2021 Recruiting

[mkaufman1]

You've heard of Nolan Richardson and "40 minutes of Hell" and Shaka with "Havoc". If Skinn comes on board we may finally have an identity.... we can be GMU and "40 minutes of busting your balls!" In all seriousness Skinn would definately be worthy of consideration.

Every recruit miss could be a nut punch to all of us!

I'll see myself out.

im sure the staff knows this, it’s just the six mason fans on Twitter who go nuts thinking we had a chance getting this kid

There's actually more than 6 (ok 7). Obviously we needed more tweets from Swimmom regarding hugs and cookies to convince him to come to Mason though.

 

[sleeperpick]

I just want to win. If Dave could win consistently in the A-10 with this kind of recruiting I wouldn’t care. Just sick of being irrelevant and feeling it’s never gonna change.

I think Sully's article plus the introspection that every kid on your preseason wishlist for recruitment is going elsewhere has put you here. we all had that moment. Mine was watching Paulsen fail to design an inbounds or effective offensive play for 3 years... but to each their own

 

[gmujim92]

im sure the staff knows this, it’s just the six mason fans on Twitter who go nuts thinking we had a chance getting this kid

The staff hasn’t offered any other 2021 PF prospects. They either put all their eggs in the Castro basket — a colossal blunder if so — or they are trying to keep their alternate plans on the extreme down low.

If they sign a couple bigs who can play in the 21 class, whether they be HS players or transfers, I will care less about what has happened so far. But we’re off to a less than flying start....

 

[GMUgemini]

He’d be an incredible get, but like TBlack said, he’s probably staring down a P5 job. Mason would be a lateral move.

Paulsen makes almost twice what Konkol does, and unless Konkol makes a run in the tournament, is he really staring down a P5 job soon? A-10 as a conference is a step up from CUSA. If Mason wants to give him the resources, and Konkol thinks he can succeed here why wouldn't he come?

 

[mkaufman1]

I think we can all agree that 2021 was supposed to be a class that really turned the corner for the program. (No @gmutom not 2022 then 2023 haha). The reason for that was that there is now infrastructure in place that is in on the same level or above our peers and relationships are well established. There was a lot of work ( and continued work) that went into 2021 to make it the best class yet and turnover the types of recruits that would come to Mason and normally come to the A10.

I just hope they are still working to pull some magic out of their hats because their top targets are off the board that they've spent a lot of time with. There are always more recruits, but at this point it might be the Patriot League offer kids who they think they can develop into something which isn't the best recipe as we've all talked about.

 

[GMUgemini]

We might want to pump the brakes a bit on the Konkol love train, at least until he makes an NCAA at La Tech.

DP went to 2 NCAAs and two NITs at Bucknell and his results at Mason have been mostly meh.

I know many of us are eager to reconnect with the one period when our program was nationally relevant, but if we’re gonna change coaches I’d prefer to take a gamble and see if Skinn can be our Shaka.

Well, to be fair, Konkol kicked our butts the last time we played: 77-64 in 2017 (Tony Skinn was on the staff then, too).

 

[sleeperpick]

My main issue with Konkol is that he too does not recruit at a high level.... averaging 2 stars.... he is a better in game coach than Paulsen by a fair margin though.... but I don't think he is what we need... now that I say that his 2021 class looks much different than ours and is his best in 5 years there. He signed a PG that had offers from Texas A&M and other decent offers that is a 3 star and a 3 star shooting guard with offers from OK St, Auburn, TCU and Tulsa....

he also successfully landed Duruji who quickly transferred to Florida

We need someone who can coach and get us quality recruits... Might not be Konkol... I am down with giving an alumni that has risen the ranks meteorically recently... #IMINFORSKINN

 

[tblack33]

Another problem with putting all of our eggs in the Castro basket and missing is that this seasons recruiting has been an absolute whirlwind. Most guys are recruiting earlier in the cycle this year, so normally you might be able to recover and steal someone but I’d imagine most of the guys the staff is even familiar with are off the board at this point. Year 5 could go down as our worst class yet under Paulsen somehow. Might not matter if he gets canned and a new guy gets in and starts over but still, it’s not a good sign. Brad needs to find his balls if the wins don’t come in bunches this year.

 

[Patriotsince81]

It's time for members on the boards to step up. Who has eligibility left? Attached is the questionnaire used by GMU for prospects. Go for it before we are reduced to pulling fans out of the stands.

https://questionnaires.armssoftware.com/ecbe3d2febd2?DB_OEM_ID=25200

 

[sleeperpick]

It's time for members on the boards to step up. Who has eligibility left? Attached is the questionnaire used by GMU for prospects. Go for it before we are reduced to pulling fans out of the stands.

https://questionnaires.armssoftware.com/ecbe3d2febd2?DB_OEM_ID=25200

just filled one in for @tblack33 ... I guarantee you he would use all 5 fouls and at least have some defensive tenacity (nobody just dunking on him without them feeling it). Also maybe the 6 foot 10 green coat guy has some eligibility left because lord knows Paulsen can't recruit a big man

 

[FreeGunston12]

The staff hasn’t offered any other 2021 PF prospects. They either put all their eggs in the Castro basket — a colossal blunder if so — or they are trying to keep their alternate plans on the extreme down low.

