Welcome Kim English

[Jack Strop]

That was Schwartz

edit: XJ should be our second slasher, but he can't seem to get enough separation (or use the rim enough) to protect his shot from shot blockers right now.

[palm slams into forehead] — Thanks for the assist bro!

 

[He15man]

If I recall correctly, when he was talking about not having good habits (or falling onto bad habits) he mentioned something about poor passing.

I might have just missed it.... or was just surprised he harped much more excessively on things like hands being too low on defense. Not that that's not important, and who am I to argue... but that's just me being the best armchair quarterback in the world.

 

[psyclone]

From ESPN+ column by Borzello updating progress of new coaches:

Kim English, George Mason Patriots: After four games, English looked like one of the most promising new head coaches in the country. The Patriots had dominated their first three games against mid-major competition and then went to College Park and knocked off Maryland. Since then, though, it's been a struggle. Mason lost to James Madison and Washington and then was blown out by Nevada in South Dakota. A loss to South Dakota State capped off the four-game losing streak. But English's impact has been felt from an offensive perspective, as the Patriots are shooting significantly more 3s than last season and have been more efficient at that end of the floor.

College basketball's first-year coaches: Who's overachieving, who's behind schedule?

An active offseason coaching carousel has yielded to the grind of the 2021-22 men's season. We looked at the early returns.

www.espn.com

 

[GMUgemini]

I might have just missed it.... or was just surprised he harped much more excessively on things like hands being too low on defense. Not that that's not important, and who am I to argue... but that's just me being the best armchair quarterback in the world.

He mentioned a couple of thing there: every time a pass is made jump to the ball, when you see a teammate beat being there giving first bounce help, closing out with a high hand every single time, every time a shot goes up looking to find somebody (boxing out). Those were the four habits on defense he’s looking for.

 

[GMU1983]

If coop or Schwartz are sick we are screwed!

 

[gmubrian]

Thought I would resurrect this thread for the discussion regarding the overall performance rather than containing it to a single game thread.

It should be noted I am optimistic for the future of CKE and Mason basketball (if you hadn't picked up on that already).

For discussion sake, and possibly my own education, If I was going to ask something that comes across as potentially critical of CKE this year, it would be along these lines. I see our team looking confused on defense a lot of times. I have watched a lot of games from behind the bench and I see the coaching staff frantically instructing players on where to be and unhappy with how the play is to be executed. I see them changing up the defense, presumably, on almost every play as they flash up those colored cards and call out the name (a different one on almost every defensive possession). I also see a lot of direction of where players need to be on offense as well. With that background I have a couple questions:

What is changing on defense on almost every play?

Since the team seemed to be so confused about what the staff wanted so frequently, did we have a system this year that was too complicated for the players currently on the roster? Could we have done a little better this year with something simpler/more consistent that they could run exactly as the coaches designed it rather than something that was ever changing and not doing it well all the time?

 

[gmujim92]

Thought I would resurrect this thread for the discussion regarding the overall performance rather than containing it to a single game thread.

It should be noted I am optimistic for the future of CKE and Mason basketball (if you hadn't picked up on that already).

For discussion sake, and possibly my own education, If I was going to ask something that comes across as potentially critical of CKE this year, it would be along these lines. I see our team looking confused on defense a lot of times. I have watched a lot of games from behind the bench and I see the coaching staff frantically instructing players on where to be and unhappy with how the play is to be executed. I see them changing up the defense, presumably, on almost every play as they flash up those colored cards and call out the name (a different one on almost every defensive possession). I also see a lot of direction of where players need to be on offense as well. With that background I have a couple questions:

What is changing on defense on almost every play?

Since the team seemed to be so confused about what the staff wanted so frequently, did we have a system this year that was too complicated for the players currently on the roster? Could we have done a little better this year with something simpler/more consistent that they could run exactly as the coaches designed it rather than something that was ever changing and not doing it well all the time?

There are different coverages depending on how we want to defend ball screens, etc. That in itself is not particularly complex considering they work in this stuff regularly in practice and pregame walk-thrus.

I think there has been a general lack of adherence to defensive principles, and certainly talent/athleticism has something to do with the inability to limit penetration (not a new problem for Mason), but also there were times when our guys were slow to recognize what the opposing offense was trying to do and how to force the ball into spots where we can bring help.

I don’t think Kim’s defense is particularly complicated … hopefully as the overall talent level of the roster improves, so will the players’ ability to execute it.

 

[JPgmuswim]

Let the roster overhaul begin, it’s officially off-season.

 

[GreenLantern]

Let the roster overhaul begin, it’s officially off-season.

Yes. Time to upgrade the talent through the portal and say goodbye to underperformers

 

[Junkees9]

Richmond Times Dispatch article on Mason and the transfer portal:

George Mason, from a transfer perspective, completed a test-case season

WASHINGTON — A Virginia-based test case in the new world of Division I basketball, George Mason, bowed out of the A-10 tournament Thursday, eliminated 54-49 by Fordham.

richmond.com

 

[KAOriginal]

As Travis Ford just said "When you have the best point guard running the show...good things happen."

Take note English.

 

[psyclone]

As Travis Ford just said "When you have the best point guard running the show...good things happen."

Take note English.

Kyle Lofton, another good pg, misses both FTs with 1.8 sec left as the Bonnies lose by 1.

Osun also missed both FTs that would have put the Bonnies up by 3 with 1:30 left.

