Game 23: AT University of Richmond, Wednesday, February 6th, 7 PM, MASN2/ESPN+

[Washingtonian]

I couldn't watch the game, glad I missed it. They play zone on us?

Yes, 3-2 zone was used throughout.

Paulsen owns up a little bit in the press release: https://gomason.com/news/2019/2/6/m...s-mason-comeback-falls-short-at-richmond.aspx

 

[Patriotsince81]

"Richmond played exceptionally well," head coach Dave Paulsen said. "That's the worst we've defended in two months, and I'm not entirely certain why. This is the second consecutive game we've had good practices but haven't been able to translate what we want to do on the court in game. We have to play the way we practice."

Broken record. Dave, it's your job to know why so you can fix it. Comments like the one above anger and confuse me. When a coach says he really doesn't know why it can erode the confidence of everyone associated with the program.

 

[GSII]

And what did he own up to? Owning up is saying 'I gotta do a better job of getting my team ready"....Have never heard him say anything of the sort ever.

 

[Washingtonian]

https://www.richmond.com/sports/col...cle_d5d44b57-6e66-579a-844c-787162ec8b79.html

 

[Patriotsince81]

Upon further reflection I understand why Paulsen talks so much about how well we defend in practice as opposed to games. As I stated earlier we have averaged 66.3 points over our last 6 games which would put us 320th in offense. Our league average of 69.1 would put us 275th. Our leading scorer averages a little over 14 points per game but is really no threat from 3. So, in practice we defend guys who struggle to score. It's pretty easy to defend when you know everyone so well and everyone on the team is limited in what they can do on the offensive end. We don't have to defend a lights out 3 point shooter because we don't have any. Our team 3 point percentage of 31.6% puts us 295th in D1.

Defending in practice is a much easier thing to do given our offensive inadequacies.

 

[GSII]

Not only that but everyone knows what's coming in practice. Maybe practice is the problem?

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

"That's the worst we've defended in two months, and I'm not entirely certain why."

I am, the gameplan was terrible and also nobody could keep themselves between their man and the basket.

I'm sure dudes like the Finnish guy were just too quick though.

Hey, on to the next one.

 

[mkaufman1]

Even if Paulsen knew exactly why they didn't defend well (he probably won't until he reviews tape), I doubt he'd say it in a press conference. Just like hes not going to discuss the status of someones playing time or the status of Grayer. He says certain things during press conferences, usually in a loss he credits the other team for doing something well, and states what Mason didn't do well.

I'm guessing he's done press conferences for a long time and hes not going to change his style.

He also, as we know, is a very "practice like you play" sort of coach. So if the guys are going full speed in practice and doing well, he expects it to translate to the court. He isn't going to know why it doesn't always move over, but all he can do is continue to keep pushing the guys to improve. If you expect him to throw a chair or yell about it being his fault in a loss, you probably will never see it.

Onto LaSalle which has now become very important, because Mason doesn't have room for any other crap performances if they want top 4.

 

[Copes4Three]

Kier's last two games - 5 and 5, 5 and 2, after a string of double doubles. Offense goes cold and defenses adjust when they realize you are the head, heart, and soul of the team. But a total of 7 rebounds in like 70 minutes of basketball doesn't sound right from a guy that was recently the second best rebounder in the league. And three games in a row with less than stellar free throw shooting from three of the best FT shooters in the country... This sucks.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

Kier was just hot, I think he's starting to cool off a bit. No reason to have 20 turnovers in a game, we struggled against Davidson's Zone as well so this is on coaching. YEAH I said it, we can't shoot a 3 to save our life. Boyd has been ice cold from behind the 3pt line. JDS hasn't been able to make his, Greene is Mr. Incosistent and Kier/Miller can only hit a wide open 3. Livington is the only one who can really create and shoot his own 3 but his height causes him to get stripped a lot in the paint. Games like Richmond, vcu, Davison or teams that run a zone, you need 3pt shooting. Nobody on our team besides Miller and Grayer are shooting above 35%. I don't count hartwell in there since he plays limited minutes...we have failed in having some sharpshooters. Everyone always says well we would have won if we just made our 3's and didn't turnover the ball, newsflash our team is not good at shooting which is forcing some passes to be through tight windows. As much as I love Greene on defense, we are really missing grayer.

 

[dr. gunnie]

My thought is you are always gonna have that one bad loss in conference that’s a head scratcher - hopefully this is our one and only.

Our defense hasn’t looked the same and other teams are now hitting their wide open threes that they weren’t earlier. Combine that with Kier cooling off and nobody else stepping up offensively - not pretty.

4 of our next 5 games are at home. We need to turn this around quickly or be ready to watch us play in Brooklyn on Thursday.

Not upset about losing a game we should win - it’s going to happen, but I am upset on how we lost. It looked like we forgot how important defense and protecting the ball is. How we come out on Sunday will tell me a lot about our current staff.

 

[Falco]

Except Ur wasnt really trying and Golden would have eaten AJ alive down low. We got stuffed by their zone and of coarse they hit the daily mason jackpot on three's.

