Game 26: GMU (21-4 / 9-3) at GW (14-11 / 5-7) on Friday, February 13, at 7:00 PM.

[NewPatriot]

The guy is the reigning A-10 COY. You … are not.

Go back to the vcu board if you want to fluff Martelli.

What he did last year is not relevant to what is currently happening in the court.

1. Skinn's decision to play Mincy with an injured right hand is a massive mistake. Mincy aggravated his hand injury against Richmond and has neither been able to handle the ball nor shoot accurately. Mason is essentially playing 4 on 5 on offense.

2. Overall, Skinn didn't addressed the slow starts with Malik Presley until Mason started losing.

He did this because ( in his own words) "I am superstitious and dont want to mess the locker room chemistry..if it ain't broke don't fix it'.

He has stated this in multiple press conferences over the past month.

What coach in his right mind looks at an obvious problem and fails to address it because he is superstitious, afraid of hurting his players feelings and ruining locker room chemistry?

A) These are all veteran transfers that want to win. They are relying on him to make decisions that are best for the team.

B) They are all paid professionals making close to six figures a piece. They're future earnings depend on playing well and accepting change for a raise next year.

C) Skinn is the Mason Head Coach. It's his job to make the hard coaching decisions to give Mason a chance to win; especially since he is paid between 1.2 and 1.5 million dollars a year.

As I said before, he has resorted more and more to roster micromanagement as the season has progressed. As a result, he doesn't have be superstitious because as anyone who has played competitive sports at any level knows...roster micromanagement destroys individual confidence and overall team morale.

Skinn said the team quit 8 minutes into the second half during the press conference.

Why do you think that happened?

Alot of it is the cumulative effect of his increasing micromanagement of the players over the past 6 weeks.

The season isn't over but it will be if he doesn't change his ways now

 

[gmujim92]

What he did last year is not relevant to what is currently happening in the court.

1. Skinn's decision to play Mincy with an injured right hand is a massive mistake. Mincy aggravated his hand injury against Richmond and has neither been able to handle the ball nor shoot accurately. Mason is essentially playing 4 on 5 on offense.

2. Overall, Skinn didn't addressed the slow starts with Malik Presley until Mason started losing.

He did this because ( in his own words) "I am superstitious and dont want to mess the locker room chemistry..if it ain't broke don't fix it'.

He has stated this in multiple press conferences over the past month.

What coach in his right mind looks at an obvious problem and fails to address it because he is superstitious, afraid of hurting his players feelings and ruining locker room chemistry?

A) These are all veteran transfers that want to win. They are relying on him to make decisions that are best for the team.

B) They are all paid professionals making close to six figures a piece. They're future earnings depend on playing well and accepting change for a raise next year.

C) Skinn is the Mason Head Coach. It's his job to make the hard coaching decisions to give Mason a chance to win; especially since he is paid between 1.2 and 1.5 million dollars a year.

As I said before, he has resorted more and more to roster micromanagement as the season has progressed. As a result, he doesn't have be superstitious because as anyone who has played competitive sports at any level knows...roster micromanagement destroys individual confidence and overall team morale.

Skinn said the team quit 8 minutes into the second half during the press conference.

Why do you think that happened?

Alot of it is the cumulative effect of his increasing micromanagement of the players over the past 6 weeks.

The season isn't over but it will be if he doesn't change his ways now

Reflexively blaming the coach when things go bad is lazy AF. You can’t recognize the players are getting paid and then in the next breath absolve them from any accountability as if they’re a bunch of toddlers.

 

[2011WinOverVillanova]

My point is isn’t it better to deal with certain things in house? Dawn Staley recently commented that She wouldn’t have said something like that publicly when asked about the Lady Vols coach saying they had a lot of quit in them.

 

[DRK331]

To the GW fans reading our board:

In the 2023-2024 season, Chris Caputo’s GW team was on 12 game losing streak. That team finished dead last in the A10 that year.

 

[hoops10]

it seems pretty obvious that Riley is definitely hurt, ribs, etc. He was so slow in reacting to drives down the lane. Coach needs to start Kanga, with the clear message, box out and get rebounds! also, challenge drives and keep the lane clogged. Riley just cant do any of that right now, so lets just back off and make the change. Continue to start Fatts and give Sivka and Pressley very little playing time. I really think the Richmond game took their confidence down and it lingered into the GW game. He needs to regroup and spend practice redrawing a tough defensive game plan. Tough efficient defense will help the offense.

 

[GMUgemini]

Your comment about Riley is unfair. Is he a good player? No. But I believe he is doing the best he can. Call it a miss on Tony's part.

calling him “a miss” seems a bit unfair. He’s still the second leading scorer on the team and the leading rebounder. It’s pretty obvious he’s been limited since his rib injury, which has made his mediocre defense much worse.

it seems pretty obvious that Riley is definitely hurt, ribs, etc. He was so slow in reacting to drives down the lane. Coach needs to start Kanga, with the clear message, box out and get rebounds! also, challenge drives and keep the lane clogged. Riley just cant do any of that right now, so lets just back off and make the change. Continue to start Fatts and give Sivka and Pressley very little playing time. I really think the Richmond game took their confidence down and it lingered into the GW game. He needs to regroup and spend practice redrawing a tough defensive game plan. Tough efficient defense will help the offense.

