Game 23: AT Davidson, Wednesday, February 11th, 7 PM, NO TV

[Quentin Daniels]

That team that lost to Delaware in the first round circa 2003-2004...maybe. Other than that...nope.

I remember being in Richmond for that one. They'd swept them in the regular season and you could see they were 100% confident coming out of the locker room. Lamar was in tears at the end of the game.

Maybe, but Mark Davis was a beast that season, Jon Larranaga was the original "deceptively athletic" player, Jesse Young would be a good matchup for Shevon, and even Heinen had his one good year that season.

Of course that team also beat Duquesne too, so had a winning of 1-0 against the A-10. Something Paul Ball II hasn't managed to do here.

 

[GSII]

I don't know about "phoning it in", but I've never seen a more frustrated Mason coaching staff & players than last night. Even Paul Westhead appeared to believe in his system until the very end at Mason. I just feel badly for Corey to see his career end this way.

They are all to blame. At the beginning of the season we saw a 3 out 2 in approach that we all welcomed bc it worked with our size and length. If nobody had the balls to tell Hewitt he should run the offense thru his strengths, then they are all getting what they deserve. Mainly Hewitt, who will be fired twice in 4 years.

 

[wijg]

Did anyone see when the camera focused on the Mason bench for about five seconds? I believe it was early in the second half. Not a single person, coaches or players, were standing or moving at all. They were all just sitting there, doing nothing. So bad that even my wife, who does not follow sports, commented on it.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

I remember being in Richmond for that one. They'd swept them in the regular season and you could see they were 100% confident coming out of the locker room. Lamar was in tears at the end of the game.

Maybe, but Mark Davis was a beast that season, Jon Larranaga was the original "deceptively athletic" player, Jesse Young would be a good matchup for Shevon, and even Heinen had his one good year that season.

Of course that team also beat Duquesne too, so had a winning of 1-0 against the A-10. Something Paul Ball II hasn't managed to do here.

Oh I would bet on that Larranaga team, don't get me wrong. Not a slam dunk though.

As inconsistent and as flaky as Davis was, if Hewitt just had gone out and gotten a local Mark Davis instead of Okoloji or either Royal or Marko...we'd be in slightly better straights right now.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

I think the thing to wonder is how many Nestor/Westhead teams could this team win a series with?

 

[GMU_DCU]

Joe, I think Hewitt has quit on them. I think the players want to be better, but they come into games underprepared and, more often than not, undermanned. He puts them in positions where they can't succeed, which would deflate any kid.

I think this is exactly what has happened to Jalen Jenkins. Last year the dude was a beast down low grabbing rebounds and scoring in the paint. He was a mismatch for most teams. So what does Hewitt do? Has Jenkins drop weight, and play on the outside. You can tell Jenkins doesn't have the size or confidence to compete down low this season and I think that is the biggest reason for his lack of success this year.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I think this is exactly what has happened to Jalen Jenkins. Last year the dude was a beast down low grabbing rebounds and scoring in the paint. He was a mismatch for most teams. So what does Hewitt do? Has Jenkins drop weight, and play on the outside. You can tell Jenkins doesn't have the size or confidence to compete down low this season and I think that is the biggest reason for his lack of success this year.

This brilliant strategy bought to you by the genius that wasn't initially impressed by what he saw on tape from Ryan Pearson.

 

[gmujim92]

I think this is exactly what has happened to Jalen Jenkins. Last year the dude was a beast down low grabbing rebounds and scoring in the paint. He was a mismatch for most teams. So what does Hewitt do? Has Jenkins drop weight, and play on the outside. You can tell Jenkins doesn't have the size or confidence to compete down low this season and I think that is the biggest reason for his lack of success this year.

There's a lot of truth to that, but Jalen's rebounding numbers have also been impacted by the fact that Shevon grabs almost every rebound available.

Offensively, it's almost like Jalen doesn't have a spot on the floor because Shevon is taking up a bunch of space in the paint and Hewitt is pathologically unable/unwilling to put us into a double-post offense.

A good coach could easily figure out how to play with athletic studs at the 4 and 5 spots, but that seems to be above our current coach's ability level.

 

[GSII]

This brilliant strategy bought to you by the genius that wasn't initially impressed by what he saw on tape from Ryan Pearson.

Wait. What? I recall him grinding Pearson into the ground with POY award to boot.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Wait. What? I recall him grinding Pearson into the ground with POY award to boot.

Well I'd give more credit to Pearson on that, but Hewitt's initial reaction to him in practice was surprise. He was quoted as not having been that impressed initially from what he'd seen on tape.

 

[GSII]

I'd love to see that quote. There's no way a new coach is gonna say that about the leader of the loaded team he's about to inherit. IF so, he should of been fired after saying it.

 

[GMU_DCU]

What I wouldn't give to have Ryan Pearson and Luke Hancock on this team. We'd easily have at least 4 more wins!

 

[Vurbel]

What I wouldn't give to have Ryan Pearson and Luke Hancock on this team. We'd easily have at least 4 more wins!

We could have the original dream team and with this regime we'd be lucky to be .500. OK, maybe that's taking it a bit far, but you know what I mean.

 

[Walter]

Good points, Tom. You are correct, latest projections have only vcu in the NCAA tourney. Much weaker A10 this year. And yet we are still at the bottom.

I just checked Dance Card. Dayton is a bubble team but out. Lasalle and Davidson could get back into the conversation. URI is falling and likely is out of consideration. vcu still in.

And James frickin Madison is 75 points higher than us. FUPH

 

[Vurbel]

I think at this point all we can do is pull against vcu and for leadership in our basketball program.