Poll Vote of Confidence: Paul Hewitt (1/25)

[GMUgemini]

Then they must have had no respect at all for Mike Lonegran, despite boasting talented transfers from Indiana and Villanova.

I doubt most knew a ton about us going into the preseason, just that we didn't fare too well in a diluted and pretty crappy CAA the year before with exactly the same roster. And honestly, that was probably enough to put us down at 8th.

 

[mason2k1]

I thought 8th was legit but had hopes for better. I thought we were going to be more competitive based off of progressing from last season, not regressing. Copes underperformed last season and i thought he was going to beast it this season. I thought wright was going to be wright. He hasn't shown up. I thought our PG position would've gotten better on the offseason. Those small couple of things which i didn't believe to be totally unreasonable last season could've really changed this season around. Copes anchoring down low. Sherrod showing up every game. 3-3 or better and playing with confidence and swagger that i saw during the UMass game.

 

[gmutom]

I doubt most knew a ton about us going into the preseason, just that we didn't fare too well in a diluted and pretty crappy CAA the year before with exactly the same roster. And honestly, that was probably enough to put us down at 8th.

I was referring to lawdog's assertion that they put us low because of Hewitt but then slighted Lonegran even more despite his reputation as a very good coach. Doesn't seem to jive.

 

[GSII]

I was referring to lawdog's assertion that they put us low because of Hewitt but then slighted Lonegran even more despite his reputation as a very good coach. Doesn't seem to jive.

Didn't the Sports Junkee's say "they Hate Hewitt in Fairfax"??

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

You

I was referring to lawdog's assertion that they put us low because of Hewitt but then slighted Lonegran even more despite his reputation as a very good coach. Doesn't seem to jive.

You mean because people thought he couldn't get their young squad and two transfers to mesh so quickly. Yea, a real indictment of a guy who took over a complete mess at GW which didn't only include the on-court performance.

 

[gmutom]

Didn't the Sports Junkee's say "they Hate Hewitt in Fairfax"??

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? I find the Junkees entertaining, but are they now some kind of kind of barometer for our program now? I always liked their interviews with Coach L, but I never took that as some kind of validation for our program.

lawdog, GW's program was definitely faltering, but I would hardly say Lonegran inherited a "complete mess" when the team went 10-4 in the A10 and finished in 4th-place prior to his arrival.

Believing the program needed to be revived on and off the court, he chose to blow things up and ended up going 10-21 his first year and 13-17 last season. Although nobody could have expected the complete about-face they are having now, the writing was on the wall with the addition of Creek that this was a team on the way up.

To your point, I guess the other coaches and media must not think as highly of Lonegran as others if they only had GW improving one slot from a year ago.

 

[GSII]

They are just reporting on a radio station that people in ffx don't like Hewitt. No biggie.

 

[Patriotfan49]

While I really enjoy the Junkies every morning, keep in mind they are also made up of 2 guys who said the skins would go at least 12-4 this year lol.......They dont have the greatest beat on whats going down in Fairfax anymore.

They had a relationship with Coach L and like him alot, and Hewitt and the AD have failed to get that going with the new regime, but thats neither here nor there. The most accurate take about that entire segment was when Lurch said "Lonergan is a great coach, and never takes a play off" and that "GMU just plays stupid".

 

[KAOriginal]

I would say the "experts" just figured its a crapshoot after the top 6 in the A-10.

Despite having a veteran squad and finishing the year on an high note....they still kind of dismissed Mason to 8, figuring we would lose to the top and beat half the bottom. And probably teams 8-10 were all about the same but we had a little more upside despite our coach.

 

[gmubrian]

I think the experience thing is so overplayed in sports.

The statistics would seem to disagree with your thinking. See link for a chart of experience by minutes played versus win % for the A10:

http://statsheet.com/mcb/stattracker/experience/confs?conf=a-10

Tracks pretty close to experience level. We are the standout under performer. La Salle and St. Bonnie are also under performing somewhat. The rest are right on track or over performing (vcu and GW standout). We are at a 2.8 average per minute which, based on his statistics for all teams would put us almost at the perfect experience level in terms of expected performance.

Note: They have us at 1-6 in conference, so I guess they are giving us the win today. Or, their software doesn't handle zeros very well.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

While I really enjoy the Junkies every morning, keep in mind they are also made up of 2 guys who said the skins would go at least 12-4 this year lol.......They dont have the greatest beat on whats going down in Fairfax anymore.

They had a relationship with Coach L and like him alot, and Hewitt and the AD have failed to get that going with the new regime, but thats neither here nor there. The most accurate take about that entire segment was when Lurch said "Lonergan is a great coach, and never takes a play off" and that "GMU just plays stupid".

Lonergan also has a long relationship with Lurch and EB from DeMatha. They have an obvious bias, but that doesn't make what they say wrong.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Lonergan also has a long relationship with Lurch and EB from DeMatha. They have an obvious bias, but that doesn't make what they say wrong.

Right on. When Coach L left Lurch was pretty excited thinking that Lonergan would be a great fit for GMU.

 

[gmutom]

The statistics would seem to disagree with your thinking.

You lost me, Brian. If I'm reading the chart right, it says we have the 5th most experienced team, yet we are last in the standings. To me that proves that our experience is overrated and not equating to wins. It also doesn't factor in our coaching staff, which admittedly has not gotten as much out of our older players.