Its difficult for smaller players to defend the three. I would of liked to see a bigger lineup to include, Miller, AJ and Calixte on the floor together.

 

[GSII]

What does it mean we had a good practice? Did they kill each other going after loose balls? Run hard, attack the rim hard? It looked like it was a hard and physical practice b/c of how tired we were on gamely. And that might be the problem.

Does a good practice also include the phycological part of preparing for war? Knowing your opponent? Giving the team the mental ammo needed to fight thru adversity instead of waiting for them to figure it out? Isn't that what a teacher does? Sr and JR guys who have logged a ton of mins look like its their first game. At best, they look like they are doing all they can do. Which leads us back to recruiting. Great kids, but not at the level needed when its time to find another way.

The last 3 to 5 mins, imo, was the players playing and the coach watching. Something is weighing them down and I can only assume its something in the team's approach. Maybe too regiment? Not loose enough? Gotta have some fun. I dunno. It sucks losing to bottom feeders.

 

[GSII]

My thought is you are always gonna have that one bad loss in conference that’s a head scratcher - hopefully this is our one and only.

Our defense hasn’t looked the same and other teams are now hitting their wide open threes that they weren’t earlier. Combine that with Kier cooling off and nobody else stepping up offensively - not pretty.

4 of our next 5 games are at home. We need to turn this around quickly or be ready to watch us play in Brooklyn on Thursday.

Not upset about losing a game we should win - it’s going to happen, but I am upset on how we lost. It looked like we forgot how important defense and protecting the ball is. How we come out on Sunday will tell me a lot about our current staff.

I think the test was how we would respond to the vcu loss. We failed.

 

[Falco]

Kier was the X factor during the Mason run. He was playing way above expectations. He has the potential, but it is probably unrealistic to think he can sustain that kind of play all season long.
In addition, teams where game planning to stop Otis, which opened the lanes for kier. Now teams are adjusting.

This is what you get with a roster full of two star recruits. Everyone has to play their best basketball every night. They have the ability to beat anyone in the league, but there is no room for error.

 

[dr. gunnie]

I think the test was how we would respond to the vcu loss. We failed.

I don't think their is much shame losing at vcu - look at their track record at home over the last 6 or 7 years (except maybe last year which was an outlier for them).

Their is shame for last night's loss. To me, this is a much bigger gut check than losing at vcu.

 

[JimP]

Duquesne scored 49 points and lost at home to St Bona tonight. Not worried about them.

Hope they win both, but think it's more likely the team loses at St. Bona.

 

[By George.]

Hartwell out is hurting badly. And By George said he was gonna play. Some media outlet they are.

Wait, what?

In the podcast, we said he should play considering the SID told us it was a minor injury. Never said he was playing...

Hartwell out is hurting badly. And By George said he was gonna play. Some media outlet they are.

*correction* our tweet that GSII was referencing said, “Expectation on Saturday was that he should be good to go”

For future reference, we enjoy getting called out for being wrong, sometimes we are wrong (there’s 8 people involved, it’s going to happen)...we appreciate being corrected because it proves people are paying attention. But to question our credibility as an entire outlet because of one tweet relaying info that we received based on expectations set by a staff member is ridiculous. Sometimes players have setbacks, sometimes it’s a game time decision, unfortunately DP doesn’t want to give anyone this info, which we understand. Don’t want to harp on this anymore but couldn’t look past this one. We will never definitively know who’s playing until we are told, sometimes that’s not until game time.

In other injury news, when I asked DP about Kiers hand, he was not willing to blame the injury for Kiers last couple games. Sounds like his hand is fine.

 

[Five Two]

Hartwell out is hurting badly. And By George said he was gonna play. Some media outlet they are.

I said this somewhere, but I think Kier has benefited the most by Hartwell's ability to come in and give us minutes. It means Otis doesnt have to play 35 minutes a game (he makes bad decisions when he is tired, as most players do) and it doesnt require Kier to play the point when we need to give Otis a breather. Kier has had two brutal games in Richmond and both have been while Hartwell has been out.

 

[GSII]

Kier was the X factor during the Mason run. He was playing way above expectations. He has the potential, but it is probably unrealistic to think he can sustain that kind of play all season long.
In addition, teams where game planning to stop Otis, which opened the lanes for kier. Now teams are adjusting.
.

Teams planned to stop a lot of our great players over the years. If they stopped Will Thomas, then Folarin got you. Or John Vaughn got you. Everyone knew their role. I'm not sure everyone understands their role under Paulsen. It's almost like everyone is trying to do too much. Or maybe we aren't that good. Probably the latter.

 

[GSII]

I said this somewhere, but I think Kier has benefited the most by Hartwell's ability to come in and give us minutes. It means Otis doesnt have to play 35 minutes a game (he makes bad decisions when he is tired, as most players do) and it doesnt require Kier to play the point when we need to give Otis a breather. Kier has had two brutal games in Richmond and both have been while Hartwell has been out.

Great points. I wasn't worried about Richmond b/c I thought Hartwell was playing. But then I hear he was out and I knew we would be in trouble. If he is out sunday then we lose.