A-10 Media Day

[Washingtonian]

All from various twitter accounts:

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein

A 10 Preseason Poll: Dayton, URI, Davidson, GW, vcu, Richmond, SJU, SBU, La Salle, UMass, Duquesne, SLU, George Mason, Fordham.

 

[allhailme]

Interesting that the entire first team are juniors and the entire second team are seniors.

 

[gmujim92]

Shevon will be first team on the postseason ballots and selected in the first round of the NBA Draft.

Book the F out of that.

 

[Pablo]

Dave Paulsen ‏@PaulsenDave 49m49 minutes ago
Dave Paulsen Retweeted Brad Edwards

Any chance we can get Andre back in our line-up?! Great to connect with one of our all-time greats!

Dave Paulsen added,

Brad Edwards @BradEdwards5
.@MasonAthletics with @MasonMBB great Andre Gaddy and @PaulsenDave #A10MediaDay @barclayscenter

 

[gmu05]

The fans on here that are overwhelmingly optimistic need to listen to Paulsen's interviews today.

 

[ephoops]

The fans on here that are overwhelmingly optimistic need to listen to Paulsen's interviews today.

Is there a link to the recorded interview on the A-10 web site??

 

[GMUgemini]

The fans on here that are overwhelmingly optimistic need to listen to Paulsen's interviews today.

Define overly optimistic? Because I don't want to go from hoping for 15 wins to not bothering to watch this season...

 

[Vurbel]

I don't know how many games we will win, but I'd rather play hard, play smart, move the ball on offense, box out, and lose by 10, then play PaulBall2.0, look like the gym class at Robinson HS, and lose by 5.

 

[Pablo]

The fans on here that are overwhelmingly optimistic need to listen to Paulsen's interviews today.

I heard the interview. Did you? If you have something to say, then why don't you say it?

 

[Walter]

I didn't listen to the interview but let me guess . . . DP commented on what a great conference the A-10 is with great players and great coaches. He lowered the expectations about this year's Patriots due to all the youth and installing a new system. Probably mentioned something about adjustment for the returning players and himself. But he is excited to work with the student athletes. They have a lot of hard work to do but he is optimistic that they will surprise a few teams. He stands up and says, "oh, one more thing, vcu will be my bitch." He walks out.

 

[JimP]

Yeah, the interview I heard was quite positive. High praise for Thompson, Moore and Jenkins - I didn't get a sense of any attempt to damper any expectations GMU fans may have. That said, I think Mason fans simply expect to see higher quality basketball. Who knows how that'll translate in terms of wins and losses.

 

[gmu05]

I heard the interview. Did you? If you have something to say, then why don't you say it?

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656520558692167680

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656522141517660160

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656522287533924352

When your own coach admits the veterans on the team are basically useless and that they are "starting from scratch" I don't think it's unfair or lazy to rank them 12-14 in preseason projections. Some of you guys should come back down to earth.

 

[GMU_Polevaulter]

The fans on here that are overwhelmingly optimistic need to listen to Paulsen's interviews today.

I don't think anyone is expecting miracles but the optimism is Hewitt is gone and we have a coach that will put a team on the floor giving 110% and has a plan to win and get better -of course it is not going to happen over night.

I don't know how many games we will win or care to guess at this time, what I do know is the OOC schedule is easier then last year and this group of kids could get blown out by the worst teams and take nationally ranked teams to the wire. Cut down on the unforced turnovers, get Shevon the ball and inbound the ball to GMU players and not the other team, do that and I'll be thrilled...

I will be at the game opening night - looking forward to it.

 

[Washingtonian]

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656520558692167680

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656522141517660160

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656522287533924352

When your own coach admits the veterans on the team are basically useless and that they are "starting from scratch" I don't think it's unfair or lazy to rank them 12-14 in preseason projections. Some of you guys should come back down to earth.

I put those quotes in the Paulsen thread.

Also, there is this:
http://gmuhoops.co/2015/10/20/dave-paulsen-quotes-from-a-10-media-day/#sthash.eggAn22M.dpbs

 

[gmujim92]

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656520558692167680

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656522141517660160

https://twitter.com/DalyDoseOfHoops/status/656522287533924352

When your own coach admits the veterans on the team are basically useless and that they are "starting from scratch" I don't think it's unfair or lazy to rank them 12-14 in preseason projections. Some of you guys should come back down to earth.

DP didn't "basically" admit anything of the sort, but nice try.

He said our veteran players aren't veterans in doing the type of things he is demanding from them. Well no sh!t. This is the first time any of them have been coached since they arrived in Fairfax. Doesn't make them "useless."

In fact, it doesn't fit your narrative, but DP went out of his way to note that the holdovers from Hewitt have worked very hard and been extremely coachable.

Of course we are "starting from scratch." That's what happens when you fire a terrible mess of a "coach" and replace him with a guy who insists on attention to detail and doing the little things it takes to win.

Unlike what happened when L left, in this case "starting from scratch" is a good thing.

 

[gmu05]

DP didn't "basically" admit anything of the sort, but nice try.

He said our veteran players aren't veterans in doing the type of things he is demanding from them. Well no sh!t. This is the first time any of them have been coached since they arrived in Fairfax. Doesn't make them "useless."

In fact, it doesn't fit your narrative, but DP went out of his way to note that the holdovers from Hewitt have worked very hard and been extremely coachable.

Of course we are "starting from scratch." That's what happens when you fire a terrible mess of a "coach" and replace him with a guy who insists on attention to detail and doing the little things it takes to win.

Unlike what happened when L left, in this case "starting from scratch" is a good thing.

Great. So you agree finishing 13th is a fair assessment?

 

[gmujim92]

Great. So you agree finishing 13th is a fair assessment?

That is our floor. Could be as high as 9th if things break right. The other bottom-half A-10 teams -- SLU, Fordham, Duquesne, UMass and LaSalle -- all have just as many questions to answer as we do.

 

[JimP]

Doesn't seem like anyone on here is expecting the world. Not sure why you'd argue against being optimistic though.

 

[Dawgs99]

Doesn't seem like anyone on here is expecting the world. Not sure why you'd argue against being optimistic though.

Agree with this, I haven't seen anyone predict some miracle turn around job, so not sure why some folks feel it necessary to be the "reasonable" poster and smack down all the rest of us. Any improvement in the record and more importantly the brand of basketball is what I think we're all hoping for.

 

[99 Patriot]

There is some humor/irony in that many of the folks getting upset about being criticized for their optimism are the same ones who were hellbent on squashing any hint of optimism the past few years.