I hate to disappoint you. DP has a number of strengths, but this is not one of them. If a player ever moves even an inch into the passing lane - at the expense of not staying in perfect position on his man - he will be benched in a nanosecond. He believes 100% in defensive positioning and 0% in steals. During his tenure at Bucknell, their points allowed per possession were very good - except for his first two seasons and his last season - but in his final five years they may have been dead last in the nation in steals and also in turnovers by the opposition.
I am a Williams alum who has watched DP coach a large majority of his games at both Williams and Bucknell over the past 15 years.
Bison137's claim that
"If a player ever moves even an inch into the passing lane - at the expense of not staying in perfect position on his man - he will be benched in a nanosecond" is a ridiculous statement. Trust me, DP is not benching players in a nanosecond if they try to steal the ball. Bison137 is a Bucknell grad who, while a knowledgeable fan, has is own agenda in trolling message boards and stirring the pot.
DP will adjust his defensive and offensive philosophy based on the talents of his personnel. His teams value possessions, which means that he tries to limit turnovers on offense and emphasizes defensive rebounding to limit extending the opponent's possessions.
He is not looking to force a lot of turnovers on the defensive end and he is not extending defensive pressure in the passing lanes. He wants his players to contest shots and box out. He also looks to limit the opponent's ability get get easy baskets in transition. His teams are not as methodical as UVA, but there are some similarities to UVA's defensive philosophies.
On offense, he allows his guards to push the ball up the court in transition, but then he wants them to run the offensive sets rather that push it to the hoop early in the shot clock. His Williams and Bucknell teams had some excellent shooters (ie, new grad asst. Bryson Johnson) who were given the green light to take an uncontested three pointer earlier in the shot clock in transition. I have never seen Shevon Thompson play but my expectation is that if he is a good low post scorer, DP will want to get him the ball in post as part of the half-court offense.
I have no idea how the upcoming season will play out - I have not seen Mason play since its game at Bucknell in 2012. I assume there will be a lot of growing pains. If DP's past is any indication, this year's Mason team will be well prepared for every game. On the defensive end, they will play man-to-man defense, contest shots, rebound and not force a lot of turnovers. On offense, the team will play to the strengths of its personnel (which I assume will be Thompson) and it will look to limit turnovers. I think some of the freshman will need to step up.
David DeGuzman @ddeguzmanWHSV 
