2019 Recruiting

[GMUgemini]

I wonder if Chase Paar will open his recruitment back up after GW’s coaching change? I know we offered. Don’t know much else about him other than he’s a big man.

Chereef Knox still available?

Haven’t seen Knox make a decision. Blakney is still available too.

 

[Five Two]

Would love to see it but it honestly doesn’t make sense for us next year. I like seeing grad transfers when we are one piece of the puzzle away from making a run. I think we’re about 3-4 pieces away, id rather see us bring in a true freshman.

Given that we aren't athletic enough, I'd take a grad transfer who is probably going to be physically ready to play than an 18 year old. unless we are getting a true freshman like Zion W. But thats not happening.

 

[GSII]

We are f**ked. And my biggest concern about DP has come true. Cant recruit and he admitted it. There is no excuse for bringing in low mid major players to the A10. There is no excuse when DP falsely claims Reuter is an all conf player then cant run up and down the court to start a season that included games in Spain and 20 extra practices. No excuse. It's been 4 damn years!

 

[mkaufman1]

Given that we aren't athletic enough, I'd take a grad transfer who is probably going to be physically ready to play than an 18 year old. unless we are getting a true freshman like Zion W. But thats not happening.

Jordan pierce from w and m is looking to grad transfer. 6’7 wing who can fill it up. No idea what he’s looking for however.

 

[GSII]

Jordan pierce from w and m is looking to grad transfer. 6’7 wing who can fill it up. No idea what he’s looking for however.

Prob tired of green and gold. Mediocrity too.

 

[sleeperpick]

Jordan pierce from w and m is looking to grad transfer. 6’7 wing who can fill it up. No idea what he’s looking for however.

Just need to sign his teammate Knight and I won’t scream at paulsen to resign for the first three games next year. That’s a promise

 

[Five Two]

I think we can all agree we want that last scholarship used and not carried to next year, correct?

 

[GMUgemini]

I think we can all agree we want that last scholarship used and not carried to next year, correct?

Yes. We could use a stretch four or another shooter or I’d take a grad transfer point guard who can score.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Yes. We could use a stretch four or another shooter or I’d take a grad transfer point guard who can score.

Fill the scholarship, but I’ve got to disagree on your target list. If we’ve ( and DP) acknowledged that athleticism is a problem, I’ve got to think that’s the targeted priority. Let’s face it, we’re not winning anything next year. No need to waste a scholarship on a grad transfer (especially the kind that we could realistically get). Find a raw, physical player and develop him if we have to. No more soft/stretch 4s and 5s. No more great high school shooters that don’t translate to college (although I blame the offensive design).

Reefy Knox and Daddy Haidara would be good. They at least seem to have good physical attributes. Then we just have to hope that Greene, Hartwell, Douglas-Stanley, etc. can fulfill their shooting promise.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Jordan pierce from w and m is looking to grad transfer. 6’7 wing who can fill it up. No idea what he’s looking for however.

https://thespun.com/college-hoops/justin-pierce-transfer-william-mary-options

Seems like he’s a bit out of our league.

 

[mkaufman1]

https://thespun.com/college-hoops/justin-pierce-transfer-william-mary-options

Seems like he’s a bit out of our league.

Yeah not surprising at all. I just thought he’d be a potential fit in the sense of the fact he’s obviously a hard worker, not an academic problem and could definitely fill a role as an athletic wing with size and length who can fill it up.

That said take a number along with everyone else who may be interested.

 

[GMUgemini]

Fill the scholarship, but I’ve got to disagree on your target list. If we’ve ( and DP) acknowledged that athleticism is a problem, I’ve got to think that’s the targeted priority. Let’s face it, we’re not winning anything next year. No need to waste a scholarship on a grad transfer (especially the kind that we could realistically get). Find a raw, physical player and develop him if we have to. No more soft/stretch 4s and 5s. No more great high school shooters that don’t translate to college (although I blame the offensive design).

Reefy Knox and Daddy Haidara would be good. They at least seem to have good physical attributes. Then we just have to hope that Greene, Hartwell, Douglas-Stanley, etc. can fulfill their shooting promise.

