Dave Paulsen

[psyclone]

This week's A10 teleconference
http://www.atlantic10.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31600&id=5893845&db_oem_id=31600

 

[Mason2005]

Gave some thought today about how Paulsen might be struggling to find a big man. We're use to having a freshman big come in and show good potential. Players that come to mind are Will Thomas, Pearson, Mo, Marko, Shevon, Jenkins. Each showed potential in their first years. We can't say that with any of the big guys Paulsen has brought in. Perhaps Mar has potential but he's only 6'7. He may be forced to go the grad or juco route.

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[GMUgemini]

Gave some thought today about how Paulsen might be struggling to find a big man. We're use to having a freshman big come in and show good potential. Players that come to mind are Will Thomas, Pearson, Mo, Marko, Shevon, Jenkins. Each showed potential in their first years. We can't say that with any of the big guys Paulsen has brought in. Perhaps Mar has potential but he's only 6'7. He may be forced to go the grad or juco route.

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All of those guys were playing alongside other bigs, though. It's a totally different can of worms when you are the one guy out there.

 

[Mason2005]

All of those guys were playing alongside other bigs, though. It's a totally different can of worms when you are the one guy out there.

This is true but I think he's forced to play only 1 big bc outside Jenkins there isn't another capable big. Their only purpose is to hopefully give Jenkins some breaks and hold fort if he's in foul trouble. With Jenkins out it's basically 4 on 5.

I only see the current young bigs as having the potential to be a good role player. We might not see another dominant big for a while.

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[Quentin Daniels]

Gave some thought today about how Paulsen might be struggling to find a big man. We're use to having a freshman big come in and show good potential. Players that come to mind are Will Thomas, Pearson, Mo, Marko, Shevon, Jenkins. Each showed potential in their first years. We can't say that with any of the big guys Paulsen has brought in. Perhaps Mar has potential but he's only 6'7. He may be forced to go the grad or juco route.

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It was a continuous streak of All-Conf. bigs under L.
Evans->Young->Lewis->Thomas->Monroe->Pearson

Hopefully we can get back to that type of streak one day.

 

[Falco]

It was a continuous streak of All-Conf. bigs under L.
Evans->Young->Lewis->Thomas->Monroe->Pearson

Hopefully we can get back to that type of streak one day.

I think as a whole basketball is getting away from a true center. But we really need someone next year who isn't a livability. Someone who can catch the ball in the paint and not turn the ball over. Someone who can defend.
Please bring in a transfer!

 

[99 Patriot]

Came home to a nice package in the mail from Coach Paulsen. Had a hand-written note thanking us for our support along with some new Mason swag for me and my wife. Gestures like this are what makes checks a lot easier to write. Surprisingly I never received anything similar from the previous coach.

 

[mkaufman1]

I think as a whole basketball is getting away from a true center. But we really need someone next year who isn't a livability. Someone who can catch the ball in the paint and not turn the ball over. Someone who can defend.
Please bring in a transfer!

Temara and Relvao are freshmen who need time to develop. I agree Mason needs help at the 5 but whats to say a transfer is going to defend the way necessary as a center. Also, if its a traditional transfer, they'll be sitting a year. If its a JUCO (which are few and far between), there is a big jump from JUCO to D1 basketball and the ones who don't have as much of a learning curve typically don't come to a school like Mason. A grad transfer center also aren't that plentiful and would only be able to help for a year.

I think as fans we need to wait and see what Temara and Relvao can do going forward (next year especially), and then maybe Paulsen can re-evaluate where we are at.

 

[Falco]

Temara and Relvao are freshmen who need time to develop. I agree Mason needs help at the 5 but whats to say a transfer is going to defend the way necessary as a center. Also, if its a traditional transfer, they'll be sitting a year. If its a JUCO (which are few and far between), there is a big jump from JUCO to D1 basketball and the ones who don't have as much of a learning curve typically don't come to a school like Mason. A grad transfer center also aren't that plentiful and would only be able to help for a year.

I think as fans we need to wait and see what Temara and Relvao can do going forward (next year especially), and then maybe Paulsen can re-evaluate where we are at.

I understand in trusting in the process. But sometimes you need an immediate fix to hold down the glue until the glue dries.

