 to 8 pitchfork guys speak up about this which was one of the primary problems with the team this yr...the inability to make appropriate entry passes at the appropriate time, the inability to make the pass on the pick and roll or the inability to hit the wings open on the pick and roll...2.4 assists led the team...never seen a Duke team quite like this one...they brought a lot of joy during the season but also a lot of frustration at the way they played down the stretch. Kelly's loss is really no excuse, imo. Wonder what the assists where in each of the months of December/January/February and March?

  15. #715
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kedsy View Post
    No offense, but while Kyrie was around early last season, Mason had one (1) game in which he scored more than 10 points. If you take out the Marquette game, he averaged 8.4 ppg in 25.7 mpg, on 54.8% shooting (after Kyrie got injured, Mason shot 58.8% for the rest of the season). In those early games (even including Marquette), he shot an abysmal 41.2% from the free throw line.

    So, while his game against Marquette was somewhat epic, in the other 7 games with Kyrie he shouldn't have reminded anybody of Jabbar, or of any above-average big man. I'm sure having Kyrie in the lineup helped Mason, but the idea that Mason was some sort of superstar with Kyrie is more or less a myth.
    Some other myths: Wojo can't coach big men because he isn't tall enough and played guard 15 years ago; Tyler Thornton is quite a bit better than Kendall Marshall because he had a couple of good games against him in high school; Austin Rivers is a selfish basketball player; Tyler Zeller is soft and injury-prone; Duke wasn't worthy of a #2 seed this year; Duke had a bad year this year; where a team finishes in the NCAA tournament is an exact reflection of how good that team was over the course of the year.

  16. #716
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kedsy View Post
    No offense, but while Kyrie was around early last season, Mason had one (1) game in which he scored more than 10 points. If you take out the Marquette game, he averaged 8.4 ppg in 25.7 mpg, on 54.8% shooting (after Kyrie got injured, Mason shot 58.8% for the rest of the season). In those early games (even including Marquette), he shot an abysmal 41.2% from the free throw line.

    So, while his game against Marquette was somewhat epic, in the other 7 games with Kyrie he shouldn't have reminded anybody of Jabbar, or of any above-average big man. I'm sure having Kyrie in the lineup helped Mason, but the idea that Mason was some sort of superstar with Kyrie is more or less a myth.
    I never take offense when I am appropriately proven wrong. I think I may have taken the Marquette experience and smeared it across the entirety of that phase of the season in my memory. My bad. Thanks for the correction.

  17. #717
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    Quote Originally Posted by NSDukeFan View Post
    Some other myths: Wojo can't coach big men because he isn't tall enough and played guard 15 years ago; Tyler Thornton is quite a bit better than Kendall Marshall because he had a couple of good games against him in high school; Austin Rivers is a selfish basketball player; Tyler Zeller is soft and injury-prone; Duke wasn't worthy of a #2 seed this year; Duke had a bad year this year; where a team finishes in the NCAA tournament is an exact reflection of how good that team was over the course of the year.
    Also, it seems year after year that there are recruits among the small cohort still available who are granted mythical abilities that will ensure that they "save" our program from demise. Kind of like the last girl left at the side of the dance floor in middle school - more and more desirable by the minute.

  18. #718
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    Quote Originally Posted by Newton_14 View Post
    No offense Wheat, but there is a lot of hyperbole in your post. By your own admission, you only saw a handful of Duke games, mostly the big ones. Up until the first UNC game, Duke made a concerted effort to get the ball to Mason and he had success, including against big frontlines. During that time, the only thing preventing Mason from averaging 15 or 16 points a game was horrid foul shooting. Mason certainly has more that one post move. He was good with the baby jumphook with both hands, as well as a more conventional hook/jumphook with his right hand. In the Virginia game, and a couple of others, he was effective catching it at the left side of the foul line and driving hard to the basket to finish or draw fouls.

    He also scored on baseline moves with reverse layin's or dunks. Up until the 2nd week of Feb, Mason was having a really good year, with the exception of the free throws. Ironically, he improved greatly at the foul line from late Feb on, but Duke stopped going inside and started relying heavily on the 3-Ball. The lone exception was the last UNC game, where Mason had one of his better games of the year, almost exclusively in the 2nd half, where he took it to Zeller and Henson time and time again, scoring 17 points on 7/13 shooting in just 24 minutes.

    It is fair to say that from the first UNC game until the end, Duke stopped going to the post, and started relying too heavily on 3 Point Shooting. The talking heads on the media ran with that, but it was not reflective of the entire year.

    To suggest that Mason has not developed in his 3 years, and does not have a single post move is just a ridiculous statement to make, and not even close to reality.
    I'm sure I didn't see as many games as you guys, but I saw most of the conference games.

    I like Mason. He can make some nice moves, and yes he has gotten better, but nowhere near where I think he should be.

    Duke had plenty of guard skills to feed the post. What they lacked was the commitment to do so, plain and simple, and it cost this team an early exit.

  19. #719
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kedsy View Post
    No offense, but while Kyrie was around early last season, Mason had one (1) game in which he scored more than 10 points. If you take out the Marquette game, he averaged 8.4 ppg in 25.7 mpg, on 54.8% shooting (after Kyrie got injured, Mason shot 58.8% for the rest of the season). In those early games (even including Marquette), he shot an abysmal 41.2% from the free throw line.

    So, while his game against Marquette was somewhat epic, in the other 7 games with Kyrie he shouldn't have reminded anybody of Jabbar, or of any above-average big man. I'm sure having Kyrie in the lineup helped Mason, but the idea that Mason was some sort of superstar with Kyrie is more or less a myth.
    Ha...that's some good massaging of the stats. I could just as easily say that in the games before Kyrie's injury, Mason was great; if you take out the Princeton game, he averaged 11.8 ppg and scored in single digits only two (2) times. However, in the games immediately following the injury, Mason had point totals of 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 14, 0, 3, 5, 7, 0. While Mason started coming back on towards the end of the season after that stretch, it's hard to say that there wasn't a very noticeable drop-off there.

    I think we can agree that the Abdul-Jabbar comparison isn't appropriate though.

  20. #720
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wheat/"/"/" View Post
    I'm sure I didn't see as many games as you guys, but I saw most of the conference games.

    I like Mason. He can make some nice moves, and yes he has gotten better, but nowhere near where I think he should be.

    Duke had plenty of guard skills to feed the post. What they lacked was the commitment to do so, plain and simple, and it cost this team an early exit.
    But see, the last statement is what shows you did not see them enough to make an accurate statement, or you just saw what you wanted to see. I, and many others, saw every single game including China, and the pre-season exibitions, CTC, and many of those in person. The commitment was there from August through the end of January. The guards were abysmal at feeding the post. If you read beyond my post you quoted, you saw that Seth led the team with 2.4 assists per game. We did not have a single guard on the team save possibly Cook, that could effectively get Mason and Miles the ball at the right time and in the right place. That's fact, not hyperbole.

    A lot of things led to the Lehigh loss. The team went into a funk during the 2nd half of the Wake road game, and never came out of it. The Kelly injury was the straw that broke the camel's back. They fought like heck in the ACC tourney and mucked their way to one win and one close loss to FSU on sheer will power and defense.

    Agaisnt Lehigh the funk was still present, but the fight and will power shown in the ACC Tourney was not present. Mason went 9 for 9, despite being doubled and tripled team on most every touch, especially in the 2nd half. That he did not get more touches, was a combination of the aforementioned lack of feeding the post skills, and guards dribbling around for days on the perimeter and then settling for contested jumpshots. The guards were also tight as heck which has a huge impact on the ability to hit shots.

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