2014-2015 schedule thread

[GMURaider]

Home:

Fordham - Win - We have better athletes and talent than they do.
LaSalle - Win
Davidson - Win - Davidson will struggle with the jump to the A10
Rhode Island - Win
UMass - Win - a growing rivalry
Saint Louis - Win
Richmond - Loss
vcu - Loss
GW - Loss

Away:

Richmond - Loss
Dayton - Loss
St. Joe's - Loss
GW - Win
Bonnies - Loss
Davidson - Win
vcu - Loss
Saint Louis - Loss
Duquesne - Win

9-9 or 10-8.

We continue to struggle on the road BUT we improve at home and in OOC.

Funny. I looked at the schedule and thought our best case was the exact opposite: 8-10 (5-4 at home, 3-6 on the road).

 

[mkaufman1]

We won't win at GW, in fact I think Mason has beaten GW maybe twice all time?

Davidson I don't think will be a win either on the road. Otherwise that is probably not that far fetched of a prediction as games like URI Fordham and Lasalle at home should be winnable.

 

[JBiggs]

My prediction is that we win 7 or fewer games all season so that PH can hurry up and get his pink slip.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[gmujim92]

For starters, we don't have better talent than Fordham. How soon folks forget that they beat us both times we played last season.

Also, assuming we're going to sweep Davidson is ridiculous. Even if we have better players, which is questionable, their coach is 1 billion times better than ours. We'll be lucky to get a split.

Finally, your contention that we'll continue to struggle on the road proves you haven't been paying attention. We've been much better on the road under Hewitt than we ever were under Larranaga -- for some reason, Hewitt can't seem to win in Fairfax.

To summarize, no way in hell we get to 9-9. A winning record would be a miracle.

 

[Pablo]

Home:

Fordham - Win - We have better athletes and talent than they do.
LaSalle - Win
Davidson - Win - Davidson will struggle with the jump to the A10
Rhode Island - Win
UMass - Win - a growing rivalry
Saint Louis - Win
Richmond - Loss
vcu - Loss
GW - Loss

Away:

Richmond - Loss
Dayton - Loss
St. Joe's - Loss
GW - Win
Bonnies - Loss
Davidson - Win
vcu - Loss
Saint Louis - Loss
Duquesne - Win

9-9 or 10-8.

We continue to struggle on the road BUT we improve at home and in OOC.

While you are predicting a sweep of Davidson in its inaugural season, check out the following post on Davidson's message board:

aseRich306



Joined: 03 Feb 2011
Posts: 188
Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 2:54 pm Post subject:
BDF wrote:
Now that we know who we are playing, would someone like to set:

1. The over/under for how many conference games we will win.

2. How many conference games that we will need to win for this board to be generally satisfied with the outcome of our inaugural season?


Can't speak for the board, nor can I predict the future, but here's a season I think would be considered a success in our inaugural trip through the A10:

Home:
Win - Fordham, SBU, DUQ, Mason
Win 1 of - SLU, Richmond
Lose - Dayton, GWU, vcu

Away:
Win - Lasalle, Duq, Mason
Win 2 of - UMASS, URI, SJU, Richmond
Lose - GW, vcu

Would come out to 10-8, which I think would certainly be a season to be proud of. Could definitely come out a whole lot worse than that
Back to top

 

[JimP]

While you are predicting a sweep of Davidson in its inaugural season, check out the following post on Davidson's message board:

aseRich306



Joined: 03 Feb 2011
Posts: 188
Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 2:54 pm Post subject:
BDF wrote:
Now that we know who we are playing, would someone like to set:

1. The over/under for how many conference games we will win.

2. How many conference games that we will need to win for this board to be generally satisfied with the outcome of our inaugural season?


