Game 28: Dayton (14-0) on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7:00 PM.

[Patriot8]

There is this loss, and then there is the most recent loss to GW at home. Big difference.

Not in my opinion. We are in year 5. Losing to anybody in your conference shouldn’t be acceptable or okay. If it is, then wtf are we doing here?

 

[gmujim92]

I feel like this is kind of a hallmark of a poorly coached team, even if we had won. Being able to get up for vcu and Dayton, but not being able to compete against GW and barely beating SJU on our home floor... Certainly don't seem properly motivated. Say what you will about the players/recruiting, but the talent is there to compete against the best in the league. They just don't seem prepared or motivated to compete with the rest. Maybe I'm reaching, and maybe it's just my unwillingness to blame the kids who are suiting up for Mason, but these kids have shown me something several times this season. But playing up to the competition, and down to the competition, and losing at home repeatedly; that's a culture/coaching issue

No it isn’t, it’s a young team issue. We have the 299th most experienced team in the country. Young players are inconsistent, at least the ones on our level. These guys are figuring out how hard they have to play to compete ... the next step is bringing that effort consistently.

 

[smccart5]

I feel like this is kind of a hallmark of a poorly coached team, even if we had won. Being able to get up for vcu and Dayton, but not being able to compete against GW and barely beating SJU on our home floor... Certainly don't seem properly motivated. Say what you will about the players/recruiting, but the talent is there to compete against the best in the league. They just don't seem prepared or motivated to compete with the rest. Maybe I'm reaching, and maybe it's just my unwillingness to blame the kids who are suiting up for Mason, but these kids have shown me something several times this season. But playing up to the competition, and down to the competition, and losing at home repeatedly; that's a culture/coaching issue

Generally i agree, BUT- I mean this was a huge problem in the Coach L era as well. We'd win 4 straight and then lose on the road to Towson just when you thought we'd turned a corner... was always frustrating. I think that's a hallmark of a college basketball team

 

[JimP]

Was there some kind of dignitary introduced to the crowd? 50 something black guy wearing red. My brother was at the game and wasn't sure who it was. New president? Hope not if he was wearing red.

 

[GMUgemini]

Not in my opinion. We are in year 5. Losing to anybody in your conference shouldn’t be acceptable or okay. If it is, then wtf are we doing here?

Name a year we've ever been undefeated in conference...I'll wait.

Had this team stayed this locked in against Bona at home (when up by a crapton), Davidson, GW x2, and UMass, this team is fighting for a double bye. Be pissed off at those losses, sure, but losing to a top 4 team, even at home, in the way we lost (meaning they put themselves in a position for a possible upset even with 33 seconds left) is not shameful.

 

[smccart5]

Not in my opinion. We are in year 5. Losing to anybody in your conference shouldn’t be acceptable or okay. If it is, then wtf are we doing here?

This looks like a post by someone who hasn't been paying attention to the program since 2011. It's not like we've been competing for championships. We have to take steps back to relevancy.

Our program has been incredibly mediocre to bad for about a decade now. We just gave ourselves the opportunity to win a game against a top 5 team- that is a good loss. If we were talking about another team in the league, i'm with you- but this is an exception.

I felt better after this game than most of our wins this season against bad teams.

 

[Patriot8]

Name a year we've ever been undefeated in conference...I'll wait.

Had this team stayed this locked in against Bona at home (when up by a crapton), Davidson, GW x2, and UMass, this team is fighting for a double bye. Be pissed off at those losses, sure, but losing to a top 4 team, even at home, in the way we lost is not shameful.

Find where I said it was shameful... I’ll wait.

I’m saying that this loss; or any conference loss, shouldn’t be looked at as “oh well, it was good game”. It’s not okay or acceptable to lose to any team in your conference. Are you almost always going to have conference losses, absolutely, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be pissed off when you lose to a team that you are tasked with competing against every year. There are no moral victories at this point in a program or in this league, i don’t care who you are playing.

 

[Patriot8]

This looks like a post by someone who hasn't been paying attention to the program since 2011. It's not like we've been competing for championships. We have to take steps back to relevancy.

