The Big Dance: Is Mason going?

[March Madness32]

My daughter was down in the Fairfax area and picked up a George Mason basketball hat for my birthday as she knows I am a fan of college basketball. After looking at things more closely, it looks like you guys will be doing some dancing come march, if not this year then next. Lots of changes in your favor with a new coach this year and vcu's coach gone. I like your center who I believe will have a breakout year and the freshman center is a great addition too. St Louis and vcu are on the downswing and it looks like you guys have as good a chance as any. Its July, but I'm penciling you guys in for a first round win. Its going to be an interesting A10 race at the very least.

 

[GMUgemini]

My daughter was down in the Fairfax area and picked up a George Mason basketball hat for my birthday as she knows I am a fan of college basketball. After looking at things more closely, it looks like you guys will be doing some dancing come march, if not this year then next. Lots of changes in your favor with a new coach this year and vcu's coach gone. I like your center who I believe will have a breakout year and the freshman center is a great addition too. St Louis and vcu are on the downswing and it looks like you guys have as good a chance as any. Its July, but I'm penciling you guys in for a first round win. Its going to be an interesting A10 race at the very least.

I love your optimism, but have you taken a look at the depth (or lack thereof) at the two wing positions? Hard to win in the A10 without great guard play.

 

[TweederGMU]

My daughter was down in the Fairfax area and picked up a George Mason basketball hat for my birthday as she knows I am a fan of college basketball. After looking at things more closely, it looks like you guys will be doing some dancing come march, if not this year then next. Lots of changes in your favor with a new coach this year and vcu's coach gone. I like your center who I believe will have a breakout year and the freshman center is a great addition too. St Louis and vcu are on the downswing and it looks like you guys have as good a chance as any. Its July, but I'm penciling you guys in for a first round win. Its going to be an interesting A10 race at the very least.

Wow. Whatever it is your drinking or smoking I will have some

 

[March Madness32]

I just think there are big changes in the A10 and George Mason will rise to the top. Richmond will sputter. St. Bonaventure is good but needs another Bob Lanier which will never happen. St. Joes ran its course the coach needs to go out to pasture. Duquesne is good but the AD just bolted. vcu's coach is out and St Louis is on the downswing. Its going to be a close league with a lot of close teams. Everyone keeps talking about how George Mason needs a guard but I believe we will be pleasantly surprised this year with a standout guard. The center will improve 100 percent too with a great backup. I think you guys have a great team and the future looks bright.

 

[Vurbel]

We may go "dancing", I just doubt it will be in the same ballroom as Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

 

[Washingtonian]

I love your optimism, but have you taken a look at the depth (or lack thereof) at the two wing positions? Hard to win in the A10 without great guard play.

Well, I know this was forever ago, but Larranaga did get us in the big dance in his 2nd season. Maybe Paulsen will do the same?

 

[A.-Siegfried]

*sniff* *sniff*. Ah...yes...the unmistakable smell of troll. Thanks for joining us.

 

[Walter]

I am tired of all the negativity around here. An outsider comes on here to bring a fresh perspective and we call him a troll. Our wise visitor has opened my eyes.

Hell yes we are going dancing this year. But Sweet Sixteen, not second round, is our exit point.

GO PATRIOTS!

 

[Pablo]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcV13jffIQE

 

[liem.le.3388]

Ok I'm pumped for next season now!

 

[GMUSig03]

I have never seen a post with so much apparent basketball knowledge and lack of basketball knowledge. His reasons for us going to the NCAA tournament are b/c a couple teams have new coaches and we have a good center and a freshman backup??? I'm all for being optimistic, but optimistic predictions for this team are to finish close to .500, he has not provided any solid basis for his prediction.

 

[gmujim92]

I have full confidence that Mason will play in the NCAA tournament during DP's 5-year contract.

But unless another George Evans lands in his lap, this is not going to be a quick rebuild.

 

[GreenLantern]

Next season will be a definite rebuild but I don't discount that we'll be much improved in a couple years and in the big dance by year 4.

