Quentin Daniels
Hall of Famer
The Dream Team.
The Official Fire Dave Paulsen Thread
- Thread starter Leesburg Chankenstank III
- Start date
Some random thoughts on Dave from halfway around the world:
- very much agree with the points on recruiting. It's weird going from beating out Penn state and others for AJ, Minnesota and others for Goanar, down to lesser and lesser levels of competition for our most recent classes. I don't quite understand why we've had so much trouble landing quality recruits. Yes, Dave has found some diamonds in the rough, but God help us if Justin Kier is our best player next year.
- the whole "positionless basketball" thing looks to be lip service to the limited roster of the last two years. You can't talk about positionless basketball then build a team around Reuter, who appears to do one thing at a high level - score with his back to the basket. It's very much a traditional approach to basketball that doesn't reflect the way the game is changing. Also, Reuter isn't a rim protector and our guards aren't good at stopping dribble penetration - tough to believe a defense-oriented coach and staff didn't see that coming and scheme around it.
- speaking of, kind of wild Calixte can't get off the bench. He was a very good defender at the 5 by the end of last season. I'm seeing a lot of "layup line" comments and then looking at his minutes. To the point he's offensively limited - who cares?! Bigs aren't huge scorers in basketball's new world order. If they can run the floor, finish bunnies, protect the rim and keep people out of the paint, they're good. Calixte is neutral or a plus in all of those areas. The fact he's not playing might tell us Dave isn't quite as much of a basketball progressive as he's led us to believe.
- along those same lines, not sure how much winning a D3 title really means. Plenty of guys do that and either stay put or move up and fail. The kids in D3 aren't high level athletes - the X's and O's are much more pure and there are no Kellan Gradys or Tookie Browns to bust through them. Related: not sure Dave really knows what to do with an athlete like AJ.
- also related: I still don't understand Dave's aversion to playing for turnovers and turning up the tempo. Javon, Grayer, Boyd, and Kier are really effective at trapping/pressing and it leads to a few easy buckets per game, but we only deploy it occasionally. Feels like their should be a small unit that does this exclusively but we've never tried it.
- sucks that the at-large hopes are DOA and the Cinci/kstate games are effectively meaningless. I'm still hopeful that the team pulls it together this year but jeez, if Dave's teams always start like a lawnmower that needs six pulls, that really puts a damper on his ceiling as a coach. There were good reasons for that the last two years, no such excuses now.
- I'm really wondering what Dave was thinking when he said Reuter could be a top five player in the A10. Was it some motivational thing or a total miss on player eval? He's fundamentally skilled enough to be very good, but again, elite players at this level are athletes.
Anyway, this all makes sense to me right now, but I've been drinking in the sun for several days in a row. Hope Southern is a get-right game. I was crazy optimistic about this season, but now it's feeling like a disappointing loss in the A10 tournament is how it inevitably ends. These first three games don't erase all of the positive things Dave has done here, but if you're not at least wondering if he's the guy then I have questions.
- very much agree with the points on recruiting. It's weird going from beating out Penn state and others for AJ, Minnesota and others for Goanar, down to lesser and lesser levels of competition for our most recent classes. I don't quite understand why we've had so much trouble landing quality recruits. Yes, Dave has found some diamonds in the rough, but God help us if Justin Kier is our best player next year.
- the whole "positionless basketball" thing looks to be lip service to the limited roster of the last two years. You can't talk about positionless basketball then build a team around Reuter, who appears to do one thing at a high level - score with his back to the basket. It's very much a traditional approach to basketball that doesn't reflect the way the game is changing. Also, Reuter isn't a rim protector and our guards aren't good at stopping dribble penetration - tough to believe a defense-oriented coach and staff didn't see that coming and scheme around it.
- speaking of, kind of wild Calixte can't get off the bench. He was a very good defender at the 5 by the end of last season. I'm seeing a lot of "layup line" comments and then looking at his minutes. To the point he's offensively limited - who cares?! Bigs aren't huge scorers in basketball's new world order. If they can run the floor, finish bunnies, protect the rim and keep people out of the paint, they're good. Calixte is neutral or a plus in all of those areas. The fact he's not playing might tell us Dave isn't quite as much of a basketball progressive as he's led us to believe.
- along those same lines, not sure how much winning a D3 title really means. Plenty of guys do that and either stay put or move up and fail. The kids in D3 aren't high level athletes - the X's and O's are much more pure and there are no Kellan Gradys or Tookie Browns to bust through them. Related: not sure Dave really knows what to do with an athlete like AJ.
- also related: I still don't understand Dave's aversion to playing for turnovers and turning up the tempo. Javon, Grayer, Boyd, and Kier are really effective at trapping/pressing and it leads to a few easy buckets per game, but we only deploy it occasionally. Feels like their should be a small unit that does this exclusively but we've never tried it.
- sucks that the at-large hopes are DOA and the Cinci/kstate games are effectively meaningless. I'm still hopeful that the team pulls it together this year but jeez, if Dave's teams always start like a lawnmower that needs six pulls, that really puts a damper on his ceiling as a coach. There were good reasons for that the last two years, no such excuses now.
- I'm really wondering what Dave was thinking when he said Reuter could be a top five player in the A10. Was it some motivational thing or a total miss on player eval? He's fundamentally skilled enough to be very good, but again, elite players at this level are athletes.
Anyway, this all makes sense to me right now, but I've been drinking in the sun for several days in a row. Hope Southern is a get-right game. I was crazy optimistic about this season, but now it's feeling like a disappointing loss in the A10 tournament is how it inevitably ends. These first three games don't erase all of the positive things Dave has done here, but if you're not at least wondering if he's the guy then I have questions.
Be careful. You are not allowed to be objective on this forum.
possibly the most realistic post this forum has had. thank you
These first three games don't erase all of the positive things Dave has done here, but if you're not at least wondering if he's the guy then I have questions.[/QUOTE]
Amen....
Amen....
We get it. You really like him for whatever reason.
Quentin Daniels
Hall of Famer
Reminds me of last year when you kept accusing other posters of making Paulsen the program's "savior."
Remember getting owned so hard on that?
Guess what, I still have the receipts.
http://masonhoops.com/board/threads...ebruary-14th-7-pm-masn.1589/page-9#post-90881
Last edited:
Loser
Quentin Daniels
Hall of Famer
Pretty close. Want to see what he DM'd me?
Copes4Three
Specialist
Penn has a freshman that was 6.10 who was drilling 3's and is tall enough to contest shots on defense. you can't tell me we couldn't find someone else like that? We keep on recruiting 6.7 F's and Guards.
We crushed Dayton by almost 30 last season...
I watched Dayton play today. They are without a doubt better than us. They look like a top team in the A10.
I think our coaching staff has put too many eggs in the Rueter basket. Not saying he’s a terrible player. But it looks like it has completely thrown off Mar, Calixte barely sniffs the floor, AJ sits the bench for long stretches. The team, although not great, had better offensive chemistry last year with three freshmen playing down low.
The bottom line is we just don't have enough talent to compete with good teams. If the talent level does not drastically improve we will be mired in mediocrity. Not questioning our heart, effort, or determination. We just don't have any lights out, skilled shooters or scorers.
Agreed. I don’t understand why the coaching staff doesn’t give JDS a chance to try to be that “great shooter”. That’s what all the talk about him was coming out of high school. The way the rest of the guards are playing, have they really deserved it over him at this point? He can’t do worse.
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Fourth Estate
Doc Nix and the Green Machine
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Patriot Brew Blog/Newsletter