But we don't have a single player on this roster who can play power forward the way Paulsen wants them to play. Mar shouldn't be a 4, neither should Miller. I said turn AJ into one, but that would be a two year project probably.

As for point guard, we can hope Hartwell can start or Xavier Johnson can come in and start right away, or Kier or Greene can move over to that spot, or we can get a guy who can slide in for one year while we continue to develop another point guard.

I don't think Chereef Knox or Haidara move the needle one way or the other on this roster. We've actually got a bunch of 6'4-6'6 guys on this roster right now (Kier, Boyd, Miller, Mar, AJ) who are sort of nebulous in where they can play (meaning who knows where they should be playing).

Two year project for me is to move Miller to the 2, Mar to the 3, AJ to the 4, have Hartwell or Johnson pulling the strings and some big body down low making life miserable for opposing 5s (whether that's Calixte or someone new, I don't know).

In the meantime, we can still pretend to play small ball with a bunch of wings playing PF in a traditional offense, I guess.

 

[GSII]

Who has Grayer been contacted by?

 

[FreeGunston12]

But we don't have a single player on this roster who can play power forward the way Paulsen wants them to play. Mar shouldn't be a 4, neither should Miller. I said turn AJ into one, but that would be a two year project probably.

As for point guard, we can hope Hartwell can start or Xavier Johnson can come in and start right away, or Kier or Greene can move over to that spot, or we can get a guy who can slide in for one year while we continue to develop another point guard.

I don't think Chereef Knox or Haidara move the needle one way or the other on this roster. We've actually got a bunch of 6'4-6'6 guys on this roster right now (Kier, Boyd, Miller, Mar, AJ) who are sort of nebulous in where they can play (meaning who knows where they should be playing).

Two year project for me is to move Miller to the 2, Mar to the 3, AJ to the 4, have Hartwell or Johnson pulling the strings and some big body down low making life miserable for opposing 5s (whether that's Calixte or someone new, I don't know).

In the meantime, we can still pretend to play small ball with a bunch of wings playing PF in a traditional offense, I guess.

Mar is too slow to be a 3. And I don’t see him being any more fleet of foot coming off the injury. At times, he has been a walking turnover on the wing. Regardless, I think he’s still a Paulsen favorite and best-suited to play the 4.

Miller should play the 3, not 2, with time at the 4 if needed. His shot is a bit slow and I’m not sure that he’s ready to guard opposing 2s. Moving him to the 2 would also create a logjam of guards next season.

I’m fine with AJ at the 4, if he can earn minutes there. That leaves Calixte, Reuter, Oduro at the 5. We would likely need all 3 to contribute to move AJ and Miller down a position.

For the 1, you pointed out 4 different options. Why then would we consider adding a grad transfer? We are not a starting point guard (Otis) away from winning the A-10. Add 1 and you basically retread this season. No thanks.

I think Knox and Haidara are upgrades athletically for the future. I’m not worried about them contributing next year. Out of those two, I’d favor Haidara because I do see Knox as more of a tweener 3/4. If we can add an athletic 4 or 5, even better.

Either way, the staff is going to have to make some interesting personnel decisions. A lot of which will be dependent on whether Hartwell will be the starting 1.

My Ideal Depth Chart:
1: Kier, Hartwell, Johnson
2: Greene, Douglas-Stanley
3: Miller, Boyd
4: Mar, AJ, (Recruit?)
5: Calixte, Reuter, Oduro

No doubt the rotations would see Douglas-Stanley with very few minutes again.

 

[p8triotfan4life]

Any idea to see if we are making any progress towards signing Daddy Haidara?

 

[Dawgs99]

Mar is too slow to be a 3. And I don’t see him being any more fleet of foot coming off the injury. At times, he has been a walking turnover on the wing. Regardless, I think he’s still a Paulsen favorite and best-suited to play the 4.

Miller should play the 3, not 2, with time at the 4 if needed. His shot is a bit slow and I’m not sure that he’s ready to guard opposing 2s. Moving him to the 2 would also create a logjam of guards next season.

I’m fine with AJ at the 4, if he can earn minutes there. That leaves Calixte, Reuter, Oduro at the 5. We would likely need all 3 to contribute to move AJ and Miller down a position.