Our program has been incredibly mediocre to bad for about a decade now. We just gave ourselves the opportunity to win a game against a top 5 team- that is a good loss. If we were talking about another team in the league, i'm with you- but this is an exception.

I felt better after this game than most of our wins this season against bad teams.

I was in school in 12 and 13, and have missed maybe 5 games since, I’ve paid attention. You don’t take a step toward relevancy by losing.

 

[patriot2000]

I appreciate the responses to my comment. I know we would get annoyed when L-coached Mason teams played down to the competition and that is typical of college teams, especially inexperienced ones. I also agree Dayton and vcu did not play great games against us. But I do feel like there was an intensity in Caymans and in the bigger A10 games that is just lacking lots of other times. Maybe that's normal. They're young and tired. I think what irks me is that we are losing to some REALLY poor teams, and DP's home record. Or just everything is irking me and I'm being really negative. But I am going to continue to be stubborn about being mad at the guy getting paid a lot of money to lead the troops rather than at the troops themselves.

 

[patriot2000]

Find where I said it was shameful... I’ll wait.

I’m saying that this loss; or any conference loss, shouldn’t be looked at as “oh well, it was good game”. It’s not okay or acceptable to lose to any team in your conference. Are you almost always going to have conference losses, absolutely, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be pissed off when you lose to a team that you are tasked with competing against every year. There are no moral victories at this point in a program or in this league, i don’t care who you are playing.

I think your point is that, if you're okay with losing within your league, you're kind of implying you don't belong. If we're okay with not winning in the A10, we shouldn't even be in the A10 in the first place. Yes?

I can agree with that in general. But I think the point others are making is that facing a top 3 or 4 team, who may be looking at a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and probably has a first team all-American (some people are even saying National POY), could be seen as an exception to that philosophy.

 

[illayin]

Was there some kind of dignitary introduced to the crowd? 50 something black guy wearing red. My brother was at the game and wasn't sure who it was. New president? Hope not if he was wearing red.

Charles Mann..former Redskins player

 

[tblack33]

I’ve got a lot of thoughts about the game tonight, going to save most of them for tomorrow, but a huge chunk are positive. Not **too** much bad to take away from a game like that.

 

[Patriot8]

I think your point is that, if you're okay with losing within your league, you're kind of implying you don't belong. If we're okay with not winning in the A10, we shouldn't even be in the A10 in the first place. Yes?

I can agree with that in general. But I think the point others are making is that facing a top 3 or 4 team, who may be looking at a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and probably has a first team all-American (some people are even saying National POY), could be seen as an exception to that philosophy.

You’ve got it right for the most part. I am in no way in favor of leaving the conference, but if you don’t have the expectation of beating every team in your conference, then what’s the point?

I get Dayton is a Final Four quality team with pros on the roster. My point is that if you are “okay” with losing to that team, how do you ever expect to become that team?

 

[tblack33]

No it isn’t, it’s a young team issue. We have the 299th most experienced team in the country. Young players are inconsistent, at least the ones on our level. These guys are figuring out how hard they have to play to compete ... the next step is bringing that effort consistently.

I think the bigger issue here is how have we been among the youngest teams in the country 5 years in a row?

 

[GMUgemini]

I think the bigger issue here is how have we been among the youngest teams in the country 5 years in a row?

Injuries, transfers out, and pretty much no transfers in?

 

[sleeperpick]

I think the bigger issue here is how have we been among the youngest teams in the country 5 years in a row?

Or that 2-3 teams in a10 younger than us are all considerably better than us so what a weird excuse we always bring out.

 

[illayin]

I predict Obi Toppin will win the NBA dunk contest next year.

 

[tblack33]

Injuries, transfers out, and pretty much no transfers in?

2/3 of those are not good signs.

 

[JimP]

Charles Mann..former Redskins player

Thanks

 

[tblack33]

Or that 2-3 teams in a10 younger than us are all considerably better than us so what a weird excuse we always bring out.

Is GW younger than us this year?