Game 11: Georgia Southern University, Tuesday, December 12th, 7 PM, Atlantic10.com

[mason lawyer]

He's been extended every year he's been here, so he'll in year 4 of a 7 year deal.

What has he done to be extended? Mind boggling

 

[PoorManProfit]

Why does everyone on here worship DP? He has not proven one thing at Mason. I do not see how he is any better than hewitt. So the big question, why is still in Fairfax. He is awful.

To answer your question, I have no f**king idea. I get wanting to support, but when it stinks it just stinks.

 

[PoorManProfit]

He's been extended every year he's been here, so he'll in year 4 of a 7 year deal.

Wait, this is true?

 

[JimP]

Not sure why people are freaking out to the degree they are. Perhaps some of it is in jest. Tough to tell on a message board.

I am disappointed that DP and his staff did not pick up another big for this season, but we all knew the team would take a step backward after losing Moore and Jenkins.

I am concerned that we don't have enough to take a big step forward in terms of play next year, but I don't see the point in freaking out now. Paulsen has a good track record. I have some optimism (and a bit of doubt) that he'll have a team capable of making a meaningful post season tourney next year. Otherwise, I'll freak out then.

 

[GMU_DCU]

Wait, this is true?

Yes, cry about it now.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

“17-18 wins and between 8th-10th place in a10, so a step backwards, ever so slightly. But seeing lots of reasons for optimism in the upcoming 2-3 years”

I was probably wrong about the first part of this. So I’ll revise and say:


.500 or Sub .500 record overall is looking more likely. Worth it if the players learn and grow for next season. Can’t do much this season with 8 players.

 

[mason lawyer]

“17-18 wins and between 8th-10th place in a10, so a step backwards, ever so slightly. But seeing lots of reasons for optimism in the upcoming 2-3 years”

I was probably wrong about the first part of this. So I’ll revise and say:


.500 or Sub .500 record overall is looking more likely. Worth it if the players learn and grow for next season. Can’t do much this season with 8 players.

No wonder we do not win anymore. A little hope of optimism is good enough for some of our fans for next 3 years. Getting back to the final four or even the getting to the tournament use to be the goal around here. Now the goal is a 500 record. When do we hit rock bottom as a program. Two terrible hires in a row.

 

[Petey Buckets]

Reasons to tilt this loss really hard:

1) We have no explosive scoring options. Otis is limited due to size, Jaire only shoots threes, and nothing happens when they're both off on the same night.
2) Goanar is gonna be great, but he isn't there yet.
3) Coaching staff hasn't really figured out who Kier and Boyd are/what they should be asked to do yet.
4) Repeat of #1, but I miss Karmari Newman and so does the team.
5) Dave doesn't actually play small-ball. He plays conventional ball with a small lineup. There's a biiiiiiig difference and we're starting to see the limits of trying to outrebound and play straight-up defense with players that are three inches too short and a little less skilled at every position.

Reasons not to tilt this loss too hard:
1) AJ did his usual cat chasing a laser pointer act on defense for his first few minutes, but then got settled in and looked great. Like, really great. 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks.
2) It's very obvious AJ needs to get more minutes and probably start. AJ playing helps Mar draw better assignments on both sides of the ball.
3) Mar drawing easier assignments will help him take the scoring load off Otis and Jaire.
4) Otis and Jaire should get more efficient/get easier buckets with Mar helping ease the load.

In all seriousness I do think there's a sort of "if you give a mouse a cookie" effect to this stuff. Move AJ to the 5, move Mar to the 4, play Otis/Grayer and the hot hand between Kier/Boyd/Javon, then you're working with a lineup that doesn't see scoring points as such a Sisyphean task. Everything went wrong in this game, but the worst part to me was how the team kind of passively swung the ball around the perimeter and settled for bad shots in the first ten minutes. In the first few minutes of the second half we definitely made an effort to attack the paint, but Boyd/Kier aren't high level finishers and some good looks were missed. There were no good options with our small but conventional starting lineup, so I think the lineup changes really soon.

 

[gmujim92]

Well, the PoorManProfit had GAS right, at least. DP is in trouble. He thinks recruiting is hard now? Wait until next year when he’s in year 4 of a 5 year deal. Remember that PH only got 4 years himself. This guy, for the most part, hasn’t shown shit.