 

[smccart5]

I think the point is that the field is a bit more open than in the past few years and we have the potential to sneak up to the top. We will need a few lucky bounces along the way, but hey why not? I miss our games being relevant!

 

[GMUSig03]

I think the point is that the field is a bit more open than in the past few years and we have the potential to sneak up to the top. We will need a few lucky bounces along the way, but hey why not? I miss our games being relevant!

I believe we have discussed at length why not

 

[gmujim92]

The 2016 recruiting class largely will determine how long the rebuild takes and whether DP will have us back dancing by his 5th season on the job.

After this season, we will have a roster that looks like this:

C -- nobody
PF -- Jenkins (Sr), Dixon (So)
SF -- Mayimba (R-So.????), Abram (So.)
SG -- Murrell (So.)
PG -- Moore (Sr.), Livingston (So.)

If Mayimba's eligibility doesn't get straightened out in our favor, we'll have 7 scholarships to offer. On the bright side, our coaches will be able to promise a lot of early playing time and mean it.

Either way, that class will be the core of the program going forward. The staff can't afford to swing and miss on more than 1 or 2 of those offers or we'll be effed in a major way.

While I don't get the sense that DP is a guy who favors JUCOs, I hope he tries to bring in a couple in the '16 class anyhow because it would be difficult for many reasons to have 6 or 7 freshmen in the same recruiting class.

 

[TweederGMU]

I just think there are big changes in the A10 and George Mason will rise to the top. Richmond will sputter. St. Bonaventure is good but needs another Bob Lanier which will never happen. St. Joes ran its course the coach needs to go out to pasture. Duquesne is good but the AD just bolted. vcu's coach is out and St Louis is on the downswing. Its going to be a close league with a lot of close teams. Everyone keeps talking about how George Mason needs a guard but I believe we will be pleasantly surprised this year with a standout guard. The center will improve 100 percent too with a great backup. I think you guys have a great team and the future looks bright.

Richmond only loses Kendall Anthony on a team who won 21 games last year, they aren't sputtering anywhere. vcu is reloading, same with Dayton. Rhode Island will probably be a Top 25 team next year. GW has a solid team returning along with St. Bony. Fordham will turn some heads and could put it altogether for a solid season especially with Paschall and Severe. I don't see us finishing above ANY of those teams.

LaSalle, St. Joes, UMass are questions marks.

Duquesne, St. Louis, and us will be the bottom feeders once again.

 

[GMUgemini]

Richmond only loses Kendall Anthony on a team who won 21 games last year, they aren't sputtering anywhere. vcu is reloading, same with Dayton. Rhode Island will probably be a Top 25 team next year. GW has a solid team returning along with St. Bony. Fordham will turn some heads and could put it altogether for a solid season especially with Paschall and Severe. I don't see us finishing above ANY of those teams.

LaSalle, St. Joes, UMass are questions marks.

Duquesne, St. Louis, and us will be the bottom feeders once again.

Of course, many pundits and basketball followers said the exact same thing about Davidson last year, too. I will just say this, the A-10 isn't the ACC, and there is no monopoly at the top of the standings (also Richmond couldn't even beat a Hewitt-led GMU team, I'd be surprised if they had a winning record against Paulsen).

 

[Washingtonian]

St. Louis had a ton of youth last season, they should be much improved this season.

 

[JimP]

Richmond only loses Kendall Anthony on a team who won 21 games last year, they aren't sputtering anywhere. vcu is reloading, same with Dayton. Rhode Island will probably be a Top 25 team next year. GW has a solid team returning along with St. Bony. Fordham will turn some heads and could put it altogether for a solid season especially with Paschall and Severe. I don't see us finishing above ANY of those teams.

LaSalle, St. Joes, UMass are questions marks.

Duquesne, St. Louis, and us will be the bottom feeders once again.

I think Paschall transferred. Forget making the tourney, maybe we can finally beat Fordham.