To your broader point though, Mason hasn't been able to nab any consistently dominant players since joining the A-10. No guys that are gonna make 1st or 2nd team all conference for 2-3 years of their career. Maybe one of the current freshman will develop into that. Who knows?
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To your broader point though, Mason hasn't been able to nab any consistently dominant players since joining the A-10. No guys that are gonna make 1st or 2nd team all conference for 2-3 years of their career. Maybe one of the current freshman will develop into that. Who knows?
Damn, 18 &17. Bet no Mason fans were surprised by that. Nowadays, we've got some guys capable of huge games, but not doing so on a consistent basis. It's a pleasant surprise when a guy like Oduro goes off against vcu. Dominant performances were expected out of a guy like Thomas. Think I took a guy like that for granted back then.
DP has made half a million/year for the shit product he's produced. I think the gods have been more than fair to him.
Yep, thats the issue we all have and dumbfounding we haven't had any stud players in over 8 years and hurts to see the vcu's, St. Bonny's, Davidsons pulling in top tier talent consistently in order to compete in this league and with such a big DMV talent rich area in our backyard. How can we not get good players and develop them.... all comes down to coaching and player recruitment and developing these guys. All areas we are piss poor at since joining the A-10. Ughhhhhh
Will Thomas was pretty much automatic that year, even against Notre Dame when the team got buried.
Jordan Miller was quietly consistent this year, double digits in 16 of 20 games, score 20+ in three of them. Problem is no one else on the team was consistent enough with him.
The team has never had a full starting 5 and this was the year I thought they finally had one, but then AJ disappeared, XJ disappeared and we're back to a 4 guard lineup with no point guard and an undersized center. I can't really imagine next year being any different unless we get a miracle comeback of XJ (or Polite makes a big leap forward his sophomore year and takes over the point, or Gray comes in and is the point guard starter from day one), and some major unexpected development out of Frazier, Dady, and/or Henry, and/or Paulsen actually recruits at least one (probably 2) impact transfers.
I feel like that ship has already sailed. If you were going to fire the coach, it would have happened by now.
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Yep, Dave’s back next year, the only question is do we extend him or lame duck? Lose lose situation.
Guys, it'll be a ghost extension. Brad's not stupid. They'll publicly announce a one year extension and will leave out the details of how the buyout has been dramatically reduced or removed altogether.
gemini, I usually agree with most of your basketball knowledge and analysis, but I honestly don't get comments like this. Other than Shevon Thompson, when was the last time Mason had a 6-9, 230 pound center? Granted, Oduro will never be Will Thomas and has deficiencies on both ends (like every other non-P5 center), but I think he has exceeded every realistic person's expectations the last two years — especially averaging 10 points and 6 board in 23 minutes as a sophomore.
I completely agree with those who think Josh lacks the killer instinct that guys like Will and Jai had when it comes to defense and rebounding, but he is without question the most skilled big man we have had offensively since Ryan Pearson. And if Oduro actually had a coach who was savvy enough to run our offense through him rather than around him, he and our team would be much more productive.
There are a dozen problems we can point to with this roster in terms of talent, size and depth, but the least of our concerns right now is the starting center position. In fact, assuming that Wilson and Greene don't return, Oduro along with Miller and Kolek are the only three givens on this roster next year.
Tom, Oduro wasn't starting once we went to four guards, AJ was. I liked what I saw from Oduro, too, but he wasn't ready to be a 32 game starter playing 30+ mpg as a sophomore yet. Maybe with some offseason work he'll get there next year, but then we've got to sorry about PG and who will be playing the 4 (a guard or a forward?). So, again, are we going to actually have a full starting 5 that is cohesive and can compete in the A-10? Huge up in the air at this point with the players likely to be on the roster next year.
Fair point. Josh did start 16 of our 22 games this year, but he did come off the bench when we went smaller and went on our winning streak. I think Paulsen really struggled this season with how and when to use AJ. When he did start without a true center on the floor, it really limited us offensively because AJ had no desire to play center or even PF on offense. He was more intent on taking jumpers and fade-aways, which essentially made us an all-guard lineup.
I liked having AJ and Josh on the floor together, because it gave us a bigger presence like Shevon/Jenkins, Pearson/Morrison, Will/Jai and Evans/Young. Unfortunately, we will be in the same boat next year with no true 4, so Josh will be left alone in the post unless Henry makes a giant leap or we bring in a transfer/JUCO.
This was always the most likely scenario, assuming Dave agreed to it.
I will officially give up hope after the A10 tournament.
Without an announcement by noon Monday, Paulsen is safe.
Her situation is a little different. Her season doesn't officially end until about 6:00 PM today (assumed last game starts at 4:00 PM today). Now, that is one of the little lies I was telling myself that it isn't hopeless yet. That maybe Brad wanted to fire her first before firing Paulsen.
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If Brad doesn't fire Dave he officially becomes a eunuch.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhA1C9moEBc
I guess that would call for a possible renaming of the formerly named "Big Balls Brad" thread.
Yeah I’m sure he’s aware it’s not a good look for the AD to have to fire both coaches of the university’s flagship sport.
It would make sense that BE wants to let her finish out her season before any major distractions. If Paulsen was fired, the women would clearly see the writing on the wall if they don’t already.
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