Dave Paulsen

[mkaufman1]

Not gonna post a book like some of you MFers did, but anyone who thinks Kier hasn’t improved significantly this season either hasn’t watched the games or has no clue what he’s looking at.

Just because he’s not making 3s doesn’t mean he hasn’t improved in every other facet of the game. And he still has 2 more years to go. We may have 99 problems but Kier isn’t one.

I’ll step back regarding what I said about Kier in that he hasn’t improved. Taking a look at stats, he’s doubled his points average, improved his assist average and his free throws. Obviously averaging more minutes as well.

Other than that, he hasn’t made a three which is strange, and my other points in my essay I still hold to.

 

[GSII]

My first reaction to the DP hire was that he was a good in game coach and a shit ton better than f**k nut that would just stand there while we caved in. My 2nd reaction/concern was can he bring in the athlete to compete in the a10. Guy can coach. But he obviously can also get some decent recruits. Question that isn't being asked enough is why the departures? Newman and Revalo? Just bad timing? Bad luck? Wasnt Revalo a Valpo signed under coach Drew? Sounded good to me at the time. After knee surgery he didn't look the part. Newman was the hardest to take. Left late in the off-season. And for me, was most upsetting bc that scholly could have gone to my lil cousin who was plucked from DP by Coach Rice at Monmouth and given a full ride. Who lets Monmouth take a kid you supposedly love and played with Otis in HS?? Anyway, thats a story for another day. But Newman was perplexing and liked his game. Had alot to offer this season. Reuter landed in our lap. Had he not we would be up the creek. DP jizzed himself over Reuter. He shows excitement for certain players. Mar and Reuter on social media but not others. He is getting worked in recruiting. Was my only concern. Is he too cocky? Are the assistants bringing kids in and DP cant close em? My guess it's a combo.

 

[GMUgemini]

I’ll step back regarding what I said about Kier in that he hasn’t improved. Taking a look at stats, he’s doubled his points average, improved his assist average and his free throws. Obviously averaging more minutes as well.

Other than that, he hasn’t made a three which is strange, and my other points in my essay I still hold to.

The whole team has regressed shooting from deep. I think that's partly the defenses we've been seeing, partly fatigue at the end of games, partly bad luck, partly poorly run offense (a lot of end of clock desperation heaves and early shot clock desperation 3s to get back into games). I don't think it necessarily means the players have forgotten how to shoot the ball, though.

We are missing I think three roles on the team:

1) an elite defender. Last year, we had Moore. His loss on the offensive side of the ball and his rebounding is most glaringly missed, but his ability to make life difficult for whoever he was guarding is really what we are missing. Otis is a mediocre defender (and a little lazy, to be honest). Kier is competent, but I don't think he'll ever get there. Mar is playing out of position, so we don't really know what he'd bring if he was guarding small forwards instead of centers and power forwards. Grayer could be that guy, I think, but that leads me to point number two.

2) An aggressor. No one on this team is willing to take it and shove it down the throats of the opposition. Grayer, again, can be that guy, but he is too willing to sit back. Otis tries to be that guy for us, but he's more suited to being robin to someone's Batman. Grayer has to figure out where his Batman is.

3) The most obvious: a dominant big. Can't do much pressing without a dominant big who can erase mistakes. Can't force teams to back off if you can't dump the ball down low and punish teams for overplaying the perimeter, can't go on runs if you can't secure the rebound after a miss, can't play aggressive perimeter defense if you've got no one in the paint who can alter shots, can't play aggressive perimeter defense if your post player is going to get abused on the inside, etc. etc.

 

[mkaufman1]

The whole team has regressed shooting from deep. I think that's partly the defenses we've been seeing, partly fatigue at the end of games, partly bad luck, partly poorly run offense (a lot of end of clock desperation heaves and early shot clock desperation 3s to get back into games). I don't think it necessarily means the players have forgotten how to shoot the ball, though.

We are missing I think three roles on the team:

1) an elite defender. Last year, we had Moore. His loss on the offensive side of the ball and his rebounding is most glaringly missed, but his ability to make life difficult for whoever he was guarding is really what we are missing. Otis is a mediocre defender (and a little lazy, to be honest). Kier is competent, but I don't think he'll ever get there. Mar is playing out of position, so we don't really know what he'd bring if he was guarding small forwards instead of centers and power forwards. Grayer could be that guy, I think, but that leads me to point number two.

