Game 25: GMU (13-11 / 5-6) at Duquesne (15-8 / 5-5) on Wednesday, February 8, at 7:00 PM.

[thebiasedannouncer]

Agree with you and I alluded to the point that there needed to be more of a rebuild than we thought when English came in.

I too would take a down year if it looked like things were actually progressing (a year like this), in the sense of the best basketball peaking in February and expectations being "there's going to be a learning curve with our youth".

The downside of that, is you then you probably throw all your eggs in a 1 year basket in the hopes that English can get extended or you have to restart the whole thing again.

I don't know what the answer is. When English was hired I expected an NCAA team within 3-4 years. So far in 1 3/4 of a year, I've gotten .500 basketball, and some really ugly losses and a lot of close losses. Maybe the switch magically goes on next year?

The only guy really who's played a lot of minutes who'd I'd want back are of course the Freshmen, and then Ticket and Malik. This is nothing against Josh, he's been incredible and should be a shining beacon for a relatively dark era of basketball at GMU. But he should move on, whether that's to a power 5 school or Europe after this year after a night of celebration on March 1st on his senior night, but it's time to fully move on from the Paulsen era/players and sadly Josh is a part of this. I even said my review, I'd be ok with sucking next year if it meant younger guys (Justyn, Dink, Ball) got playing time and developed.

 

[hoops10]

Hope this coach is able to regroup, keep his composure and try to figure this mess out. I sense complacency with this team. Losing has a way of doing that. 20 turnovers, poor free throw shooting, lousy passes. It truly is bewildering. They need to go back to basic fundamentals. Concentrate on tough defense, boxing out, crash the boards, get the rebounds, cut out the stupid fouls, stop the cross court passes. Seems like when they go to an uptempo game you get all the errors. I recall during the game the announcer said Duquense had 16 fast breaks and Mason had none. We just don't have players who are quick and skillful enough. So why not slow down the offense, be selective, work up a dozen fixed plays with back door screens. Too many passes leads to errors. Look, I'm no coach but it seems to me when things are not working then change. You can't keep doing the same bs.

 

[gmujim92]

Hope this coach is able to regroup, keep his composure and try to figure this mess out. I sense complacency with this team. Losing has a way of doing that. 20 turnovers, poor free throw shooting, lousy passes. It truly is bewildering. They need to go back to basic fundamentals. Concentrate on tough defense, boxing out, crash the boards, get the rebounds, cut out the stupid fouls, stop the cross court passes. Seems like when they go to an uptempo game you get all the errors. I recall during the game the announcer said Duquense had 16 fast breaks and Mason had none. We just don't have players who are quick and skillful enough. So why not slow down the offense, be selective, work up a dozen fixed plays with back door screens. Too many passes leads to errors. Look, I'm no coach but it seems to me when things are not working then change. You can't keep doing the same bs.

The last thing Kim can be accused of is being complacent. He is literally throwing every conceivable lineup combination out on the floor just on the odd chance that something clicks. He was so pissed at Malik during the one sequence last night where their big white stiff got 3 offensive boards that he sent Peter to the scorer’s table to check in.

Right now we appear to be devoid of solutions.

 

[nchocola]

After watching that game it’s very clear that none of our leaders/graduates/seniors have any swagger/intensity/toughness in them. This team lacks emotion completely currently. They shutdown when things get bad rather than toughen up and fight through it. I think they have accepted a defeated season already.

I think Malik is the only one who has the intensity we need day in and day out, JF and Dinkins show glimpses of it and could benefit from being relied upon more heavily next season.

 

[Old Ram]

Dude’s up in heaven telling Jesus to hurry up with the prayers already

Don’t think he’s up there quite yet.

 

[Jack Strop]

Hope this coach is able to regroup, keep his composure and try to figure this mess out. I sense complacency with this team. Losing has a way of doing that. 20 turnovers, poor free throw shooting, lousy passes. It truly is bewildering. They need to go back to basic fundamentals. Concentrate on tough defense, boxing out, crash the boards, get the rebounds, cut out the stupid fouls, stop the cross court passes. Seems like when they go to an uptempo game you get all the errors. I recall during the game the announcer said Duquense had 16 fast breaks and Mason had none. We just don't have players who are quick and skillful enough. So why not slow down the offense, be selective, work up a dozen fixed plays with back door screens. Too many passes leads to errors. Look, I'm no coach but it seems to me when things are not working then change. You can't keep doing the same bs.

Ummmm... "slow the game down"??? Last night was a direct example of slowing the game down—a 23 point (and 20 turnover) drubbing. Mason's regular style nearly knocked off St. L and incurred excruciatingly close losses (and wins) elsewhere. Slowing down, (or altering the typical pace) especially when a team hasn't done so all season, despite it's allure and intentions, was a complete disaster.

