Fire Dave Paulsen / Hire Tony Skinn

[Patriot8]

He has shown nothing to make me think that this program is building toward a perennial Top 4 / championship contender. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a collegiate program, and as a program that already struggles to recruit against our own conference, I can't imagine we would be involved in any quality conversations.

He was a solid hire at the time, it hasn't worked out, it's time to move on. If you're worried about any of the current players leaving, then bring in a coach who those kids will be excited to play for. This transfer portal is going to be the wild west, and some of these guys aren't going to be as sought after as they think.

 

[GMUgemini]

He has shown nothing to make me think that this program is building toward a perennial Top 4 / championship contender. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a collegiate program, and as a program that already struggles to recruit against our own conference, I can't imagine we would be involved in any quality conversations.

He was a solid hire at the time, it hasn't worked out, it's time to move on. If you're worried about any of the current players leaving, then bring in a coach who those kids will be excited to play for. This transfer portal is going to be the wild west, and some of these guys aren't going to be as sought after as they think.

There are really only two players on this team who I legitimately would be sad to see leave: Miller and Kolek. There is no guarantee right now that either even comes back next year anyway.

But yeah, like you said, hire a coach who can re-recruit the ones you want to stay. Oduro? Sure. Frazier, Polite, Henry? I’m intrigued with what they might be able to do in the future.

But there is a lot of room for improvement in the middle of our roster.

 

[gmujim92]

There are really only two players on this team who I legitimately would be sad to see leave: Miller and Kolek. There is no guarantee right now that either even comes back next year anyway.

But yeah, like you said, hire a coach who can re-recruit the ones you want to stay. Oduro? Sure. Frazier, Polite, Henry? I’m intrigued with what they might be able to do in the future.

But there is a lot of room for improvement in the middle of our roster.

Every fan base loves their players to some extent, but Davidson really exposed our shortcomings yesterday. That’s a solid top-4 A-10 team, but most likely not making the NCAAs, and that’s how far away we are from being on that level. I’m willing to suck again in the short term if it gives us a chance to legit compete with the top teams in our league.

 

[mkaufman1]

There are really only two players on this team who I legitimately would be sad to see leave: Miller and Kolek. There is no guarantee right now that either even comes back next year anyway.

But yeah, like you said, hire a coach who can re-recruit the ones you want to stay. Oduro? Sure. Frazier, Polite, Henry? I’m intrigued with what they might be able to do in the future.

But there is a lot of room for improvement in the middle of our roster.

I agree- I actually argue that Oduro is needed to stay too. Could they do better than Oduro? Sure. Can you do a lot worse? Yes. Worst case you get someone and they share minutes.

 

[Patriotsince81]

If you're worried about any of the current players leaving, then bring in a coach who those kids will be excited to play for.

And bring in a coach who isn't afraid to use transfers to jump start the success.

 

[Patriotsince81]

I agree- I actually argue that Oduro is needed to stay too. Could they do better than Oduro? Sure. Can you do a lot worse? Yes. Worst case you get someone and they share minutes.

I run hot and cold on Oduro. There are times when he is just lost yet the flashes are there. He really needs to work on his strength and positioning. I question whether Handerahan really gets the results we need in terms of strength and conditioning.

 

[mkaufman1]

I run hot and cold on Oduro. There are times when he is just lost yet the flashes are there. He really needs to work on his strength and positioning. I question whether Handerahan really gets the results we need in terms of strength and conditioning.

yeah I mean, like I said worst case he’s a backup or shares minutes if he’s outplayed. I’d take him for that.

 

[gmujim92]

I question whether Handerahan really gets the results we need in terms of strength and conditioning.

I think Handy has proven himself over time because the guys who bought in and were willing to work got noticeably bigger and stronger over their 4 years — even Otis was significantly thicker by the time he graduated.

The problem is we recruit guys who are physically so far behind their peers in many cases that they have too much ground to make up.

(If you’re gonna recruit like that, you’d better find guys who are skilled enough to make up for their lack of strength/athleticism. Like Davidson does.)

 

[GMUgemini]

Every fan base loves their players to some extent, but Davidson really exposed our shortcomings yesterday. That’s a solid top-4 A-10 team, but most likely not making the NCAAs, and that’s how far away we are from being on that level. I’m willing to suck again in the short term if it gives us a chance to legit compete with the top teams in our league.

Part of what they exposed is how crappy our defensive schemes are. We’ve been leaving shooters open on the perimeter for 6 years. The last time we kept it close against Davidson, it was due to a poor shooting night for them. Kellen Grady was still not fully back from his injury and we kicked up the game enough against them to keep it close, but we largely failed to score that day and lost the game.

 

[Patriotsince81]

I think Handy has proven himself over time because the guys who bought in and were willing to work got noticeably bigger and stronger over their 4 years — even Otis was significantly thicker by the time he graduated.

The problem is we recruit guys who are physically so far behind their peers in many cases that they have too much ground to make up.

(If you’re gonna recruit like that, you’d better find guys who are skilled enough to make up for their lack of strength/athleticism. Like Davidson does.)

Solid points. We usually recruit guys that look like they are in middle school. We could easily have the all skinny team with AJ, Henry, Hartwell, etc. It was men vs boys last night.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

He has shown nothing to make me think that this program is building toward a perennial Top 4 / championship contender. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a collegiate program, and as a program that already struggles to recruit against our own conference, I can't imagine we would be involved in any quality conversations.

