Open Scrimmage

[Falco]

Not sure why you’re not sure. Irrelevant or not, our program is way ahead of where it was the last two years of Hewitt.

Is it really though. Both seem bleak.

 

[Mason32]

Is it really though. Both seem bleak.

5th place finish over dead last (and losing to Fordham in A-10 tourney)? Only one of those is bleak.

 

[Herndon]

Not sure what's worse...being seen as dumpster fire...or the constant mediocrity and irrelevance.

I am sure.

Being a dumpster fire is worse.

 

[Herndon]

Another good point. I think it was you or someone else who said until otherwise middle of the pack is a fair expectation because everything involved with the program is now average or above. To me reasonable expectations is being in the NCAAs every 3-5 years at absolute minimum. Obviously I want to see more, but I would have to see a lot pick up (donations to help facilities, recruiting proves on the court to be better etc) for that to be increased. Roughly once a recruiting class life cycle.

This strikes me as fair. I gave Paulsen a couple of years grace period given what he inherited from Hewitt, but he needs to be making the big dance in the next couple/few years.

We are a program in the A-10 that should occasionally be in the top 3 of the conference, and most years in the A10, that's good enough for the big dance.

We should have most years in the 5-7 range, good years in the 3 range, bad years in the 9 range.

We should never be bottom of the conference, and we should probably never expect to be top of the conference, given the resources available.

 

[mkaufman1]

Not sure what's worse...being seen as dumpster fire...or the constant mediocrity and irrelevance.

Id much rather Mason be "middle of the pack" A10, "mediocre" and "nationally irrelevant" than being the first team out of A10 tournament and suffer through more Paul Hewitt coached basketball. I don't know what sort of expectations to have until I see a game or two.

This strikes me as fair. I gave Paulsen a couple of years grace period given what he inherited from Hewitt, but he needs to be making the big dance in the next couple/few years.

We are a program in the A-10 that should occasionally be in the top 3 of the conference, and most years in the A10, that's good enough for the big dance.

We should have most years in the 5-7 range, good years in the 3 range, bad years in the 9 range.

We should never be bottom of the conference, and we should probably never expect to be top of the conference, given the resources available.

Well said. The good years in the top 3 range should be good for NCAA considerations and occur no less than every 3-5 years, approximately. My .02

 

[Bricker]

Sad state of affairs. Mason was once a Mid-Major power.

No we weren't. Had a few great years, though.

 

[G M U]

I am sure.

Being a dumpster fire is worse.

I'll gladly take a dumpster fire. You know exactly who you are and you can cut bait with your coach and formulate an action plan to move in the only direction there is. At least you can cycle to the next coach who could be "the guy." You also have a figure (dumpster fire coach) that the fan base can galvanize behind and collectively hate as a whole.

Alternatively, you can hover in mediocrity for years, never really knowing if you are good or bad. You start to ask questions like, how long do you extend your mediocre coach? The fan base becomes either divided on that coach or years of mediocrity can leave the fan base completely complacent and just not caring (see Redskins). Ultimately leading to unknown expectations and mild goals like top 6 in the conference or hoping to make it to Saturday at the A10 tourney.

Mediocrity scares the hell outta me.

Maybe it depends on how you look at life. You can play it safe and work your 9-5 job, make a modest living and be fine with it. Or you can take a shot at something bigger. You can fail miserably but you also could become wildly successful. At least you took a chance

 

[GMUgemini]

I'll gladly take a dumpster fire. You know exactly who you are and you can cut bait with your coach and formulate an action plan to move in the only direction there is. At least you can cycle to the next coach who could be "the guy." You also have a figure (dumpster fire coach) that the fan base can galvanize behind and collectively hate as a whole.

Alternatively, you can hover in mediocrity for years, never really knowing if you are good or bad. You start to ask questions like, how long do you extend your mediocre coach? The fan base becomes either divided on that coach or years of mediocrity can leave the fan base completely complacent and just not caring (see Redskins). Ultimately leading to unknown expectations and mild goals like top 6 in the conference or hoping to make it to Saturday at the A10 tourney.

Mediocrity scares the hell outta me.

Haven’t the Redskins been a dumpster fire for awhile?

Also, you don’t keep extending a coach who doesn’t make a meaningful postseason ever as your coach, I don’t care who you are.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Stuck in mediocrity is far worse...at least if we finish near the bottom of the A-10 we get high draft picks.

