Game Thread: Mason (11-2) vs. vcu (10-3), Sunday, January 5th, 12:00 PM

[MasonSAE4]

Fair point. You would expect guys like AJ/Kier/Calixte/Greene to know what to do by now. Unfortunately AJ had foul trouble, Greene was mostly a nonfactor and Kier is still coming off injury. I expected better but it seems like every year the younger guys out play the older ones to get better minutes. Not sure why or what it is. At least XJ looked competent and Miller settled back in, in the second half.



With you 100%, kid is built like an ox. Not sure what his conditioning program is but I'd love to get Josh Oduro on that plan.

Also 100% on Hartwell and Greene. Hartwell has disappeared since Grand Cayman and Greene looks amazing or can't shoot at all. Its time for a junior guard to be a bit more consistent, but he just hasn't been at this level.



This. There were no adjustments other than taking off our 3/4 press and maybe a few doubles on Silva. One of the doubles he found an open guy for a foul. But no junk defense, no traps, nothing creative to try to get him uncomfortable. He just kept getting the ball for easy layups. Fortunately his backup, Douglas, is terrible and the other big is a freshman so he doesn't really play. Who knows what they'll be like in another year.

Hartwell had such a good end of last season/start to this one that I'm now wondering statistically what is his mean? Surely he can't possibly go this cold for much longer, but if his mean isn't that much higher than this, then he isn't the upgrade to Otis I thought he was.

At the end of the day I'm sure someone on here will bitch at me for being too negative or for calling out players because "they're just college kids" but I've been far from a fire DP guy. I'm sure at some point this year the stars will align like they do every year and we'll randomly put a beatdown on an upper mid-tier team like Rhody or Richmond or Duquense and everyone will run back here and say stuff like "all you idiots who question DP look pretty dumb now, don't ya?" but I think today is the day I realized that barring a Muscala-type recruit, we're gonna be in neutral at best and just hoping to catch the A10 in a down year every single season. Paulsen's in-game management today was just f**king terrible. Gonar and Greg in at the same time? Absolute chaos theory.

 

[mkaufman1]

He played 8 minutes today?

I get foul trouble but the fact he has to play the 4-5 when we are in trouble is a symptom of poor roster management.

I mean it is what it is. He obviously is doing something to warrant a few minutes but at some point I would have to think its going to dwindle to nothing. I don't think its poor roster management, hes just mysteriously regressed to a nothing player over the last two years.

I’d the younger guys are playing more quality minutes does that mean guys are regressing under paulsen? Or at a minimum not developing to their full potential?

I have no clue what it all means but I dont' think I can give really an accurate answer after Mason losing to vcu for the 150th time and we're all pissed.

 

[mkaufman1]

Hartwell had such a good end of last season/start to this one that I'm now wondering statistically what is his mean? Surely he can't possibly go this cold for much longer, but if his mean isn't that much higher than this, then he isn't the upgrade to Otis I thought he was.

At the end of the day I'm sure someone on here will bitch at me for being too negative or for calling out players because "they're just college kids" but I've been far from a fire DP guy. I'm sure at some point this year the stars will align like they do every year and we'll randomly put a beatdown on an upper mid-tier team like Rhody or Richmond or Duquense and everyone will run back here and say stuff like "all you idiots who question DP look pretty dumb now, don't ya?" but I think today is the day I realized that barring a Muscala-type recruit, we're gonna be in neutral at best and just hoping to catch the A10 in a down year every single season. Paulsen's in-game management today was just f*cking terrible. Gonar and Greg in at the same time? Absolute chaos theory.

I think we all need to take it as one game, and see how the season unfolds. This team is a middle pack A10 team and I'm holding to that. They just got beat by the league favorite. Lets see how they do against the middle and bottom tier.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Offensively we don't have a go to player. Defensively we don't have a stopper. Cumulatively we don't have anyone that would start or play meaningful minutes for any top A10 teams. Not a recipe for short term, or long term success.

 

[Petey Buckets]

Thank you. Everyone said that we needed a complete culture overthrow after Hewitt (which I agree with) but where has it gotten us? A lucky top 5 in the worst year in A10 in the last 10 years?

I’ll forever be happy for paulsen pulling us out of the gutter and fixing the deep rooted issues with our program but he’s not the guy to turn the corner.

The amount of "Well under Hewitt..." in response to any valid criticism of Dave is maddening. There are more than two basketball coaches out there.

 

[MasonSAE4]

I think we all need to take it as one game, and see how the season unfolds. This team is a middle pack A10 team and I'm holding to that. They just got beat by the league favorite. Lets see how they do against the middle and bottom tier.

I think we'd all be a lot less angry if it wasn't clear how not special vcu is. We didn't lose to Allie-Cox, Tillman, etc. We lost to one guy and an average supporting cast. By a lot. At home.

 

[sleeperpick]

The amount of "Well under Hewitt..." in response to any valid criticism of Dave is maddening. There are more than two basketball coaches out there.

