299 Days of English

[GSII]

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

Great thread to sticky after vcu beats the shit out of us again

Didn't we beat vcu this year ?

 

[Pikapppatri8]

Jim woke up this morning and chose violence... I like it!

Yeah and when I do it --- I get lambasted.

 

[He15man]

He literally saying he just wants to be obsessed with getting players here (an NBA court). What about winning the A-10 let's start with being obsessed with that, the NBA is a COMPLETELY different game than A-10 basketball and even the best players in the conference have a very slim chance of making it.

Obviously English cares about titles and winning. It's silly to think otherwise, because obviously he has to win to stay employed, let alone make a case for himself getting a P5 job after life at Mason. But to your point... the KIDS care about the NBA. English knows this. And he wants them to know he has them and THEIR goals front of mind in order for them to come play for him in Fairfax. And in saying that... when it comes to social media (and I say this as someone who's been in marketing for about 20 years) he's absolutely phenomenal at it. He plays the game and brands both himself and the program via social media like a freaking savant.

For example, I have no doubt he loves his daughters unconditionally and more than life itself, but do you think it's an accident that he puts them on his Twitter and Instagram stories as much as he does? And that it's coincidence that he's follows those adorable, family oriented videos with pics of him treating his players to steak dinners, or literally playing them 1-on-1 in practice? And then a day or two later, he'll post something like this NBA clip alongside a quote about him being dedicated to helping his best players achieve their NBA dreams? Dude, I can promise you, each one of these posts serve a purpose. He wants to paint a picture of George Mason basketball under Kim English... and the NBA/training videos are for the kids he wants to recruit, and the adorable kids/family-oriented images are for the parents of those kids he wants to recruit. You think the trust of a mother of a 4-star kid who is always getting told everything he wants to hear by coaches nationwide is going to come easy? No freaking way. English is recruiting those mothers just as hard as he recruiting the kid. These social media posts are all about creating that image he wants everyone to see.

 

[HoopsAdmin]

Thanks @He15man, solid post to bring it back a bit.

I'm seeing a theme today. A little hangover perhaps after all of the last three weeks? Now that things have settled down, we are getting back to the petty in-fighting?

 

[Quentin Daniels]

Extremely excited for the coming season. I really, really hope CKE is up to the challenge of putting the pieces together and that our fans give him some grace as a first time HC to get his footing.

One important step that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet will be getting all the players and coaching/support staff around them vaccinated. Looking at the season that just ended, it felt like the more experienced teams who may not have had the same level of talent trended better than many of the younger teams stacked w/ very highly ranked but inexperienced kids. It'd been 45 years since last time both Duke and Kentucky missed the tournament back in 1976.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

Thanks @He15man, solid post to bring it back a bit.

I'm seeing a theme today. A little hangover perhaps after all of the last three weeks? Now that things have settled down, we are getting back to the petty in-fighting?

Old habits dies so hard

 

[sleeperpick]

Extremely excited for the coming season. I really, really hope CKE is up to the challenge of putting the pieces together and that our fans give him some grace as a first time HC to get his footing.

One important step that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet will be getting all the players and coaching/support staff around them vaccinated. Looking at the season that just ended, it felt like the more experienced teams who may not have had the same level of talent trended better than many of the younger teams stacked w/ very highly ranked but inexperienced kids. It'd been 45 years since last time both Duke and Kentucky missed the tournament back in 1976.

I’m searching for the point in this not to be rude and also wondering if this is actually true. Baylor won, nice but Gonzaga wasn’t exactly the most experienced team on the planet. Neither were the upstart surprising UCLA. Nor come to think of it most other teams that went far in tourney.

 

[tblack33]

Obviously English cares about titles and winning. It's silly to think otherwise, because obviously he has to win to stay employed, let alone make a case for himself getting a P5 job after life at Mason. But to your point... the KIDS care about the NBA. English knows this. And he wants them to know he has them and THEIR goals front of mind in order for them to come play for him in Fairfax. And in saying that... when it comes to social media (and I say this as someone who's been in marketing for about 20 years) he's absolutely phenomenal at it. He plays the game and brands both himself and the program via social media like a freaking savant.

For example, I have no doubt he loves his daughters unconditionally and more than life itself, but do you think it's an accident that he puts them on his Twitter and Instagram stories as much as he does? And that it's coincidence that he's follows those adorable, family oriented videos with pics of him treating his players to steak dinners, or literally playing them 1-on-1 in practice? And then a day or two later, he'll post something like this NBA clip alongside a quote about him being dedicated to helping his best players achieve their NBA dreams? Dude, I can promise you, each one of these posts serve a purpose. He wants to paint a picture of George Mason basketball under Kim English... and the NBA/training videos are for the kids he wants to recruit, and the adorable kids/family-oriented images are for the parents of those kids he wants to recruit. You think the trust of a mother of a 4-star kid who is always getting told everything he wants to hear by coaches nationwide is going to come easy? No freaking way. English is recruiting those mothers just as hard as he recruiting the kid. These social media posts are all about creating that image he wants everyone to see.

