Game 22: Saint Bonaventure University, Wednesday, January 31st, 7 PM, Stadium

[PoorManProfit]

he is usually a very good in game coach.

Wow. You think so? You guys really buy into this guy. Just don’t see it.

 

[PoorManProfit]

Other than maybe Newman, explain to me how Abram, Dixon, Murrell, Temara, and Relvao make us a better team this year? Speaking of which, having some or all of these guys on the roster would not have made us that much more experienced this year either.

I will grant you Newman all day, especially after the shooting and defensive woes from our current set of guards. He would have been poised to play big minutes this season and possibly steal someone's starting role.

Didn’t the Mountain Dew guzzler recruit all those scrubs?

 

[GMUgemini]

Every coach makes recruiting mistakes, guys who don't pan out, don't develop, or don't fit in. It just gets really pronounced when you have to fill up a roster really fast. If the roster purge continues or we continue to bring in guy that just don't help the team, it'll be time to reassess. But I'm not going to fault Paulsen for Dixon or Abram (had to get someone at those positions in year one). And I'm not going to fault him for whiffing on Temara (a really athletic big who turned out to be a bit of a spazz), or on Relvao (who looked like he had a nice skillset unfortunately hampered by injury -- a 6'9 guy with knee problems, not good).

If Javon Greene, Jarred Reuter, JDS, and Jordan Miller all turn out to be scrubs, that's a separate issue.

 

[gmujim92]

No minds should need changing. It is a fact that Lil Dave is to blame for the roster being young and weak.

It’s only a fact to you and the other ignorant trolls who exist here solely to aggravate.

Most of the posters who know anything about basketball understand that recruiting teenage males is an inexact science and every coach (even Coach K) misses on kids.

 

[sleeperpick]

How is it an excuse to say the other team is better than we are? Sounds more like a fact to me.

If they are still better than us next season without Adams and Mobley, then yeah it’s probably time to start freaking out.

But as to your preconceived notions about how we came to have our current roster, nothing I type is going to change your mind that it’s all Paulsen’s fault so I’m not gonna waste my time.

The inefficient gameplan to have Otis guard Mobley is inexcusable and he torched us... that isn't a they are better than us thing. Their bigs weren't better than ours in the least and we can rarely say that. Our defense was abhorrent.

 

[sleeperpick]

What do our assistants do in game? I watched their coach with the pink/red tie teach/yell at their kids every time a sub was made. The three of ours just like they are hanging out. Who is the head of watching film for defensive prep? They are either terrible or watched some other poop brown uniformed team play when coming up with the gameplan

 

[Masonfan3]

I can't believe we've gone to insulting nicknames. I guess a four game losing streak will do that. Cool.

Even before transfers we were never going to have a senior on the team this year. When has Mason ever had a top tier team without seniors leading the way? This stretch is hard and frustrating, but if you can't see individual improvement and you can't see that these young guys getting so many minutes as freshman and sophomores is going to pay off in the future, maybe just take a break and check in on this team in November.

You think we've ever had a team where every minute played the entire season we've had at least one freshman on the court?

The only individual improvement I've seen is from Calixte and the coaching staff deserves credit for that. We are now in the 2nd half of the season and there has been no improvement when it comes to the "team." This is a team game and individual improvement doesn't mean jack if the team continues to struggle. That is ALL on the coaches. You can only use the "we are young" excuse for so long. Richmond is younger than we are and you can see the improvement they have made. Duquesne starts two freshman and a sophomore. Otis and Jaire are really like Seniors with the amount of minutes they have played and Justin has started almost every game over the past year and half. We might be young if you look at their year in school but we are not that young in terms of experience/minutes played.

 

[gmujim92]

The inefficient gameplan to have Otis guard Mobley is inexcusable and he torched us... that isn't a they are better than us thing. Their bigs weren't better than ours in the least and we can rarely say that. Our defense was abhorrent.

If you think it would’ve made a difference who guarded Mobley I don’t know what to tell you.

If it wasn’t Mobley going off, it would’ve been Adams. Heck, it could’ve been both of them.

The inescapable facts are they have great guards and we are a terrible defensive team.

I guess you can believe that our coach, who had nationally-ranked defenses several times at Bucknell, suddenly forgot how to coach defense.

Or perhaps it might have something to do with playing 6 freshmen and sophomores in an 8-man rotation. At the end of the day the players have to execute the game plan.

 

[Masonfan3]

If you think it would’ve made a difference who guarded Mobley I don’t know what to tell you.

If it wasn’t Mobley going off, it would’ve been Adams. Heck, it could’ve been both of them.

The inescapable facts are they have great guards and we are a terrible defensive team.

I guess you can believe that our coach, who had nationally-ranked defenses several times at Bucknell, suddenly forgot how to coach defense.

Or perhaps it might have something to do with playing 6 freshmen and sophomores in an 8-man rotation. At the end of the day the players have to execute the game plan.

Having an 8-man rotation is Paulsen's fault. He recruited these players so he needs to take the blame for their lack of production. Am I ready to jump of the deep end, no. But you would expect to see some kind of improvement with the team and its just not there.

 

[GSII]

Other than maybe Newman, explain to me how Abram, Dixon, Murrell, Temara, and Relvao make us a better team this year? Speaking of which, having some or all of these guys on the roster would not have made us that much more experienced this year either.

I will grant you Newman all day, especially after the shooting and defensive woes from our current set of guards. He would have been poised to play big minutes this season and possibly steal someone's starting role.

Again, I'm more concerned with next year.

