Expat Hoops Updates

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Expat Hoops

Expat Hoops

Sixth Man
Episode 14 is out! We sat down with Promise Amukamara to talk about her overseas career so far and about being on the Nigerian women's team that has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. We also talked with her about the competitions she and her siblings, including NFL-er Prince Amukamara, have.

Subscribe to our channel so you don't miss it when we post the Extra with her on Trash Talk.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v9GmmBRfok
 

Patriotsince81

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I realize my opinion will be unpopular. I really don't give a crap. Not impressed with that interview. If he thinks, "They had a chance to have a really really good team..." then he is not what we need. Everyone on the boards knew we were limited and no where near top 4 in the A10. He's telling people what they want to hear, not what will get us results down the line.
 
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GMUgemini

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I realize my opinion will be unpopular. I really don't give a crap. Not impressed with that interview. If he thinks, "They had a chance to have a really really good team..." then he is not what we need. Everyone on the boards knew we were limited and no where near top 4 in the A10.

Disagree on the "team" being incapable. If AJ had not completely regressed, had XJ not completely disappeared, had the team played with a semblance of a plan on offense and defense, you really don't think they could have won 1 more conference game (literally if they had gone 9-5 instead of 8-6 they are ahead of UMass, SLU, and Davidson and finish 3rd in the conference)?

Given how good Kolek turned out to be you don’t think in the offseason a starting lineup of XJ, Greene, Miller, AJ, and Oduro with Kolek off the bench had potential? It definitely did.

Not a deep team, but several A10 teams lean heavy on a short rotation.
 

Patriotsince81

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Disagree on the "team" being incapable. If AJ had not completely regressed, had XJ not completely disappeared, had the team played with a semblance of a plan on offense and defense, you really don't think they could have won 1 more conference game (literally if they had gone 9-5 instead of 8-6 they are ahead of UMass, SLU, and Davidson and finish 3rd in the conference)?

Given how good Kolek turned out to be you don’t think in the offseason a starting lineup of XJ, Greene, Miller, AJ, and Oduro with Kolek off the bench had potential? It definitely did.

Not a deep team, but several A10 teams lean heavy on a short rotation.
I didn't say the "team" was "incapable." I said everyone here knew we weren't among the top 4. IF Skinn honestly thinks we were a "really really good" team then I want no part of him. He, like DP, can't judge talent.

On your other point, we also had the easy schedule due to Covid. We ducked Duquesne, Davidson, Richmond, and St. Bonaventure and got St. Joe's and LaSalle. Had we played the actual schedule we could have just as easily been 6 - 12 had we played a full season.

Another case of we'll just have to agree to disagree. In any event I appreciate your willingness to discuss without resorting to middle school insults and personal attacks.
 
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GMUgemini

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I didn't say the "team" was "incapable." I said everyone here knew we weren't among the top 4. IF Skinn honestly thinks we were a "really really good" team then I want no part of him. He, like DP, can't judge talent.

On your other point, we also had the easy schedule due to Covid. We ducked Duquesne, Davidson, Richmond, and St. Bonaventure and got St. Joe's and LaSalle. Had we played the actual schedule we could have just as easily been 6 - 12 had we played a full season.

Another case of we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Yes, that's exactly what you are saying. You are saying regardless of the coach, the players are not good enough to compete. Saying Skinn is not a good judge of talent is basically saying the players suck and it's not Paulsen's fault they can't compete.

We played the Bonnies. We were only scheduled to play them once originally. The same as Dayton, where we got them twice instead of once. The games we missed out on in the original schedule were UMass, Davidson, Duquense, GW, Richmond, and Saint Louis.

Duquesne is an interesting case, because the last four seasons those games have all been one possession wins or losses for either side. I have no idea how that game would have played out, but to say they are "clearly" better defies the evidence on the court. So maybe we lose to both Davidson and Duquesne, but again, the reason why we got blasted by Davidson in the quarterfinals was Paulsen's dumbass defensive strategy of giving a great shooting team free range to shoot 3s (as McKillop said in the postgame presser being "surprised" Mason gave them so many "dare" 3s).