Couldn’t put it better myself. You gotta read between the lines on some of this stuff, and out yourself into a 17 year olds shoes. I think it’s great and long overdue we have a coach that establishes more connections to the wizards, which can be a huge resource to us right down the road.

 

[tblack33]

Extremely excited for the coming season. I really, really hope CKE is up to the challenge of putting the pieces together and that our fans give him some grace as a first time HC to get his footing.

One important step that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet will be getting all the players and coaching/support staff around them vaccinated. Looking at the season that just ended, it felt like the more experienced teams who may not have had the same level of talent trended better than many of the younger teams stacked w/ very highly ranked but inexperienced kids. It'd been 45 years since last time both Duke and Kentucky missed the tournament back in 1976.

Agree on your first point. As excited as I’ve been, I’m still going into the season with 0 expectations of wins or dancing. Years 2 and 3 is when that starts to change for me. Just enjoying the ride for now though.

 

[He15man]

Extremely excited for the coming season. I really, really hope CKE is up to the challenge of putting the pieces together and that our fans give him some grace as a first time HC to get his footing.

Amen. English might have everyone excited, resulting in big expectations for what's to come. But he's still human. I use this analogy simply because i'm a Gator football fan... but even Urban Meyer needed a year to get everything up and running in Gainesville. His first year in the Swamp was a very ugly/lucky 9-3. The following year is when Leak and Tebow turned UF football into what it became. But anyway... even coaching savants like Meyer can't be expected to work miracles overnight.

 

[mkaufman1]

Obviously English cares about titles and winning. It's silly to think otherwise, because obviously he has to win to stay employed, let alone make a case for himself getting a P5 job after life at Mason. But to your point... the KIDS care about the NBA. English knows this. And he wants them to know he has them and THEIR goals front of mind in order for them to come play for him in Fairfax. And in saying that... when it comes to social media (and I say this as someone who's been in marketing for about 20 years) he's absolutely phenomenal at it. He plays the game and brands both himself and the program via social media like a freaking savant.

For example, I have no doubt he loves his daughters unconditionally and more than life itself, but do you think it's an accident that he puts them on his Twitter and Instagram stories as much as he does? And that it's coincidence that he's follows those adorable, family oriented videos with pics of him treating his players to steak dinners, or literally playing them 1-on-1 in practice? And then a day or two later, he'll post something like this NBA clip alongside a quote about him being dedicated to helping his best players achieve their NBA dreams? Dude, I can promise you, each one of these posts serve a purpose. He wants to paint a picture of George Mason basketball under Kim English... and the NBA/training videos are for the kids he wants to recruit, and the adorable kids/family-oriented images are for the parents of those kids he wants to recruit. You think the trust of a mother of a 4-star kid who is always getting told everything he wants to hear by coaches nationwide is going to come easy? No freaking way. English is recruiting those mothers just as hard as he recruiting the kid. These social media posts are all about creating that image he wants everyone to see.

Spot on man. He isn't just recruiting the kids, hes recruiting families and helping build his brand at Mason. Its not just about "I can put you in the NBA" or "Lets make the big dance", its about trust, partnership, and branding.

I am sure other coaches do things like this, but for Mason it is very unique and pretty awesome.

 

[tblack33]

Amen. English might have everyone excited, resulting in big expectations for what's to come. But he's still human. I use this analogy simply because i'm a Gator football fan... but even Urban Meyer needed a year to get everything up and running in Gainesville. His first year in the Swamp was a very ugly/lucky 9-3. The following year is when Leak and Tebow turned UF football into what it became. But anyway... even coaching savants like Meyer can't be expected to work miracles overnight.

Agreed, if you really believe that what we had under Paulsen was broken (I do), then it’s only fair to give at least one full season to get some new systems in place and set the foundation for success. Im personally looking hard at recruiting, scheduling, and when games start what our identity on the court is. Every win we get next year is gravy (and the roster makeup makes me think we’re gonna get a decent amount of gravy). Year two is when I’ll start to get more critical on wins and losses.

 

[Mason32]

Here's the last thing I'll say, it just concerns me A BIT, that as a former NBA guy and rockstar on twitter he MAY care a little more about having a connection to that league and a little less than actually winning college basketball games. He can get guys to the NBA without winning all that much at the college level...