Need to rest Mincy too. Only thing that matters is the conference tournament and neither of them will be healthy if they keep playing.

I think Tom is right, it has to be a 2-3 zone. We’ve got a lot of length we can use to play an effective zone if we start Long, Troutman, Hill, Adebayo, and Kanga. Rotation players Booker, Presley, Ellington (out of necessity with Mincy and Allenspach out). Sivka can play if the bigs get into foul trouble.

If we’ve got to win 49-48 while our best offensive players heal so be it. Just make it really hard on everyone.

 

[gmujim92]

calling him “a miss” seems a bit unfair. He’s still the second leading scorer on the team and the leading rebounder. It’s pretty obvious he’s been limited since his rib injury, which has made his mediocre defense much worse.


Need to rest Mincy too. Only thing that matters is the conference tournament and neither of them will be healthy if they keep playing.

I think Tom is right, it has to be a 2-3 zone. We’ve got a lot of length we can use to play an effective zone if we start Long, Troutman, Hill, Adebayo, and Kanga. Rotation players Booker, Presley, Ellington (out of necessity with Mincy and Allenspach out). Sivka can play if the bigs get into foul trouble.

If we’ve got to win 49-48 while our best offensive players heal so be it. Just make it really hard on everyone.

Unfortunately this isn’t that kind of team. You can’t just flip a switch and make them a defense-first group.

 

[GMUgemini]

Unfortunately this isn’t that kind of team. You can’t just flip a switch and make them a defense-first group.

Well, if we lose games while our two best players heal for the postseason so be it. Better than losing games and losing our first tournament game because Mincy and Allenspach are still hurt.

 

[Jack Strop]

What he did last year is not relevant to what is currently happening in the court.

1. Skinn's decision to play Mincy with an injured right hand is a massive mistake. Mincy aggravated his hand injury against Richmond and has neither been able to handle the ball nor shoot accurately. Mason is essentially playing 4 on 5 on offense.

2. Overall, Skinn didn't addressed the slow starts with Malik Presley until Mason started losing.

He did this because ( in his own words) "I am superstitious and dont want to mess the locker room chemistry..if it ain't broke don't fix it'.

He has stated this in multiple press conferences over the past month.

What coach in his right mind looks at an obvious problem and fails to address it because he is superstitious, afraid of hurting his players feelings and ruining locker room chemistry?

A) These are all veteran transfers that want to win. They are relying on him to make decisions that are best for the team.

B) They are all paid professionals making close to six figures a piece. They're future earnings depend on playing well and accepting change for a raise next year.

C) Skinn is the Mason Head Coach. It's his job to make the hard coaching decisions to give Mason a chance to win; especially since he is paid between 1.2 and 1.5 million dollars a year.

As I said before, he has resorted more and more to roster micromanagement as the season has progressed. As a result, he doesn't have be superstitious because as anyone who has played competitive sports at any level knows...roster micromanagement destroys individual confidence and overall team morale.

Skinn said the team quit 8 minutes into the second half during the press conference.

Why do you think that happened?

Alot of it is the cumulative effect of his increasing micromanagement of the players over the past 6 weeks.

The season isn't over but it will be if he doesn't change his ways now

I agree with #1 and disagree with #2:

1.) Yes, if Mincy sat out from the moment he hurt his thumb (four games/10 days ago ago) then everyone would have been better off long-term.

2.) Winning is what Coach Tony meant by "If it ain't broke..." We all saw the red flags emerging with Presley and Adebayo as A-10 play began, but we were winning at the time.

Coach Tony says certain things during a press conference to deflect from throwing players under the bus. He's actually caught himself several times now, starting to call out a player's in-game shortcomings only to quickly back off and deflect. Through deflection, Coach Tony transfers the onus upon himself by saying he is "superstitious" about changing things up during a winning streak. He'll talk about the team, but not individuals. A mark of sound team management and leadership.

I have to believe that the coaching staff is not blind and attempted to fix the slow starts. Tony was clearly agitated by being reminded of this during every post-game press conference. I am sure that meetings were taking place and adjustments were being worked on. Hence, the observed "roster micromanagement" The micromanagement is the fix.

First and foremost it's the players who play the game. For example, we've seen what Malik and Dola CAN do and they need to bring that as much as they can every game. Same goes for Long and Ellington—they need to find consistency. Stas is the other end of the spectrum—plays super hard but lacks complete skill and body strength. He is self-motivating and something many on the team need to emulate.

It's up to the players to motivate themselves on the court. This is what being a professional is all about and what Coach Tony needs to teach these kids over the long haul—performance, dedication, self-motivation, and above all, accountability. And I strongly believe Coach Tony knows this.

If Mason doesn't come out swinging against Dayton, and then St. J's and St. B's, followed by vcu and St. L, and into the A-10 tournament then, well... people aren't earning their keep.