Lol e have so many beaten housewives on here it’s sad. Hewitt sucked but paulsen is also allowed to suck because he’s a nice kind man

 

[Patriotsince81]

A little research shows the following. Under DP we are 15 - 19 against A10 teams that have finished in the top four of the A10 during his tenure. Not much to write home about.

Dayton: 2 - 2
St Bonaventure: 1 - 4
vcu: 2 - 8
St Joe's: 3 - 1
Rhode Island: 1 - 2
Richmond: 5 - 2
Davidson: 1 - 2
Overall 15 - 19.
Note that Mason has NOT finished in the top 4 during his tenure. Go away Dave, just go away.
0 - NIT appearances.
0 - NCAA appearances.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Hit the bricks Dave. Tired of watching your teams underperform. Tired of listening to your pre-made excuses. Have some integrity and resign.

 

[Patriotsince81]

Congrats to any vcu fans who are trolling our boards. You have capitalized on your Final 4 experiences in ways we can only dream about. The ironic thing is you aren't that good. You're just a hell of a lot better than us, which really isn't saying that much. But, you've earned the right to rub our noses in it.

 

[GMU_DCU]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again...can someone get XJ shoes where he doesn’t slip every other possession? I’m worried for the kid’s health out there.

 

[mkaufman1]

Hit the bricks Dave. Tired of watching your teams underperform. Tired of listening to your pre-made excuses. Have some integrity and resign.

Im all for a masonhoops coach by committee basketball program...

 

[tblack33]

The amount of "Well under Hewitt..." in response to any valid criticism of Dave is maddening. There are more than two basketball coaches out there.

The fact we are even comparing Paulsen to Hewitt 5 years in is maddening.

 

[JimP]

The "where is our solid all around forward" criticism is very valid. I was excited with the Paulsen hire because he got a guy like Muscala at Bucknell. Larranaga's GMU forwards run circles around Paulsen's at this point though.

 

[tblack33]

Hartwell had such a good end of last season/start to this one that I'm now wondering statistically what is his mean? Surely he can't possibly go this cold for much longer, but if his mean isn't that much higher than this, then he isn't the upgrade to Otis I thought he was.

At the end of the day I'm sure someone on here will bitch at me for being too negative or for calling out players because "they're just college kids" but I've been far from a fire DP guy. I'm sure at some point this year the stars will align like they do every year and we'll randomly put a beatdown on an upper mid-tier team like Rhody or Richmond or Duquense and everyone will run back here and say stuff like "all you idiots who question DP look pretty dumb now, don't ya?" but I think today is the day I realized that barring a Muscala-type recruit, we're gonna be in neutral at best and just hoping to catch the A10 in a down year every single season. Paulsen's in-game management today was just f*cking terrible. Gonar and Greg in at the same time? Absolute chaos theory.

The old 5v3 Gonar Greg lineup is absolutely infuriating. We run a wildly stagnant offense as it is, with them two it’s like watching a Masonvale pickup game.

 

[tblack33]

I mean it is what it is. He obviously is doing something to warrant a few minutes but at some point I would have to think its going to dwindle to nothing. I don't think its poor roster management, hes just mysteriously regressed to a nothing player over the last two years.



I have no clue what it all means but I dont' think I can give really an accurate answer after Mason losing to vcu for the 150th time and we're all pissed.

Can you point to anything he’s done this season to warrant any minutes? Legit question.

 

[tblack33]

I think we all need to take it as one game, and see how the season unfolds. This team is a middle pack A10 team and I'm holding to that. They just got beat by the league favorite. Lets see how they do against the middle and bottom tier.

I think we all need to take it as one game, and see how the season unfolds. This team is a middle pack A10 team and I'm holding to that. They just got beat by the league favorite. Lets see how they do against the middle and bottom tier.

If we stuck to the preseason rankings sure. But I think we just all watched a very beatable vcu team come to fairfax and embarrass us.

 

[sleeperpick]

If we stuck to the preseason rankings sure. But I think we just all watched a very beatable vcu team come to fairfax and embarrass us.

those preseason rankings have Marcus Evans as a top 5 A10 player... he is very broken... talking to vcu fans behind me says that he is not very good anymore because of two bum ACLs. so yea their second or first best player is now a bench player and they still skunked us

 

[gmujim92]

Thank you. Everyone said that we needed a complete culture overthrow after Hewitt (which I agree with) but where has it gotten us? A lucky top 5 in the worst year in A10 in the last 10 years?

I’ll forever be happy for paulsen pulling us out of the gutter and fixing the deep rooted issues with our program but he’s not the guy to turn the corner.

OK let’s fire the guy, then our promising young players scatter, our recruits decommit and we have to rebuild all over again?

Because we are 11-3 and lost to the team that was picked to win the A-10?

Brilliant!

 

[tblack33]

And we go from what? Picked 9th in the conference to 11th for a heae

OK let’s fire the guy, then our promising young players scatter, our recruits decommit and we have to rebuild all over again?

Because we are 11-3 and lost to the team that was picked to win the A-10?

Brilliant!

And we go from what? 9th in the conference to 11th for a year? Did every single player leave the team while I wasn’t looking when we fired the last coach? Are we watching the same team?