Game 17: AT George Washington University, Saturday, January 17th, 4:30 PM, NBCSN

[Vurbel]

I completely agree, but even that will only equate to a few more wins a year with this roster. Contrary to some of the statements around here, a good coach could not make this a winning team. Hewitt has created such a mess with no great backcourt players, and that will leave his replacement with no choice but to essentially start over.

I disagree with your disagreement. We lost 10 games by 5 points or less last year (well one by more than that in overtime, but still). If we box out, rebound, pass well, rotate on defense, etc. we win half those games by only doing basic fundamentals. We were 11-20, so if we win five more games that puts us at 16-15.

All this is easier said than done, and we can nitpick on numbers, but looking at the "macro" and not the "micro" it's not outside the realm of possibilities we could be a winning team again.

Hold it, who cares about being a winning team? That should be a given. We should care about winning A10 titles and *advancing* in the NCAA tournament.

Sorry for the ramble.

 

[gmutom]

We lost 10 games by 5 points or less last year (well one by more than that in overtime, but still).

I'm not talking about last year's team. I agree a good coach could have gotten a handful of more wins out of last year's team, but we are pretty much what we are this year given the poor job Hewitt did recruiting guards and some misfortune with injuries/defections/NCAA bullshit.

If Lockett, Porter, Jackson and Mayimba stay and improve (and Gilbert remains committed), I think our new coach will have some nice pieces to build around; but we're still at least two more seasons from being a .500 program. Baby steps.

 

[gmujim92]

While our roster is obviously far from perfect, I'm confident that even a competent coach could take a starting 5 of Thompson, Jenkins, Jackson, Holloway and Moore and do better than the atrocious f*cking sh!tshow to which we're being treated.

Never mind being a "winning" team.

At this point, I'd settle for a team that has a coherent plan on both ends of the court. That alone would be a HUGE improvement.

 

[A.-Siegfried]

If they do dump Hewitt after this season, why not just pay him 50K/year for the next 15 years or something like the Nats are doing with their 210 million dollar pitcher. I imagine they could swing that.

I think this team, with the proper coach, could win and be successful as soon as next year depending on who sticks and who leaves. Locket and Jackson on the wings with Moore as your PG isn't too bad and Jenkins/Thompson/Royal/Porter/Marko is at least a decent front line rotation as long as Thompson and Porter continue to get better. Certainly a back up PG is a top priority no matter who the coach is next season, but some believe Jackson or Locket could pull off that role as well. Holloway can come off the bench for 12 minutes a game for all I care.

Just hope we don't go down the UNCW path of consecutive bad hires or JMU. They had a nice long run of awfulness as well.

 

[JimP]

If they do dump Hewitt after this season, why not just pay him 50K/year for the next 15 years or something like the Nats are doing with their 210 million dollar pitcher. I imagine they could swing that.

I think this team, with the proper coach, could win and be successful as soon as next year depending on who sticks and who leaves. Locket and Jackson on the wings with Moore as your PG isn't too bad and Jenkins/Thompson/Royal/Porter/Marko is at least a decent front line rotation as long as Thompson and Porter continue to get better. Certainly a back up PG is a top priority no matter who the coach is next season, but some believe Jackson or Locket could pull off that role as well. Holloway can come off the bench for 12 minutes a game for all I care.

Just hope we don't go down the UNCW path of consecutive bad hires or JMU. They had a nice long run of awfulness as well.

Good point....I think GT is paying him a certain amount yearly. What a racket.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

While our roster is obviously far from perfect, I'm confident that even a competent coach could take a starting 5 of Thompson, Jenkins, Jackson, Holloway and Moore and do better than the atrocious f*cking sh!tshow to which we're being treated.

Never mind being a "winning" team.

At this point, I'd settle for a team that has a coherent plan on both ends of the court. That alone would be a HUGE improvement.

Looking at that starting five, not sure what's missing. I see low post, mid range, a slasher, a deep threat, rebounding, shot blocking....seems like a team that could win a lot of games.

 

[psyclone]

Good point....I think GT is paying him a certain amount yearly. What a racket.

My sense is that the Georgia Tech payout needed to cover each of the remaining years of his contract, which I think was something like up to 7 yrs as he had been extended annually for an additional 7 years. That was some contract that his agent negotiated! Indeed, supposedly that big payout was one of the hesitations about firing him sooner.

So I'm guessing he'd collect the full amount from Mason during the year, not counting bonuses. Of course the devil is in the details of the contract.

 

[gmujim92]

My sense is that the Georgia Tech payout needed to cover each of the remaining years of his contract, which I think was something like up to 7 yrs as he had been extended annually for an additional 7 years. That was some contract that his agent negotiated! Indeed, supposedly that big payout was one of the hesitations about firing him sooner.

So I'm guessing he'd collect the full amount from Mason during the year, not counting bonuses. Of course the devil is in the details of the contract.

He should walk away and be glad we don't sue his a** for coaching malpractice.

 

[psyclone]

My sense is that the Georgia Tech payout needed to cover each of the remaining years of his contract, which I think was something like up to 7 yrs as he had been extended annually for an additional 7 years. That was some contract that his agent negotiated! Indeed, supposedly that big payout was one of the hesitations about firing him sooner.

