The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly…The Dre Magnifique Edition

If we were to place Dre Smith’s NCAA-record ten-for-ten performance from three-point land into the “Good” section, we couldn’t look ourselves in the mirror. That would be like calling George Mason’s Final Four run “impressive.”

As an homage to Smith’s performance, we’re going to abandon the “bad” and “ugly” portion of the GBU today and focus on the good. Besides, we could all use a dose of goodness, huh?

I made it home in time from the ODU/VCU non-thriller to see most of Smith’s performance. In case you missed it, Smith hit every three-pointer he attempted in leading Mason to a 96-75 win over JMU on Saturday. Smith wasn’t hitting garden-variety, toes-at-the-line treys. Many were bombs, and some were well defended. A few were both. What’s more, Smith has now made 17 of 18 in his past two games against the Dukes. Mason defeated JMU in the CAA quarters last year, and Smith’s only miss was a desperation shot clock-ending heave.

The Good

Mason’s overall performance. John Vaughan scored 20 points–his 10th straight double-figure game. The Patriots shot greater than 65% from the field for the game and crushed the Dukes once JMU got the lead to seven with about six minutes to play.

The Convo Center was Electric Zoo-ish in atmosphere, even on a rough evening. It’s been a long time coming.

VCU stormed out of the gates in Norfolk (23-7 in the first eight minutes), led by Eric Maynor and Jamal Shuler. Other than a late run, ODU was down by more than 12 points for most of this game. Both Shuler (26 points, 11 rebounds) and Maynor (26 points, 10 assists) finished with double-doubles.

Hofstra is quickly becoming the team nobody wants to play. With Agreatio completely taken away, the Pride still manhandled Drexel 67-58. Charles Jenkins took a step towards Freshman of the Year with 21 points, and the Pride finally got some offense from Playstation Johnson. Dane Johnson could be the most improved player from November to January. His 17 points and 8 rebounds were a factor.

The importance of the Agudio numbers? Going into the Drexel game, Agudio had 1,959 career points. The rest of the Hofstra roster had a combined 1,352 points. Production from elsewhere makes teh Pride very dangerous.

I Am Sam McMahon can play on my team any day. The erstwhile Delaware senior went from 35 minutes and a starting spot to spot (and zero) minutes when midseason transfers became eligible. However injuries and foul trouble brought him off Monte Ross’s bench Saturday for 14 points in 35 minutes. Yes, the Hens lost to Nor’Easter, but that effort from a kid who could’ve given up merits attention.

For the winners, Cap’n Matt showed signs of life, leading the Huskies with 20 points and seven assists. Poor Bill Coen slept much better Saturday night.

The Seahawks get the D back after holding down Ga State to 21% second half shooting in a 68-61 win. Most importantly, it was a gritty win, something UNCW hasn’t exactly shown to date. Don’t look now, but The Dub is 4-3 and ramping up its performance.

Vladie Kools nets 16 and 15, but grabs six offensive rebounds. Who lit that fire? More on Vladie here.

You can shoot poorly and win, if you play great defense and take care of the basketball. That’s exactly what the Tribe accomplished in its 61-51 win over Towson. W&M turned the ball over only eight times and held the Tigers to 33% shooting.

Four Tribesmen were in double figures and none were named David Schneider. Put a sticky note on that one…

JMUs Terence Carter continues to be in the Top Three Best CAA Players Nobody Talks About.

~ by mglitos on January 21, 2008.