So no way the Bonnies get into the NCAAs this year after the whole team returned for this season

 

[psyclone]

Just noticed this tweet, so in case you missed it:

Kim English

✔@Englishscope24
Season 1:
In the books. Love our guys. Some awesome moments and victories, some soul crushing and disappointing defeats. But one thing remained true. The support from this University and these fans is amazing. Undeniably special. We will keep building. See you soon #RockWithUs

 

[GMUgemini]

Kyle Lofton, another good pg, misses both FTs with 1.8 sec left as the Bonnies lose by 1.

Osun also missed both FTs that would have put the Bonnies up by 3 with 1:30 left.

So no way the Bonnies get into the NCAAs this year after the whole team returned for this season

Nope. And they miss the NIT as the metric hate them.

 

[KAOriginal]

Kyle Lofton, another good pg, misses both FTs with 1.8 sec left as the Bonnies lose by 1.

Osun also missed both FTs that would have put the Bonnies up by 3 with 1:30 left.

So no way the Bonnies get into the NCAAs this year after the whole team returned for this season

At least they played on Friday and didnt lose and early game AGAIN to Fordham in the A-10 tourney.....LOL

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Picked 8th & finished 9th.

I'd probably give a C+ grade on the season. Lots of good things happened and still excited about the future, but collapsed at the end of the season and weren't enough wins. At the end of the day, that's what matters most.

Place	Finish	Diff	Preseason Poll
1	Davidson	+5	St. Bonaventure
2	vcu	+2	Richmond
3	Dayton	+2	Saint Louis
4	St. Bonaventure	-3	vcu
5	Saint Louis	-2	Dayton
6	Richmond	-4	Davidson
7	George Washington	+6	Rhode Island
8	Fordham	+6	George Mason
9	George Mason	-1	Massachusetts
10	UMass	-1	Saint Joseph's
11	Rhode Island	-4	Duquesne
12	La Salle	-	La Salle
13	Saint Joseph's	-3	George Washington
14	Duquesne	-3	Fordham

 

[By George.]

Yooo, we are working on a 3 part Kim English Summer Series show. It will be recorded in 3 parts. This won’t be stale like the coaches show. We won’t be rehashing last season, we moving forward. I’m going to give you a sneak peak at our outline, what would you change? Get excited, this is massive -

EP1 - Into the Portal and Back

1. Your experience in the portal
2. Pluses and minuses of portal signings
3. Discuss the portal players
4. Transition into 2022 class and discuss how Elvis’ recruitment unfolded
5. Will Saquan play some PG? Where does he fit? Talk further about the PG position
6. Touch on 2023 recruiting

EP2 - Summer Work

1. Specific position competitions
2. What are the rules for practicing in the summer
3. PG position, has someone emerged?
4. VBJ discussion, where does he fit how is he different from guys we have, talk about his explosiveness and ability to get to the basket. Is he a guy you’ve remained close with
5. Balancing summer vacays with basketball, do these players get breaks?
6. Thoughts on your team up to this point

EP3 - Soon Come

1. Talk about the schedule, how does the schedule come to fruition
2. Do we foresee Covid being an issue and if so how will remain fluid in mid season scheduling and how does that unfold
3. Preview the roster, talk projected starters, talk positives about players and what some still should work on.
4. PG position, is Dinkins ready for a lot of minutes. Is Polite going into the season healthy?
5. Hype up Mason, talk about Mason in the fall, winter sports starting up, this is our segment to sell the school.
6. Plug By George and our coverage of Mason basketball, how it compares to other bloggers you know.

 

[mkaufman1]

Absolutely love this. I was hoping that there would be some sort of Coaches show summer edition at some point.

 

[ephoops]

It would be interesting to know what process Oduro went through this summer with the NBA draft evaluation. What feedback did he get? How does KE balance Oduro's development needs to best position him for the draft versus what's best for the team (certainly not mutually exclusive, but there has to be some tension there).

 

[tblack33]

Yooo, we are working on a 3 part Kim English Summer Series show. It will be recorded in 3 parts. This won’t be stale like the coaches show. We won’t be rehashing last season, we moving forward. I’m going to give you a sneak peak at our outline, what would you change? Get excited, this is massive -

EP1 - Into the Portal and Back

1. Your experience in the portal
2. Pluses and minuses of portal signings
3. Discuss the portal players
4. Transition into 2022 class and discuss how Elvis’ recruitment unfolded
5. Will Saquan play some PG? Where does he fit? Talk further about the PG position
6. Touch on 2023 recruiting

EP2 - Summer Work

1. Specific position competitions
2. What are the rules for practicing in the summer
3. PG position, has someone emerged?
4. VBJ discussion, where does he fit how is he different from guys we have, talk about his explosiveness and ability to get to the basket. Is he a guy you’ve remained close with
5. Balancing summer vacays with basketball, do these players get breaks?
6. Thoughts on your team up to this point

EP3 - Soon Come

1. Talk about the schedule, how does the schedule come to fruition
2. Do we foresee Covid being an issue and if so how will remain fluid in mid season scheduling and how does that unfold
3. Preview the roster, talk projected starters, talk positives about players and what some still should work on.
4. PG position, is Dinkins ready for a lot of minutes. Is Polite going into the season healthy?
5. Hype up Mason, talk about Mason in the fall, winter sports starting up, this is our segment to sell the school.
6. Plug By George and our coverage of Mason basketball, how it compares to other bloggers you know.

This is great, I'm glad y'all are going to really dig into some of the nuanced questions here. I don't think Kim is going to shy away from direct or tough questions.