Game 31: AT Virginia Commonwealth University, Saturday, March 4th, 2 PM, MASN

[patriot2000]

Comments like this get me fired up....its east to say we got out coached or the kids quite in the 2nd half. The fact of the matter is this team has played harder and longer than any mason team has since L left town. Without the great effort they put in to each game and the game plan by Coach P we would be getting our shit kicked in every game. As some others have pointed out, this roster is very imperfect and a lesser coach and a less mentally tough group of kids would have maybe 1/2 the wins this team does. Seems really unfair to compare anything about this staff and these kids to that POS Hewitt.

I get why this fires you up, but I do feel like my post was pretty fair. Did not diss DP. Honestly expressed what I saw, and clearly said it's not what I've come to expect from this team - meaning I have a great deal of respect for this team and it's coach. I did not feel that they "quit" but rather that they are just plain worn out, as evidenced by many unforced turnovers and the fact that they spent most of the year being a second half team, and the last 4 or 5 games seemed to just run out of gas. They are tired, as a young team should be. I suppose my error was to mention the Virus, but my intent was not to say it was a poor coaching job. My intent was just to say it LOOKED the way those teams looked at the end - body language was poor, facial expressions were different than earlier in the season, etc. Not judging; just noticing

 

[GMUgemini]

I agree with that. And I already knew at the beginning of the season our last 5 games were going to be our toughest. I don't doubt a lot of our shooting slump has been due to the size and physicality of the teams we have faced in the last month.

Hopefully, this team gets a post-season invitation, and hopefully we get at least one home game, Marquise and Jalen deserve at least one more home game.

 

[Pablo]

1. Petey Buckets‏@peteybuckets 18h18 hours ago
   Petey Buckets Retweeted Ryan Kish
   
   This roster has more warts on it than people want to admit. Dave has squeezed just about everything he could out of it.
   
   Petey Buckets added,
   
   Ryan Kish@gmuhoops
   Hell of a turnaround for Dave Paulsen in year two. Had roster limitations and was 3-4 bad games from competing for top of A-10.
   
   
2. 
   Petey Buckets‏@peteybuckets 19h19 hours ago
   Dave's teams have never forced a lot of TOs but this is extreme. Have to wonder if conventional D is the best use of a four-guard lineup.
   
   
3. 
   Petey Buckets‏@peteybuckets 19h19 hours ago
   Coming into today Mason was bottom 10 in the country in opponent turnover %. UCF only team in bottom 20 that allows less than 1 ppp:
   
   
   

 

[MasonGrad01]

Several reports from practice suggest that Wilson has at times been dominant on both ends of the court. At the very LEAST he upgrades our size and athletic ability. At BEST he becomes our day 1 starter at the 4 and that frees up Grayer and Boyd to play their more natural wing position. Grayer could really see a jump in production next year with his move back to the wing. Mar and Greene are both tall lanky dudes, and this team could really use some more tall lanky dudes.

LOL both kids are about 180 lbs each soaking wet. maybe when they are juniors...

 

[Dawgs99]

LOL both kids are about 180 lbs each soaking wet. maybe when they are juniors...

Justin Tillman took us to the woodshed last night....with a very slight build. Guarding the 4 is more about length/athleticism than mass. If you don't think Wilson helps us next year you have your head in the sand.

 

[GMUgemini]

LOL both kids are about 180 lbs each soaking wet. maybe when they are juniors...

A, other than Boyd, there's no distinction between them and Kier, Grayer, and Newman in that respect. And Boyd gives up 3-4 inches to both those players and would be better suited on the wing.

B, Wilson will have a full year practicing and working out with the team. He'll be bigger and stronger next year.

And C, Dawgs is exactly right, we might face one or two bonafide post players at the 4 all year. No one is going to be posting up and backing down our 4. Our problem has been 4s catching the ball, turning and simply shooting right over top our guards.