So much wrong in this post, I don’t know where to begin.

Not sure why I ever un-ignored this douche.

 

[gmujim92]

This board is a bipolar man off his meds.

We weren’t as good as we looked in beating a meh NC Central team.

We’re not as bad as we looked in losing to a good Ga. Southern team.

The sky is not falling.

That said, I’m curious to see if DP is willing to experiment and tweak the rotation some because this 5-guard lineup is very limited.

Given the 2-year season, why not put AJ out there and let him learn on the job while living with the fact that he’s going to blow some assignments?

Kier or Boyd (or both) could benefit from coming off the bench and being able to play more complementary roles.

Makes too much sense not to do this.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Reasons to tilt this loss really hard:

1) We have no explosive scoring options. Otis is limited due to size, Jaire only shoots threes, and nothing happens when they're both off on the same night.
2) Goanar is gonna be great, but he isn't there yet.
3) Coaching staff hasn't really figured out who Kier and Boyd are/what they should be asked to do yet.
4) Repeat of #1, but I miss Karmari Newman and so does the team.
5) Dave doesn't actually play small-ball. He plays conventional ball with a small lineup. There's a biiiiiiig difference and we're starting to see the limits of trying to outrebound and play straight-up defense with players that are three inches too short and a little less skilled at every position.

Reasons not to tilt this loss too hard:
1) AJ did his usual cat chasing a laser pointer act on defense for his first few minutes, but then got settled in and looked great. Like, really great. 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks.
2) It's very obvious AJ needs to get more minutes and probably start. AJ playing helps Mar draw better assignments on both sides of the ball.
3) Mar drawing easier assignments will help him take the scoring load off Otis and Jaire.
4) Otis and Jaire should get more efficient/get easier buckets with Mar helping ease the load.

In all seriousness I do think there's a sort of "if you give a mouse a cookie" effect to this stuff. Move AJ to the 5, move Mar to the 4, play Otis/Grayer and the hot hand between Kier/Boyd/Javon, then you're working with a lineup that doesn't see scoring points as such a Sisyphean task. Everything went wrong in this game, but the worst part to me was how the team kind of passively swung the ball around the perimeter and settled for bad shots in the first ten minutes. In the first few minutes of the second half we definitely made an effort to attack the paint, but Boyd/Kier aren't high level finishers and some good looks were missed. There were no good options with our small but conventional starting lineup, so I think the lineup changes really soon.

Any post that has "Sisphysan task" in it is probably a little much for the r-tards here, but good post.

 

[Scythe]

This ban button is getting used way too much these days.

 

[Scythe]

Masonjoe and DJ3 -- if I see anymore fake accounts out of you guys then I'll start blanket banning your main accounts.

 

[GSII]

Ignoring both now. What douches. Weird way for you two to be spending your honeymoon.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I've decided to not post after games until the next day... might help some others that want to jump off a cliff after performances like that.

I don't think it's unfair to say that we aren't performing as well as we thought at this point. After looking at my preseason predictions, I had us 7-4 at this point of the season, and a few people thought that I was underselling this year's team. Well, right now we are 5-6, so again, I think it's fair to say we aren't playing as well as we hoped.

Last night was a beat down, one that I'm not necessarily surprised that we got, just surprised is was at home against a team that has "Georgia Southern" on the front of their jersey and not a game away from home against a Louisville, Louisiana Tech, Fresno St, or Auburn... having said that, Georgia Southern is pretty legit. Not as legit as the beat down was last night, but they are better than us, that's for sure.

I agree with others that Kier and Boyd are not helping this team win games right now, but I don't necessarily think AJ will either. It's easy to say insert him into the starting lineup after last night, but he's had some clunkers worse than Kier and Boyd have. It's just one of those things - we need someone out of those guys to step up, last night it was AJ, but I'm not convinced yet he will always be able to give us a double/double. The one benefit it does give us is size, which might be enough to put him there, I don't know. I don't think there is a clear cut answer.

Even if Reuter is as good as advertised, I still think we need another big man for next year's team to get us anywhere close to sniffing the NCAA's. We shall see!

