I’m not sure why I’m coming back, but only y’all know my misery so here I am (I didn’t like the person I became on the board before I left so I had to take a break. If I start becoming that person again let me know).
First, let me say I’m happy we hired English. He is clearly a young, ambitious coach who is a student of the modern game and he has a vision for what he wants Mason to become as a program that is far beyond what the last two guys did. So, despite the end result and whether he succeeds or not, I’m not going to fault Edwards for taking a shot on him. It was a big risk and it might fail, but he took the risk and that’s important.
I only hope President Washington is similarly ambitious with the AD hire and whoever that person is has a similar ambition and vision for what Mason can become…
Anyway: I had concerns starting last year with the collapse and then getting out coached by Neptune. This year, two new coaches (albeit older and with longer assistant resumes) are out working us in Caputo and Urgo (and Caputo’s success particularly stings because he’s a Mason guy and probably could have been hired after L left and then again after Hewitt was fired and then again after Paulsen was fired. Hopefully he doesn’t lap us).
My biggest concern is how English is asking his players to play on offense and defense. He needs 5 shooters on the floor at all times and 5 elite on-ball defenders who can all guard multiple positions. I don’t think he’ll ever be able to recruit that at Mason. So he’s either going to have to simplify his philosophy (and how often is it that coaches fundamentally change their philosophy, especially ones who think what they’re asking for sure work, like English clearly does) for the level of talent he will be able to get, or he’s probably not going to succeed here and will most likely be out in 2025.
The biggest problem seems to be the lack of communication. No one’s seems to know what anyone else is doing (or supposed to be doing) on either side of the ball and so we are easily exposed on defense and easily flummoxed on offense. I think a simplified system with more clearly defined roles would probably help Fernandez and Dinkins, and even our more marginal players (like Blake and Nnaji) look better than they do now.
And I agree about the switch to 2 bigs being a bit half-cocked. English’s offense is designed for 4 guards (or at least 4 players who can spread the floor, shoot, pass, and drive into the paint). Oduro and Malik aren’t looking for each other enough in the post and there’s little to no high-low game happening between the bigs either.
This season’s ceiling was always going to run through Polite and how good he was going to be running the point. He’s been…competent at best and not good for most of the season. I think this is who he is as a player, so we shouldn’t expect him to be any better of a caretaker of the offense next year. In other words, it seems to be the biggest failure so far of the English era has been in not being able to keep Kolek (who is averaging over 7apg right now) here and then not being able to recruit a PG transfer this off-season when we needed one.
Question: Dez White is listed as a point guard. Does anyone know if he actually runs the offense at or is he listed that way because of his height?
On XJ, he would have been a more pass first point guard, yes, but he still has TO issues. That would not have helped us. He was also a worse defender than Polite (and Polite is not a very good defender himself). Don’t think XJ would not have moved the needle one way or the other. But he’s got a good chance to see the postseason this year, so good for him. Every one of Paulsen’s recruits deserves a postseason experience.
Anyway, this season is a wash. We probably win 1-2 more games and go into the off-season with a ton of questions. My biggest hope is the players who don’t have much of a future here decide to be the ones to transfer and not the players who can probably contribute to a team who has a chance to go to the NCAA next year.
Second hope is English simplifies the system and figures out a way to mask our deficiencies on defense especially. I don’t expect next season’s win-loss column to be better, but in order to have hope (outside of the new AD looking for a new coach in 25) there has to be a clear identity for the program coalescing and our freshmen and sophomores have to show enough promise, chemistry, and cohesion developing to see a path toward success in year 4.
I’m not really sure the assistants will make much of a difference one way or the other, but if he gets rid of Simpkins and Felton and replaces them, I’m not going to complain.
TLDR: happy at the ambitious risk taking for hiring English; not sure he’s actually going to succeed here.
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