Dave Paulsen
- Thread starter GMURaider
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Vurbel
Hall of Famer
I thought it was DeAndy Abraham?
Washingtonian
Hall of Famer
Dave Paulsen @PaulsenDave
Tomorrow will be 1st game w/out green tie. Our staff will wear blue ties and pin in support of @autismspeaks
Tomorrow will be 1st game w/out green tie. Our staff will wear blue ties and pin in support of @autismspeaks
Pablo
Hall of Famer
By George. @ByGeorgeGMU 2h2 hours ago
Paulsen doesn't want questions about the suspensions, wants to talk about this awesome win. #wecanrespectthat
Paulsen doesn't want questions about the suspensions, wants to talk about this awesome win. #wecanrespectthat
Pretty standard policy. Fans rarely hear of the specific infractions unless it involves criminal charges.
Pablo
Hall of Famer
After watching the postgame presser, I agree that he sufficiently addressed the issue.
This week's teleconference:
http://www.atlantic10.com/mediaPort...28&DB_OEM_ID=31600&id=5940117&db_oem_id=31600
Question from Dick Patrick on Jaire.
Someone else asking about Otis' shooting. (BTW Otis was named A10 co-player of the week)
http://www.atlantic10.com/mediaPort...28&DB_OEM_ID=31600&id=5940117&db_oem_id=31600
Question from Dick Patrick on Jaire.
Someone else asking about Otis' shooting. (BTW Otis was named A10 co-player of the week)
Herndon
All-Conference
So, at this point, I feel relatively confident saying Paulsen has demonstrated that he can coach/develop guys at the a-10 level.
I am no longer willing to entertain the notion that this seasons results have been flukey. We are absolutely no worse than a mediocre A-10 team, which represents a substantial improvement in my opinion. I think it is perfectly rational to expect us to finish the season in the middle of the A-10 pack.
I further feel comfortable in saying that Paulsen has demonstrated that he can recruit at AT LEAST this level. The team is senior led, yes, but the progress of guys like Otis and Jaire leads me to believe that they will, by the time they are seniors, be replacement level guys for the seniors we have now. I see no reason why Paulsen would not be able to continue to recruit at that level, and his second recruiting (kier/Temara/wilson/boyd) class looks to me to be of a similar (at least) talent level.
The point is, after 1 and a half seasons, I firmly believe that Coach Paulsen's floor is "middle of the pack A-10", once he's got a full 4 year cycle of his guys in the program. Frankly, for me, that's good enough for now. A competent, competitive team that seems to have an idea of what they want to do, and a coach that seems to have an idea of how to get his team to do it is fine by me, even if they're maybe not the most talented bunch in the league.
The question, in my mind, is "what is his ceiling"? I don't have an answer for that just yet. His recruiting seems to be fairly level (Mar looks like a nice player, but I wouldn't say that he strikes me as an order of magnitude different from a guy like Boyd), but we haven't seen enough time pass to see what player development looks like under Paulsen over the course of a career. I don't think a 1 year bump can be extrapolated out over the course of a career.
Thoughts?
I am no longer willing to entertain the notion that this seasons results have been flukey. We are absolutely no worse than a mediocre A-10 team, which represents a substantial improvement in my opinion. I think it is perfectly rational to expect us to finish the season in the middle of the A-10 pack.
I further feel comfortable in saying that Paulsen has demonstrated that he can recruit at AT LEAST this level. The team is senior led, yes, but the progress of guys like Otis and Jaire leads me to believe that they will, by the time they are seniors, be replacement level guys for the seniors we have now. I see no reason why Paulsen would not be able to continue to recruit at that level, and his second recruiting (kier/Temara/wilson/boyd) class looks to me to be of a similar (at least) talent level.
The point is, after 1 and a half seasons, I firmly believe that Coach Paulsen's floor is "middle of the pack A-10", once he's got a full 4 year cycle of his guys in the program. Frankly, for me, that's good enough for now. A competent, competitive team that seems to have an idea of what they want to do, and a coach that seems to have an idea of how to get his team to do it is fine by me, even if they're maybe not the most talented bunch in the league.
The question, in my mind, is "what is his ceiling"? I don't have an answer for that just yet. His recruiting seems to be fairly level (Mar looks like a nice player, but I wouldn't say that he strikes me as an order of magnitude different from a guy like Boyd), but we haven't seen enough time pass to see what player development looks like under Paulsen over the course of a career. I don't think a 1 year bump can be extrapolated out over the course of a career.
