Thank You D'Shawn Schwartz

[Patriot8]

If Davidson beats Richmond yesterday, it's a one-bid league. That's a down year (even though there are four A-10 teams in the NIT).

The head of the selection committee said yesterday that Richmond stole Dayton's bid. A10 was getting 2 teams.

 

[ephoops]

The head of the selection committee said yesterday that Richmond stole Dayton's bid. A10 was getting 2 teams.

I stand corrected.

 

[Patriotsince81]

If Davidson beats Richmond yesterday, it's a one-bid league. That's a down year (even though there are four A-10 teams in the NIT).

The P5's are always overvalued and overrated. I have the perfect NCAA tourney format. There are 32 conferences. All regular season and tourney winners are auto bids. In the "lower" conferences if the regular season winner also takes the tourney then an at large spot opens up. No way, in my opinion, that an 8th or 9th place P5 school deserves to go to the dance.

 

[GMUgemini]

Was it a down A10 this year, though?

Davidson is one of my upset picks to knock off MSU. That's a solid squad at the top.
vcu was a different squad once Baldwin returned. They beat Vandy in Nashville, Syracuse on a neutral court, took #22 UConn to overtime, and gave #1 seed Baylor a tough contest.
Dayton started out ugly and then beat Miami, beat #1 seed Kansas, beat a tough Belmont team, and beat ACC tournament champion VA Tech.
St. Bonnie returned everyone from their A10 Championship and still finished 4th.
St. Louis was solid if unspectacular.
Richmond finished the season 14-4 and won the A10 beating vcu, Dayton, and Davidson consecutively.

The competition drops off after that, but the top 6 A10 teams were pretty solid squads

I'd say it's a mixed bag. The conference was much better later in the season after Dayton got its legs under it and vcu got Ace Baldwin back, but their early OOC hurt them (otherwise both might be dancing right now). Bona's early-mid-season duldrums didn't help them either.

But the top of the conference wasn't nearly as good as it had been in the past. Traditionally strong teams like Rhody, St. Joes, even GW are currently bad. And the teams in transition (Duquesne, Mason, Fordham?) were not good this year either -- Fordham and Mason better, but not good.

Next season looks to be much better with Dayton, SLU, and vcu all most likely bringing back the core of young teams. Loyola-Chicago is going to instantly bring class. Hopefully Davidson and Bona keep pace with their excellent coaches and Mason and Fordham can continue to get better (we will see about Umass, Rhody, and GW who have now fired their coaches).

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Even DP could have finished 9th in a down A-10 and lost to Fordham in the second round of the A-10 tournament.

That said, I think the long-term future of the program is bright.

Not trying to roll you, but in light of the results so far, gotta come back to this. No matter how Davidson does tomorrow, A10 is looking pretty good so far.

Richmond just knocked off Iowa who won the Big10 Tournament and 12 of their last 14 prior. In the NIT, Dayton beat Toledo by 19, vcu beat Princeton by 19, and St. Bonaventure beat Colorado by 8. If Davidson can beat MI State, and I have them picked in my bracket, the A10 will be 5-0 in the opening rounds of both tournaments.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

The P5's are always overvalued and overrated. I have the perfect NCAA tourney format. There are 32 conferences. All regular season and tourney winners are auto bids. In the "lower" conferences if the regular season winner also takes the tourney then an at large spot opens up. No way, in my opinion, that an 8th or 9th place P5 school deserves to go to the dance.

So in this scenario, Long Beach State, Towson, Princeton, and Iona would all move out of the NIT and receive auto-bids as conference champs who lost in their conference tournament. Current NCAA teams like Kentucky, Connecticut, Illinois, Purdue, Arkansas, UCLA, USC, Saint Mary's, Memphis, Ohio State, Marquette, North Carolina, etc. would have to wait to see how the Big Sky, Horizon and Southland tournaments turned out.

As a fan, I'm not sure that "perfect" format makes for the most riveting games to watch.

Also, the only 8th and 9th placed conference teams to get in this year are Michigan and Indiana. They're 2-0 in the tournament so far.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

OK, in hindsight, maybe Long Beach State should’ve been in over Kentucky.