At the very least, this team needs rhythm to operate effectively. The on-court team watching RP and Josh dribble does not create team rhythm. Passing and off-ball movement does—resulting also in up-tempo play. I get that couch CKE was willing to experiment with game style to improve performance. But, hey coach, don't do that again... PLEASE.

 

[TweederGMU]

Quick synopsis from my interactions and understandings of the assistants:

Simpkins - Works with the Guards and is supposed to develop them. Recruits the DC area. Been here at 8 years.

Tomlinson - No idea what he does or where he recruits.... apparently he likes to scream in the locker room after we win in front of the team. Seems very vocal with the kids and often see him trying to coach up the guys on bench. He's very tight with KE. 2nd year.

Felton - Works with the Forwards and is supposed to develop them. Can't remember where he recruits... maybe certain states in the Southeast. 2nd year.


Regarding Simpkin's - It's time to go. I think his guard evaluations have not been great, you have to have elite guards in the A10. The guard play has always been subpar here every year and turnovers have been rampant with little improvement on defense and offense - we have no identity. Nice guy and all but seems like he is just going through the motions each season. He has a lot of connections so he will be fine... makes the most sense.

Regarding Felton - It's time to go. If he is truly supposed to provide guidance and strategy on X's and O's and running plays and formats then he's gotta go ASAP. Think he has been retreaded far too long in his career for him to actually give a damn.... he is here for a paycheck and do the bare minimum.
Not sure KE would pull the trigger here.... I think he looks at Felton like an uncle. But we shall see.

Tomlinson - Besides yelling in the locker room after wins... what is it exactly that you do here? Didn't he recruit Blake Jones? We see how that's been working out. I'm not sure who Tomlinson recruits and what he does in practice and responsible for each day. If someone knows feel free to update. He is young and seems relatable to the kids and recruits but need to know what he coaches and how effective he is. HOWEVER...This is KE's BFF..... he's not going anywhere and would be the last option to fire.

 

[psyclone]

Ummmm... "slow the game down"??? Last night was a direct example of slowing the game down—a 23 point (and 20 turnover) drubbing. Mason's regular style nearly knocked off St. L and incurred excruciatingly close losses (and wins) elsewhere. Slowing down, (or altering the typical pace) especially when a team hasn't done so all season, despite it's allure and intentions, was a complete disaster.

At the very least, this team needs rhythm to operate effectively. The on-court team watching RP and Josh dribble does not create team rhythm. Passing and off-ball movement does—resulting also in up-tempo play. I get that couch CKE was willing to experiment with game style to improve performance. But, hey coach, don't do that again... PLEASE.

Hoping that the "slower pace to reduce turnovers" experiment was the reason we looked soooo outclassed last night. Unfamiliar style lead to lack of offensive rhythm, leads to even more turnovers and runouts. Hopefully, lesson learned and we get back to at least being competitive against beatable teams.

 

[Where's the party?]

Didn't think anyone could devise a style that would actually increase the number of turnovers we commit!
They must have put in some extra practice time to pull that off.

 

[psyclone]

Didn't think anyone could devise a style that would actually increase the number of turnovers we commit!
They must have put in some extra practice time to pull that off.

More likely, given a team that already has turnover issues, changing the pace of play WITHOUT having much chance to practice it, leads to an even worse problem.

 

[Falco]

Yes Marquis Moore was tough and had no problem getting to the basket and great rebounder. The kid that I thought was tough was Jalen Jenkins. In his senior year he was a beast. In the same mode as Ryan Pierson. Seems like we haven't had dogs like these guys since Laranega. Also, let's not forget Jai Lewis and Will Thomas.

I think Pearson, Jenkins, and Moore were all New York guys. Maybe they are just tougher in NY then Nova.

 

[The Great PATSby]

I think Pearson, Jenkins, and Moore were all New York guys. Maybe they are just tougher in NY then Nova.

We can’t say the Coaching staff didn’t try to recruit tough guys. I mean they did get a commitment from a murderer.

 

[jessej]

I think Pearson, Jenkins, and Moore were all New York guys. Maybe they are just tougher in NY then Nova.

Life or Death kinda tough

 

[GSII]

I wish XJ was still here. I'm guessing KE thought he would land someone better but he didn't. This is a big reason we suck. We are forcing shooters to help bring the ball up. Had KE kept XJ, we have at minimum, 5 more wins, imo.

