Maryland at Duke - Sat, Jan 26, 1:00pm CBS

[CK86]

Damn that dunk by Mason was ridiculous.

 

[physicsfactor]

Mason is so much better when he catches and faces up to the basket instead of trying to bang with his back to the basket. I know that was a terrible shot by Mason, the 15 footer, but if he can take a couple of those it will make his face up game even better because then he can throw a head fake and blow by his man. Now when he does it, his man knows he's not going to shoot it. Even if he misses every damn one it makes him more dangerous and I think that's the big picture and what the coaches want from him.

I'm confused. Why would his defender honor the pumpfake if he knows Mason will never make that shot?

 

[rome8180]

Lol. Just a few seconds later:

 

[bdotling]

Everybody is laughing except murph who looks like he just found out Santa isn't real

 

[Dattier]

Mason's dunk was #1 on the ESPN Top 10, BUT... lest we accidentally be too happy about it... Carrick Felix was #9 w/ a matters-in-principle-only buzzer beating block of a lay-up to preserve an 18-point win over UCLA, and couldn't we have used that kind of effort at Miami, blah, blah, blah.

 

[Dattier]

/youtube

Pretty cool former players sent in videos of support after the Miami game.

Holy cow, that's a pretty amazing response following an embarrassing loss. There's probably something amazing revealed in every DBP postgame video, but this one really strikes me as powerful. I loved how Mason, Amile, and Rasheed both talked about how they're a new team now, w/o Ryan. No disrespect to Ryan, but we can't make the rest of "indefinitely" a prolonged mourning period, and it sounds like they were acknowledging that, that they have to get over it and move forward. That leads me to believe K probably went in a very different direction than the briefly rumored all-night practice, not totally blasting them so much as comforting and encouraging them. I wouldn't be surprised if he was also behind the influx of support from former players, like maybe he put the word out that he needed guys to send some encouragement.

How freakin' amazing a person is Amile? Geez, he is stepping up on the court, obviously, and he just says all the right things. Think about how that comes across to a recruit, seeing Duke get embarrassed, then hearing about how Duke is a family for life. That's a pretty solid comeback.

 

[burymeNCameron]

Mason is so much better when he catches and faces up to the basket instead of trying to bang with his back to the basket. I know that was a terrible shot by Mason, the 15 footer, but if he can take a couple of those it will make his face up game even better because then he can throw a head fake and blow by his man. Now when he does it, his man knows he's not going to shoot it. Even if he misses every damn one it makes him more dangerous and I think that's the big picture and what the coaches want from him.

I'm confused. Why would his defender honor the pumpfake if he knows Mason will never make that shot?

You still have to challenge the shot. How long do you think the coach will leave a player in who doesn't at least get a hand up and challenge the shot?

 

[Dattier]

Mason is so much better when he catches and faces up to the basket instead of trying to bang with his back to the basket. I know that was a terrible shot by Mason, the 15 footer, but if he can take a couple of those it will make his face up game even better because then he can throw a head fake and blow by his man. Now when he does it, his man knows he's not going to shoot it. Even if he misses every damn one it makes him more dangerous and I think that's the big picture and what the coaches want from him.

I'm confused. Why would his defender honor the pumpfake if he knows Mason will never make that shot?

You still have to challenge the shot. How long do you think the coach will leave a player in who doesn't at least get a hand up and challenge the shot?

Well... no, he would have to make a few here and there. And if he was willing to take it, he would indeed hit a few. He's already capable of this. Ultimately, though, it's not currently a good team shot.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

I don't think a good coach would have his players challenging Mason midrange jumpers. You give that to Duke on every possession.

 

[burymeNCameron]

I don't think a good coach would have his players challenging Mason midrange jumpers. You give that to Duke on every possession.

A good coach would want his players challenging every shot.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Not really. If you can get Duke to take a 10% shot worth 2 points on every possession, I'm pretty sure that's better than what Duke usually gets. Even the worst teams in the country would beat Duke if Mason takes that shot wide open on every possession.

You would allow Duke to score about 15 points for the entire game if you gave that shot to Mason wide open and Duke was dumb enough to keep rolling with it.

