Game 8: AT Towson University, Wednesday, December 2nd, 7 PM, NO TV

Dawgs99

Starter
I guess that you never heard about Larranaga's Scramble Defense. So, you're telling me that Paulsen's has never deployed full-court pressure in his career. Well, it seems to me that he did so in a game this season IIRC.

For all the talk and Coach L's book, I hardly ever remember us using the "scramble" defense.
 

mkaufman1

Administrator
Staff member
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
For all the talk and Coach L's book, I hardly ever remember us using the "scramble" defense.

Bingo. Let alone a full court version of it that I recall. And I surely doubt it was used before the basics were mastered.


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Pablo

Hall of Famer
For all the talk and Coach L's book, I hardly ever remember us using the "scramble" defense.

I do! And, the best season for this defense was the 1998-99 CAA championship season. Check out the steals per game for players like Jason Miskiri, George Evans, Erik Herring, Ahmad Dorsett, etc.
 

gmujim92

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023

Pray tell, super genius, what does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China?

We have a coach who doesn't like to press full court. That had zero to do with the loss to Towson; with the 30-second shot clock, we got more than enough possessions without pressing to get back in the game had we made some shots.

But if you're going to keep acting all pissy because Paulsen won't let you attend practice, maybe you should go root for another team.

After the last four years, most of us are happy to have him.
 

GMUgemini

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
Pray tell, super genius, what does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China?

We have a coach who doesn't like to press full court. That had zero to do with the loss to Towson; with the 30-second shot clock, we got more than enough possessions without pressing to get back in the game had we made some shots.

But if you're going to keep acting all pissy because Paulsen won't let you attend practice, maybe you should go root for another team.

After the last four years, most of us are happy to have him.

Yeah, but we gave up 45 points in the second half, so I'm not sure how we were ever going to get back into the game playing the same defense.

Five turnovers for the opposing team (two in the second half) seems awfully low, even for a team that doesn't press -- no offensive fouls (no charging calls), no forcing bad passes, no pressure on the ball at all.
 

mason89

Starter
According to the KenPom stats posted by ephoops ( http://masonhoops.com/board/threads/stats-through-7-games.1133/), we rank 300 in experience in D1 with an average of 1.3 years of experience. Based on this and the new coaching, we need to have an abundance of patience with this team. We are going to have days like Ole Miss, OSU, and Wright State, but we'll also have our Colgates, Manhattans, and Towsons as well.
 

gmujim92

Hall of Famer
GIVING DAY 2023
Yeah, but we gave up 45 points in the second half, so I'm not sure how we were ever going to get back into the game playing the same defense.

Five turnovers for the opposing team (two in the second half) seems awfully low, even for a team that doesn't press -- no offensive fouls (no charging calls), no forcing bad passes, no pressure on the ball at all.

I think we've all agreed that it was a poor defensive effort. But if you think we magically would've forced a slew of turnovers -- rather than surrendering a bunch of dunks and layups -- by trying to press with a team that is ill-suited for pressing, you are kidding yourself.

Once again, if your guys can't even do what they're supposed to do in the man-to-man, why in the world would you force them into a more complex defense that requires quick reads and adjustments? That's just setting them up for even more failure.

Even Hewitt recognized that he didn't have the horses to press effectively, and he's a f*cking moron.
 

Leesburg Chankenstank III

All-American
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
Even Hewitt recognized that he didn't have the horses to press effectively, and he's a f*cking moron.

Jim,

Please refer to him by his knighted name going forward, "Paul the Stupid". Tom O'connor is already knighted as "Tom the Moron".

Just an FYI, "Merten the Old" is also taken.

Thanks

-- Knighthood Registry of Central Fairfax County, LLC
 

GSII

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GOLD SPONSOR
GIVING DAY 2023
Again, Im not saying we should be using a press. What I am saying is, can we do something to disrupt the opponent in the half court where I see a trend devloping which we arent doing anything about. For example, When a player starts using the screen AND hitting the jumper, can we show a double team before to get the ball out of his hands? Or make them pass into a corner and trap it? There is alot you can do in the half court too. We are choosing not to. That bothers me. Especially since our offense can be non existent at times, easy baskets help.
 

Herndon

All-Conference
Disclaimer: I didn't watch the game.

When people familiar with Paulsen came here, we asked about pressure D/forcing turnovers.

Their response? "It's just not going to happen. It's not who he is, it's not what he teaches"

We looked at the stats, and saw that every year, his team was among the worst in teh country at forcing turnovers.

At this point, I think we should probably believe it. Whether we like it or not, it's not going to happen. He's not going to play pressure D. He's going to try to teach his guys to be effective playing conservative D. Either we'll get better at that or we won't, but he's not going to turn into Rick Pitino, or even Jim Larranaga.
 

liem.le.3388

Starter
I'm curious if there was a post game interview with Paulsen after the game. It'd be nice to hear his thoughts of the game.
 

liem.le.3388

Starter
According to the KenPom stats posted by ephoops ( http://masonhoops.com/board/threads/stats-through-7-games.1133/), we rank 300 in experience in D1 with an average of 1.3 years of experience. Based on this and the new coaching, we need to have an abundance of patience with this team. We are going to have days like Ole Miss, OSU, and Wright State, but we'll also have our Colgates, Manhattans, and Towsons as well.
We'd be ranked lower of it wasn't for Marko being 29 yrs old (exaggeration).
 
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