PROVIDENCE UPDATE

[gmujim92]

Cooper, Saquan, and Bailey weren’t. They were replaced with freshmen. One of them would have had to be game ready right away (or at least by conference play) for the team to really be dangerous, but can’t see PIG for a team with Polite and Oduro anchoring it.

Bottom 6 teams are in the PIG now. Don’t think it would’ve been out of the question, but glad we won’t have to worry about that with the current roster

 

[Patriot8]

@Patriot8 My information is first hand on 3 of them and second hand on the fourth. I think Pablo's date gives the backup proof on who was welcome to stay or not. 3 of those are huge steps down and Montana is no step up. It doesn't look like greener pastures to me...

Ginaka is a word game on whether he was pushed or not. He was initially welcome to stay, but dragged his feet, and ultimately was no longer welcome to stay.

This isn’t an information contest. Pablo provided destinations, not dates.

KE reportedly accepts Providence job on March 22nd.

Reported portal entry dates:

Elvis: March 16th
Blake: March 22nd
Ginika: March 26th

Tony reportedly accepts on March 29th.

You can’t push a player out that has already entered the portal. Once you enter, you lose the right to your spot. Was Peter pushed out? Sure.

 

[Patriot8]

Anyways, the past is the past. Recruiting is the future.

Onward to Victory.

 

[Mason2005]

Catching up on this thread. So Tony pushed GMU players out as an Asst for UMD. That is some crazy stuff!

 

[Walter]

The right move for a player is to enter the portal. See what your options are. If the new coach wants you, he will recruit you from the portal. If he doesn’t want you, he won’t.

It sounds like Tony didn’t want these guys. Is that pushing a player out?

 

[FlPatriot]

The right move for a player is to enter the portal. See what your options are. If the new coach wants you, he will recruit you from the portal. If he doesn’t want you, he won’t.

It sounds like Tony didn’t want these guys. Is that pushing a player out?

Seems to me any players jumping to the portal prior to CTS being named voted with their feet, not sure one could call that being pushed out. Not sure what ojaiko saw that made him jump afterward.

 

[mkaufman1]

I thought Kim grew immensely as a coach during the course of last season, and I still think anyone who is as smart of a student of the game as he is, is very likely to find success in a few years. But I definitely didn't think he was a finished product as a head coach, and I don't know why people point to his current results as proof that that's all he'll ever be. He was just turning a corner at Mason, and figuring out the conference tournament was going to be the next step.

Our KenPom would have been top 100 if Ticket hadn't gotten hurt, if you compare games he played to games he didn't. It happens, and injuries are not an excuse, but I'm not going to hold our KenPom finish against Kim, either. The trend was clearly in the right direction before Ticket got hurt, and almost immediately again after he returned.

My memories of the blowout at the A10T was that we clearly had a gameplan, but that we were too slow to our spots to execute any of it correctly. I'm not going to try to parse why that happened at this distance. It won't bring Kim back to Mason.

This post articulates what I was trying to get at as well. There was immense growth especially during the 2nd half of the season, and he was only tipping the iceberg on how good he can become. He isn't there yet but I still believe like many folks he will be successful. I also too agree that our execution was very poor at the A10T against St Louis for whatever reason.

I thought he had us moving in the right direction last season, but was puzzled by the recruiting. Taking on so many freshmen after Year 2 was a curious decision and it seemed likelier than not that we were gonna be fighting to stay out of the PIG next season. Would love to know what he was thinking even though it’s obviously water under the bridge at this point.

As much as we were ready to project that we weren't going to be good in year 3 under Kim, there would have been some turnover to bring in additional talent, obviously. Replacing Blake, Elvis, and maybe Peter at a minimum. I wasn't worried because I knew the portal would help. It doesn't matter though like you said. Onward and upward.

 

[Falco]

I'm conflicted about college sports. One part of me sees it as a business where players have to earn scholarships like students who perform academically. Universities can dismiss students for poor grades, so why not for poor sports performance? On the other hand, I feel for these young athletes who may be treated as pawns.

I also don’t understand why people were lowering the expectations for CKE in year three. Oduro, ticket, polite, Justin. That’s a solid 4.

We all know he be able to bring in another transfer at least as good as any of the graduates.

 

[tblack33]

Had an interesting thought this morning — I’m pretty sure more Kim English recruits received degrees from George Mason than Dave Paulsen recruits in less than half the time in the job, for those of you that it’s important to.

 

[psyclone]

Had an interesting thought this morning — I’m pretty sure more Kim English recruits received degrees from George Mason than Dave Paulsen recruits in less than half the time in the job, for those of you that it’s important to.

The instituting of the transfer portal contaminates this comparison.

Without looking up the particulars, when you recruit mostly transfers, they are likely within a year of graduating or completing a graduate program. Also, when a new coach comes in, many of the previous coach's recruits transfer out...hence (hopefully) graduating from their next institution instead of Mason.

 

[Mason2005]

The instituting of the transfer portal contaminates this comparison.

Without looking up the particulars, when you recruit mostly transfers, they are likely within a year of graduating or completing a graduate program. Also, when a new coach comes in, many of the previous coach's recruits transfer out...hence (hopefully) graduating from their next institution instead of Mason.

Also, players hated DP.

 

[tblack33]

The instituting of the transfer portal contaminates this comparison.

