Game 30 - A10 Tournament: #9 GMU (14-15 / 7-9) vs #8 Fordham (15-15 / 8-10) on Thursday, March 10, at NOON.

[sleeperpick]

Told everyone that Neptune is ahead of English right now.

And we’ve got Loyola-Chicago coming in.

Finished behind Fordham and GW. We might finish 10th next season.

Here comes the sky is falling fans lol. You had higher hopes with Paulsen. Weird

 

[GSII]

I’m honestly relieved the season is over. I look forward to seeing a completely revamped roster next year. Most importantly, I hope Kim learns from the mistakes he made when evaluating this season, because many of our issues went beyond a limited roster.

And the 1st thing I'm gonna look at is defense, bc Kim's looked like Paulsens. No steals generated, let the opposing offenses operate in comfort....I'm not sure about playing the numbers, generating some steals changes the game. I think he called vcu defense a gimmick and said 'we play defense the right way'.....weeellllll..... ya know what Kim, they are in top four consistently. Go the other way a la Davidson....fine, but this year, with our length, we should of created more points turnovers.

 

[GMUgemini]

Here comes the sky is falling fans lol. You had higher hopes with Paulsen. Weird

Paulsen came in as a successful head coach. We have no idea how well English can coach yet. He can recruit that’s for sure.

But if he’s going to let his team chuck up threes and play soft defense without adjusting, its not looking too good for the Xs and Os side.

 

[bravesfan]

I could only watch the first half, but Mason seemed really reluctant to drive for some reason. I saw at least one fast-break where instead of driving hard, they stopped and dished it back out. Tough.

 

[Masonfan3]

Paulsen came in as a successful head coach. We have no idea how well English can coach yet. He can recruit that’s for sure.

But if he’s going to let his team chuck up threes and play soft defense without adjusting, its not looking too good for the Xs and Os side.

Not even sure how well he can recruit. Fernandez and Dinkins should be good but we don’t know until the step on the court. The only true freshman recruit he brought in this year barely played. We have a need at PF/C and we have 0 big men recruits (so far) for next year. Little Oduro is not the answer to back up big brother. He better get someone from the portal this year because if we have another season like this next year, not sure who would want to come here…or maybe play Otis more as he at least plays hard and will body people. Everyone else is so soft

 

[GMUSSTN]

I tweeted about this but if you look at the season arc the wheels came off after we lost to SLU in overtime. With the compressed schedule thanks to our covid pause, we never got our legs back enough to find our groove again. With literally no bech the guys who had been able to shoot out of jams were too tired to get back into rhythm, and that's why our shooting went so streaky (or basically didn't happen at all) at that point.

I mean Coop could have used a few games to come off the bench. He didn't have that luxury...we HAD to start him. Ticket ran outta gas too.

Sucks to end this way but I'm still more optimistic than I would have been if Paulsen had stayed. He was so portal averse there's no way we would have avoided the pillow fight after losing Miller/Wilson and/or Kolek.

 

[Masonfan3]

I tweeted about this but if you look at the season arc the wheels came off after we lost to SLU in overtime. With the compressed schedule thanks to our covid pause, we never got our legs back enough to find our groove again. With literally no bech the guys who had been able to shoot out of jams were too tired to get back into rhythm, and that's why our shooting went so streaky (or basically didn't happen at all) at that point.

I mean Coop could have used a few games to come off the bench. He didn't have that luxury...we HAD to start him. Ticket ran outta gas too.

Sucks to end this way but I'm still more optimistic than I would have been if Paulsen had stayed. He was so portal averse there's no way we would have avoided the pillow fight after losing Miller/Wilson and/or Kolek.

Coop could have come off the bench or rested more. Otis Frazier gave us really good minutes in some games and I have no clue why he didn’t play more. The guy played hard and aggressive. He doesn’t have the same skill set (obviously) but CKE could have found a way to get more minutes out of him throughout the season.

 

[Herndon]

I'm satisfied with year one of English.

The recruiting looks good on paper, and while we don't seem to have any huge X's and O's advantages, we're also not disastrous.

In his first year as a head coach, he performed at about the "standard" level of the program for the past few years.

I was not anxious to get rid of Paulsen, because I saw no reason we should expect to be any better than middle of the pack in the A10, and I still don't. If we can consistently do better than that, then that's gravy, but a guy who runs a clean program, represents the university well, and produces reasonable results is good enough for me.

I'm excited to see if Oduro can build out his game next year by becoming a consistent 3 point threat, and I'm excited to see what the young guys bring as well.

Fun season, Y'all

 

[Five Two]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1502007436844142592

View: https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1502007436844142592

 

[mkaufman1]

Played right into their hands. Polite had some good moments but they said here try to beat us consistently.