Can't speak for the board, nor can I predict the future, but here's a season I think would be considered a success in our inaugural trip through the A10:

Home:
Win - Fordham, SBU, DUQ, Mason
Win 1 of - SLU, Richmond
Lose - Dayton, GWU, vcu

Away:
Win - Lasalle, Duq, Mason
Win 2 of - UMASS, URI, SJU, Richmond
Lose - GW, vcu

Would come out to 10-8, which I think would certainly be a season to be proud of. Could definitely come out a whole lot worse than that
Back to top

I looked at their conference schedule from last year. 15-1, but in a pretty darn weak conference. Losing 3 starters. No way they go 10-8. I'd hope we'd get the home win against them. I think their coach is 2 billion times better than ours though, so I have my doubts about even a home win.

 

[GMURaider]

What would you call losing @ Iona (I went to that game), losing at Princeton, losing at Bucknell (I went to that game too), @ ODU, @ vcu, @ GW, or @ USF?

It has been turnovers, bad breaks, tough games on the road and some small game management areas with Hewitt.


I'll ask you POINT BLANK: If we hit a little turbulence early on will you be secretly rooting for another year from Hell just so you can get your way and get Hewitt out?


If I am wrong I will make a public post in this forum and own up to it that I went down with the ship. But if we bounce back next year...? ohohohoho don't think I won't remember buddy.

For starters, we don't have better talent than Fordham. How soon folks forget that they beat us both times we played last season.

Also, assuming we're going to sweep Davidson is ridiculous. Even if we have better players, which is questionable, their coach is 1 billion times better than ours. We'll be lucky to get a split.

Finally, your contention that we'll continue to struggle on the road proves you haven't been paying attention. We've been much better on the road under Hewitt than we ever were under Larranaga -- for some reason, Hewitt can't seem to win in Fairfax.

To summarize, no way in hell we get to 9-9. A winning record would be a miracle.

 

[GMUgemini]

What would you call losing @ Iona (I went to that game), losing at Princeton, losing at Bucknell (I went to that game too), @ ODU, @ vcu, @ GW, or @ USF?

It has been turnovers, bad breaks, tough games on the road and some small game management areas with Hewitt.


I'll ask you POINT BLANK: If we hit a little turbulence early on will you be secretly rooting for another year from Hell just so you can get your way and get Hewitt out?


If I am wrong I will make a public post in this forum and own up to it that I went down with the ship. But if we bounce back next year...? ohohohoho don't think I won't remember buddy.

All of those pale in comparison to losing at home to: South Florida, St. Joes, UMass (but won on the road), GW, St. Louis, Dayton, St. Bonnie, and Duquesne. That's 8 home losses if you weren't counting.

Of our measly 4 conference wins, three were on the road.

 

[gmujim92]

I'll ask you POINT BLANK: If we hit a little turbulence early on will you be secretly rooting for another year from Hell just so you can get your way and get Hewitt out?

If I am wrong I will make a public post in this forum and own up to it that I went down with the ship. But if we bounce back next year...? ohohohoho don't think I won't remember buddy.

I'm looking at next season as a no-lose proposition,

If we win big and Hewitt finally figures out something out that he can use to be successful going forward, that's great. I've noted a thousand times that this would be the preferred outcome.

If we lose big again, that will suck, but I'll be comforted by the knowledge that we'll certainly be getting a new coach who can put our program back on a winning path.

Regardless, as a fan base we need to do a better job of going to games and supporting the team. I get that people are unhappy with the direction of the program, but staying home as a protest of Hewitt only makes us all look like a bunch of fair-weather jackasses.

 

[GMURaider]

We agree on this.

I'm not happy with where we are at. Maybe I'm a lot more patient than I should be but we'll see how this year pans out.

The whole "stay home" thing doesn't exactly help us by having a sea of empty seats on NBC.

Regardless, as a fan base we need to do a better job of going to games and supporting the team. I get that people are unhappy with the direction of the program, but staying home as a protest of Hewitt only makes us all look like a bunch of fair-weather jackasses.

