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

gmutom

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I was out drinking with clients, but I'm glad I missed this one. What a joke losing to Towson like that. I was fully prepared for some growing pains this year, but I didn't expect the lows to be this low. I want to give Paulsen the benefit of the doubt, but we will be even worse next year with Thompson, Marko, Holloway and Royal graduating.
 

psyclone

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Not to pile on, but our loss to Colgate is losing worse and worse: Fordham beat them by 26 and Binghamton (Tony Kornheiser's alma mater) beat them by 19. As Paulsen said, "when we play well, we're pretty good. When we don't play well, we're pretty bad"
 

GMUgemini

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I'm glad I was in a class...what happened? Grayer 0-11? I see Thompson is continuing his turnover prone ways. And what happened to our defense?
 

gmutom

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I see Thompson is continuing his turnover prone ways.

There's no question he has regressed under the new staff. I'm sure some of that is Shevon's fault, but it's ultimately Paulsen's responsibility to consistently get the best out of him. To this point, that has not happened. Imagine next year with some combination of Jenkins, Dixon and Relvao as our starting front court. Yikes!
 

JimP

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There's no question he has regressed under the new staff. I'm sure some of that is Shevon's fault, but it's ultimately Paulsen's responsibility to consistently get the best out of him. To this point, that has not happened. Imagine next year with some combination of Jenkins, Dixon and Relvao as our starting front court. Yikes!

Thought he was getting back on track in Charleston. I agree with this - Paulsen needs to find a way to get him to play consistently well. He did under Hewitt after all.
 

MASONscott

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GIVING DAY 2023
I can appreciate a player riding the bench with two fouls, but man Marko is becoming a needed leader that can't lose playing time with fouls. Also, wish Shevon would get more minutes. We are different team when he is dominating.

Outside shooting has got to be a major concern for DP. Seems when our bad is this bad our shooting % is piss poor.

We lose any game when we shoot less than 30% from the 3 and less than 40% FG Att. Grayer 0-11 hopefully is freshman inconsistency. Holloway 2-6...need him to be more a senior leader.

Seems we will live and die with how our shooting guards can spread the D. They are getting the looks as much as any collegiate team needs to be successful, but in nights like tonight just can't hit the broad side of a barn.

Growing pains...(I hope)
 

JimP

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I see Penn lost to Navy tonight. A big part of that was Navy turning Penn over 18 times though. That won't happen on Saturday.
 

GSII

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I just hate that we dont go at teams defensively. We sit back and defend straight up, no pressure put on the ball handler so that means the opponent can get into their set easily. Its like we hope they miss so we can rebound. Imo, easy baskets make a double impact. Mental fatigue imposed and the easy two. This is not a knock on the players, but it is on DP's coaching. Good defense also means a good amount of forced turnovers.

As for this game, if you arent going to treat Shevon like a starter, dont start him til you fix him. I saw a nice pass from Shevon to Marko, he attacked the rim, and obviously rebounded. However, he should of played more if he is a starter.
 

gmujim92

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GIVING DAY 2023
No offense, but some of you guys are making yourselves look pretty foolish and fair-weather with these posts.

It was a terrible performance, no question. But I'm not sure why anyone is surprised when the coach -- who spends more time with the players than anyone -- basically told us to expect these wild swings of inconsistent play.

Our team is what it is: capable of blowing out an opponent one day, then getting totally humiliated four days later.

Is that a problem with the current coach, or is it a product of trying to undo the past four years of lazy bullshit with zero emphasis on fundamentals, zero accountability and zero consequences for lousy effort?

Based on Paulsen's track record and what we all endured under Blewitt, I'd say the new coach deserves a pretty long honeymoon period.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a basketball program. It's bigger than just trying to win a specific game. Paulsen is trying to establish a culture of playing the game the right way, but it's going to be a long-term process because of the mess he inherited.