 

[burymeNCameron]

Mason is so much better when he catches and faces up to the basket instead of trying to bang with his back to the basket. I know that was a terrible shot by Mason, the 15 footer, but if he can take a couple of those it will make his face up game even better because then he can throw a head fake and blow by his man. Now when he does it, his man knows he's not going to shoot it. Even if he misses every damn one it makes him more dangerous and I think that's the big picture and what the coaches want from him.

I'm confused. Why would his defender honor the pumpfake if he knows Mason will never make that shot?

You still have to challenge the shot. How long do you think the coach will leave a player in who doesn't at least get a hand up and challenge the shot?

Well... no, he would have to make a few here and there. And if he was willing to take it, he would indeed hit a few. He's already capable of this. Ultimately, though, it's not currently a good team shot.

Some players react to the pump fake like a knee jerk reaction. If Mason can add a couple of baskets a game that he normally wouldn't get by adding something to his game I'm all for it. If nothing else it makes him less predictable.

 

[burymeNCameron]

Not really. If you can get Duke to take a 10% shot worth 2 points on every possession, I'm pretty sure that's better than what Duke usually gets. Even the worst teams in the country would beat Duke if Mason takes that shot wide open on every possession.

You would allow Duke to score about 15 points for the entire game if you gave that shot to Mason wide open and Duke was dumb enough to keep rolling with it.

I agree, I'm looking at it more from a standpoint of developing bad habits. You challenge every shot.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Well, let's say Mason makes that shot wide open at a 50% rate, which is a bit lower than his FT%, which makes sense. Let's say this is coming against the best defensive team in the country. That's 1 point per possession against Florida, whereas Duke would normally expect to score slightly under 1 ppp against Florida. So no, it wouldn't be a bad idea for Mason to try to get the defense to honor his FT-distance jumpers against a top 3 defensive team, assuming Mason hits them at 50% wide open. After the top 3 defensive teams, though, Duke is expected to score more than 1 ppp, so even if Mason hits those shots at 50% wide open, it's not a good idea.

 

[burymeNCameron]

Well, let's say Mason makes that shot wide open at a 50% rate, which is a bit lower than his FT%, which makes sense. Let's say this is coming against the best defensive team in the country. That's 1 point per possession against Florida, whereas Duke would normally expect to score slightly under 1 ppp against Florida. So no, it wouldn't be a bad idea for Mason to try to get the defense to honor his FT-distance jumpers against a top 3 defensive team, assuming Mason hits them at 50% wide open. After the top 3 defensive teams, though, Duke is expected to score more than 1 ppp, so even if Mason hits those shots at 50% wide open, it's not a good idea.

Completely agree, But if Mason can make his man come up on him 1 more step even, it gives him an advantage facing up, taking his man off the dribble and taking it strong to the basket where he is at his best.

 

[Dattier]

Right now, I think emphasizing that shot would be prioritizing Mason's individual development and draft stock ahead of the overall good of the team.

In other Mason observations, it seems he's looking to pass out of tight post defenses more. While we miss Ryan's ability to stretch the D, if Sheed, Tyler, and Quinn can join Seth as guys who command max defensive attention on the perimeter, that's 3 kick-out options at almost all times, and Alex and Amile could look to slash more, giving us a different 4th option at all times in that situation. I'm sure Ryan -- a senior -- could be a better slasher, but b/c he can also hit the 3, he just isn't, so Amile and Alex may actually give us more options out of that set.

 

[torontoduke]

Good point about shooters opening things up for Mason to dish to perimeter or cutters. The availability of driving lanes would benefit Amile and Murph a great deal.

 

[torontoduke]

Sorry - did not finish my thought: to me, Alex is way more effective cutting to the net as opposed to parking behind 3pt line. In his limited play, I have seen him do the latter far too often IMO

 

[deepdarkblue]

Sorry - did not finish my thought: to me, Alex is way more effective cutting to the net as opposed to parking behind 3pt line. In his limited play, I have seen him do the latter far too often IMO

I wonder if he hits those 3s in practice, and the coaches are telling him to take that shot. I agree with you, I'd rather he play to his strengths and not try to be Ryan Kelly II

 

[Dattier]

By the time he is a 5th year senior*, Alex will be a legit 3pt threat and well-rounded scorer. If Mason is going to pass out of the post, I like that he and Amile mean he has more options than passing to one of several 3pt shooters.

*at whatever school he is going to transfer to due to K's unfair benching of him, I mean.