 

[Patriot8]

A, other than Boyd, there's no distinction between them and Kier, Grayer, and Newman in that respect. And Boyd gives up 3-4 inches to both those players and would be better suited on the wing.

B, Wilson will have a full year practicing and working out with the team. He'll be bigger and stronger next year.

And C, Dawgs is exactly right, we might face one or two bonafide post players at the 4 all year. No one is going to be posting up and backing down our 4. Our problem has been 4s catching the ball, turning and simply shooting right over top our guards.

To be fair, Grayer is pretty filled out.. I expect to see Newman and Kier put on some muscle this offseason just as Grayer and Otis did.

This redshirt year will do wonders for Wilson. Paulsen has shown the ability to develop, and AJ certainly has a ton of raw talent for Paulsen to play with.

 

[gmubrian]

I get why this fires you up, but I do feel like my post was pretty fair. Did not diss DP. Honestly expressed what I saw, and clearly said it's not what I've come to expect from this team - meaning I have a great deal of respect for this team and it's coach. I did not feel that they "quit" but rather that they are just plain worn out, as evidenced by many unforced turnovers and the fact that they spent most of the year being a second half team, and the last 4 or 5 games seemed to just run out of gas. They are tired, as a young team should be. I suppose my error was to mention the Virus, but my intent was not to say it was a poor coaching job. My intent was just to say it LOOKED the way those teams looked at the end - body language was poor, facial expressions were different than earlier in the season, etc. Not judging; just noticing

That is how I took it patriot200. Just before I read that post, I had a similar thought, that we were looking like some virus lead teams. My thought was not that we had a bad team or bad coach, just that we had a bad game combined with playing a team that our weaknesses don't match up well against. No more than that. That is how I took your post as well.

 

[gmujim92]

That is how I took it patriot200. Just before I read that post, I had a similar thought, that we were looking like some virus lead teams. My thought was not that we had a bad team or bad coach, just that we had a bad game combined with playing a team that our weaknesses don't match up well against. No more than that. That is how I took your post as well.

Here's the thing though: Unlike Hewitt's teams, our guys never quit and kept playing hard until the backups went in with less than 2 minutes left.

Not sure why some people fail to understand this, but the major reason our results have been poor over the past two weeks is we have played 4 of the top 6 A-10 teams.

The guys played hard yesterday. vcu is just a bigger, stronger, far more experienced team right now. Same goes for Dayton, URI and GW. None of them rely on underclassmen nearly as much as we do. They all have juniors and seniors doing the heavy lifting.

At some point you have to tip your cap to the opponent and give them credit. It's not always about our guys being tired or flat or this and that. Sometimes the other team is just better.

 

[Vurbel]

Here's the thing though: Unlike Hewitt's teams, our guys never quit and kept playing hard until the backups went in with less than 2 minutes left.

There are no words in the English language that adequately articulate how tragic that hire was.

 

[Petey Buckets]

This week's breakdown is up. All gifs are from the vcu game:

http://giantkiller.co/ByGeorge/2017/03/06/peteys-bucket-of-knowledge-the-weekly-breakdown-4/

After rewatching, there are definitely some more positives than I initially thought:

- vcu's press doesn't really bother us. In fact, Marquise got some easy buckets driving hard to the lane when the defense was still stretched out. Most of the turnovers were of the mental mistake variety in the half court.

- vcu's defense looks quite pedestrian when Alie-Cox is off the floor. Hamdy and Tillman simply can't defend the paint like he does. If we see vcu again and get Alie-Cox in foul trouble the game will look a lot different.

- Offense was generally very timid and didn't get a ton of dribble penetration outside of Marquise and Boyd. I would expect everyone to have more of an attack mentality if we see them again.

Of course, nothing matters if Dave doesn't find a better way to guard Tillman, and we still need just about everything to go right, but it doesn't seem as hopeless as it felt immediately after the game.

