Great Season

[Where's the party?]

Agree with most of the sentiment expressed on this thread. This has been the most fun we've had during a Mason season (we weren't season ticket holders in 2006). The team has been fun to support, especially with the coaches realizing they had to excel at defense in order to win, and getting the team to buy in.

The Gold Room was run much better this year (kudos to the young guy with the bow tie for getting the folks there to act like they care).

And rather than mention each player and coach, let me just say that this team played with the heart and energy we've been waiting to see for years - Thank you all for giving the fans a great season, and a reason to be proud of Mason basketball again.

Sorry - Two quick mentions - Billups, you truly are Superman. Today a guy I met at the game said he'd hire you in a second, because "anyone that played that hard will work that hard too". And Tony, I know you are going to get lots of interest from other teams. Please remember, the players and coaches who become legends are the ones who stay with a team and build programs. We love you - stay and build Mason.

 

[GMUYoda]

I'm not saying we aren't going to be in the NIT. We most definitely are. I'm just confused as to whether we are the exempt bid or Dayton. And if we are going to get a home game or not

Guess we'll find out at 930

 

[Enforcer]

Agreed with the sentiments here by everyone. Best season in forever and a fun time overall.

Sux we didn't make the SEC Invitational, but we'll see how the NIT shakes out.

 

[Where's the party?]

Agreed with the sentiments here by everyone. Best season in forever and a fun time overall.

Sux we didn't make the SEC Invitational, but we'll see how the NIT shakes out.

"SEC Invitational" - Brilliant!

 

[emjayar08]

from what's currently available.. unless i'm mistaking what the torvik is on that page:

                bpi    kpi    net    kenpom    SOR    torvik    wab    avg
gmu              70    47      68       78       51        70        55    62.7
dayton           72   51      67        71       58        79        62    65.7

edit: also don't know if these are updated after the games today

Is KPI the old RPI?

 

[Masonfan3]

"SEC Invitational" - Brilliant!

Yes, it is brilliant. New rule should be that if you don't finish in the top half of your conference, you are not eligible for the tournament. Hell, Texas and OU had a 33% winning percentage (in conference) and only 2 teams from the SEC didn't make it...what the hell is that.

 

[GMUgemini]

Yes, it is brilliant. New rule should be that if you don't finish in the top half of your conference, you are not eligible for the tournament. Hell, Texas and OU had a 33% winning percentage (in conference) and only 2 teams from the SEC didn't make it...what the hell is that.

.500 +1 game.

It would break up the mega conference pretty quick because there would be a max number of teams able to get in no matter how good your conference.

 

[Old Ram]

.500 +1 game.

It would break up the mega conference pretty quick because there would be a max number of teams able to get in no matter how good your conference.

While I would love for that to happen, we all know better. I honestly believe it’s going to just encourage even more expansion.

 

[GMUgemini]

While I would love for that to happen, we all know better. I honestly believe it’s going to just encourage even more expansion.

Oh yeah, nothing that makes getting in harder or potentially opens the door to non-power conference teams will ever happen.

 

[gmubrian]

I think BOC, Ball, and Slime are all gone from
Some stuff I’ve heard


Actually slime is/was in class hell so I think he might be back

Heard yesterday Slime wants $1Mil NIL. No joke.

Nothing can ever be 100% related to transfers these days until the portal closes, but, my current prognostications are:
BOC, Ball, Gio, Stas and Chase will come back.
There is still a chance Jalen comes back. I seriously doubt he will transfer to another school. I think he would go to Europe to play pro ball if he doesn't stay. What someone wants and what someone gets are frequently two different things. I think, effectively, we are competing with what he could make by going pro.

 

[gmulion]

Nothing can ever be 100% related to transfers these days until the portal closes, but, my current prognostications are:
BOC, Ball, Gio, Stas and Chase will come back.
There is still a chance Jalen comes back. I seriously doubt he will transfer to another school. I think he would go to Europe to play pro ball if he doesn't stay. What someone wants and what someone gets are frequently two different things. I think, effectively, we are competing with what he could make by going pro.

Do you think Begg is gone?

 

[gmubrian]

Do you think Begg is gone?

I don't have a good read on that other than he is from Texas (not local), came to Mason in large part due to Ekanem being here and Ekanem isn't coaching here any longer.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

Against my better judgment, I took a look at the vcu boards today. It seems that many of them believed we were a team full of "thugs"...Funny because even the ones hating on us commented about how much more physical and tough our team was than prior years. It's clear they are wary of TS and what he can do.

 

[undertherock]

There is still a chance Jalen comes back. I seriously doubt he will transfer to another school. I think he would go to Europe to play pro ball if he doesn't stay. What someone wants and what someone gets are frequently two different things.

If a P5 school offers Jalen generational money to play for a year it's gonna be hard to say no

 

[GMU79]

If a P5 school offers Jalen generational money to play for a year it's gonna be hard to say no

True, but I doubt they will.

 

[Walter]

True, but I doubt they will.

Nonsense. He will get good offers. His skills are hard to find.

 

[GMU79]

Nonsense. He will get good offers. His skills are hard to find.

Generational money from a P5?
I doubt it, but we'll see.

 

[The Great PATSby]

Nice to see Coach Caputo standing up for us on X.

https://x.com/coach_c_caputo
Chris Caputo
@coach_c_caputo
2h
Obviously vcu and GMU are both NCAA teams. When I was at GMU we got 2 at-large bids with similar RPI as GMU this year. We only made the final four and Round of 32 in those years. The change is in the metric not in the quality of the team.

 

[NewPatriot]

Heard yesterday Slime wants $1Mil NIL. No joke.

He had a good season but not that good..that's Hunter Dickinson money..

He needs to lose 20 pounds to get back to his ETSU playing weight, mature in his mental approach to the game(more mental than emotional), refine his post skills to recognize double and triple teams and expand his range to become a consistent 3 pt shooter.. if he chases the money to a P5..he will end up a bench warmer.

 

[thebiasedannouncer]

If a P5 school offers Jalen generational money to play for a year it's gonna be hard to say no

Just to add on- I can confirm I've heard from multiple people that Haynes's ability to transfer some of his credits are a little screwy- it was even hard for him to get in the door here and transferring again would be a pain. Does sound like its between us and a shot in Europe at this point.

Stas, BOC, Bryson are all coming back for sure it sounds like. We'll see on Ball and Begg- I think Begg is more likely than Ball, believe some of the homesickness he was having earlier has been alleviated. Haynes, see the above sentence. Quigley is gone. Trilly Donovan had Emejuru in the portal in January in his Discord, so to my understanding he's gone (imo we have a ready made improvement as a backup big in Kanga and/or Stas tbh...). With the two Freshman, plus four likely to stay, we have at least six spots filled. Ball and Jalen are the ?'s as it stands. Seems very unlikely Quig and Gio are back.

I know we have a game (and hopefully games plural) left to play, but we really gotta start the 2025 portal thread here.