The Official "Mason, for the love of God please stop BLEEPING reaching!!" Thread

[SilkyJ]

Please post all thoughts and comments related to Mason's propensity to reach in here.

I'll start: Mason, for the love of God, please stop BLEEPING reaching!!!!

Seriously though, Mason is coming along well and I am REALLY excited about his development and game. Kid can play. He's got to stop with these dumb reach in fouls, though. Its hurting his PT (and the team) and the more PT he gets the better he's going to be by March.

You would think after doing this kinda junk for about a month the coaching staff would have shown him tape and drilled it into him to stop...

Anyway, after screaming at the TV for him to stop for about a month I thought I'd share my sentiments with 200 of my closest friends.

[dyedwab]

...need to move their feet better on defense. Instead they reach...

...this goes to a point I've thought about before... The message should be simpler. "Stay on the floor"

That means two things

1) Don't commit foolish, useless, or frustration fouls because that will force you to the bench.

2) Know your position on D, don't lose your man, and, for the love of all that is sacred in Duke Basketball, please stop reaching in.

[BlueintheFace]

Can't say I disagree

[Duke of Nashville]

Please post all thoughts and comments related to Mason's propensity to reach in here.

I'll start: Mason, for the love of God, please stop BLEEPING reaching!!!!

Seriously though, Mason is coming along well and I am REALLY excited about his development and game. Kid can play. He's got to stop with these dumb reach in fouls, though. Its hurting his PT (and the team) and the more PT he gets the better he's going to be by March.

You would think after doing this kinda junk for about a month the coaching staff would have shown him tape and drilled it into him to stop...

Anyway, after screaming at the TV for him to stop for about a month I thought I'd share my sentiments with 200 of my closest friends.

I do not have a problem with it, although I will admit I have had my moments where I throw a four letter word around and the guys, but Mason is simply trying to make a play on the ball and infact has poked it out a few times. It can slow the game down with silly fouls and potentially can even cost us a game, however; it could also win us a game.

I like it, Mason brings an certain attitude (with skills to back it) to this team that we have been missing, and with time I believe we could see more tournovers than fouls from his reaching. Dude is a freak of nature, let him learn when and where it can be affective.

[Jim3k]

Last night, though, several of Mason's fouls were in the corner where he was called for blocking as he stepped to his left to try to prevent his man from driving the baseline. That's not reaching, that's poor positioning.

[SilkyJ]

Can't say I disagree

Yea I'm certainly not the first to comment on this and this hardly an enlightening observation. Just needed to vent.

[SilkyJ]

Last night, though, several of Mason's fouls were in the corner where he was called for blocking as he stepped to his left to try to prevent his man from driving the baseline. That's not reaching, that's poor positioning.

That was Miles guarding Collins.

[allenmurray]

You would think after doing this kinda junk for about a month the coaching staff would have shown him tape and drilled it into him to stop...

It is all part of the curve of moving to a higher level of play. In High School and AAU ball Mason was so skilled compared to the competition that he could get away with this stuff. Now the level of play is a lot higher and what worked before no longer works. But since those habits developed over years, it will take a while to break them. It is much harder to unlearn something than it is to acquire a new skill. I wouldn't expect it to get substantially better until next year.

[DoubleDuke Dad]

Since we are discussing one of the Plumlees, I might as well comment on the other Plumlee.

Miles please remove the grease from your hands before you go onto the court. In the last few games it seems like you drop every ball thrown to you and fumble every rebound out of bounds.

[dyedwab]

It is all part of the curve of moving to a higher level of play. In High School and AAU ball Mason was so skilled compared to the competition that he could get away with this stuff. Now the level of play is a lot higher and what worked before no longer works. But since those habits developed over years, it will take a while to break them. It is much harder to unlearn something than it is to acquire a new skill. I wouldn't expect it to get substantially better until next year.

As I understand it, at the end of the season, Coach K meets with all his players and among the conversations is what they need to work on before the next season.

For both Miles and Mason, footwork and defensive positioning are the keys. If they improve on those (which they should - they are extremely talented and have improved as players over time), the frustrating reach-in fouls should be limited and the problem will take care of itself.

Remember when as a freshman and soph, Shelden Williams committed a lot of similar fouls - and how much he improved in his junior and senior years?

[Kewlswim]

Since we are discussing one of the Plumlees, I might as well comment on the other Plumlee.

Miles please remove the grease from your hands before you go onto the court. In the last few games it seems like you drop every ball thrown to you and fumble every rebound out of bounds.

Hi,

He is simply channeling Casey Sanders rather than, say, Carlos Boozer or Christian Laettner...there is, for the love of goodness, a solution to this...

I have no idea what it is...

GO DUKE!!

