I mean he's not wrong. He shouldn't have even started his junior year. He wasn't ever a top 5 player on any team he was on.
Although I think Larranaga eventually would have succeeded at Mason I think without Evans being dropped in his lap the gradual success turns out to be a lot less spectacular. Evans #1, guy almost single-handedly made a rebuilding project into virtually instantaneous respectability. Don't sleep on Dykes...he put up numbers essentially equal or better to Thomas, Lewis, and Pearson. In an era of better CAA post play, too...well, kind of.
Typical response from you. Saying Ike Tate isn't an all time great and bashing our current recruits is not even in same stratosphere. Its kid of funny actually, you claim to have all this basketball knowledge, you know every other teams roster up and down, you know which recruits are good and/or bad , you know X's and O's better than our head coach and then you mention Ike Tate in the all time greats thread. Makes me questions your eye for talent.
Tate is better than anyone on current roster not named AJ Wilson lol. you question my eye all you want. analytics and stats to back 80% of what I say up... and TBH I thought Cam Long and said Ike Tate.. senior moment... have some empathy for those 1/4 your age that may have similar issues
Not sure how you confuse the two but its better you meant Cam Long in your senior moment lol. Also, Ike Tate is not better than anyone on the current roster other than AJ, there are some players I would rather have than him but thats just me. Thats just my 2 cents. Tate was not really a good player until his senior year when he embraced his role of being a locked down defender and three point specialist. He also nearly cost Mason the game against Nova in 2011, but I digress.
I can certainly agree with Cam Long...he was really good. Ike Tate better than anyone not named AJ on this season roster....hard pass. I'd take both Jordan and Javon.
Thank you for adding Robert Dykes to the discussion. One of the best bigs to ever wear a Mason uniform, especially when you consider he had the knees of a 70-year-old woman.
Here are my top 10: 1. Carlos Yates 1. Kenny Sanders 1. George Evans 1. Ryan Pearson 1. Will Thomas 6. Robert Dykes 6. Rob Rose 6. Jai Lewis 9. Folarin Campbell 10. Lamar Butler
And these just missed my top 10: Tony Skinn Sherrod Wright Marquise Moore Bryon Allen Ricky Wilson Andre Gaddy Jesse Young Curtis McCants Erik Herring Jason Miskiri Nate Langley
Interesting to me that there is not a lot of Otis love on these top 10s. He ended with pretty impressive career totals.
Championships, NIT and NCAAs were a factor in my rankings. As was first team all conference. Paulsen's players haven't done well in these factors. If I were to pick between Marquise, Sherrod, Bryon or Otis, I would put Otis last due to his letdown senior season.
Agreed. The key being that Otis should have been recruited over by Dave, no way he should have started for 4 years. One case where DP stuck with a player way too long. Otis was a master of the matador defense for his entire career and killed us with a horrible senior season. Dribble, dribble, dribble, shoot, miss. Then pound his chest with a "My bad" when his guy blew by him for a lay-up.
I probably wouldn't have him in my top 10, but he'd probably make my honorable mention list. I'm just surprised that I'm not seeing his name as much in that regard is all. I'll think on it some more and put my top ten in later - only reason I haven't is because I wasn't a fan until the final 4, and I don't want to accidentally disrespect the OGs. I'll have all y'all know, this is the only bandwagon I've ever jumped on. Very glad I did, despite the letdowns post Larranaga.