2022-2023 Season; Hopes, Dreams, Wishes, Analysis & Predictions

[Junkees9]

I'm 70 and have been going to GMU games for what seems forever, since I graduated from Mason in 1974. I enjoy the basketball talk here -- information about recruits, thoughts on games we've played, etc. The bickering stuff is a waste of time. Total BS. Give it up. No one wants to read it.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

I believe in being polite and respectful to everyone, regardless of the situation. I would NEVER condone any suggestion or act of violence toward anyone. I was the one that reported Jollay because I felt his comment was beyond what any reasonable human would make. Based on the likes that he has received it is obvious that many/most of you think it’s okay to wish death on another. Free speech? FU. Disappointed in some of you to be honest, but you don’t seem to give a sh&t.

So to all of you that support the likes of Jollay and think that being rude, disrespectful, and making threats wishing death on another is acceptable, I encourage you to re-evaluate your life and beliefs.

I shouldn't have to explain this a grown man, but I was simply saying Polite is doing well despite the premature assessments of some of his most vocal critics here: like A) Sleeperpick and B) You. I can pull the verbiage if you like.

If you think I am literally wishing death on you you may have serious mental problems in addition to your physical problems. Especially since at Brion's Funeral I asked you to come out and have a beer.

For the record, I hope you "survive" and do not "perish" from your ordeal.

I am really not...that....pro-death.

THIS JUST IN I REALLY DONT THINK MOST PROTESTORS SHOULD SET THEMSELVES ON FIRE EITHER

 

[mkaufman1]

8th place and remembering how to play basketball is my hope!!!

 

[gmujim92]

If this level of play keeps up we’ll be lucky to avoid the PIG and then they should just shutter the program. What’s the point of just sucking a** year after year on a loop?

 

[mkaufman1]

Next year it'll be the mason invitational with Maryland eastern shore longwood and Howard. Woowoo

 

[GMU79]

Next year it'll be the mason invitational with Maryland eastern shore longwood and Howard. Woowoo

Is CKE all talk/recruit and no coach?
ie, all saddle and no horse?

 

[GSII]

Is CKE all talk/recruit and no coach?
ie, all saddle and no horse?

So far, yes. ImO his in game coaching isn't good. Wasn't good last year either.

 

[sleeperpick]

So far, yes. ImO his in game coaching isn't good. Wasn't good last year either.

Add on whatever the heck this new rebounding philosophy is and you can count me out in thinking he knows what he’s doing in game

 

[mkaufman1]

Is CKE all talk/recruit and no coach?
ie, all saddle and no horse?

It’s certainly not been great, and tonight leaves me asking a lot of questions.

he’s recruiting well no doubt, but so far I haven’t seen the pieces fit together when needed. And to me that’s a bigger concern. It’s one thing to have a stinker vs auburn.

it’s another against Boston college. They aren’t good.

 

[tblack33]

Alright I finally have time to sit down and type out some thoughts. I’ll lead by saying this: I’m probably going to be wrong, and I am rooting for this being wrong.

I think we are going to be the most talented team in recent history to finish bottom half of the league. I think we absolutely have the most talented team that we’ve had since 2010-2011, but our roster makeup is downright perplexing in some ways.

We are one of the oldest teams in the league, but will potentially be relying on big minutes from multiple true freshman, including potentially at our starting PG spot.

We are deeper than we have been in years, but somehow still not very deep outside the 2-4. For all the talk from the staff on how hard it was on tickets body to play the 4 in the A10 all year this year — everyone is still projecting him to start and play most of his minutes there! And it’s because we don’t have other options.

No one can still tell you with any inkling of authority who our starting PG is. I’ve already harped about this enough but none of our three options inspire a ton of confidence. It seems our best option is starting Dinkins, who as much as I love I think is going to have serious growing pains adapting to the college game. We have seen year in year out that below average PG play can and will single-handedly lose you games. How we were unable to solidify that position beyond a doubt still baffles me.

Finally, the league is just pretty brutal this year. Talent is way up across the board, and the middle of the pack teams are going to beat the dog shit out of each other. If you can look at our schedule and pencil in away wins at all of the top teams we have to go to then pass me a bottle of whatever you are drinking. It’s brutal.

My heart agrees with the 4-5 projections I’ve seen, but my head is telling me 7-9 with a stupidly talented team because the roster is not balanced.

I’m absolutely rooting to be wrong, but this is just what I’m thinking on a Sunday in September. Maybe this will spur some discussion where we really take a little harder look at our projected minutes getters and how that plays out on a court.

Bump.

 

[gmujim92]

I’d rather have a team that lacks talent, but has heart, than a team that has talent, but lacks heart.

Everybody even remotely associated with the program should wake up embarrassed today because that was a joke of an effort last night.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Not to pile on, but what evidence do we have so far other than rankings (which are wrong a lot) that even the recruiting is what it seems to be. Not ready to give up on anyone, but I’m very concerned at this point.

 

[GMUgemini]

Not to pile on, but what evidence do we have so far other than rankings (which are wrong a lot) that even the recruiting is what it seems to be. Not ready to give up on anyone, but I’m very concerned at this point.

For the freshmen:

I think Dinkins has shown a lot of promise and looks like he “could” grow into the role of a starting caliber PG

Fernandez, we haven’t seen enough of because for better or worse English trusts Cooper, Bailey and Saquan over him right now. Can’t really comment one way or another on him.

Same goes for Elvis, but he looks huge for a freshman and surprising nimble for his size. I’d like to see him get more runout to see what he can do because he’s exactly what we need at the 4 if he can defend, rebound, and attack the rim (but who knows he’s only really picked up garbage time).