 

[sleeperpick]

Best part of Mason Madness must have been this... https://twitter.com/BarstoolGMason/status/1186708895080894472

That guy never played a sport in his life. True Mason fan

 

[By George.]

You can tell no one went to the open scrimmage when Hewitt is mentioned in this thread. I can't wait till he can no longer be referenced to defend anything. When will that be? 5 more years? 10 more?

Everyone referencing our culture change.... I get it... but like is our culture that good? No one is showing up to shit, people are dropping their season tickets left and right (I've talked to at least 6 people) Mason Madness and other activities are stale, these boards barely get comments and few are engaging on social media. When ya'll reference a culture change, what are you talking about? The fact that like Paulsen has everyone over for holidays or that we give our managers full rides when we don't fill our roster? Is Paulsen some energizing public figure in the community? I mean damn...I like chatting with the guy, appreciate his positive gestures and do believe we are setting successful pipelines in recruiting while targeting good character guys but this culture improvement talking point has been way overstretched.

You know what creates an awesome sports culture? WINNING! It's sad when entering the 5th year with only 2 seniors (one starter) is acceptable. Is this the culture we're hyping? Sure, many teams deal with transfers but I don't think this paints an image of some amazing culture. I applaud DP for bringing in good guys, I think there is a certain level of importance to this but it can't be the best thing about our team.

People have accepted now that our OOC schedule is simply a preseason to conference play. I understand this reasoning but suggesting that DP is some great player developer and will have the team ready by conference play kinda confuses me. Mar will be a key example to either side of this discussion.

Am I excited? Sure. Am I cised to finish top 7? Absolutely not.

 

[sleeperpick]

You can tell no one went to the open scrimmage when Hewitt is mentioned in this thread. I can't wait till he can no longer be referenced to defend anything. When will that be? 5 more years? 10 more?

Everyone referencing our culture change.... I get it... but like is our culture that good? No one is showing up to shit, people are dropping their season tickets left and right (I've talked to at least 6 people) Mason Madness and other activities are stale, these boards barely get comments and few are engaging on social media. When ya'll reference a culture change, what are you talking about? The fact that like Paulsen has everyone over for holidays or that we give our managers full rides when we don't fill our roster? Is Paulsen some energizing public figure in the community? I mean damn...I like chatting with the guy, appreciate his positive gestures and do believe we are setting successful pipelines in recruiting while targeting good character guys but this culture improvement talking point has been way overstretched.

You know what creates an awesome sports culture? WINNING! It's sad when entering the 5th year with only 2 seniors (one starter) is acceptable. Is this the culture we're hyping? Sure, many teams deal with transfers but I don't think this paints an image of some amazing culture. I applaud DP for bringing in good guys, I think there is a certain level of importance to this but it can't be the best thing about our team.

People have accepted now that our OOC schedule is simply a preseason to conference play. I understand this reasoning but suggesting that DP is some great player developer and will have the team ready by conference play kinda confuses me. Mar will be a key example to either side of this discussion.

Am I excited? Sure. Am I cised to finish top 7? Absolutely not.

had about 10-15 friends with season tix and we are down to 6 this year.... Gonna be 6 of us chanting KILL KILL KILL at the vcu fans in the gold room this year rather than 3 tables worth. kinda sad actually. we are all so apathetic for the most part. I don't think Paulsen's a bad guy. I just don't think Paulsen is a good enough coach (in recruiting or in game) to keep me donating and spending hours and thousands on this program.

Thanks for summing up my opinions with more tact. I just get called a troll when I approach it the wrong way.

We have literally 4 tough OOC games... need to win 2 or 3 of them for me to be happy. Can't wait for us to get 18 wins this year but not beat anyone top 75-100 and finish 8th in the A10 and the worshippers on this board will think that is a good think.

THE OOC IS NOT PRESEASON AND THOSE THAT ACT LIKE IT DOESNT COUNT ARE PART OF THIS PROGRAMS PROBLEM

 

[sleeperpick]

I get preseason Ken Pom isn't the most accurate (it for the most part is if you don't have program changing freshman) but here is our OOC rankings.

Mason: 155


Navy: 310
Longwood: 292
LIU Brooklyn: 251
JMU: 224
Loyola:186
UMD: 16
ODU: 145
Jacksonville St: 215
American: 199
UMBC: 201
TCU: 46

 

[Mason32]

You can tell no one went to the open scrimmage when Hewitt is mentioned in this thread. I can't wait till he can no longer be referenced to defend anything. When will that be? 5 more years? 10 more?