For the 1, you pointed out 4 different options. Why then would we consider adding a grad transfer? We are not a starting point guard (Otis) away from winning the A-10. Add 1 and you basically retread this season. No thanks.

I think Knox and Haidara are upgrades athletically for the future. I’m not worried about them contributing next year. Out of those two, I’d favor Haidara because I do see Knox as more of a tweener 3/4. If we can add an athletic 4 or 5, even better.

Either way, the staff is going to have to make some interesting personnel decisions. A lot of which will be dependent on whether Hartwell will be the starting 1.

My Ideal Depth Chart:
1: Kier, Hartwell, Johnson
2: Greene, Douglas-Stanley
3: Miller, Boyd
4: Mar, AJ, (Recruit?)
5: Calixte, Reuter, Oduro

No doubt the rotations would see Douglas-Stanley with very few minutes again.

I like the idea of Miller and Mar playing together....although I think Mar is better suited for the 3. If he has to play the 4 to be on the court with Miller than so be it. I like to remember how well Mar played as a freshmen and forget his early season sophomore struggles.

 

[sleeperpick]

I like the idea of Miller and Mar playing together....although I think Mar is better suited for the 3. If he has to play the 4 to be on the court with Miller than so be it. I like to remember how well Mar played as a freshmen and forget his early season sophomore struggles.

Just a question for the Mar go play the 3 guys in this group. Have you all seen him dribble the basketball!?? If you checked yes, you really want him to play on the wing outside? If you checked yes again, Are you kidding me?!?

 

[GSII]

Just a question for the Mar go play the 3 guys in this group. Have you all seen him dribble the basketball!?? If you checked yes, you really want him to play on the wing outside? If you checked yes again, Are you kidding me?!?

Nobody said he was running Point. I like him and Miller on the wing b/c they can defend and rebound. Both need to work on shooting but Mar doesn't need to drive. Miller is fast enough to slash to the basket.

The bigger problem we have is identity. For the past 4 seasons, our defensive identity was man to man defense in a pack line style. But we more often than not looked like we just hoped they would miss instead of applying pressure or changing defenses to disrupt the opponent.

Offensively, we just gave the ball to Otis b/c we thought we owed it him. Btw, this loyalty alone prob cost us a lot of recruits. All for what? For him to stuff his stats and then be a no show in last year while Lil Dave makes another outrages proclamation that he is top 5 Mason player of all time. That's bullshit. Gabe Norwood was better and he didn't even start. ACorn, Cam Long, Price, Raul Heinen, all better IMO. Remember how many A10 teams we used to beat with OCM? All the aforementioned players were also on rosters with bigger, thicker, more athletic players vs what we are seeing now. My mind is blown that Lil Dave cultivated such bad rosters to compete in this league. Anyway, back to the offense. Go back to traditional big with post moves. Not enough good players to play like Golden State.

 

[GMUgemini]

No way would I put Norwood over Otis. He was a great defender, but he pretty much could only score on alley-oops with consistency. Acorn is arguable, he was a better athlete, but he was just as streaky and didn’t facilitate at all. Cam Long disappeared against more athletic teams too (Ohio State?) All of these guys had better overall rosters. What would Otis be like if he had Jalen Jenkins for all four years, for example (Look at his sophomore season for what he could have been this year with a more complete roster around him).

I wish we’d stop trashing our players so much.

 

[Masonfan3]

No way would I put Norwood over Otis. He was a great defender, but he pretty much could only score on alley-oops with consistency. Acorn is arguable, he was a better athlete, but he was just as streaky and didn’t facilitate at all. Cam Long disappeared against more athletic teams too (Ohio State?) All of these guys had better overall rosters. What would Otis be like if he had Jalen Jenkins for all four years, for example (Look at his sophomore season for what he could have been this year with a more complete roster around him).

I wish we’d stop trashing our players so much.

I love Otis but he thrived when he had to be "the guy" so I don't know if he would have been any better if we had a better overall roster. This year was arguably his worst year and was probably our best roster over the past 4 years. Having said that, Otis will go down as one of the best players in Mason history and I really appreciate all he did over the past 4 years and I wish it would have ended with him being able to dance this year.. I would love to see him back on the bench in some role as I think he is a great young man, leader, and could be a hell of a coach.