Game 14: GMU (7-6 / 3-4) at St. Joe’s (1-11 / 0-6) on Saturday at 12:30PM. 2nd Game of Back to Back

[sleeperpick]

Yeah- definitely agree. Crazy that the point guard play has become such an issue this year with so many point guards on the roster. I thought Hartwell was going to be Otis 2.0 with a little bit more talent and ability. I also thought XJ and Polite would be transitioned to and be really talented guards. However ,none of that has come to pass quite yet. We saw flashes with XJ last year, but this year Polite hasn't looked ready for D1 ball.

Hopefully the last two pieces can improve.

Last couple games I have seen flashes that Polite does belong... but in college you need to either be an amazing distributor that plays defense really well or a point guard that can shoot and score... hopefully he turns into one of the two. His distribution has gotten a lot better. Doesn’t play a lick of defense and can’t shoot currently. How bad is OTis Frazier and Malik if Polite and Greg play in front of them?

 

[GMUgemini]

Having a point guard that can both dribble and shoot came and left with Otis. Jamal can barely dribble the ball past any pressure and XJ can’t shoot and much more out of control this year. Kolek not the strongest decision maker or dribbler either. Javon kind of out of control as well but certainly our best option IMO

XJ's inability to shoot would be less of a problem if, a, he were healthy and, b, we had an offense that allowed for more spacing for him to be able to beat his man without running into a bunch of traffic, which leads me to, c, teammates who were more consistently a threat to shoot it from the outside so defenses couldn't collapse into the paint.

So, we still have the same problems we've had the last 3 years -- we need more/better shooters and we need an offense that makes sense for the players we have.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Not to worry everyone. DP is hot on the trail of some people in this video. Pure shooters. Help is on the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMZ07OpmwTw

 

[mkaufman1]

Last couple games I have seen flashes that Polite does belong... but in college you need to either be an amazing distributor that plays defense really well or a point guard that can shoot and score... hopefully he turns into one of the two. His distribution has gotten a lot better. Doesn’t play a lick of defense and can’t shoot currently. How bad is OTis Frazier and Malik if Polite and Greg play in front of them?

Yeah I agree. I think Polite had a nice drive to the layup at one point and it looks like slowly but surely the game is slowing down.

Also with Frazier and Henry, thats the problem with freshmen. Freshmen are usually not ready to play or they get sporadic minutes and teams lean more on their experienced players. But with Paulsen it seems like the experienced players regress so the freshmen are leaned on, and they aren't ready so its a continuous loop.

If XJ and Hartwell were playing well, there'd be no chance that Polite would even sniff the court. Hell even Kolek wouldn't be needed so much.

If XJ is truly hurt, shut the kid down and don't play him. Simple as that. At this point they are grasping to get whatever they can from the guards that have just really played piss poor all year.

Just puzzling all around how they all can be so so bad.

 

[Petey Buckets]

The fundamental issue is that this ballscreen motion offense requires bucket-getters. Tough to do anything with screens when you can't penetrate or score at the rim, and tough to create spacing when you can't pull up for a midrange or hit a 3 off the bounce. I'm a broken record on this stuff but a great offense like Davidson, for instance, would also struggle in this scheme. They draw up sets to get guys open and it works wonderfully.

I also like the concept of *putting pressure on the defense* and for that reason I want the dribble handoff to die a quick death. It works with the right personnel, but is there anything *less* threatening to a defense than Oduro or calixte or AJ holding the ball at the top of the key facing away from the basket? Precious seconds ticking off the shot clock every possession, and defenders swarming the guard trying to receive the handoff because there's no penalty we can inflict for overplaying, because our bigs aren't good post passers.

Really the only things that consistently look viable are our high-low set, Miller in iso, or cheap and easy buckets on the break. Even half of Kolek's 3s he's just bailing us out of a shitty possession.

Very over the offense and want to see big changes soon.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Just puzzling all around how they all can be so so bad.

Perhaps DP just doesn't know what a good A10 player looks like.

 

[mkaufman1]

Perhaps DP just doesn't know what a good A10 player looks like.

He may not, but its also puzzling at the regression we've seen. A kid like XJ looked like an A10 player to me last year and someone to build around at the guard position.

Now he barely can hold his own it seems.

 

[Patriotsince81]

He may not, but its also puzzling at the regression we've seen. A kid like XJ looked like an A10 player to me last year and someone to build around at the guard position.