But next year would be a perfect time to utilize a JUCO, or a grad transfer if we can find one. We can see this year that Relvao and Tamara arnt even close to ready to play in the a10.

I love the idea of developing a team and having them grow together. I know we will be hurting with out Moore and Jenkins next year, but we have plenty of guys ready to contribute next season. I think we are only a piece away from being a true contender in the a10.

Let a transfer play for one year and then he leaves and Relvao and Tamara are ready to play the following year with all the experienced guys.

As to your point that their is a big difference between JUCO and a10. Well yes, but there is even a bigger jump between Syracuse high school basketball or Grundy VA basketball and the a10.

A lot of players play JUCO ball because of grades not talent. I like JUCO players because if hey don't work out you don't have them taking up a scholarship for 4 years. I know a coach has the ability to take away a scholarship but that rarely happens.

 

[mkaufman1]

I understand in trusting in the process. But sometimes you need an immediate fix to hold down the glue until the glue dries.

But next year would be a perfect time to utilize a JUCO, or a grad transfer if we can find one. We can see this year that Relvao and Tamara arnt even close to ready to play in the a10.

I love the idea of developing a team and having them grow together. I know we will be hurting with out Moore and Jenkins next year, but we have plenty of guys ready to contribute next season. I think we are only a piece away from being a true contender in the a10.

Let a transfer play for one year and then he leaves and Relvao and Tamara are ready to play the following year with all the experienced guys.

As to your point that their is a big difference between JUCO and a10. Well yes, but there is even a bigger jump between Syracuse high school basketball or Grundy VA basketball and the a10.

A lot of players play JUCO ball because of grades not talent. I like JUCO players because if hey don't work out you don't have them taking up a scholarship for 4 years. I know a coach has the ability to take away a scholarship but that rarely happens.

A grad transfer for one year to help take some of the load of Relvao/Tamara is ideal, I agree. Any other transfer is going to sit a year anyway. A JUCO is going to take minutes for two years from these guys who need to play and develop. We're going to agree to disagree on that one.

And yes, part of the problem is there is a big difference to A10 basketball than where these guys came from, but the only way to help see what they can do is to play them at least for now. And of course theres supply and demand with what we're talking about, and I'm not sure its so plentiful. We'll find out.

 

[GMUgemini]

1) We don't even have a scholarship to give right now next year. So unless someone leaves, the idea of bringing in a transfer is moot

2) We are still only slightly past the halfway mark of this season. Let's reserve judgment about What Temara and Relvao will be capable of next year until we see how they develop the rest of this season.

3) To think that there is just this A10 caliber big man hanging out there for Mason to just snag who plays the way Paulsen wants to play and can start from day one next year is a little ludicrous.

4) Lets focus on this season for a little while and stop projecting so much the future.


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[Quentin Daniels]

definitely no donation coming from me. horrible search. horrible results.

Old thread comments are awesome.

Good stuff.

 

[gmutom]

I know this has no chance of happening, but I would love for Dave to kick conventional wisdom to the curb next season by starting an all-guard lineup of Livingston, Kier, Newman, Grayer and Boyd. Wilson, Mar and Greene could come off the bench with Temara and Revalo. We'd be exploited defensively by some bigger teams, but those same teams would also struggle to cover us.

 

[Mason2005]

1) We don't even have a scholarship to give right now next year. So unless someone leaves, the idea of bringing in a transfer is moot

2) We are still only slightly past the halfway mark of this season. Let's reserve judgment about What Temara and Relvao will be capable of next year until we see how they develop the rest of this season.

3) To think that there is just this A10 caliber big man hanging out there for Mason to just snag who plays the way Paulsen wants to play and can start from day one next year is a little ludicrous.

4) Lets focus on this season for a little while and stop projecting so much the future.


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I don't think finding a quality big man is too far fetched, Hewitt found Shevon and he was impactful his first year with Hewitt coaching him.

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[Pablo]

I know this has no chance of happening, but I would love for Dave to kick conventional wisdom to the curb next season by starting an all-guard lineup of Livingston, Kier, Newman, Grayer and Boyd. Wilson, Mar and Greene could come off the bench with Temara and Revalo. We'd be exploited defensively by some bigger teams, but those same teams would also struggle to cover us.