Thoughts?
Vurbel
Hall of Famer
After the last coach, just playing hard, getting back on defense, and not dribbling the ball off our foot is an improvement. DP has done that, and then some. Going to games at the EBA is fun again. But probably the best part is that he has brought in classy players. Before we had to worry about stealing pillows, credit cards, or drugs. I'm not worried about any of our players other than skipping a class or two, like most all of us did at 19. Now, if we can just get crowd participation activities rather than just sitting there being entertained we'll be something else!
Dave Paulsen was a great hire! He wasn't my first choice 2 years ago, but I couldn't be happier to be wrong!
With a little fairness to both Boyd and Mar, Boyd didn't get a ton of basketball offers, because everyone assumed he was going to go to Virginia Tech to play football. Had he been basketball from the start, I'm sure his recruitment profile would have looked different.
Paulsen's recruiting has been hampered by our recent fall off of the college basketball map, coupled with being a fairly unknown commodity in this area and at this level. He has quickly worked through that, like Larranaga, by winning in his second season. We'll see a small jump in recruiting now, and a bigger one when we get to a conference tournament, NCAA tournament, or small run in NIT. I think his ceiling is pretty high. He convinced some really good players to go to Bucknell, in the middle of nowhere, with almost no pedigree, in a horrible league. This is what he's done with the Virus's leftovers and his first true recruiting class. We'll be where we want to be soon.
Not to mention that updated facilities they're planning. Also, the practice facility got a feature in the magazine that goes out to all alumni. Nice to see them finally start to make it public.
phoenix-arizona
All-American
A10 coach of the year.
From an Xs and Os perspective, I already like Dave's offense far better than I ever did Larranaga's.
The ball and player movement is more crisp, we're not as dependent on throwing the ball into the low post on every possession, and Dave's ball screen actions are very tough to guard at a time when just about everyone is running high ball screen sets.
Obviously we're in a much tougher, deeper league so it's hard to expect Dave to make the NCAAs with the same regularity we did when we were in the CAA.
But once we no longer have to rely so heavily on freshmen (who typically struggle defensively) and aren't outmatched physically by some teams, I think his ceiling will be: a consistent NCAA contender, make it every 2-3 years, with one or two Sweet 16s before he's done.
This is all contingent, of course, on the administration building the practice facility and making other program investments to keep him in Fairfax.
The ball and player movement is more crisp, we're not as dependent on throwing the ball into the low post on every possession, and Dave's ball screen actions are very tough to guard at a time when just about everyone is running high ball screen sets.
Obviously we're in a much tougher, deeper league so it's hard to expect Dave to make the NCAAs with the same regularity we did when we were in the CAA.
But once we no longer have to rely so heavily on freshmen (who typically struggle defensively) and aren't outmatched physically by some teams, I think his ceiling will be: a consistent NCAA contender, make it every 2-3 years, with one or two Sweet 16s before he's done.
This is all contingent, of course, on the administration building the practice facility and making other program investments to keep him in Fairfax.
Given the dramatic and quick turnaround we've seen, and the open commitment to basketball from the admin, I have no reason to expect Paulsen's ceiling is anything short of what is happening at vcu - 8 consecutive NCAA's? To me that's the whole point of coming to the A10 - less conference championships maybe, but increased opportunity for more and consistent NCAA appearances.
Obviously that's not a given, and I'll be happy with every 2 to 3 years with some NIT's in between, but why would that not be considered the "ceiling", or best case scenario?
It is tough to schedule effectively enough even as an A-10 school to maintain an NCAA-caliber profile year after year.
What vcu has done, in addition to upping salaries and building the practice facility, is give Wade a big pot of money to buy OOC games against quality opponents.
P5 schools' biggest advantage is that -- other than tournaments or made-for-TV events against other high-profile programs -- they rarely play away from home against a team capable of beating them.
Statistically, home court has proven over time to make a huge difference. But we're never going to get games against quality P5 teams unless we agree to travel.
If we want to do what vcu is doing, we're gonna have to give Dave the $$$$ to buy better OOC teams than Bongwood and Little House on the Prairie A&M.
Play most OOC games at home against top-100 teams, win and then grab 12 or 13 more Ws in conference play. Far easier said than done.
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