He was a solid hire at the time, it hasn't worked out, it's time to move on. If you're worried about any of the current players leaving, then bring in a coach who those kids will be excited to play for. This transfer portal is going to be the wild west, and some of these guys aren't going to be as sought after as they think.

Right...No hard feelings here. It just hasn't worked.

 

[GMUgemini]

Solid points. We usually recruit guys that look like they are in middle school. We could easily have the all skinny team with AJ, Henry, Hartwell, etc. It was men vs boys last night.

Oh, please. Davidson is not filled with muscular athletic types. Lee is a stick. Grady is no Lofton (hence why Lofton guarded Grady out of both games they played this year).

It's one thing to say we aren't SLU or Bonaventure, it's another to pretend we lost because our players weren't athletic enough to play with freaking Davidson.

No, our defensive scheme and how Paulsen asks us to play screwed us. We're the easiest team to gameplan against if you're an Xs and Os coach. Dave McKillop probably had the equipment manager dial up the offense against us, because it wasn't worth his time.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

I agree- I actually argue that Oduro is needed to stay too. Could they do better than Oduro? Sure. Can you do a lot worse? Yes. Worst case you get someone and they share minutes.

You guys should hope a lot of players stay even if there is a new coach.

It's risky enough financially after COVID--a few more wins and a few more butts in seats wouldn't hurt.

And, if bad gameplanning and schemes, and DP "senior regression" are as to blame as some people here allege, wouldn't it be nice to see what a different guy does with the same guys?

I mean even recruiting well, ala GW, with transfers, you're not exactly looking at top four for a while.

So, if there was a new coach next year, which I think 80-85% chance there's not, why not hope most of the guys stay?

 

[gmujim92]

Part of what they exposed is how crappy our defensive schemes are. We’ve been leaving shooters open on the perimeter for 6 years. The last time we kept it close against Davidson, it was due to a poor shooting night for them. Kellen Grady was still not fully back from his injury and we kicked up the game enough against them to keep it close, but we largely failed to score that day and lost the game.

The most damning sequence of Paulsen’s entire tenure was when Bates Jones pump-faked Oduro into the air, took about 15 seconds lumbering down the lane and still got an uncontested layup without any of the other 4 Mason players even turning around to see the ball. (If I’m Brad and Dave asks me why his a** is fired, I play that clip and walk out of the room. Enough said.)

It was a perfect illustration of how utterly disconnected we’ve been defensively for most of his time here. The concept of help defense may as well be a doctoral-level quantum physics class for as difficult as Dave’s Mason teams have made it look.

He is the anti Tony Bennett.

 

[hoops10]

Sure replacing Paulson, which must happen is going to cause more pain in the short run (may lose Kolek, even Miller), but keeping Paulson just so we don't lose some of these players is nuts. The guy has had six years to give us better athletes and better coaching. I submit he has done neither. With a few exceptions, Miller, Kolek, Greene, Odura, and Polite, who else do you believe are A10 caliber players. Time to bite the bullet and go find a hard core coach who knows how to recruit and coach. Unfortunately this will be a process and take time, but as I said what choice do we have.

 

[mkaufman1]

You guys should hope a lot of players stay even if there is a new coach.

It's risky enough financially after COVID--a few more wins and a few more butts in seats wouldn't hurt.

And, if bad gameplanning and schemes, and DP "senior regression" are as to blame as some people here allege, wouldn't it be nice to see what a different guy does with the same guys?

I mean even recruiting well, ala GW, with transfers, you're not exactly looking at top four for a while.

So, if there was a new coach next year, which I think 80-85% chance there's not, why not hope most of the guys stay?

It’s a fair point. But there are just some guys I feel they could really upgrade from. Oduro really isn’t one of those guys it’s more like Haidara or Hartwell. But a new coach could definitely help.

 

[gmujim92]

It’s a fair point. But there are just some guys I feel they could really upgrade from. Oduro really isn’t one of those guys it’s more like Haidara or Hartwell. But a new coach could definitely help.

Just like Dave was able to get more out of Marquise, Shevon and Jalen than Hewitt ever did, I’d like to think a bright, aggressive young coach could bring the best out of the guys we have coming back. Because most of them are a poor fit for the way Paulsen wants to play the game.

 

[Herndon]

Me personally, I'm really excited for next years team, Paulsen or no

Hopefully the freshmen make that big sophomore leap, because of Greene stays, we bring back basically the entire core of a team that was hot down the stretch.

We lose AJ, but realistically, he was not a guy we were leaning on during our best ball of the season.

If Greene comes back, I'm excited to see what Dave can do with the team.

 

[GMUgemini]

I can save you what next year’s team will look like. We will beat up in the bottom 4 and look completely uncompetitive against the top 4. We are toothless and lose in the quarters again. Paulsen gets fired, as he should be right now, and we begin a rebuild one year too late.

 

[tblack33]

Me personally, I'm really excited for next years team, Paulsen or no

Hopefully the freshmen make that big sophomore leap, because of Greene stays, we bring back basically the entire core of a team that was hot down the stretch.

We lose AJ, but realistically, he was not a guy we were leaning on during our best ball of the season.

If Greene comes back, I'm excited to see what Dave can do with the team.

“We bring back the same team that beat up on the bottom rung of the A10, and got dogged by anyone with a winning record”