Now he barely can hold his own it seems.

Players don't progress under DP. They regress.

 

[mkaufman1]

The fundamental issue is that this ballscreen motion offense requires bucket-getters. Tough to do anything with screens when you can't penetrate or score at the rim, and tough to create spacing when you can't pull up for a midrange or hit a 3 off the bounce. I'm a broken record on this stuff but a great offense like Davidson, for instance, would also struggle in this scheme. They draw up sets to get guys open and it works wonderfully.

I also like the concept of *putting pressure on the defense* and for that reason I want the dribble handoff to die a quick death. It works with the right personnel, but is there anything *less* threatening to a defense than Oduro or calixte or AJ holding the ball at the top of the key facing away from the basket? Precious seconds ticking off the shot clock every possession, and defenders swarming the guard trying to receive the handoff because there's no penalty we can inflict for overplaying, because our bigs aren't good post passers.

Really the only things that consistently look viable are our high-low set, Miller in iso, or cheap and easy buckets on the break. Even half of Kolek's 3s he's just bailing us out of a shitty possession.

Very over the offense and want to see big changes soon.

Yep, couldn't agree more. Even if you could penetrate and "create your own shot" that would help. Obviously its the Big Ten but I've seen Pikiell's guards off a screen create a jump shot or penetrate. It seems like its the same scheme but its ran much much better. I think we talked about this on twitter at one point.

 

[By George.]

.......can’t wait

 

[gmujim92]

Players don't progress under DP. They regress.

Plenty of evidence to say some have done one, many have done the other.

 

[sleeperpick]

Plenty of evidence to say some have done one, many have done the other.

Plenty of evidence to say some of those that improved still weren’t good enough for real A10 accolades or to win big games with their teams

 

[gmujim92]

Plenty of evidence to say some of those that improved still weren’t good enough for real A10 accolades or to win big games with their teams

That’s fair

 

[tblack33]

Plenty of evidence to say some have done one, many have done the other.

This to me has been the real head scratcher. Why do some guys make such huge jumps, while the majority either tread water or regress? What are those guys that make the big jumps doing that others aren't? Is it the offseason work they are putting in that others aren't? More coaching attention from the staff compared to others? I don't get how you can coach 3/4 most improved players in the conference but can't put together a complete team.

 

[GMUgemini]

Plenty of evidence to say some of those that improved still weren’t good enough for real A10 accolades or to win big games with their teams

Yes, too much shrinking at the big moments. We saw that this year against Dayton and folding against URI. It's definitely a trend for Paulsen's teams. It's especially bad for home games: I'm thinking specifically of the 2017-2018 season with top 4 on the line (we swept St. Joe's so held the tiebreaker over them) at home to Richmond (who went 12-20 that year). The team had already beaten them on the road that year...and what do they do? Let them drop 93 points on them and lose really, really badly on the last game of the year.

Same thing happened against St. Joe's in the quarterfinals that same season...swept St. Joes during the regular season, can't even score 50 against them in the postseason lose by 20.

 

[GSII]

DP, as u can see,.doesn't recruit dogs. We won't have big moments bc the type of mentality isn't recruited. I guess he like it bc the players are nice little boys and listen to their coach and never get in trouble.

 

[Patriotsince81]

DP, as u can see,.doesn't recruit dogs. We won't have big moments bc the type of mentality isn't recruited. I guess he like it bc the players are nice little boys and listen to their coach and never get in trouble.

Yet he has to suspend players the past two years. Not trying to start a pissing match. I'm just so done with DP. Hewitt? DP? No difference.

 

[GSII]

Suspend for what? We don't know the reason. Atleast with L we knew. These offenses are so weak they won't say.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Line started at Mason -2.5 now up to Mason -3.5...will we in typical form play better on the road in front of their cardboard cutouts than we do/did in front of our cardboard cutouts?

We will soon know! Pregaming begins in my room at the Breezeway Motel in six minutes...will move to behind the ExxonMobil station by around 9:30.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Line started at Mason -2.5 now up to Mason -3.5...will we in typical form play better on the road in front of our cardboard cutouts than we do/did in front of our cardboard cutouts?

We will soon know! Pregaming begins in my room at the Breezeway Motel in six minutes...will move to behind the ExxonMobil station by around 9:30.

The Sleezway Breezeway!!!!!!!!!!! Many a good night there back in the day.