Game 28: GMU (21-6 / 9-5) at St. Joe’s (17-10 / 9-5) on Wednesday, February 25, at 7:00 PM.

[gmujim92]

Amazing how this team has tanked. Very sad. Only good news is we will have 12 or so new players next year. Let’s rethink keeping CTS. His team has packed it in.

What a colossally stupid f**king post

 

[2011WinOverVillanova]

Time to clean house. Get rid of coaches, including head coach and players. We have been here before so nothing new. No reason to be optimistic about George Mason basketball.

No. You are wrong. And for once Mr. Met and Mr. Oriole agree with me. Injuries and the loss of Brayden played a big role. This is not the same team that was 16-1. If we make the nit as a 7 seed or whatever and have a repeat of 2009? I could live with that. But 2027 needs to have some urgency to end the drought.

 

[gmutom]

You know things are bleak when it’s controversial to say three players showed some life on a team that’s on life support. ‘

 

[Verdad]

Just canceled my hotel in Pittsburgh. I can watch them lose their first game from my couch.

I canceled mine last weekend.

 

[2011WinOverVillanova]

Shoutout to the nice group of Mason fans. I was talking to some of you. You were very nice and you lived locally or something. I was the tall guy with the star logo yellow hat. Was also nice talking to our “Phil knight” in Chris D. Poor effort right from the tip. Lot of missed shots especially by Aurensplach. The team needs a Dre smith type 3 point shooter and a confident and muscular big man. Based on what I saw? We’ll be lucky to be a 7 seed in the nit. The referee called a lot of tricky tack fouls. I love Mason but it pains me to lose and it pains me 2011 was a while ago.

 

[Verdad]

I reaaaaaly want to see Skinn’s post game presser, if there is one. St Joe’s is up on their YouTube page but it doesn’t look like they post opponents.

 

[GMUgemini]

No. You are wrong. And for once Mr. Met and Mr. Oriole agree with me. Injuries and the loss of Brayden played a big role. This is not the same team that was 16-1. If we make the nit as a 7 seed or whatever and have a repeat of 2009? I could live with that. But 2027 needs to have some urgency to end the drought.

I hope people realize how much continuity is important. You can’t just cycle 12 new players every year and stay consistently good (how much different does this team look by just keeping two more players from last year: Haynes and Begg—as a backup guard who can play the 1 or the 2) with a healthy BOC?We are probably 4 games better.

As much as we’d like to jettison the whole team we need to keep at least 4-6 of these guys around next year. I’d start with Mincy, BOC, Kanga, and Booker. You can build around them. If anyone else wants to stick around and commit to getting better, I say welcome back. We’re already going to have to replace 5 guys just for exhausting eligibility that’s plenty of spots to fill in the gaps in our starting lineup (I know we already have two freshmen commitments for next year—unless I’m missing someone).

 

[gmujim92]

I hope people realize how much continuity is important. You can’t just cycle 12 new players every year and stay consistently good (how much different does this team look by just keeping two more players from last year: Haynes and Begg—as a backup guard who can play the 1 or the 2) with a healthy BOC?We are probably 4 games better.

As much as we’d like to jettison the whole team we need to keep at least 4-6 of these guys around next year. I’d start with Mincy, BOC, Kanga, and Booker. You can build around them. If anyone else wants to stick around and commit to getting better, I say welcome back. We’re already going to have to replace 5 guys just for exhausting eligibility that’s plenty of spots to fill in the gaps in our starting lineup (I know we already have two freshmen commitments for next year—unless I’m missing someone).

Unless he’s willing to settle for a lot less money, there’s no way Mincy is back. With what he showed before hurting his thumb, he’s way out of Mason’s price range … so yeah it’s another gut job. Such is life as a mid-major on a budget.

 

[GMUgemini]

Unless he’s willing to settle for a lot less money, there’s no way Mincy is back. With what he showed before hurting his thumb, he’s way out of Mason’s price range … so yeah it’s another gut job. Such is life as a mid-major on a budget.