But the issue with all the guys you mentioned sans Newman is they weren't good enough to be here to start with. Don't know why Newman left. But the fact nobody knows probably means its embarrassing for Lil Dave.

I would have taken an 0-32 season in Lil Dave's first year, in order to land better recruits in 2nd and 3rd year while watching the program start to take shape. Scrambling to insert bodies doesn't and didn't work. Do you think Dowtin wanted to come here and play with Murrell and Dixon? No, so he went to URI. Hurley and other A10 coaches could easily lure players away from Mason when they ask them "hey kid, do you think Troy Temara is gonna help that team"? "Check out who you would be playing with here" And then we are toast. Hell, even our preffered walk on got stolen by Monmouth!

 

[sleeperpick]

If you think it would’ve made a difference who guarded Mobley I don’t know what to tell you.

If it wasn’t Mobley going off, it would’ve been Adams. Heck, it could’ve been both of them.

The inescapable facts are they have great guards and we are a terrible defensive team.

I guess you can believe that our coach, who had nationally-ranked defenses several times at Bucknell, suddenly forgot how to coach defense.

Or perhaps it might have something to do with playing 6 freshmen and sophomores in an 8-man rotation. At the end of the day the players have to execute the game plan.

Adams did what Otis should do against GW and just let the offense go to everyone else. If you think it is a mystery that the two people Otis were covering went for 35 and 20 (75% of those points when Otis covered them) than you have drank far too much Mt Dew. Kaputo almost tied his season total on 3 pointers made... Yet Taqqee who can't hit a broad side of a barn was 1-4 shooting and Otis mysteriously was not covering their worst shooter. I don't blame freshman or sophomores on a bad defensive game plan...

Being a top defensive team when you play against a bunch of Danny Dixon's can't be that hard can it? It sure as shit is looking pretty grim this season

 

[GSII]

It’s only a fact to you and the other ignorant trolls who exist here solely to aggravate.

Most of the posters who know anything about basketball understand that recruiting teenage males is an inexact science and every coach (even Coach K) misses on kids.

I don't know what to tell you. I see it as truth. You chose to deny and make excuses.

You must have those green and gold colored glasses welded on.

 

[gmujim92]

Having an 8-man rotation is Paulsen's fault. He recruited these players so he needs to take the blame for their lack of production. Am I ready to jump of the deep end, no. But you would expect to see some kind of improvement with the team and its just not there.

I guess if all you are into is casting blame without considering circumstances, fire away.

 

[FreeGunston12]

Jim you are correct. We weren't winning this game, St Bonnies is way too good. Even with Reuter playing yesterday we lose.

But, there we go again. Youth as an excuse. It's Lil Dave's fault we are always young. Thats what happens when you have extreme transfer issues. You stay young. Slimy to use that as an excuse.

Yup. Definitely DP’s fault that Paul Hewitt was fired and that his rising sophomores transferred. Shame on him.

 

[sleeperpick]

Yup. Definitely DP’s fault that Paul Hewitt was fired and that his rising sophomores transferred. Shame on him.

I thnk he is referring to the 6 transfers the past two seasons under DP..... I disagree with his point but at least talk about the same thing lol

 

[gmujim92]

I don't know what to tell you. I see it as truth. You chose to deny and make excuses.

You must have those green and gold colored glasses welded on.

No I just know basketball and I know Dave Paulsen is a good basketball coach. Given time he will win and you will be lining up to smooch all over his a**.

 

[FreeGunston12]

I thnk he is referring to the 6 transfers the past two seasons under DP..... I disagree with his point but at least talk about the same thing lol

Yeah the 6 players that would not be seniors.

 

[99 Patriot]

The only individual improvement I've seen is from Calixte and the coaching staff deserves credit for that. We are now in the 2nd half of the season and there has been no improvement when it comes to the "team." This is a team game and individual improvement doesn't mean jack if the team continues to struggle. That is ALL on the coaches. You can only use the "we are young" excuse for so long. Richmond is younger than we are and you can see the improvement they have made. Duquesne starts two freshman and a sophomore. Otis and Jaire are really like Seniors with the amount of minutes they have played and Justin has started almost every game over the past year and half. We might be young if you look at their year in school but we are not that young in terms of experience/minutes played.

Don't disagree with you. I think our team offense has greatly improved since early in the year, but our inability to get stops is frustrating. The improvement I'm talking about is more year to year than game to game. Marquise and Jalen were much better as seniors than they were as juniors. Otis and Jaire are much better as juniors than they were as sophomores than they were as freshman and Justin and Ian are much improved this year (even with Ian clearly not 100%) versus their freshman years. That shows me this staff knows how to make guys better. At this point we can only hope those individual improvements meld together and result in team improvements as well.

8 returning rotation players next year, all hopefully improved, with a transfer big who by all accounts will be a difference maker and two freshman who can grow into their roles seems like a group worth being excited about. Or we can create nicknames for the coach and call for his head. Whichever you prefer.

 

[GSII]

I guess if all you are into is casting blame without considering circumstances, fire away.

What circumstances? WTF is so hard to understand. It was done before with Coach L. He used his first year to clear the pipes and find players for his 2nd year. Why didn't Lil Dave do that? He certainly didn't inherit as bad a roster compared to Coach L's hiring. Lil Dave chose to cluster f**k the roster with DII players and it was a huge mistake. Call it like it is Jim.

 

[GSII]

No I just know basketball and I know Dave Paulsen is a good basketball coach. Given time he will win and you will be lining up to smooch all over his a**.

Only if you are willing to share his a**.