2) An aggressor. No one on this team is willing to take it and shove it down the throats of the opposition. Grayer, again, can be that guy, but he is too willing to sit back. Otis tries to be that guy for us, but he's more suited to being robin to someone's Batman. Grayer has to figure out where his Batman is.

3) The most obvious: a dominant big. Can't do much pressing without a dominant big who can erase mistakes. Can't force teams to back off if you can't dump the ball down low and punish teams for overplaying the perimeter, can't go on runs if you can't secure the rebound after a miss, can't play aggressive perimeter defense if you've got no one in the paint who can alter shots, can't play aggressive perimeter defense if your post player is going to get abused on the inside, etc. etc.

Agree with your points. In regards to #2, I think that can be developed as guys mature. I'm not sure who will be that guy, but perhaps at some point Grayer will figure it out and embrace that role. In regards to number 3, I'm not sure how much Relvao would do any of these items well, but he would at least be an option to help in that regard with Calixste. Its really a chain effect, because we have to play Mar at the 5, it short hands Mason other places and doesn't let them play to their strengths and to your other points.

Obviously it comes down to personnel but I think some of this is maturity. Time will tell with a lot of these guys and issues if they have these skills in them.

 

[patriotchild]

On the idea of personnel and player development...

Having Newman and relvao leave late sucked but, this team had a lot riding on AJ even before that. The fact that he’s a RS freshman who looks completely lost is very concerning. The fact that he can’t really sniff the court on a short bench is telling. May be unfair, but i think he’s got a lot of the blame his year. Hopefully his changes, but we may be looking at another bust of a big.

This team would be very different if we could run Greg, AJ, Mar, Grayer, Otis at the start of conference play with slashers Kier and Boyd off the bench. And theoretically Greene coming in to bomb some 3s.

Greg, looks to have progressed during OOC but our guards havent started to hit him with passes consistently. Kier has shown he can get to the rim and needs to keep doing that. Same with Boyd. Greene needs to stop the air balls.

If AJ could show up for 20min a game we’d likely be competitive against the middle of the pack.

 

[mason89]

The whole team has regressed shooting from deep. I think that's partly the defenses we've been seeing, partly fatigue at the end of games, partly bad luck, partly poorly run offense (a lot of end of clock desperation heaves and early shot clock desperation 3s to get back into games). I don't think it necessarily means the players have forgotten how to shoot the ball, though.

We are missing I think three roles on the team:

1) an elite defender. Last year, we had Moore. His loss on the offensive side of the ball and his rebounding is most glaringly missed, but his ability to make life difficult for whoever he was guarding is really what we are missing. Otis is a mediocre defender (and a little lazy, to be honest). Kier is competent, but I don't think he'll ever get there. Mar is playing out of position, so we don't really know what he'd bring if he was guarding small forwards instead of centers and power forwards. Grayer could be that guy, I think, but that leads me to point number two.

2) An aggressor. No one on this team is willing to take it and shove it down the throats of the opposition. Grayer, again, can be that guy, but he is too willing to sit back. Otis tries to be that guy for us, but he's more suited to being robin to someone's Batman. Grayer has to figure out where his Batman is.

3) The most obvious: a dominant big. Can't do much pressing without a dominant big who can erase mistakes. Can't force teams to back off if you can't dump the ball down low and punish teams for overplaying the perimeter, can't go on runs if you can't secure the rebound after a miss, can't play aggressive perimeter defense if you've got no one in the paint who can alter shots, can't play aggressive perimeter defense if your post player is going to get abused on the inside, etc. etc.

I too agree with your points, but it's important to remember that Marquise didn't become an elite defender until his senior season when he truly bought into Coach Paulsen's system. Kier is only a sophomore, so I think he's well ahead of schedule to be that defender we need.

 

[GMUgemini]

I wouldn't say AJ looks lost, I think his problem is he's playing too fast. Right now I think he gets on the court and he wants to do everything all of the time and he flies around like a whirling dervish crashing into things.

He needs to slow down, focus on the fundamentals -- his positioning, his rotations, securing rebounds -- before he tries to do anything else. If he does that, I think he'll see more consistent court time.

I also think he should be playing the 4 instead of the 5, and hopefully does exclusively starting next season.

If you want to see someone who looked lost, go back and look at tape of Temara trying to play a zone defense. That is the look of a lost soul.