If they sign a couple bigs who can play in the 21 class, whether they be HS players or transfers, I will care less about what has happened so far. But we’re off to a less than flying start....

This is why you need to hop on the Williamson bandwagon. If not, you might be staring down some minutes from Chance Konner.

 

[Patriotsince81]

New prospect!!!!!!!!!!! 0 star recruit who has narrowed down his final 3 to GMU, sister Teresa's School for the Blind, and Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow. 5'4" 115 lb. power forward from Lahore, Pakistan. Ali Najib. Sign him up!!!!! The future is now!!!!!!!! DP for coach of the year!!!!!

 

[GMUgemini]

This is why you need to hop on the Williamson bandwagon. If not, you might be staring down some minutes from Chance Konner.

More likely one of our SFs gets played at the 4: Miller, Frazier, Gadsden, Dady. Henry plays all his minutes at the 5. Still not optimal, but let’s remember Mar was our starting center at the beginning of his freshman year, so it’s not beyond Paulsen to do it.

By the way, what is Ilver’s status? Are we still in the running for him?

 

[sleeperpick]

More likely one of our SFs gets played at the 4: Miller, Frazier, Gadsden, Dady. Henry plays all his minutes at the 5. Still not optimal, but let’s remember Mar was our starting center at the beginning of his freshman year, so it’s not beyond Paulsen to do it.

Look how that turned out. I think that’s kind of the point

 

[GMUgemini]

Look how that turned out. I think that’s kind of the point

Well, it’s not as bad as starting Otis, Grayer, Boyd, Kier and Mar. but still not the best.

like you might be looking at XJ, Polite, Frazier, Miller, Oduro/Henry as an example.

 

[FreeGunston12]

More likely one of our SFs gets played at the 4: Miller, Frazier, Gadsden, Dady. Henry plays all his minutes at the 5. Still not optimal, but let’s remember Mar was our starting center at the beginning of his freshman year, so it’s not beyond Paulsen to do it.

By the way, what is Ilver’s status? Are we still in the running for him?

I think Henry plays all his minutes at the 5 regardless. As much as we want him to be AJ Jr, I don't believe Henry is cut from the same mold.

Could still be in the running for Ilver, but I haven't heard his name thrown around as much. He seems to definitely has the stretch part of stretch 4 down.

The thing I like about potentially adding Williamson is that I think he would give good contrast to Henry's strengths and weaknesses. Williamson is a wide body that looks like he can play with his back to the basket and make a jump shot on occasion. Henry's an athletic shot blocker that could help make up for Williamson's lack of height and explosiveness defensively.

With Ian, Greg, and AJ graduating, will we have any muscle left on the team?

 

[GMUgemini]

I think Henry plays all his minutes at the 5 regardless. As much as we want him to be AJ Jr, I don't believe Henry is cut from the same mold.

Could still be in the running for Ilver, but I haven't heard his name thrown around as much. He seems to definitely has the stretch part of stretch 4 down.

I’m fine if Henry turns into a 5 for us. He’s not super big, but an athletic 6’8 would be nice at that position.

It’s going to mean finding some 4s though that aren’t going to get run over at this level. I still think Gadsden winds up a 4 for us too.

Yeah, Ilvur is really long, but he looks like he’s all length. Will definitely have to hit the weights hard.

 

[sleeperpick]

I think Henry plays all his minutes at the 5 regardless. As much as we want him to be AJ Jr, I don't believe Henry is cut from the same mold.

Could still be in the running for Ilver, but I haven't heard his name thrown around as much. He seems to definitely has the stretch part of stretch 4 down.

Ilver gets a new P5 offer every other week. no chance

 

[FreeGunston12]

I’m fine if Henry turns into a 5 for us. He’s not super big, but an athletic 6’8 would be nice at that position.

It’s going to mean finding some 4s though that aren’t going to get run over at this level. I still think Gadsden winds up a 4 for us too.

Yeah, Ilvur is really long, but he looks like he’s all length. Will definitely have to hit the weights hard.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. (See my edit). There's going to be no muscle left on the team after this year.

 

[GMUgemini]

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. (See my edit). There's going to be no muscle left on the team after this year.

Miller apparently got jacked in the off-season, and XJ is pretty strong for a PG, but yeah that front line might be pretty soft.