Don’t really see how St. Joes could have kept all the players they did last season (Reynolds, Brown, and Fleming) and we can’t keep one.

But if we keep recruiting those kinds of players they can exist with a vastly diminished fanbase because I (and a whole lot of other people) are going to tune them out and let go of college basketball.

 

[gmujim92]

Don’t really see how St. Joes could have kept all the players they did last season (Reynolds, Brown, and Fleming) and we can’t keep one.

But if we keep recruiting those kinds of players they can exist with a vastly diminished fanbase because I (and a whole lot of other people) are going to tune them out and let go of college basketball.

Saint Joe’s spends more than Mason does. Sadly so does GW — I’ve poked fun at their lack of ROI this season, but at least they went for it by giving Caputo the resources he needed to keep Castro and build a talented roster around him.

Meanwhile, Tony has admitted publicly the only reason Mason was able to keep Maddox for two years is because he liked being close to home and turned down opportunities to make more money.

Haynes left, Okojie left, no reason to expect Mincy won’t do the same. He’ll get a bag from somebody. Wouldn’t be shocked if Kanga does as well.

The reality is it’s impossible to have continuity in today’s game without cash.

 

[nchocola]

Look at the end of the day, Tony just got the wrong set of guys this year in the portal.

Portal -
Allenspach
Dola
Hill
Long
Troutman
Ellington

All of these guys aren’t showing they have another gear when things have gotten tough. They have been playing the same way defensively/offensively and aren’t keeping up with better teams in the A10.

If I’m Skinn, I’m trying my best to keep Kanga, Booker, BOC, and Mincy (longshot). Go get guys who are tough like he did in seasons before. I’m talking about players like KD and Billups. Less about offense and more about players who have effort and fight.

Our easy schedule disguised this for a long time. We had a few quality wins and some close ones but the difference was Mincy was healthy.

I’m still with Tony. I think he brings in a tougher group next year. Even if they can’t be the top of the A10, I’d be happy to watch a group that doesn’t give up when things get tough.

Edit -

I hope these guys do have another gear and can turn it up down the stretch. Please prove me wrong!

 

[nchocola]

Also, I’ve seen some guys writing off Stas on the boards. He has stuck around (which counts for something) and is continuing to develop his game in a positive manner. Last year he had no athleticism only his shot. This year he has improved his athleticism and shows moments of fight.

I wouldn’t write him off. If he sticks around and continues to improve, which I see no reason why he wouldn’t, he could be an important piece next year.

 

[Ben Chwarmer]

Unless he’s willing to settle for a lot less money, there’s no way Mincy is back. With what he showed before hurting his thumb, he’s way out of Mason’s price range … so yeah it’s another gut job. Such is life as a mid-major on a budget.

I don’t understand why Mason won’t go all in on basketball. We don’t have football, so with revenue sharing and student fees, there’s no reason we shouldn’t have one of the biggest NIL budgets in the league.

Mason is one of only five schools with 35,000+ students and no Division I football. Not going all in on basketball after the Final Four run is a disgrace.

 

[GSII]

St John's lost by 32 vs uconn last night. Maybe there is something in the air. Missed 24 straight shots to end game.

 

[mkaufman1]

1) losing sucks but not showing up, caring, fighting is another thing.
2) continuity is not something we can expect at this point. That’s how the landscape is and that will cause booms and busts. Mason started great but obviously has run out of gas.

Tony hopefully isn’t going anywhere and has already shown his ability to coach guys up and be successful. I have full confidence that despite this rough patch, he will turn things around. It might be next year, but no reason to think he suddenly lost his way.

 

[GMUgemini]

I don’t understand why Mason won’t go all in on basketball. We don’t have football, so with revenue sharing and student fees, there’s no reason we shouldn’t have one of the biggest NIL budgets in the league.

Mason is one of only five schools with 35,000+ students and no Division I football. Not going all in on basketball after the Final Four run is a disgrace.

There’s revenue share and there’s NIL, one comes from the university and one comes from outside sources.