 

[Falco]

Reasons to tilt this loss really hard:

1) We have no explosive scoring options. Otis is limited due to size, Jaire only shoots threes, and nothing happens when they're both off on the same night.
2) Goanar is gonna be great, but he isn't there yet.
3) Coaching staff hasn't really figured out who Kier and Boyd are/what they should be asked to do yet.
4) Repeat of #1, but I miss Karmari Newman and so does the team.
5) Dave doesn't actually play small-ball. He plays conventional ball with a small lineup. There's a biiiiiiig difference and we're starting to see the limits of trying to outrebound and play straight-up defense with players that are three inches too short and a little less skilled at every position.

Reasons not to tilt this loss too hard:
1) AJ did his usual cat chasing a laser pointer act on defense for his first few minutes, but then got settled in and looked great. Like, really great. 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks.
2) It's very obvious AJ needs to get more minutes and probably start. AJ playing helps Mar draw better assignments on both sides of the ball.
3) Mar drawing easier assignments will help him take the scoring load off Otis and Jaire.
4) Otis and Jaire should get more efficient/get easier buckets with Mar helping ease the load.

In all seriousness I do think there's a sort of "if you give a mouse a cookie" effect to this stuff. Move AJ to the 5, move Mar to the 4, play Otis/Grayer and the hot hand between Kier/Boyd/Javon, then you're working with a lineup that doesn't see scoring points as such a Sisyphean task. Everything went wrong in this game, but the worst part to me was how the team kind of passively swung the ball around the perimeter and settled for bad shots in the first ten minutes. In the first few minutes of the second half we definitely made an effort to attack the paint, but Boyd/Kier aren't high level finishers and some good looks were missed. There were no good options with our small but conventional starting lineup, so I think the lineup changes really soon.

I agree with this lineup. But I start Javon until he proves he can't handle the responsibility. Kier belongs with Dixon, and Boyd should transfer to tech to play football.

 

[Falco]

Masonjoe and DJ3 -- if I see anymore fake accounts out of you guys then I'll start blanket banning your main accounts.

Please tell me what fake accounts I have?

 

[Five Two]

Its a good thing GA Southern's 2nd leading scorer didnt play last night. Who knows what the outcome would have been....

Whats with wearing gray on the road when we are wearing white? That looked bad. I'm not a fan of the sleeves either.

Sometimes Otis looks like he is a veteran and last night he looked like it was his 4th college game ever. Not sure if he has hit a brick wall due to all the minutes he is forced to play. It was weird we made a run without him on the court. Maybe it forced everyone else to move the ball instead of Otis dribbling too much. I don't know. Before it got out of hand in the 2nd half, we had a chance to cut the lead to 5 with a basket and Otis came down and took a wild shot early in the possession; never passing the ball. DP was ready to kill him. Problem is, who do you replace him with???

To the guys a few rows behind the benches yelling at the refs that the GA Southern coach was out of the coaching box- the box has been extended this year. Coaches can go almost to halfcourt and still be ok.

I didnt count, but I wonder how many layups and putbacks we missed last night. Defintely missed 1 dunk.

Also interesting that Catholic went on the road to UMD last night and lost by less than we did at home.

Last, I am sorry Jollay had to give than receive last night. Someday these kids will realize how selfish they are and that its not all about them.

 

[mkaufman1]

At least they have a few days before Penn State, then another 5 Days then another 8 days. Three games over 17 days will hopefully help them get focused and regroup before the grind of the conference season. They surely look like they need it at this point.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Paulsen has said on numerous occasions that we, as fans, would be proud of the effort and the way the team plays. In my eyes that simply was not the case last night. I guess thats where my anger, frustration, disappointment, whatever you want to call it comes from. I watched the team screw around during warm-ups with casual finger rolls and showboat moves that resulted in misses in pregame. I'm old school and believe that you play like you practice and warm up is part of that practice. Make a layup pregame, better chance of making it during the game. Body language among some players last night, especially Kier, was especially poor.

I had us going 16 - 15 in a best case scenario so I wasn't expecting us to be NCAA bound, but last night everyone associated with the program did not put forth an effort to be proud of. Last night it looked like the team just went through the motions. They didn't compete and that is what frustrated me. When we attacked the rim we had some success, we just jacked up 3's without much movement. Defensively, it may be time to go zone which we saw briefly last night. I know that is not Paulsen's MO, but hey, it can't hurt at this point.

Rant over. Calm restored, until the next loss.