 

[FlPatriot]

There’s something missing here. There is a piece to this that we are not in on. I have no inside knowledge, but something set us on this path. Could be the injuries hitting us all at once, could be an illness making the rounds within the team. But it feels like the team culture has shifted to the negative.

You know I think you may be right. I’ve been thinking the same thing and wonder if it has to do with the notion of a team identity that not all players have bought into…yet continue to play.

I don’t like the term ‘feels like’ but it does. I’m puzzled.

 

[GMU1983]

Dribble drive into closed gaps, take bad shots, and we don’t have guys so capable of making 3s…how do we fix this or is it fixable?

 

[GMU79]

calling him “a miss” seems a bit unfair. He’s still the second leading scorer on the team and the leading rebounder. It’s pretty obvious he’s been limited since his rib injury, which has made his mediocre defense much worse.


Need to rest Mincy too. Only thing that matters is the conference tournament and neither of them will be healthy if they keep playing.

I think Tom is right, it has to be a 2-3 zone. We’ve got a lot of length we can use to play an effective zone if we start Long, Troutman, Hill, Adebayo, and Kanga. Rotation players Booker, Presley, Ellington (out of necessity with Mincy and Allenspach out). Sivka can play if the bigs get into foul trouble.

If we’ve got to win 49-48 while our best offensive players heal so be it. Just make it really hard on everyone.

Yeah, "a miss" was unfair. Just frustrating that even before his injury his D was non existent.

 

[hoops10]

Lots of good comments about what is going on with Mason. Again, just my opinion, just maybe the talent level compared to our opponents is good, but not good enough. Sure CTS signed some really good talent, ie Mincy, Long, Hill, Allenspach, Kanga; however he also signed players who are just not good enough to compete in the A10, ie. Sivka, Presley, Adebayo. Other players are OK , but inconsistent ie. Ellington, Troutman. also TBD for Booker, only a freshman. Also, lets not forget we lost Brayden for the whole year. No doubt the NIL money had a lot to do with this, and yes coaching plays a big role in the final results. I do agree with Skinn when he constantly reminds us that there are really good teams in the A10, and especially hard to beat in their home court. For me the big picture is we did pretty dam good this year, maybe not conference winners but competitive well played games. Regardless of what happens in the end George Mason, CTS have given us many good moments. Season is not over yet, so lets hope for a strong finish. To some degree we are spoiled because we have a winning team with a great young coach.

 

[GMUgemini]

If Mason doesn't come out swinging against Dayton, and then St. J's and St. B's, followed by vcu and St. L, and into the A-10 tournament then, well... people aren't earning their keep.

Winning in Richmond and then home against SLU are going to be Herculean tasks but the next 3 are all winnable games. If they can go into SLU 12-5 it’ll give them a chance to still finish top 3, which is all we can ask at this point.

Just got to dig deep. Every possession on both sides of the ball is precious. They can no longer say they’re better than anyone.

 

[DRK331]

 

[Old Man]

That is completely on Skinn. The difference between Skinn vs the SLU coach, Phil Martell Jr and Ryan Odom is they rely on their benches and let them develop, play through their mistakes, become confident in their system.

Skinn on the other hand yanks guys at the first mistake. They are looking over their shoulders when they make a mistake.

Booker should have been getting minutes all along and become part of the.rotation and provide depth.

IIRC, yanking players at their first mistake was always one of the knocks on Coach L's style when he was here. Don't know if he continued this at the U, but just sayin' the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

IIRC, yanking players at their first mistake was always one of the knocks on Coach L's style when he was here. Don't know if he continued this at the U, but just sayin' the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Coach L would famously pull players when they made a defensive mistake. Offensive mistakes he had much more tolerance for.

Coach Skinn seems to have abandoned that philosophy a bit this year. Maybe because he has to because everyone except Mincy doesn’t take defense as serious.

After our offensive woes last year the coaching staff may have overcorrected their recruiting strategy to get more offensive talent. Coach Skinn is a young coach. He’ll
Learn from this.

 

[GMUgemini]

I also think this team looks different if BOC doesn’t get hurt, doubly so if Adebayo, who was meant to be a great defender, panned out the way the staff probably thought he would.

 

[NewPatriot]

I spent the weekend completing the grieving process over last week's performance. I am well now with renewed optimism.

Of course: ONE GAME AT TIME BUT (see below):

Big picture (Happy Path):

SLU beats vcu putting the Rams only 1 game ahead.

Mason beats Dayton and SJU.

Mason then has an opportunity to secure the second seed with a road at win at vcu and the 1st Quad 1 win of the season

Roll the dice against SLU at home for the second Quad 1 win of the season.

 

[Verdad]

I spent the weekend completing the grieving process over last week's performance. I am well now with renewed optimism.

Of course: ONE GAME AT TIME BUT (see below):

Big picture (Happy Path):

SLU beats vcu putting the Rams only 1 game ahead.

Mason beats Dayton and SJU.

Mason then has an opportunity to secure the second seed with a road at win at vcu and the 1st Quad 1 win of the season

Roll the dice against SLU at home for the second Quad 1 win of the season.

I won't allow myself to be optimistic until I see improvement - 1st step would be beating Dayton by more than the spread and most importantly, starting the game with energy and defense.