As fans, we need to prepare accordingly.
 

gmujim92

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I just hate that we dont go at teams defensively. We sit back and defend straight up, no pressure put on the ball handler so that means the opponent can get into their set easily. Its like we hope they miss so we can rebound. Imo, easy baskets make a double impact. Mental fatigue imposed and the easy two. This is not a knock on the players, but it is on DP's coaching. Good defense also means a good amount of forced turnovers.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't possibly disagree with you more on this point.

We don't have the type of athletes to "go at" people defensively -- as evidenced by the fact that our guards spent the better part of the last 2 seasons giving up one layup after another.

If that's what you think passes for "good" defense, I don't really know what to say.

Tonight was a poor defensive effort, but at least Towson had to score most of its points on jump shots.

Paulsen's system is never going to turn people over a bunch. If you can't deal with that, you're going to be pretty miserable.
 

GMUgemini

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I'm sorry, but I couldn't possibly disagree with you more on this point.

We don't have the type of athletes to "go at" people defensively -- as evidenced by the fact that our guards spent the better part of the last 2 seasons giving up one layup after another.

If that's what you think passes for "good" defense, I don't really know what to say.

Tonight was a poor defensive effort, but at least Towson had to score most of its points on jump shots.

Paulsen's system is never going to turn people over a bunch. If you can't deal with that, you're going to be pretty miserable.

So long as the team continues to play sloppy, turn the ball over and shoot like crap against mediocre to bad teams, probably. Winning cures a lot, including the aesthetics of the team.

But I'm going to guess given how short this team's bench is and how Paulsen likes to play, that as much as we want to see improvement as the season goes on, these players are going to get ground down and get sloppier as the season rolls on.
 

smccart5

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Was expecting games like this to happen this year. We'll overcome it.

What we as fans need an answer to is why the crap isn't Shevon playing more?? Seriously. I was at the Wright State game and he played barely played. Are you telling me the first real NBA prospect we have seen in the last 10 years isn't getting playing time?! This question needs to be answered.
 

GMU_Polevaulter

Preferred Walk-On
Shevon is struggling with the double teams
struggling to pass out or to make a move to the basket - seems like he gets frustrated and
stops following the play book and that leads to a turnover or a really bad shot.

The upper classman had some sloppy turnovers last night - traveling, offensive fouls,
traveling on a 3 pt shot - not to mention missed lay ups etc. etc. - same stuff from last year.

Hopefully they will continue to buy in and make progress......
 

CAA_Beat

Recruit
What the heck did I just watch? :disappointment:
You were probably wondering what Towson team I have been covering all year based on our interview. Ha

Alot of comments on here about how poorly Mason played and they. I doubt did. But that is the best overall game Towson has played in the post Benimon Era in my opinion.

Morrell had been in a season long funk until the 2nd half last night.

Moto is starting to show what they expected.

The Freshman Alex Thomas 6'9" 255 did a very solid job on Thompson.

I wasn't impressed with GMU's guard play at all. I expected more from Graire and Holloway.

Definitely a good win for Towson. Bearing an A10 team by 21 should help them come CAA time.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk
 

GSII

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I'm sorry, but I couldn't possibly disagree with you more on this point.

We don't have the type of athletes to "go at" people defensively -- as evidenced by the fact that our guards spent the better part of the last 2 seasons giving up one layup after another.

If that's what you think passes for "good" defense, I don't really know what to say.

Tonight was a poor defensive effort, but at least Towson had to score most of its points on jump shots.

Paulsen's system is never going to turn people over a bunch. If you can't deal with that, you're going to be pretty miserable.


So we get clobbered vs teams that can shoot? You are right bc its a developing trend. uva, towson, colgate. We do nothing to disrupt a patient team who can find the open man. No wonder Colgate's coach has had his way with Paulsen in Patriot League. Just know some of our games will be losses before they are played. Davidson might beat us by 50, every year. Again, just dont like the stale defensive approach. Might as well play zone.
 
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