Ughhhh

 

[TweederGMU]

Polite with two no pass takes to the rim, missed both. Why do our best players not have the ball at the end of the game?

Even the amateur USA announcers on TV stated this the first time with a minute to go and we called a TO.... then Ronnie shoots the ball!? WTF. USA Announcer was like you have the leagues top scorer and he doesn't touch the ball there... that's crazy. And then it happens again with Ronnie at the end.

KE - What are we doing there!? Come on man. Oduro has to get the ball.

 

[GMU_Polevaulter]

Even the amateur USA announcers on TV stated this the first time with a minute to go and we called a TO.... then Ronnie shots the ball!? WTF. USA Announcer was like you have the leagues top scorer and he doesn't touch the ball there... that's crazy. And then it happens again with Ronnie at the end.

KE - What are we doing there!? Come on man. Oduro has to get the ball.

Wonder the same think but maybe Ronnie didn't run the play called?

 

[mkaufman1]

I'm satisfied with year one of English.

The recruiting looks good on paper, and while we don't seem to have any huge X's and O's advantages, we're also not disastrous.

In his first year as a head coach, he performed at about the "standard" level of the program for the past few years.

I was not anxious to get rid of Paulsen, because I saw no reason we should expect to be any better than middle of the pack in the A10, and I still don't. If we can consistently do better than that, then that's gravy, but a guy who runs a clean program, represents the university well, and produces reasonable results is good enough for me.

I'm excited to see if Oduro can build out his game next year by becoming a consistent 3 point threat, and I'm excited to see what the young guys bring as well.

Fun season, Y'all

I mean I don't think anyone expect this year to be anything but this. A complete roller coaster with ups and downs. We all knew that having a brand new coach, and having leftover players as well as new players would need adjustment. Its fair to be frustrated at this stage because the season started really flying high and they fell off. But again, like many folks, I give this year a pass for many many reasons. I tempered my expectations. I'm frustrated because the idea of losing to Fordham in the first round in the 8/9 game kills me. I'm so tired of losing.

That said there is no reason to even bring Paulsen into this conversation, because its apples to oranges. If you think having this type of result under a new coach is the same under that, I can't help you, because its not anywhere close the same and he isnt relevant right now to the results that occurred.

Now, I will say, that if we are still having this conversation in 2 years, I'll be on the same page. I have very high expectations for English and the program because they said that several years of mediocrity wasn't good enough and they went out and got someone who they think can do better than that (and paid them accordingly). I expect next year to be better than this year.

 

[TweederGMU]

Have we ever beaten Fordham in the A10 Tournament? Don't recall.

 

[mkaufman1]

Have we ever beaten Fordham in the A10 Tournament? Don't recall.

Off the top of my head, Yes. Paulsen beat them in a 7/10 game in 2017...? something like that

 

[GMUYoda]

Have we ever beaten Fordham in the A10 Tournament? Don't recall.

Off the top of my head, Yes. Paulsen beat them in a 7/10 game in 2017...? something like that

Yes that is correct. 82-71 in OT

 

[TweederGMU]

Went back and looked, as we have only beaten them once in the tourney. 1-3 against them. Ugh

2014: 70-67 Fordham Won
2015: 71-65 Fordham Won
2017: 82-71 Mason Won
2022: 54-49 Fordham Won

 

[hoops10]

So maybe Oduro rethinks his position after seeing how good Kolek and Miller have done with with their teams. Just saying, I could see Josh going the portal route. He will get lots of calls.
English's job is mostly based on his recruiting ability. We will soon find out if he can attract some A10 quality players. All coaches coach but unless you have talented players you will not win.

 

[JimP]

Even the amateur USA announcers on TV stated this the first time with a minute to go and we called a TO.... then Ronnie shoots the ball!? WTF. USA Announcer was like you have the leagues top scorer and he doesn't touch the ball there... that's crazy. And then it happens again with Ronnie at the end.

KE - What are we doing there!? Come on man. Oduro has to get the ball.

Didn't see the game but agree.

 

[sleeperpick]

So maybe Oduro rethinks his position after seeing how good Kolek and Miller have done with with their teams. Just saying, I could see Josh going the portal route. He will get lots of calls.
English's job is mostly based on his recruiting ability. We will soon find out if he can attract some A10 quality players. All coaches coach but unless you have talented players you will not win.

Kolek's numbers have all fell off a cliff and he is shooting 27% from 3. The move to Big East has not been as smooth as you are trying to convey. He has been horrific shooting the ball this year and turns the ball over almost 3 times per game