 

[gmujim92]

AJ is the only real explosive above the rim player on the roster. His follow dunks keep getting waved off but I appreciate the aggressiveness and am confident it will all come together for him as the game slows down.

Again, the freshmen aren’t a problem. They’re all coming along just fine and are already contributing.

 

[By George.]

I wouldn't say AJ looks lost, I think his problem is he's playing too fast. Right now I think he gets on the court and he wants to do everything all of the time and he flies around like a whirling dervish crashing into things.

He needs to slow down, focus on the fundamentals -- his positioning, his rotations, securing rebounds -- before he tries to do anything else. If he does that, I think he'll see more consistent court time.

I also think he should be playing the 4 instead of the 5, and hopefully does exclusively starting next season.

If you want to see someone who looked lost, go back and look at tape of Temara trying to play a zone defense. That is the look of a lost soul.

More playing time would probably help... He had a nice back door cut for a dunk that was washed out by a foul. I’m not so sure this coaching staff knows how to use AJ.

 

[Washingtonian]

More playing time would probably help... He had a nice back door cut for a dunk that was washed out by a foul. I’m not so sure this coaching staff knows how to use AJ.

They had a year to figure this out, since NCAA rules allow a redshirt player to practice the entire season.

 

[gmujim92]

More playing time would probably help... He had a nice back door cut for a dunk that was washed out by a foul. I’m not so sure this coaching staff knows how to use AJ.

They’re still trying to figure out where he fits. He’s not really a big even though he plays above the rim and blocks shots, but he doesn’t handle it well enough yet to be a wing.

I’m hopeful that Dave will at some point — hopefully sooner than later — just send him out there and let him play 25 minutes or more in consecutive games regardless of the results. It’s what he needs to really start carving out a consistent role.

You have to live with inexperience-related mistakes with a talent like AJ. Trying to micromanage his natural athleticism is a fool’s errand and this team obviously isn’t going anywhere this season anyhow.

 

[gmujim92]

They had a year to figure this out, since NCAA rules allow a redshirt player to practice the entire season.

Because so many guys have it all figured out halfway through their second year...

Patience, grasshopper.

 

[gmujim92]

Oh and just in case anyone is curious, Justin Tillman from vcu is just now truly maximizing his inside-outside game as a senior.

Like AJ, Tillman is a 6-7 pogo stick, but he played exclusively in the paint his first three seasons. Now he’s shooting over 40 percent from 3, averaging a double-double and will likely be first-team all-A10.

Sometimes it takes longer than we’d like for these athletic tweeters to find an optimal role, but I am convinced AJ will get there if he keeps working hard and maintains a positive attitude.

 

[Washingtonian]

Because so many guys have it all figured out halfway through their second year...

Patience, grasshopper.

AJ practiced with the team for a year, you would think the coaches would have tried a lot of things in that time frame to figure out where he fits to prepare for this year.

 

[gmujim92]

AJ practiced with the team for a year, you would think the coaches would have tried a lot of things in that time frame to figure out where he fits to prepare for this year.

They did and they are.

AJ played exclusively in the paint in HS and AAU. Most of his points came on dunks and stickbacks. Now he’s working to diversify his skills and become an effective face-up 4.

Maybe I’m on Twitter too much, but I watched about 100 videos of AJ in the gym working on his 3-point shot during his redshirt year.

He already has proven capable of hitting a 3 in a Division I game. That’s really impressive progress and a testament to his work ethic.

But the kind of improvements AJ is making to his game take time and thousands of repetitions before becoming second nature.

 

[GSII]

Was Tillman supposed to overthrow MO alie-cox?

 

[gmujim92]

Was Tillman supposed to overthrow MO alie-cox?

Alie-Cox has nothing to do with Tillman’s emergence as a legit 3-point threat.

 

[masonjoe]

HOT TAKE: AJ is an average tweener forward.

 

[GSII]

Alie-Cox has nothing to do with Tillman’s emergence as a legit 3-point threat.

I never understood why Wade played him in the 5. Prob explains their tense relationship.

 

[KAOriginal]

All this talk makes me miss the old days...when freshman and sophomores were barely let on the floor because "they're generally not ready their first two years."

And yet here we are stuck with 50% of our rotation that just a few months ago were at their high school prom.

Can't we just get 4 year players like everyone else?