Searching for Vaughn Gray

[Dawgs99]

Hewitt mentioned at one of the Q +A things last spring that on more than one occasion he offered to help VG transfer.....looks like he should have taken him up on his offer. IMO VG has had ample opportunities this season to show his worth, it just hasn't worked out. Seems like he is on track to graduate so good on him for using his time at mason to set himself up for the future.

 

[Walter]

Maybe Gray would have been a bust even with Larranaga. But like so many of Hewitt's players, he looked good as a freshman but the more Hewitt coaches them up, the more confused and lost they look. So, I am going to blame Hewitt.

 

[TweederGMU]

I disagree hes not an A10 caliber player.

Dude has game, and we saw that early on. To me its not a far stretch at all that the doghouse treatment and never playing, and then the quick hook now he cant get any confidence or mojo going. I think he was mishandled from the get go by Hewitt and that stunted his development big time.

Early on?? We were in the CAA when he showed "game" early on. He has CAA level talent. He's not an A-10 player and here is why:

He doesn't play Defense, always gets beat by his man moving on screens, is constantly lost on offense and defensive plays, Edwards and Hewitt constantly yell at him for being out of position on defense and offense, can't consistently knock down 3 pointers, does not have a good jump shot, can drive but rarely finishes, he often gets charges when going to the basket, can't consistently finish under the rim when he does get there, and his free throw shooting is not good and inconsistent.... awful for a suppose "shooter". He would not see significant minutes on any other A-10 team outside of maybe Duquesne or Fordham.

Please tell me what you see in his game that makes him A-10 Caliber???

 

[wijg]

Early on?? We were in the CAA when he showed "game" early on. He has CAA level talent. He's not an A-10 player and here is why:

He doesn't play Defense, always gets beat by his man moving on screens, is constantly lost on offense and defensive plays, Edwards and Hewitt constantly yell at him for being out of position on defense and offense, can't consistently knock down 3 pointers, does not have a good jump shot, can drive but rarely finishes, he often gets charges when going to the basket, can't consistently finish under the rim when he does get there, and his free throw shooting is not good and inconsistent.... awful for a suppose "shooter". He would not see significant minutes on any other A-10 team outside of maybe Duquesne or Fordham.

Please tell me what you see in his game that makes him A-10 Caliber???

What you describe would not even be CAA caliber. I refuse to judge any player (that continues to show up and give it their all) too harshly under the Hewitt system.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Early on?? We were in the CAA when he showed "game" early on. He has CAA level talent. He's not an A-10 player and here is why:

He doesn't play Defense, always gets beat by his man moving on screens, is constantly lost on offense and defensive plays, Edwards and Hewitt constantly yell at him for being out of position on defense and offense, can't consistently knock down 3 pointers, does not have a good jump shot, can drive but rarely finishes, he often gets charges when going to the basket, can't consistently finish under the rim when he does get there, and his free throw shooting is not good and inconsistent.... awful for a suppose "shooter". He would not see significant minutes on any other A-10 team outside of maybe Duquesne or Fordham.

Please tell me what you see in his game that makes him A-10 Caliber???

What you said here sounds like 85% of our team under Hewitt. Hewitt has shown that his system really bogs down players, Jalen Jenkins doesn't look like he's "a10 caliber" this year.

He can shoot, he's athletic and can score. He's not doing that now and if you watch him he's frustrated with himself, and playing with low confidence. I have no doubt that if he was actually played from the get go he would be a solid player for us. Out of high school he had offers through the a10 and had one from the big east. Unfortunately for us, Hewitt sat him for basically his entire college career and he's now getting meaningful minutes as a senior and is playing scared and frustrated.

 

[TweederGMU]

What you said here sounds like 85% of our team under Hewitt.

He can shoot, he's athletic and can score. He's not doing that now and if you watch him he's frustrated with himself, and playing with low confidence. I have no doubt that if he was actually played from the get go he would be a solid player for us.

He's been frustrated with himself going on 2 years now. Obviously his ship has sailed and Hewitt and these coaches are not getting through to him and/or he is just not picking up the system on his own. His time has come and gone. If only a different coach got to him 3 years ago then he could be a different player.... a much better player.

I've seen him in practice 3 times last year and he showed flashes of being a scorer. He just doesn't parlay his practice game to his gameday game. Its a head scratcher for many of us fans who have seen this and Hewitt has talked about in the past.

Time to move on and give his minutes to players who can contribute..... Edwards, Holloway, Tate, etc.

 

[Harry]

With all the injuries, Vaughan got a lot of minutes against Davidson. But he did nothing on offense -- he literally would stand in one corner and then the other. Maybe it's bad coaching...does not know how to move without the ball.

 

[Pablo]

There's really nothing more to say as we have fully discussed the Vaughn Gray story. But, I hope that Vaughn starts with Corey on Senior Night, and they are victorious in their final home game for the Patriots.

 

[p8triotfan4life]

is Erik Copes gonna be honored for flunking out?

 

[PoorManProfit]

is Erik Copes gonna be honored for flunking out?

GWU is still laughing about Copes/Houston deal.

 

[Pablo]

http://www.gomason.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=25200&ATCLID=209922703:

“Vaughn’s had his ups and downs as a player but his attitude has always been very good, very respectful. He’s a very classy kid. Both [Corey & Vaughn] will graduate. That’s a major positive that both will graduate in May.”

 

[MasonFanatic]

“ both will graduate in May.”

So, Mr. Hewitt, that's a 2 out of 3 graduation rate, or 66.7%.

Do you know what letter grade a 66 is?

 

[Walter]

Don't student athletes have five years to graduate before the program gets dinged? Is Copes still in school?

 

[PoorManProfit]

Don't student athletes have five years to graduate before the program gets dinged? Is Copes still in school?

Dopes no como escuela.

 

[wijg]

Vaughn Gray has my respect. He may, possibly, be the person that has been most negatively impacted by the Hewitt debacle. We, as fans, are impacted only in that the team we root for has (insert negatively descriptive phrase here).

Gray showed great promise early on, and we may not be able to prove the the root cause of why it did not turn out as we all expected (I have a great theory), but, by all accounts, he has handled the situation with a great attitude and done his best to make the most of it.

Vaughn Gray, I appreciate your hard work and representing Mason well. Good luck with the completion of your degree and your future beyond Mason basketball.

 

[sigmanorm]

Always liked VG. Wish they would have found ways to use him these past 4 years. Good luck Vaughn!

 

[gmujim92]

Maybe I'm way off-base here, but I think Vaughn is Exhibit A for how much Mason has evolved and improved as a university over the nearly 23 years since I graduated.

The fact that he has enjoyed his time at Mason enough to stay for four years -- when 99.9 percent of players would've transferred any number of times after getting jerked around by Hewitt -- says to me that we now offer a campus and a true college experience to be proud of.

Notwithstanding the disappointment Vaughn undoubtedly feels about his once-promising basketball career, he will leave Fairfax with a degree and hopefully will have nothing but good things to say about the university going forward.

We all obviously want to win basketball games. But in the big picture, producing successful alumni to continue shattering the "rinky dink commuter school" stigma is even more important.

Thanks, Vaughn.

 

[TweederGMU]

Gray probably had his best game as a Patriot tonight ever. Sucks we couldn't have seen more of this in his career.

Good kid, wish him well

 

[Pablo]

Any guesses on why Vaughn Gray was honored with his old jersey number "12"?

 

[gmujim92]

Any guesses on why Vaughn Gray was honored with his old jersey number "12"?

Only thing I can guess is that they wanted to frame the gold jerseys for both guys, but didn't want to use a current uniform since the season is still going.