So I'm guessing he'd collect the full amount from Mason during the year, not counting bonuses. Of course the devil is in the details of the contract.

Some relevant background here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6209623
"After the Final Four season, former athletic director Dave Braine signed Hewitt to a six-year contract at about $1.3 million per year that includes an automatic rollover clause."

 

[gmujim92]

The GT fans despise Braine even more than we hate TOC, and that's saying something.

If they didn't have a few very deep-pocketed alums, they might never have gotten out from under that Albatross of a contract.

 

[Walter]

The GT fans despise Braine even more than we hate TOC, and that's saying something.

If they didn't have a few very deep-pocketed alums, they might never have gotten out from under that Albatross of a contract.

That's a lot of hate for Braine if true

 

[GMUgemini]

Looking at that starting five, not sure what's missing. I see low post, mid range, a slasher, a deep threat, rebounding, shot blocking....seems like a team that could win a lot of games.

Not enough shooters. If you close down Holloway, there goes your deep threat. If you clog the lane, Moore becomes less useful, etc. It's much harder to guard teams that can multiple shooters on the floor at the same time, especially when more than one of them can slash into the lane: for instance (Skinn, Campbell, Butler) or (Long, Smith, Hancock).

If Gray and Jackson were more consistent, that would solve a lot of the roster's problems (or if we knew what we had in Lockett and Mayimba).

 

[gmutom]

Looking at that starting five, not sure what's missing.

• Other than Moore (who scores on a lot of layups), we don't have a starting guard who shoots better than 40%.

• We don't have a guard who is in the top 20 in scoring in the A10, and only Holloway manages to crack the top 40 at #24.

• We are 11th in the A10 in overall FG percentage (which is actually skewed when you factor in that Thompson shoots 57%), and we are 10th in 3-pt percentage.

Could a better coach get more out of our guards and draw up better plays. Absolutely. And that in itself would be worth a few more wins this year. But let's also not pretend we don't miss a lot of wide open shots as well.

Our next coach will have to undo a lot of damage Hewitt has created with this roster, but his top priority will have to be compiling a backcourt that can consistently compete at the A10 level. In that regard, Hewitt has failed miserably.

 

[DeepValue]

In the Washington Post game piece Mike Lonergan is quoted as saying the two things he likes about Philly are, "cheese steaks and the Big 5." Good line by him and the point is that DC teams should all play each other too. Maybe he's done this bit before but it's a good one either way.

 

[gmutom]

The toughest part about judging our backcourt next year is not knowing what we have in Lockett and Mayimba and also not knowing if Gilbert will stay committed if Hewitt is fired.

I have to admit to having a soft spot for Jackson. He has struggled at times this year, but I love his size, confidence and game. With the right coach, he really could be a diamond in the rough. The real question is what do we have in Patrick. Is he the sharpshooter who can put us on his back consistently, or is he the out-of-control player who shoots us out of games. I think the jury is still out on that one.

 

[KAOriginal]

The toughest part about judging our backcourt next year is not knowing what we have in Lockett and Mayimba and also not knowing if Gilbert will stay committed if Hewitt is fired.

I have to admit to having a soft spot for Jackson. He has struggled at times this year, but I love his size, confidence and game. With the right coach, he really could be a diamond in the rough. The real question is what do we have in Patrick. Is he the sharpshooter who can put us on his back consistently, or is he the out-of-control player who shoots us out of games. I think the jury is still out on that one.

Even with their individual issues and questionable guard play, something just tells me a coach who could come up with a better DEFINED offensive game plan would have these kids playing better, and gaining confidence in themselves.

No we wouldn't be gangbusters, but I feel a better SYSTEM is the only thing that's missing from another 4-6 wins till we solve personnel...

 

[Bricker]

Even with their individual issues and questionable guard play, something just tells me a coach who could come up with a better DEFINED offensive game plan would have these kids playing better, and gaining confidence in themselves.

No we wouldn't be gangbusters, but I feel a better SYSTEM is the only thing that's missing from another 4-6 wins till we solve personnel...

I agree with this. Maybe Hewitt should just sub more.

 

[gmujim92]

That's a lot of hate for Braine if true

It is ... and it is.

 

[Dawgs99]

From where I stand a better coach would certainly have these guys playing better ball, but I'm with Tom on this one......there is a talent issue on this team. We have no guards! MM is a huge liability with his fugly jumper and Pat has lost his stroke and can't really get his own shot. You can't have an upper echelon A10 back court that starts with a PG who's shot is so poor other teams don't even guard him past 15 ft and the others (VG/PH) can't knock down jumpers with any level of consistency. We may have a few A10 level front court players but IMO we don't have any back court players that are on that level. Of course this still all falls on Hewitt's lap.....and to make it clear I want that dude fired ASAP.

 

[gmutom]

Even with their individual issues and questionable guard play, something just tells me a coach who could come up with a better DEFINED offensive game plan would have these kids playing better, and gaining confidence in themselves.

No we wouldn't be gangbusters, but I feel a better SYSTEM is the only thing that's missing from another 4-6 wins till we solve personnel...

That's fair, KA. I just think Hewitt's crappy coaching has clouded the view here of how much be has bungled the roster. We have a coaching and talent issue, but I think we all agree that we obviously need to get rid of the former before the latter can be addressed.