 

[tblack33]

Here's the last thing I'll say, it just concerns me A BIT, that as a former NBA guy and rockstar on twitter he MAY care a little more about having a connection to that league and a little less than actually winning college basketball games. He can get guys to the NBA without winning all that much at the college level...

You are right, there are examples in college basketball of teams laden with NBA talent underperforming. But by and large, at our level, if he can attract even one player that is a true future NBA talent past results in the A10 suggest we will be very successful.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I’m searching for the point in this not to be rude and also wondering if this is actually true. Baylor won, nice but Gonzaga wasn’t exactly the most experienced team on the planet. Neither were the upstart surprising UCLA. Nor come to think of it most other teams that went far in tourney.

It's a fair challenge.

For Gonzaga, Suggs & Timme were a Frosh & Soph but Kispert, Ayayi and Nembhard were Srs. & Jrs.
Baylor's three leading scorers and four out of five were Srs. and Jrs.
Even UCLA who was younger with a trio of Sophs still had no Freshman making a big impact.

If you look at the top 5 recruiting classes of 2020, there's 12 of the 24 5-Stars in the class that went to college (4 more went pro) - https://247sports.com/Season/2020-Basketball/CompositeTeamRankings/

Not one of those programs made any real waves on the season w/their young talent though.

#1 Kentucky missed the tournament w/6 recruits ranked in the Top 75
#2 North Carolina was somewhat average despite three 5-Stars & four of the Top 50
#3 Duke missed the tournament w/four 5-Stars & six of the top 55 recruits
#4 LSU was OK
#5 Tennessee had two 5-Stars, both expected to go in the first round of the NBA draft and couldn't win three games in a row and got blown out vs. Oregon State in the 1st Rd.

My point is that I "think" a lot of teams missed big chunks of practice & games this year due to COVID issues. If you've a younger squad, or just one that's got a lot of new pieces from transfers, or a new coaching staff (like Mason next year), you need that time to learn to play together and become a team and not just a collection of talented pieces. If you're an experienced team that's played together before, it's easier to miss that time.

If you can get everyone vaccinated though, your chances of having to quarantine and miss that practice time just decreased by 90%. And we're going to need all the time we can get with the high number of new contributors and everyone having to learn a new system.

 

[gmujim92]

Frankly it’s just a weird thing to be worrying about as a fan of a school that has zero history of sending people to the league. Smoke a bowl, chill and just be glad we finally have a coach who is looking to push this program to something better than the plucky underdog.

 

[He15man]

Spot on man. He isn't just recruiting the kids, hes recruiting families and helping build his brand at Mason. Its not just about "I can put you in the NBA" or "Lets make the big dance", its about trust, partnership, and branding.

I am sure other coaches do things like this, but for Mason it is very unique and pretty awesome.

It's INCREDIBLY unique... and it's revitalizing Mason basketball at an accelerated rate. We on the boards are obviously focused on what he's doing for recruiting and the program, but just consider what he's probably already done to help university branding and potential enrollment... using his platform to appeal to young, prospective students and excite them about joining this community. Just look at how he talks on his stories or in his posts. We all know based on the press conference and subsequent media interviews that English is very intelligent and can speak professionally. But when the cameras are off and he can be human... he'll take it down a notch and be TOTALLY authentic. I mean, can you imagine Coach L or DP saying "we need to get Josh up out of the portal," or refer to the F4 jerseys as "dope" and not come off as complete dorks? I mean, this guy is the PERFECT fit for the university and program right now, and he's using things like social media brilliantly to showcase want he's building here. I could not be more excited to sit back and watch this dude do his thing.

 

[gmujim92]

Agreed, if you really believe that what we had under Paulsen was broken (I do), then it’s only fair to give at least one full season to get some new systems in place and set the foundation for success. Im personally looking hard at recruiting, scheduling, and when games start what our identity on the court is. Every win we get next year is gravy (and the roster makeup makes me think we’re gonna get a decent amount of gravy). Year two is when I’ll start to get more critical on wins and losses.

I don’t think the program was “broken.” Dave did a lot of things right to get things stabilized, but he had taken it as far as he could. KE is walking into a situation where the foundation is solid and he can win right away, and I doubt he would’ve taken the job otherwise — he was in a position to be fairly choosy.

 

[G M U]

Also

If we're not winning A10 Championships, I'll gladly take a Mason player to the NBA as a consolation prize. Imagine having an NBA player as another recruiting tool for KE to utilize in a recruiting pitch and also help blast the Mason brand nationally. I'm all for it