 

[gmubrian]

That is how I took it patriot200. Just before I read that post, I had a similar thought, that we were looking like some virus lead teams. My thought was not that we had a bad team or bad coach, just that we had a bad game combined with playing a team that our weaknesses don't match up well against. No more than that. That is how I took your post as well.

At some point you have to tip your cap to the opponent and give them credit. It's not always about our guys being tired or flat or this and that. Sometimes the other team is just better.

I thought that is exactly what I did and that is also the way I took patriot2000's post, with maybe a little venting. I love that people are disappointed by our loss to vcu and started to dream about a top 4 A10 finish. These things all mean we have high expectations again. We are no longer protecting ourselves emotionally for the next loss. When you have high expectations, the losses start to hurt again.

Next to maybe you, I don't think you will find anyone else on here who is more on board with Pauslen than me. Additionally, I have stated many times how much I love this year's team. May not be our best team ever, but they certainly are one our hardest fighting, go about your work quietly teams. That is why they may be my second favorite Mason team of all time. That is why I was disappointed with what I saw against vcu. Not used to seeing this team not be able to at least fight back at the end the game. I don't think they quit, we just had nothing for them. That is the way it ALWAYS felt under the virus.

That is the way I took patriot2000's comment. I believe he, like us, is 100% on board with Paulsen and this team team as well. I was just throwing him some support when he was being criticized for his comment that I thought was taken, possibly, too sensitively. I realize comparing anything to to the virus teams probably triggers PTSD type symptoms, so it is probably better that we never mention him again and pretend it never happened. For that I apologize for even having a thought of comparing a single performance to anything related to a virus lead team.

 

[GSII]

Petey,
How do we guard bigger 4's like Tillman?

I really beleive we can make a run in pittsburg but we have to guard Tillman. But without a player (sans Abrams), what do we do?

 

[gmutom]

Next to maybe you, I don't think you will find anyone else on here who is more on board with Pauslen than me.

And yet you won't give the poor guy a single penny to help him succeed more. #givepaulsenapenny

 

[Vurbel]

- vcu's press doesn't really bother us. In fact, Marquise got some easy buckets driving hard to the lane when the defense was still stretched out. Most of the turnovers were of the mental mistake variety in the half court.

Their press didn't, but their zone did. Basically, the opposite of Havoc.

 

[GSII]

Their press didn't, but their zone did. Basically, the opposite of Havoc.

It did. But if we can manage to not shit the bed fromthe 3pt land, guess what? That zone aint so tough and they start to panic. Boyd and Grayer are both tougher than Tillman. Tillman is a head case. WE can beat these pricks.

 

[Vurbel]

It did. But if we can manage to not shit the bed fromthe 3pt land, guess what? That zone aint so tough and they start to panic. Boyd and Grayer are both tougher than Tillman. Tillman is a head case. WE can beat these pricks.

Agree. Let's do it! We have nothing to lose. We got further than anybody expected. The best thing is that DP can tell recruits how we are very much on the upward swing of things.

 

[Pablo]

- vcu's press doesn't really bother us. In fact, Marquise got some easy buckets driving hard to the lane when the defense was still stretched out. Most of the turnovers were of the mental mistake variety in the half court.

In the postgame presser, Coach Paulsen said that the defensive pressure wore the team down and had a cumulative effect. He said that the combination of the the 3/4 court pressure defense and match-up zone precluded the team from getting into a rhythm.

He also said the team is tired. He gave them Thursday off, and they had a good practice on Friday.

 

[mkaufman1]

A young team is not going to know how to adjust to 3/4 pressure and knowing that they have only 15 seconds to get set up. Its unfortunate but it comes with maturity that they have to know if plan A isn't available anymore, they have to go to plan B which goes quick when you dont have as much time to figure it out.

Its part of maturing, and I suspect as the team matures, they'll be able to adapt more to the opponent and be able to react quicker to what they are seeing. Its much easier said than done, but it will come with time IMO.

 

[sleeperpick]

View attachment 431

that is some serial killer ish