Peter Oduro was a flyer so no grade for him.

Blake Jones:

Blake Jones might be transferring after this season. He shows intelligence on the court but has largely been useless. A good flyer but it’s not working out so far.

As for transfers:

Schwartz was great last year. We currently miss his shooting by a mile on this team. He wasn’t a fantastic defender but not as bad as Cooper has been.

Bailey has been the one bright spot in the starting five this year. We might be 1-3 without him…

Cooper has been streaky. That’s about what I can say for him. Good shooter when he’s on, a net negative when he’s not.

Ticket has all the talent in the world but maybe not the attitude to fully exploit it? He should be “the guy” here but something is stopping him.

Ojiako has been competent. I have no problem with him as our backup center.

Saquan, uh, big swing and miss on him. Thought he’d solidify the defense at least but nope.

 

[GMU79]

Not to pile on, but what evidence do we have so far other than rankings (which are wrong a lot) that even the recruiting is what it seems to be. Not ready to give up on anyone, but I’m very concerned at this point.

Yep.

 

[mkaufman1]

Real talk

I'm expecting Mason to make a jump this year. Not going to lie, I have expectations and I think most others around the fan base do as well. I'm tired of losing, and I have to think the team put together for this year has the best chance to make the NCAAs.

It isn't going to be easy, the OOC doesn't have many games that give Mason a margin for error. Lose a game like Tulane, Hofstra, or most others and its going to be tough to overcome.

Its hard for me without looking at every roster, looking at every program to really put a win total out there. A few programs have new coaches so most of the crappy coaches have left the league.

I do expect a few things though.

1) Be in the NCAA conversation. I don't want the NIT, but if that's where they end up, it'll be disappointing but whatever.
2) Semis of the A10 tournament. I'm tired of watching Mason lose on Friday of the tournament. They need to make Saturday. Simple as that. Making it deep into the tournament only helps their resume and eye test. I'd love to see Mason on championship Sunday but you have to win on Friday and Saturday first.

I know that things look good overall, recruiting has picked up etc, but if you can't win with a roster like this, its pretty disappointing.

I should stop making predictions lol

 

[Patriotsince81]

We've been mired in mediocrity since 2011. I hold out little/no hope for any turn around this year. Next year? More of the same or worse. If Josh and Ticket stay it will help but, we haven't won anything with them. If they stay, we're at or around middle of the pack once again. If they leave? We will be bottom 4 next year unless the 3 freshmen are the reincarnation of Michael, Magic, and Larry. I've said it before, we're not getting any saviors through the portal. The players that have come have kept us from being bottom feeders, that's it. The 24-25 season will depend on the development of DD, JF, and the freshmen next year. It really sucks being a fan right now.

 

[Where's the party?]

Notwithstanding the Caps, who tend to be good every year, the Nats, the Skins (still refusing to use that stupid new name), and the Wiz make it real tough to be a Washington DC fan in general. The Caps won in 2018 and could win any year, The Nats won in 2019 and will win again within the decade, The Skins are a new owner and coach away from being pretty decent, the Wiz are .... well, hopeless - I'm glad I was around in 1978 to see them win, cuz that ain't gonna happen again.

But Mason's string of futility is more painful and frustrating than all of them. 2006 was a once in a lifetime run for a mid-major, and we all realize such a run is unlikely to come around again. No NCAA since 2011 when we were CAA. Not even sniffing a conf championship in the A10, and three coaches in 12 years with identical .500 records, is making it hard not to consider being a Mason fan is tougher than being anything but a Wiz fan in this town.

 

[GMUSSTN]

Notwithstanding the Caps, who tend to be good every year, the Nats, the Skins (still refusing to use that stupid new name), and the Wiz make it real tough to be a Washington DC fan in general. The Caps won in 2018 and could win any year, The Nats won in 2019 and will win again within the decade, The Skins are a new owner and coach away from being pretty decent, the Wiz are .... well, hopeless - I'm glad I was around in 1978 to see them win, cuz that ain't gonna happen again.

Not to derail the thread but the Caps are trending in a downward direction and squandered the bulk of OV's prime years fumbling coaching and front office decisions that could have had us humming like Tampa Bay. If you think the team you are watching this year is Cup capable then you must be watching reruns from 2014. Caps are too old to be good anymore...we'll be lucky to make the playoffs in a stacked East after all the injuries we suffered (and will continue to suffer).

The Nats are in no way poised to win again within the decade. The Lerners got their "ok now you can't be mad at us ever again" championship and are now committed to doing everything they can to shrink payroll and sell the team, except the MASN debacle (combined with Strasburg's and Patrick Corbin's worthless high dollar contracts) renders the team practially unsellable. Yeah we have a decent farm system now but we are looking at 90+ loss seasons until the Lerners are gone, then you gotta rebuild after and compete with the Mets, Phillies, and Braves who will all be good for the forseeable future.

I will forever be thankful for 2018 and 2019...best back-to-back years of my sports fandom but the future really isn't that bright for any of the DC teams if you're a Mason/DC fan like me.

You hit the Wiz spot on though. I'll take your word on the football team...I quit paying attention years ago and will not do so until Snyder is gone.

 

[gmutom]

The Orioles will be the best ”local’ team this year. Their top-ranked farm system is so stacked, they could beat he Nats in a best-of-7 series.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

The Orioles will be the best ”local’ team this year. Their top-ranked farm system is so stacked, they could beat he Nats in a best-of-7 series.

Yea, after 5 years of tanking…