 

[psyclone]

Not trying to roll you, but in light of the results so far, gotta come back to this. No matter how Davidson does tomorrow, A10 is looking pretty good so far.

Richmond just knocked off Iowa who won the Big10 Tournament and 12 of their last 14 prior. In the NIT, Dayton beat Toledo by 19, vcu beat Princeton by 19, and St. Bonaventure beat Colorado by 8. If Davidson can beat MI State, and I have them picked in my bracket, the A10 will be 5-0 in the opening rounds of both tournaments.

Actually, SLU lost at home on Wednesday 80-68 to Northern Iowa who went on a 20-0 run in the middle of the second half. Yuri Collins missed the game due to a wrist injury.

Still, a 5-1 record in the opening round is a good start.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Actually, SLU lost at home on Wednesday 80-68 to Northern Iowa who went on a 20-0 run in the middle of the second half. Yuri Collins missed the game due to a wrist injury.

Still, a 5-1 record in the opening round is a good start.

Missed that one. Thanks!

 

[gmujim92]

Actually, SLU lost at home on Wednesday 80-68 to Northern Iowa who went on a 20-0 run in the middle of the second half. Yuri Collins missed the game due to a wrist injury.

Still, a 5-1 record in the opening round is a good start.

…and Mason beat 3 of those teams and took a fourth to double OT before losing.

Inconsistent, absolutely, but at its best this Mason team was pretty damn close to a handful. I find that very encouraging.

 

[Bricker]

Not trying to roll you, but in light of the results so far, gotta come back to this. No matter how Davidson does tomorrow, A10 is looking pretty good so far.

Richmond just knocked off Iowa who won the Big10 Tournament and 12 of their last 14 prior. In the NIT, Dayton beat Toledo by 19, vcu beat Princeton by 19, and St. Bonaventure beat Colorado by 8. If Davidson can beat MI State, and I have them picked in my bracket, the A10 will be 5-0 in the opening rounds of both tournaments.

I was thinking the same thing. A down year for NCAA bids -- but it's clear the A10 could have had 4-5 viable tourney teams if the chips had fallen a little differently.

Next year should be very competitive amongst the top half of the league. Can't complain about that.

 

[dr. gunnie]

“I got everything I wanted out of the year, except the NCAA Tournament,” Schwartz said. “Other than that, it was great. I got to live somewhere else besides Colorado. Experience the east coast. It was great for me. It was kind of my plan to go somewhere far out of Colorado, just as kind of a gap year, so to speak. If I were to have to go overseas, I’ll have to get used to living kind of far.”

https://www.buffzone.com/2022/03/23/dshawn-schwartz-ready-for-next-level/

 

[Patriotsince81]

Schwartz to Compete in NABC Reese’s All-Star Game at 2022 Final Four - George Mason University Athletics

George Mason University graduate student guard D'Shawn Schwartz has been selected to compete in the NABC Reese's All-Star Game as part of Reese's Men's Final Four

gomason.com

 

[gmubrian]

So, I happen to be in New Orleans at the moment, was walking around and came across a 3x3 basketball game and look who happened to be playing.

 

[GMUMiked]

D'Shawn's been active on twitter helping to recruit some of these transfer portal targets. Love to see it.

 

[FreeGunston12]

D'Shawn's been active on twitter helping to recruit some of these transfer portal targets. Love to see it.

He has been a really great ambassador for Mason. Grade A, all class gentleman and a great teammate hyping up Josh, Ticket, etc.

Whoever was complaining about coach English targeting grad transfers that will only play one year for us, take a look again. If they all come out like D'Shawn has for us, you gotta love it.

 

[jessej]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1510041708771295232

View: https://twitter.com/DshawnSchwartz5/status/1510041708771295232

 

[gmubrian]

Schwartz’s team came second in their pool in the 3x3U tournament meaning they got a bye past the first elimination round. They have won two games today are now in the semifinals. His team has earned 10k in prize money so far. Semifinal round is worth another 10k and the championship pays the winning team 50k.

 

[MasonFanatic]

70k divided among a 4 man team is a nice chunk of change.

 

[Patriotsince81]

70k divided among a 4 man team is a nice chunk of change.

By vcu math that would be 25 cents per man!!!!