Although I also seriously doubt the above players all asked for a million apiece the way Haynes did on his way out the door. That would have probably put St. Joes at the top of roster spend in the entire conference.

 

[JimP]

They will have to drag me out of the Gold Room during the St. Louis game.

That could really be a record setting beat down. We've let the lower-middle of the conference beat us by 20+ over the last several games. Take away the win against St Joes in FFX when they apparently just got tired, and we've been rolled by everyone, not beaten, rolled. The final scores haven't always been 20 point losses, but the games have been 20 point games up until the last few minutes. And even with a couple recent losses, St. Louis is really good. I wouldn't drive far for that game.

I'll end up going. Ticket is purchased, attending with brother and cousin who both live in the DMV. Yeah, who cares about making tip off, we won't rush to finish our beers over at University Plaza. Sigh.

 

[Where's the party?]

Look at the end of the day, Tony just got the wrong set of guys this year in the portal.

Portal -
Allenspach
Dola
Hill
Long
Troutman
Ellington

All of these guys aren’t showing they have another gear when things have gotten tough. They have been playing the same way defensively/offensively and aren’t keeping up with better teams in the A10.

If I’m Skinn, I’m trying my best to keep Kanga, Booker, BOC, and Mincy (longshot). Go get guys who are tough like he did in seasons before. I’m talking about players like KD and Billups. Less about offense and more about players who have effort and fight.

Our easy schedule disguised this for a long time. We had a few quality wins and some close ones but the difference was Mincy was healthy.

I’m still with Tony. I think he brings in a tougher group next year. Even if they can’t be the top of the A10, I’d be happy to watch a group that doesn’t give up when things get tough.

Edit -

I hope these guys do have another gear and can turn it up down the stretch. Please prove me wrong!

Not to pile on, OK maybe I will pile on a little bit more than I wanted to, but it is becoming clear to me, that this just wasn’t a very good team. Our out of conference schedule gave us the false hope that Tony had found a bunch of diamonds in the rough. In reality, this team was just barely beating weaker teams, and once we got into League play we were exposed. I know there are folks that will say it was all about injuries, but I’m not buying that. We got very lucky in the out of conference schedule a number of times when everybody was healthy. We peaked during the vcu game, but once the A-10 schedule started its grind, it was clear this team wasn’t good enough to compete. I’m not gonna throw Tony under the bus, as this is just life in the mid Majors from now on. And unfortunately, Mason is a state school, playing in a conference with private schools, and our destiny is mediocrity. No amount of diamond mining by Tony is going to overcome our inability to pay as much as everyone else. We have become the Milwaukee Brewers

When the NCAA inevitably splits into its professional and amateur leagues, we should dominate the amateur league.

 

[NewPatriot]

Maybe Mason should move back to the CAA
where the athletic budgets are comparable...for survival.

 

[gmujim92]

Not to pile on, OK maybe I will pile on a little bit more than I wanted to, but it is becoming clear to me, that this just wasn’t a very good team. Our out of conference schedule gave us the false hope that Tony had found a bunch of diamonds in the rough. In reality, this team was just barely beating weaker teams, and once we got into League play we were exposed. I know there are folks that will say it was all about injuries, but I’m not buying that. We got very lucky in the out of conference schedule a number of times when everybody was healthy. We peaked during the vcu game, but once the A-10 schedule started its grind, it was clear this team wasn’t good enough to compete. I’m not gonna throw Tony under the bus, as this is just life in the mid Majors from now on. And unfortunately, Mason is a state school, playing in a conference with private schools, and our destiny is mediocrity. No amount of diamond mining by Tony is going to overcome our inability to pay as much as everyone else. We have become the Milwaukee Brewers

When the NCAA inevitably splits into its professional and amateur leagues, we should dominate the amateur league.

Mason was 8-1 through the first half of the conference schedule. Mostly close wins, yes, but even after Mincy got hurt I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted this kind of collapse.

In retrospect it’s pretty obvious this group was a poor fit for a defense-first coach. Unfortunately it’s not easy to find guys who are good at both ends when you’re shopping for talent at Goodwill.