 

[gmujim92]

Honestly, a big part of why I'm glad we're no longer in the CAA is because Hewitt won't be able to weasel his way into an NCAA berth by winning 3 games in March like Matt Brady did at JMU a couple years ago.

Going to the NCAAs and winning a game was the worst thing that could've happened to JMU because it forced their admin to give him a new contract.

Now they're once again stuck in the land of suck, and large swaths of their fans want Brady gone. But they're stuck with him and his new deal.

Hewitt will need to prove he deserves an extension by the team's performance over the course of an entire season in a top-7 league. IMHO, anything less than a .500 A-10 record in 2014-15 means he should be on his way out.

 

[gmutom]

Honestly, a big part of why I'm glad we're no longer in the CAA is because Hewitt won't be able to weasel his way into an NCAA berth by winning 3 games in March like Matt Brady did at JMU a couple years ago.

Going to the NCAAs and winning a game was the worst thing that could've happened to JMU because it forced their admin to give him a new contract.

Now they're once again stuck in the land of suck, and large swaths of their fans want Brady gone. But they're stuck with him and his new deal.

Hewitt will need to prove he deserves an extension by the team's performance over the course of an entire season in a top-7 league. IMHO, anything less than a .500 A-10 record in 2014-15 means he should be on his way out.

Completely agree with this, Jim — especially the analogy about Brady. Our new AD will have a short leash since Hewitt's not his guy, so this is his make-or-break year to show he can get the program going back in the right direction.

Maybe being desperate to save his job will force him to try some new things. Winning at home, like Gemini pointed out, would be a heck of a start.

 

[psyclone]

This is an "overview" article that appears on the masonhoops main page, but thought it was worth placing on the message boards in case people missed it:

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...-is-the-a-10-headed-for-a-down-year-in-14-15/

Has us predicted for next-to-last.

 

[GMUgemini]

This is an "overview" article that appears on the masonhoops main page, but thought it was worth placing on the message boards in case people missed it:

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...-is-the-a-10-headed-for-a-down-year-in-14-15/

Has us predicted for next-to-last.

We will finish behind Davidson. We might not finish last, but there's no way McKillop's team finished behind Hewitt's.

 

[Walter]

We will finish behind Davidson. We might not finish last, but there's no way McKillop's team finished behind Hewitt's.

Yep. A good coach with average talent will beat a bad coach with slightly above average talent.

 

[Pablo]

Mason has an unconfirmed home game vs. Bill Courtney and the Cornell Big Red - see http://cornellbasketball.blogspot.com/2014/05/glimpse-at-cornells-2014-2015-opponents.html.

 

[933127]

This is an "overview" article that appears on the masonhoops main page, but thought it was worth placing on the message boards in case people missed it:

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspo...-is-the-a-10-headed-for-a-down-year-in-14-15/

Has us predicted for next-to-last.

I read the article as well. I am going to have to agree with the author, most of the A10 teams even the new member such as Davidson will be rebuilding in the 2014-2015 season. The past two years have been a major success for the A10. More than half of the teams would make the NCAA or NIT.

It includes this past season. Lots of the teams were loaded with talented and experienced players. The A10 experience the other teams had is one of the reasons why Mason finished next to last just this past season. But the other half of the blame has to be placed on Hewitt and his stagnant offense and lagged defense. The A10 2014-2015 is definately going to be a down year and I predict only 3 or 4 will make NCAA and 1 or 2 make NIT.

But again based on Hewitt's past records it suggest the following things. When Hewitt is able to recruit and load his roster with talented players, the talented players were able to make plays happen and cover up/make up for Hewitt's flaws in his coaching. However based on Hewitt's past record there is also the tendency for dissapointing underperformance and a burn out. We have already seen this during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 season.

However with the A10 being in a down year most likely, and the upgrade in talent maybe just maybe this Mason squad can exploit it and make a NIT or NCAA happen. But it all depends on whether Julian Royal, Therence Mayimba, Eric Lockett, Shevon Thompson, Patrick Holloway, or even Jalen Jenkins can step up.