Go back to the 2018-2019 roster and tell me that team shouldn't have won more games than it did, a team that had two chances to beat Kansas State couldn't beat American, Penn, Georgia Southern, or Davidson on a day where they went 4-29 from 3.

John Vaughan also said "it's not the talent that's the problem. Wake up people!"
 

Patriotsince81

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So tell me what you mean, then, when you say Skinn, like DP, can’t judge talent?”
I said, IF Skinn honestly thinks we were a "really really good" team then I want no part of him. He, like DP, can't judge talent." That's a mighty big IF.
 

Patriotsince81

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Finish the logic of that sentence now; therefore...
I don't engage in message board pissing matches. Well, I try not to. I may have failed in this case. I'm out. You can claim victory and feel good about yourself. I stand by everything I said in regard to Skinn.
 

GMUgemini

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I don't engage in message board pissing matches. Well, I try not to. I may have failed in this case. I'm out. You can claim victory and feel good about yourself. I stand by everything I said in regard to Skinn.

It's not a pissing contest, man, I'm trying to show you what your argument is. The warrant of your argument is "Mason doesn't have the talent to compete." the argument then being "therefore IF Tony Skinn thinks the team had potential to be really good, he is a bad talent evaluator."

So, for me to agree with your "argument" I must agree with your "warrant."
 

Patriotsince81

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o·pin·ion
/əˈpinyən/

noun
  1. a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

    I like rice is an opinion and does not need to be justified to anyone.
    I hate carrots is an opinion and does not need to be justified to anyone.
    I don't want Tony Skinn to be our next coach is an opinion. It does not need to be justified to anyone. It does not require the approval of anyone.

    What a wonderful concept.
    I implore all members on this board to freely state your opinion and not give a damn who approves or disapproves of your opinion.
 

gmubrian

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It's not a pissing contest, man, I'm trying to show you what your argument is. The warrant of your argument is "Mason doesn't have the talent to compete." the argument then being "therefore IF Tony Skinn thinks the team had potential to be really good, he is a bad talent evaluator."

So, for me to agree with your "argument" I must agree with your "warrant."
I'll take this on a tangent. IF talent isn't the biggest part of our issue, why would we want to focus on Kim English? To me, his main proven ability is that he can recruit. IF our talent level is fine, then, shouldn't we focus more on a coach that has proven head coaching record.

P.S. I don't agree with the warrant, but, for those that do, isn't that pretty much where it should lead us?
 

GMUgemini

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I'll take this on a tangent. IF talent isn't the biggest part of our issue, why would we want to focus on Kim English? To me, his main proven ability is that he can recruit. IF our talent level is fine, then, shouldn't we focus more on a coach that has proven head coaching record.

P.S. I don't agree with the warrant, but, for those that do, isn't that pretty much where it should lead us?

Yes, yes it should. But he was arguing with me that that’s what he actually was saying, which is different than arguing on the merits which is what I think was frustrating us both.
 

MasonSAE4

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Our talent level is not fine.....end of discussion.
It's very funny to me that had Paulsen taken a miss on Otis he'd probably go down as the worst Mason coach in a long time, but had he had one more above slightly above average player, we might have gotten a double bye in multiple seasons and you never know what happens from there. I agree the talent level has sucked, but there are some real fine margins in college ball in how things pan out.
 

Patriotsince81

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I would expect Tony to say nothing and wait for an interview if he is contacted. Then I would expect him to be honest in his evaluation of the program and what he would do to turn us into a winner. 13 - 19 over the past two years, 47 - 57 over the past six years, and 55-83 since joining the A10 does not indicate that we have been successful. For him to say or insinuate that we're okay is wrong on every level.

I hired hundreds of people over my career, I did not hire any of them on their desire to have the job. I did not hire any of them based on Instagram or Twitter posts of friends. I hired them based on their ability and qualifications and after thorough vetting.

I guess I'm old school and have a different definition of success.
 
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