Game 32: A-10 Tournament Opening Round, Saint Louis University, Wednesday, March 9th, 6:30 PM, ASN

[JimP]

Frustrating loss - 0-3 in Brooklyn, maybe Pittsburgh will be kinder to us next year. Thought we relied on the three ball too much and though I haven't looked at the stats, it seemed Jalen Jenkins was invisible tonight. GMU needs him to have a big year next year.

Big picture - with all the turn over from last year Mason still managed two more wins. (3 more D-1 wins, no Catawba's on this years schedule)

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Forever cursed to never win an A-1o tournament game.

 

[Herndon]

Fun season, guys Really looking forward to next year. Here's hoping the freshmen set up cot in teh weightroom and live there for 6 months.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

A Hewitt-esque defensive performance tonight. Guy averaging three a game goes off for a career high, we can't guard the arc, so on and so on.

Still relatively pleased with the year. Can't believe we scored as much as we did some games and beat some of those teams.

 

[JimP]

Forever cursed to never win an A-1o tournament game.

Think Mason has been the first team eliminated in the A-10 tournament 3 straight years now. Maybe we should have aimed for 14th. At least we'd still be alive at 9pm.

As long as we don't get Fordham or St. Louis on day 1 next year, we should be fine.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Sad. Pathetic defense. WAY too many unforced turnovers. Stop shooting so many damn 3's.

 

[Patriotsince81]

The final box score is just as interesting and depressing as the season. 53 - 30 rebounding advantage yet we lose. We lose the turnover battle 13 - 5, most on passes just thrown away. We allow 12 - 23 from 3. We shoot 8 - 26 from 3. Overall we shoot 37%, they shoot 45%. I am growing more concerned about Paulsen's defensive philosophy and whether or not it will work in the A10. Damn I'm tired of losing. Three straight 20+ loss seasons. 24 home losses and below .500 at home over that time. We really are mired in the depths of hell.

 

[GSII]

I am growing more concerned about Paulsen's defensive philosophy and whether or not it will work in the A10. Damn I'm tired of losing.

Been my concern after DP's first few games. It not that I want us to be a pressing team but, DP's defensive adjustments are either at a zero or close it. Its man and hope they miss their 3's. Why hope? Bc for some reason we sag too much and cant get out to defend them. Remedy for last night would if been to deny that shooter the ball. But we had other issues with Otis getting bent over on D too bc of his size. I would say its bc of a limited roster, but its how he did things at Bucknell too. We prob lose last night with his 2018 roster.

Jenkins air ball layup, 2 terrible passes etc didnt help either. Jim Crews had a better plan and better players. I think we are stuck in the cellar for a few years. Just dont have the players.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Remedy for last night would if been to deny that shooter the ball. .

Was screaming that at the TV all night.

 

[Dawgs99]

We really on play 2 guards...Otis and Marquise, Otis is young and a sub par defender at this point and MM is a shell of himself with the ankle injury. While I'm not sold on DP's defensive scheme either to me its really about personnel. This roster desperately needs a shot of talent. Hard to imagine we had very competitive practices with this group. Hope the new guys can push for playing time next season.

 

[GSII]

Does he think denying a hot shooter the ball hurts rebounding? Maybe thats why DP doesnt do it.

 

[GSII]

We really on play 2 guards...Otis and Marquise, Otis is young and a sub par defender at this point and MM is a shell of himself with the ankle injury. While I'm not sold on DP's defensive scheme either to me its really about personnel. This roster desperately needs a shot of talent. Hard to imagine we had very competitive practices with this group. Hope the new guys can push for playing time next season.

Im not buying that. He did same thing at Bucknell. It isnt rocket science to see with 8 min left in the game you can deny the shooter with DeAndre.

 

[gmujim92]

So I guess our freshman PG, who weighs 160 pounds soaking wet and has played the most minutes of anybody on our team because his backup is a walk-on, was supposed to be able to run the team and score AND lock down one of the two 6-4 guards who got hot for SLU last night.

It's f*cking ridiculous. Seriously it's like some of you people have never played a competitive sport in your lives.

I get the frustration. I hate losing as much as anyone. But we've known all season that our roster is limited, and the coaches and players are doing the best they can with the weapons they have. Why is anyone surprised to see the limitations manifested on the court?

My frustration lies with the f*cking clowns who killed our program in the first place. I have nothing but appreciation for the people who are working their asses off to rebuild it.

Better times lie ahead, but it's not an overnight process. If you can't accept that, go root for Kentucky.

Hope to see some of you in October.

 

[GSII]

Jim,
Dont you think it was low risk to deny the hot shooter? (Bartley)

 

[smccart5]

Actually made it to this game- bottom line is we just did not play that well, particularly Shevon. Don't blame it on scheme/game plan..we just did not play well. Being there live is always interesting because you really get a feel for the game, and most of the time I could not believe we were only down by a couple points, or even tied because it felt like we were getting killed. I think this is a real testament to the team that even though we were not playing well, and an opposing player had the game of his life...we were still only down 2 with 9 seconds to go. Basically a few free throw attempts and a few more shots go down and we win despite ourselves.

We just have to keep moving the needle.

 

[Steve33]

even with the loss last night i thought this season was miles better than last season. I can see the progress and I do think next season will be better. I'm proud of the guys, the coaches, and the fans for what was a fun season. Im already looking forward to next season.

 

[GSII]

Bartley hit 7 out of 8 three pointers! Afrer the 3rd or 4th im assigning DeAndre to follow him to the bathroom. This is what I mean about our defense letting oppenents get to comfy. Bartley didnt break a sweat dropping 27 on us.

 

[mkaufman1]

When you don't have a full team, and half the team are freshman, you have what we just witnessed all season. Some good nights, some bad nights, some ugly nights. Unfortunately next year will probably won't be much better, although I do expect a few game improvement.

Until you have a full team with experience that understands the basics of how to play division 1 offense and defense consistently, its hard to start doing "more advanced" schemes.

As I've said before, I'll say it again. Trust the process.

 

[99 Patriot]

Can't really be too upset. The book on St. Louis I'm pretty sure was to make the beat you from the outside and not allow easy penetration. We did that, but unfortunately their version of Abrams off the bench had the game of his life. Honestly, can't believe we managed to keep it as close as we did and keep coming back like that. I still think we beat that team 6 or 7 times out of 10, but last night was not one of those nights.

Does anyone else sort of take comfort in the fact that our conference tournament is a week later than it was in the CAA days. I hated being eliminated early in Richmond, because most of the teams in the country were still playing. Now, even when lose the dark match of the A-10 tourney we still played later into the year than most other teams.

 

[MasonFanatic]

How many times did our guys telegraph a pass last night? I could have picked some of those off. Too easy to read where they were going to throw it.