[mr. synellinden]

Last night, though, several of Mason's fouls were in the corner where he was called for blocking as he stepped to his left to try to prevent his man from driving the baseline. That's not reaching, that's poor positioning.

I thought it was more Miles who had that problem last night - especially during that sequence in which he picked up three pretty quickly while trying to guard Collins.

*** just noticed that this has already been pointed out.

[obsesseddukefan]

Since we are discussing one of the Plumlees, I might as well comment on the other Plumlee.

Miles please remove the grease from your hands before you go onto the court. In the last few games it seems like you drop every ball thrown to you and fumble every rebound out of bounds.

Just to add to the frustration of it all....please refrain from comitting 3 fouls in about 1:30...thank you.

Seriously, I think we have been playing outstanding basketball as of late. I hope I am not the only one to say that I am more than impressed with Z these last two games.

[Jarhead]

The kind of criticism in this thread is just the kind that Roy Williams would be telling the press about his players. It's pretty harsh, and probably more appropriately directed at the players by the coaching staff. They would never go public with it until they have thoroughly covered it with the players, and even then probably would not tell the press.

Let's not be like Roy. If you have something to say, put it on the coaching staff. The players are doing their best.

[1999ballboy]

The two types of fouls they make that bother me are the reach-ins on the perimeter, and the frustration fouls (especially right after they get beaten to a rebound). If they can learn to stop making those two types of fouls, then we'll be fine. The rest of the fouls will just be Zoubek-type fouls that we should expect on the interior, and as deep as we are in the middle this year, we shouldn't worry if the Plumlees pick up, say, 3 and 2 fouls a game. And even Zoubek has gotten better at not making Zoubek fouls, so hopefully the Plumlees will lessen those in the years to come.

I thought Miles caught a couple of bad breaks last night. When Collins drove on him, you could tell that Miles was trying very hard NOT to foul, but Collins was quicker and had better positioning. That wasn't the kind of thing that's going to be called every time, but quicker players can often get themselves the call. And then there was that attempted blocked shot, which I thought was all ball.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

Just to add to the frustration of it all....please refrain from comitting 3 fouls in about 1:30...thank you.

Seriously, I think we have been playing outstanding basketball as of late. I hope I am not the only one to say that I am more than impressed with Z these last two games.

I did not watch a lot of the game because I simply can't do it with my girlfriend around. I get too worked up and she gets pissed at me for being too worked up and it's just a mess. Anyway, I was looking at the boxscore and saw that Miles ended up with 4 fouls in 6 minutes!! 4 in 6!! Those are Zoubek type numbers his sophomore year. That just has to be a confidence killer for the kid. You ge ton the floor and it's just foul after foul. Better believe Miles will be doing plenty of agility drills this offseason. Can anyone tell me what types of fouls he committed? We're they at least aggressive fouls?

[hurleyfor3]

Since we are discussing one of the Plumlees, I might as well comment on the other Plumlee.

Miles please remove the grease from your hands before you go onto the court. In the last few games it seems like you drop every ball thrown to you and fumble every rebound out of bounds.

I think that's the grease Zoubek used to use. He must have given it to Miles a few games ago. (Ewwww.)

[DoubleDuke Dad]

I did not watch a lot of the game because I simply can't do it with my girlfriend around. I get too worked up and she gets pissed at me for being too worked up and it's just a mess.

Get you priorities straight and get a new girlfriend!

[obsesseddukefan]

I did not watch a lot of the game because I simply can't do it with my girlfriend around. I get too worked up and she gets pissed at me for being too worked up and it's just a mess. Anyway, I was looking at the boxscore and saw that Miles ended up with 4 fouls in 6 minutes!! 4 in 6!! Those are Zoubek type numbers his sophomore year. That just has to be a confidence killer for the kid. You ge ton the floor and it's just foul after foul. Better believe Miles will be doing plenty of agility drills this offseason. Can anyone tell me what types of fouls he committed? We're they at least aggressive fouls?

LOL I know the feeling. The last 3 girlfriends I have had, I tell them in advance what to expect when watching a game with me. It went from them either not thinking it was really that bad, or being "cute", to it becoming a reason for them to come over after we won or not. LOL. Maybe thats why I had relationship problems . I am lucky now that my current GF "understands" how I get.

As far as the fouls, IMO, I thought they were ticky tack. but I always go with the fact that if a player beats you on the drive..you are beat, and hope that help slides over to have your back.

[GODUKEGO]

Grease!!! Same could be said for Zoub, get the grease of your shoes. Plant those size 16's. In defense of Miles, anytime someone came close to Collins, a foul was called. How does one play defense in a situation like that when your opponent backs in and lowers his shoulders in driving to the basket. I recorded the game and re-played those fouls and many were very questionable.