How about starting an all-guard lineup deploying a full-court pressure defense?

 

[Petey Buckets]

One of the things I like about Dave is that he's shown flexibility with the four guard lineup, and by running with five guards at the end of the St. Joe's game. He's married to his principles, but he's not married to any scheme. There are a lot of things that could happen with the lineup next year depending on which recruits turn out to be players and whether Temara or Relvao develop.

I was initially skeptical of the four-guard lineup (still am) but I've come around on it because it's clear that Dave's hand was forced by the personnel he's working with. Temara and Relvao do basically everything wrong. They're not contributing on offense and they're both lost on defense. My guess is that Dave saw the four-guard lineup as the lesser evil and chose to run with it. I'm really hoping Mar and Wilson come in and live up to their billing, because the thought of Temara and Relvao being big 1 and big 2 next year is terrifying.

Tom - the five guard lineup is one of those ideas that's fun to think about but the reality is it would be a defensive nightmare. We're already getting murdered in the paint frequently. That only gets worse when your tallest player is 6'4". It can be deployed situationally as in the St. Joe's game, but it would be a disaster as the base lineup.

 

[Pablo]

http://gmuhoops.co/2017/01/19/takin...est-of-atlantic-10-play/#sthash.fQQaM6P3.dpbs:

"The team in general needs better play from sophomore Otis Livingston II. He’s only scored more than 10 points once in five conference games and is shooting only 27% from the field in that same stretch. It’s very uncharacteristic for a guy who was extremely consistent last season. Some of it is just due to added volume because after all he plays a ton of minutes. He will bounce back but Mason needs it to happen sooner rather than later. Aside from the vcu game, he hasn’t been making many mistakes, it’s more of an issue of him trying to do too much at times. Even when he is not scoring he’s still a valuable floor general to have out there but with this team’s lack of veteran depth they need him to be more a scoring threat each night. I think this extended break before games should help him.

Depth in the front court is something else to point at. I knew this would be a hot topic among the fan base all season long when it became evident they would be running a four-guard lineup. I think it’s pretty obvious Dave Paulsen has little choice but to play the best, more optimal lineups over having an extra forward on the floor with Jalen Jenkins. Now that the team isn’t dominating the paint as much and Jenkins keeping getting into foul trouble, some seem to question the whole approach. Freshmen Troy Temara and Daniel Relvao haven’t shown a lot of promise that either one of them can play more than 10 minutes a game and contribute on both ends. They both struggle on defense and Relvao is extremely limited on offense. They can come in and give Jenkins a breather and rebound fairly well but it’s a much different team. vcu and St. Bonaventure beat Mason up in the paint but I think it’s more of a lack of execution on defense and their strategy then just personnel issues. Sure they could certainly use more bigs out there but their effort in the paint has waned a bit lately and that’s the bigger problem.

Hopefully Mason regroups during this eight day break and focuses on what they need to do to win games going forward in the conference. Three of their next four games are on the road and they’ve played good away from EagleBank arena so far this season. Perhaps a few games as underdogs will serve them well too. I think if they get back to what they were doing well earlier in the season they can rattle off a couple more conferences wins before they play teams like Dayton or Rhode Island. A lot can change in this conference from week to week and opportunity for Mason is definitely still there."

 

[Falco]

Paulsen is a great developmental coach. It's evident in Moore, Jenkins, even Marko and Thompson.

 

[gmujim92]

I agree with whoever said next year's team could be one piece away from being really good.

What we need for next season is to find a big like Isaiah Armwood, who transferred from Villanova to GW and provided immediate impact with rebounding and shot-blocking, except we need a grad transfer who can play right away.

We are still going to be a perimeter-oriented team, but finding a veteran big to replace Jalen would allow Troy and Daniel to continue their development without having the pressure of playing starter minutes.

As far as scholarships go, I will be shocked if we don't have at least 2 transfers out after this season. Kids today don't hang around once it's clear there is no path to meaningful playing time. Not sure why our players would be any different.

 

[stimes]

Imagine If all Hewitt's recruits stayed, we would have been a really good team with Paulsen coaching. I think Paulsen should have really tried harder to keep some of those guys. The bigs he brought in are light years away from competing in the A10. We are in desperate need of bigs!!!