Everyone referencing our culture change.... I get it... but like is our culture that good? No one is showing up to shit, people are dropping their season tickets left and right (I've talked to at least 6 people) Mason Madness and other activities are stale, these boards barely get comments and few are engaging on social media. When ya'll reference a culture change, what are you talking about? The fact that like Paulsen has everyone over for holidays or that we give our managers full rides when we don't fill our roster? Is Paulsen some energizing public figure in the community? I mean damn...I like chatting with the guy, appreciate his positive gestures and do believe we are setting successful pipelines in recruiting while targeting good character guys but this culture improvement talking point has been way overstretched.

No one is talking about the fan base when they mention "culture change". It has to do with how the program prepares, works towards winning, keeping a clean program, no arrests/suspensions things like that.

 

[GMUgemini]

No one is talking about the fan base when they mention "culture change". It has to do with how the program prepares, works towards winning, keeping a clean program, no arrests/suspensions things like that.

that’s how I read it too. Our fan base has largely sucked for the majority of Mason’s existence outside of maybe 3 years, but even then we raised more money in 2018 than we did in 2007, so, you know...

 

[By George.]

No one is talking about the fan base when they mention "culture change". It has to do with how the program prepares, works towards winning, keeping a clean program, no arrests/suspensions things like that.

Touché, but I assume both go hand in hand. Players got in trouble under coach L, wouldn’t describe KRAM as clean, bad culture? Sometimes...kids will be kids but I get what you’re saying. I frankly don’t care what kids do, as long as they win. Is this wrong?

 

[gmujim92]

I don’t know anyone who is SATISFIED with where the program is right now.

I think we’d all agree we’d rather Mason be consistently competing for A-10 titles and NCAA bids.

But the reality is, other than a 14-year stretch where we lucked into a Hall of Fame coach, our program has not been on that level.

Progress is happening. Investments are being made in the program that were unheard-of just a few years ago. Our coaches are being given tools to compete with quality teams in our league. That’s all good, whether Dave is the guy or we need to go get someone else to take us from mid-pack to where we all want to be.

But from the beginning this has been a long-term rebuild. That’s how Dave is choosing to do it and the AD supports him. So this is where we are and I think most of us are trying to make the best of it.

 

[GMUgemini]

Touché, but I assume both go hand in hand. Players got in trouble under coach L, wouldn’t describe KRAM as clean, bad culture? Sometimes...kids will be kids but I get what you’re saying. I frankly don’t care what kids do, as long as they win. Is this wrong?

I think we should care that they don’t get the program sanctioned or being arrested for pulling knives on their teammates or smoking weed instead of going to class or recording sexual assault on a female classmate and posting it to social media. I mean, there are kind of limits to this.

 

[By George.]

“But from the beginning this has been a long-term rebuild. That’s how Dave is choosing to do it and the AD supports him. So this is where we are and I think most of us are trying to make the best of it.”

I’d counter your long rebuild point with......then why did he declare the last 2 seasons 1 long season? He must have expected more from last year. You’ll blame injuries, I’ll blame poor talent evaluating and we’ll go nowhere. No chance, he thought it would take this long given his own quotes from the last few years. I’ll stay away from your AD support comment, but there’s a 0% chance Brad approves of last season.

 

[GMUgemini]

[QUOTE="I think we’d all agree we’d rather Mason be consistently competing for A-10 titles and NCAA bids.

But the reality is, other than a 14-year stretch where we lucked into a Hall of Fame coach, our program has not been on that level.

Progress is happening. Investments are being made in the program that were unheard-of just a few years ago. Our coaches are being given tools to compete with quality teams in our league. That’s all good, whether Dave is the guy or we need to go get someone else to take us from mid-pack to where we all want to be.

But from the beginning this has been a long-term rebuild. That’s how Dave is choosing to do it and the AD supports him. So this is where we are and I think most of us are trying to make the best of it.

I’d counter the long rebuild with......then why did he declare the last 2 seasons 1 long season? He must have expected more from last year. You’ll blame injuries, I’ll blame poor talent evaluating and we’ll go nowhere. No chance, he thought it would take this long given his own quotes from the last few years.[/QUOTE]

a little of both, I’d say. Reuter was definitely a miss, but you can’t tell you thought Mar was going to be an absolute bust after his freshman year, Otis would not hit a 3 for a month, or Grayer would just stop playing. i guess we can also question whether we believe Paulsen when he says Miller really hit a stride after deciding to red-shirt or whether we could have had that production from day one.