 

[mkaufman1]

I wish XJ was still here. I'm guessing KE thought he would land someone better but he didn't. This is a big reason we suck. We are forcing shooters to help bring the ball up. Had KE kept XJ, we have at minimum, 5 more wins, imo.

Its an interesting point. I think Kim hinted that XJ wouldn't embrace and be confident enough to do things that he knew he could do. Something like that. I also think that a healthy XJ and a healthy Ronny would have been fine together, but last year we didn't have Ronny healthy other than towards the end of the year.

Honestly, the perfect remedy to this issue is for Kim to go out and get his own guy for a very critical position. He swung and miss on Singleton, but hopefully Dinkins can develop into something very good. In addition, maybe if the roster turns over a bit this year, we can find that guard who plays PG and has 2-3 years left to help out Dinkins. Of course, that is pending if Ronny decides to leave.

 

[gmujim92]

I wish XJ was still here. I'm guessing KE thought he would land someone better but he didn't. This is a big reason we suck. We are forcing shooters to help bring the ball up. Had KE kept XJ, we have at minimum, 5 more wins, imo.

A. You can’t possibly know if we’d have 5 more wins or 5 more losses.

B. Since you seem to be a prisoner of recency bias, I’ll remind you that XJ drove everyone insane because of his inconsistency. It was always one really good game, flashes of potential, followed by two or three where he just disappeared.

C. While we might be marginally better with some combo of XJ and Polite instead of Polite/Dinkins, we should all agree it still wouldn’t be close to good enough.

D. If this program is gonna go anywhere in the next few years, Kim has to figure out the PG spot. Consistently starting one of the bottom 2 or 3 players in the A-10 at such a critical position is not a recipe for success.

 

[mkaufman1]

Yeah - honestly Jim said it better than I could. As much as a healthy XJ and a healthy Ronny would have been better, their inconsistencies would have driven us mad as well.

Its just time for Kim to get his own guy, whether its a support guy to help Ronny/Devin or just a brand new guy to help Devin out. Period.

Our best teams have always had 2-3 options at this spot. Cam/Luke, Tony/Gabe/Jordan Carter, Folarin/Jordan Carter etc etc. Hell even Dave solved the issue by having Otis and then Kier and Hartwell helping out.

 

[tblack33]

We all knew coming into the season the PG position was an issue. A lot of us ignored it because of the statements about singleton that turned out to be bad scouting at best, outright lies at worst. This is one of the only things I’ll put on English for this terrible season, everyone with two eyes and half a brain knew we needed a PG and he didn’t get one.

Other than that agree with all the sentiment from Jim, you can’t compete in this league without top 3 guard play. I actually still do think we have some of the best bigs in the conference but that obviously is not winning games.

 

[Patriot Lawdog]

We all knew coming into the season the PG position was an issue. A lot of us ignored it because of the statements about singleton that turned out to be bad scouting at best, outright lies at worst. This is one of the only things I’ll put on English for this terrible season, everyone with two eyes and half a brain knew we needed a PG and he didn’t get one.

Other than that agree with all the sentiment from Jim, you can’t compete in this league without top 3 guard play. I actually still do think we have some of the best bigs in the conference but that obviously is not winning games.

Agreed. I think you can compete with our bigs, but subpar guard play dooms any team at any level.

 

[gmujim92]

We all knew coming into the season the PG position was an issue. A lot of us ignored it because of the statements about singleton that turned out to be bad scouting at best, outright lies at worst. This is one of the only things I’ll put on English for this terrible season, everyone with two eyes and half a brain knew we needed a PG and he didn’t get one.

Other than that agree with all the sentiment from Jim, you can’t compete in this league without top 3 guard play. I actually still do think we have some of the best bigs in the conference but that obviously is not winning games.

This is me trying to read tea leaves based on Kim’s public comments, but pretty sure he was focused on landing a very specific kind of PG in the portal based on what we all expected from our returning/incoming talent.

The reality is the offense runs through Josh. VJ, Coop and Ticket (when healthy) are Options 2-4. What we needed was a PG who could take care of the ball, get it to the scorers and defend his position.

It’s one of the reasons Mason didn’t go harder after Sessoms, because he mostly hunts his own shot … that is fine at Coppin but I don’t blame Kim for thinking he’d be a bad fit.

I recall Kim saying there were PGs in the portal who made it clear they were looking for volume of shots and points, and that he steered clear of those guys.

The problem is Saquan has not been as advertised, evidenced by his inability to beat out Polite (or Dinkins, for that matter). And at the same time, the other 4 guys we were counting on for offense have taken turns being awful in various games.

This offseason, Kim needs to find a PG who can play with the upper third of the A-10 at his position, and if the guy happens to shoot a little too much, learn to live with it.