The article has Mason predicted to finish next to last. Seems pretty harsh, I honestly don't see that happening with so many A10 teams rebuilding. Worst case scenario in my opinion: Mason finishes in the middle of the pack. The predictions tend to hold no value anyways. Recall that the predictions for the 2013-2014 had La Salle making NCAA again, St. Joseph's and Dayton finishing in middle, and GW near last place. The end result had Dayton,GW, and St. Joseph's making NCAA. La Salle did not make it to any postseason tournaments and the 4 guards-1 center thing didn't work as well as it did in 2012-2013.

Even if Mason does suprise everyone with a NCAA or NIT in 2014-2015, Hewitt should not be given a new contract, based on his past at Georgia Tech. The last thing we want is to have the same problem JMU is having with Matt Brady: Get a fancy new contract for making the NCAA out of dumb luck and going straight back to losing again.

 

[masonjoe]

I read the article as well. I am going to have to agree with the author, most of the A10 teams even the new member such as Davidson will be rebuilding in the 2014-2015 season. The past two years have been a major success for the A10. More than half of the teams would make the NCAA or NIT.

It includes this past season. Lots of the teams were loaded with talented and experienced players. The A10 experience the other teams had is one of the reasons why Mason finished next to last just this past season. But the other half of the blame has to be placed on Hewitt and his stagnant offense and lagged defense. The A10 2014-2015 is definately going to be a down year and I predict only 3 or 4 will make NCAA and 1 or 2 make NIT.

But again based on Hewitt's past records it suggest the following things. When Hewitt is able to recruit and load his roster with talented players, the talented players were able to make plays happen and cover up/make up for Hewitt's flaws in his coaching. However based on Hewitt's past record there is also the tendency for dissapointing underperformance and a burn out. We have already seen this during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 season.

However with the A10 being in a down year most likely, and the upgrade in talent maybe just maybe this Mason squad can exploit it and make a NIT or NCAA happen. But it all depends on whether Julian Royal, Therence Mayimba, Eric Lockett, Shevon Thompson, Patrick Holloway, or even Jalen Jenkins can step up.

The article has Mason predicted to finish next to last. Seems pretty harsh, I honestly don't see that happening with so many A10 teams rebuilding. Worst case scenario in my opinion: Mason finishes in the middle of the pack. The predictions tend to hold no value anyways. Recall that the predictions for the 2013-2014 had La Salle making NCAA again, St. Joseph's and Dayton finishing in middle, and GW near last place. The end result had Dayton,GW, and St. Joseph's making NCAA. La Salle did not make it to any postseason tournaments and the 4 guards-1 center thing didn't work as well as it did in 2012-2013.

Even if Mason does suprise everyone with a NCAA or NIT in 2014-2015, Hewitt should not be given a new contract, based on his past at Georgia Tech. The last thing we want is to have the same problem JMU is having with Matt Brady: Get a fancy new contract for making the NCAA out of dumb luck and going straight back to losing again.

Very difficult for me to think Mason can all the sudden get out of the A10 basement. Pretty much ever other program is in a better place right now.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Mason has an unconfirmed home game vs. Bill Courtney and the Cornell Big Red - see http://cornellbasketball.blogspot.com/2014/05/glimpse-at-cornells-2014-2015-opponents.html.

Looking forward to Hewitt putting us in a passive 2-3 zone against an Ivy League basement team, blowing a 15-point lead but still winning by five, as if that were some sort of accomplishment.

 

[GMUgemini]

Looking forward to Hewitt putting us in a passive 2-3 zone against an Ivy League basement team, blowing a 15-point lead but still winning by five, as if that were some sort of accomplishment.

Well the alternative is a high pressure man/to-man that gets back door cut to death and a layup line ensues, which has us down at 20 at the half.