What drives me nuts, though, is when people equate experience with talent. I'd take a freshman and sophomore team of Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius Randall, Marcus Smart and Gary Harris over any five seniors in the country.

I'm not saying an "experienced" team with Doug McDermott, Russ Smith, Aarron Craft, C.J. Fair and Shabazz Napier wouldn't hold their own, but my money with be on the Fabulous Frosh more often than not.

 

[mason2k1]

Right on. When Coach L left Lurch was pretty excited thinking that Lonergan would be a great fit for GMU.

Lurch sold me on Lonergan through all his bias talk when he was speculating him coming to Mason. With the Junkee's obvious bias and broad radio audience, it would've been nice to hear a 5 min Mason recap every morning on my way to work..instead I get to hear how well GW's doing and all the GW swag Lurch is wearing and promoting.

 

[gmubrian]

You lost me, Brian.

I am not surprised since I was using facts. ;-)

In all seriousness, I know you don't think we have talented players. I do, and the fact that we can hang to the very end with even really good teams shows that to me.

The point is that the statistics at that site show that experience correlates to winning, in general. Our team is the major outlier. You seem to be convinced it is because our players don't have talent. I think this is just another nail in the coffin that indicates that our coach is the one without the talent.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

You lost me, Brian. If I'm reading the chart right, it says we have the 5th most experienced team, yet we are last in the standings. To me that proves that our experience is overrated and not equating to wins. It also doesn't factor in our coaching staff, which admittedly has not gotten as much out of our older players.

What drives me nuts, though, is when people equate experience with talent. I'd take a freshman and sophomore team of Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius Randall, Marcus Smart and Gary Harris over any five seniors in the country.

I'm not saying an "experienced" team with Doug McDermott, Russ Smith, Aarron Craft, C.J. Fair and Shabazz Napier wouldn't hold their own, but my money with be on the Fabulous Frosh more often than not.

Right, but how many of those type of freshmen are playing in the A-10. None. Thus, in a conference like the one we are in, you would think that experience would count for more as the talent disparity would not be as great. I think you would see a vast difference in opinion if we were losing games because guys like Parker and Wiggins were dropping 25 on us every night.

Brian is trying to make the point that in a conference like ours experience, if coached correctly ,should mean a lot more than in a BCS conference where you have a lot of one and dones.

 

[gmujim92]

I am not surprised since I was using facts. ;-)

In all seriousness, I know you don't think we have talented players. I do, and the fact that we can hang to the very end with even really good teams shows that to me.

The point is that the statistics at that site show that experience correlates to winning, in general. Our team is the major outlier. You seem to be convinced it is because our players don't have talent. I think this is just another nail in the coffin that indicates that our coach is the one without the talent.

Brian, this argument is all the proof you need to know that you're never going to change Tom's mind, no matter how far Hewitt sinks our program.

It's actually kinda funny to see a smart guy like Tom twist himself up like a sourdough pretzel trying to defend the coach, as if it's a new concept that experience and chemistry can overcome superior talent in college basketball.

In fact, I seem to recall a certain team kicking off the entire trend only about eight years ago or so.

Who were those guys? I think it was either George Madison, James Mason or something like that.

 

[gmujim92]

It's frankly amazing how many ways Hewitt's defenders have attempted to give him a pass for this season.

First, our players were too stupid.

Now, experience suddenly doesn't matter.

Next year, it will be that we don't have enough experience -- can't hammer a guy for losing with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores in a veteran-heavy league like the A-10.

We may as well extend him now. At this rate, no amount of losing is ever going to be his fault. #tefloncoach

 

[gmutom]

Now, experience suddenly doesn't matter.

Jim, you are way too smart to post crap like this. Nobody said experience doesn't matter. I said experience doesn't always equate to talent or winning, and Brian's chart effectively proved the latter point in our case.

And let me elaborate on my talent comment before you twist it like Brian did. I've never said we do not have talented players. All of them are capable of having good games on a given night. Copes dazzled us all with double-figure points a few games ago, and then J2 wowed the masses with 18 the next game. Both showed they are more than capable of scoring double digits in a DI basketball game.

But other than Jenkins, who on this team can we rely on to have two good games consecutively? I know you don't like to hold the players accountable at all for fear of ruining your one-note Hewitt rants, but even Sherrod and Allen haven't shown they can be relied upon from game to game.

All that said, I fully hold Hewitt accountable for a large part of this mess. He needs to find a better way to get more out of our players emotionally and mentally. And as we've seen with a lot of our collapses, they are more often than not on the mental side. And has GSII has stated on numerous occasions, he needs to run better offensive and defensive schemes that suit our current roster.

I make no apologies for Hewitt at all. I just believe that the giant cesspool of crap we call a basketball program is a combination of coaching and talent, and nothing is going to change until both issues are addressed. In a perfect world, we'd find a better coach to oversee the talent we have coming in next year, but that won't happen until TOC is gone and a new AD is calling the shots.

 

[GMUgemini]

Tom. Here's the thing. Te players are who they are. This isn't the pros where we can trade, draft or sign free agents to come in and fix the holes in our roster. Hewitt has failed to make this team better than their parts. He will continue to do so no matter who is on our roster.

The talent these players have as individuals if harnessed and exploited is better than 7-13. At a minimum Hewitt's failure to coach late game situations with poor set calls, bizarre rotations and bad defensive schemes have cost us a minimum of 6 games this season. 13-7 and 4-2 would be entirely possible if we had a coach who knew how to use these parts properly.