Without looking up the particulars, when you recruit mostly transfers, they are likely within a year of graduating or completing a graduate program. Also, when a new coach comes in, many of the previous coach's recruits transfer out...hence (hopefully) graduating from their next institution instead of Mason.

Totally with you, just thought it was an interesting little nugget given that the importance of education bit gets tossed around a lot, that even with transfers and the loss of credits that goes with that, CKE produced more Mason degrees than DP did.

 

[gmubrian]

This isn’t an information contest. Pablo provided destinations, not dates.

KE reportedly accepts Providence job on March 22nd.

Reported portal entry dates:

Elvis: March 16th
Blake: March 22nd
Ginika: March 26th

Tony reportedly accepts on March 29th.

You can’t push a player out that has already entered the portal. Once you enter, you lose the right to your spot. Was Peter pushed out? Sure.

No competition on information I was just pointing out that my information was very close to the source, so not a lot of room for miscommunication. So, unless I was told something that wasn't accurate, ultimately, all 4 were not welcome to stay under the new management.

Portal entry date has nothing to do with wither the new coach is allowing you to stay or not. Going to the portal doesn't mean you are gone, just that you are exploring your options. It is just a smart thing to do if you don't know who your coach is going to be. And with Mason's history of dragging it's feet on hiring moves, it makes it even smarter. You can always pull your name out of the portal and stay if you are welcomed to by the coach. Evidently, they were smart to have entered the portal given they didn't end up with a roster spot.

To Pablo's destination information, it serves as a sanity check. What are the odds that Elvis was welcome to stay but told Tony: "I don't want stay at Mason, I really want to go to Grambling State instead.". Or, that Ginaka said something along the lines of: "No thanks Tony, I'd rather not play anywhere than to play at Mason".

 

[Masonfan3]

No competition on information I was just pointing out that my information was very close to the source, so not a lot of room for miscommunication. So, unless I was told something that wasn't accurate, ultimately, all 4 were not welcome to stay under the new management.

Portal entry date has nothing to do with wither the new coach is allowing you to stay or not. Going to the portal doesn't mean you are gone, just that you are exploring your options. It is just a smart thing to do if you don't know who your coach is going to be. And with Mason's history of dragging it's feet on hiring moves, it makes it even smarter. You can always pull your name out of the portal and stay if you are welcomed to by the coach. Evidently, they were smart to have entered the portal given they didn't end up with a roster spot.

To Pablo's destination information, it serves as a sanity check. What are the odds that Elvis was welcome to stay but told Tony: "I don't want stay at Mason, I really want to go to Grambling State instead.". Or, that Ginaka said something along the lines of: "No thanks Tony, I'd rather not play anywhere than to play at Mason".

Who cares and lets move on. The players who hit the portal decided to explore other options so the "new management" has the right to do it as well. CTS didn't unwelcome any member of the team. We have a roster for next year so why are we wasting time on the "well my sources said this" or "my sources said that". Our roster is better today than it was when CTS took over and that is all we should be talking about.

 

[mkaufman1]

For anyone who cares, Providence is on a foreign tour in Spain.

Los Friars En España Blog - Providence College Athletics

The Friar men's basketball team will visit Spain from August 15-25.

friars.com

Here is a link to one boxscore, their 103-70 win over The Madrid All Stars from a few days ago.

Men’s Basketball Defeats The Madrid All-Stars, 103-70 - Providence College Athletics

MADRID, Spain– The Providence College men's basketball team opened its tour in Spain with a 103-70 win over the Madrid All-Stars in Madrid on Friday, August 18.

friars.com

For those who care about the former Mason guys:

Rich Barron didn't play (no idea why)
Justyn Fernandez didnt' play as expected
Ticket gaines- 3/10 from the field, 11 points
Josh Oduro 4/7 from the field, 10 points

Former Paulsen recruit Rafael Castro was 8/8 from the field for 16 points.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

For anyone who cares, Providence is on a foreign tour in Spain.

Los Friars En España Blog - Providence College Athletics

The Friar men's basketball team will visit Spain from August 15-25.

friars.com

Here is a link to one boxscore, their 103-70 win over The Madrid All Stars from a few days ago.

Men’s Basketball Defeats The Madrid All-Stars, 103-70 - Providence College Athletics

MADRID, Spain– The Providence College men's basketball team opened its tour in Spain with a 103-70 win over the Madrid All-Stars in Madrid on Friday, August 18.

friars.com

For those who care about the former Mason guys:

Rich Barron didn't play (no idea why)
Justyn Fernandez didnt' play as expected
Ticket gaines- 3/10 from the field, 11 points
Josh Oduro 4/7 from the field, 10 points

Former Paulsen recruit Rafael Castro was 8/8 from the field for 16 points.

Not much of a showing from the transfer ins

 

[Where's the party?]

Still not reading this thread....

 

[mkaufman1]

2023-24 Big East Men’s Basketball Summer Check-In: Providence Friars

Can Kim English pick up where Ed Cooley left off? Is that even possible, given the entire history of the Friars program?

www.anonymouseagle.com

 

[GSII]

2023-24 Big East Men’s Basketball Summer Check-In: Providence Friars

Can Kim English pick up where Ed Cooley left off? Is that even possible, given the entire history of the Friars program?

www.anonymouseagle.com

Patriot Pressure

 

[Walter]

So, the writer doesn't know what to expect from FKE. Neither did we. And still didn't when he left.

Eventually, he will have to prove he isn't all hype.