Game 29: AT LaSalle, March 6th, 8 PM, NBCSN

[gmuEX]

Proud of the effort and intensity we showed last night. And FTR that's the first time I've said that this year.
Game ball goes to Marko.
2 stars for Copes, 1 for PH.

So god damn close to a successful season, however I'm still Hewitt sober.
Nice guy, good recruiter, well-spoken, poor coach.

 

[99 Patriot]

Anyone else feel like if this game took place in January Edwards would have been called for a foul on that final 3-attempt by LaSalle? I'm not saying I had sex with ACW, but I'm also not saying I didn't. Perhaps our curse is slowly being lifted.

 

[mkaufman1]

Anyone else feel like if this game took place in January Edwards would have been called for a foul on that final 3-attempt by LaSalle? I'm not saying I had sex with ACW, but I'm also not saying I didn't. Perhaps our curse is slowly being lifted.

Edwards definitely got away with the way he covered the guy from the corner on the last shot. I'm glad they let it go and for once most of the bad calls helped Mason last night.

I agree with what everyone has said. The effort was 110% there last night and you could see it. Whether it was Marko, Copes or Jenkins on the boards there was a lot of fight in the team.

Hoping to see Mason pull off another win tomorrow and stay out of the play in game.

 

[gmuEX]

Anyone else feel like if this game took place in January Edwards would have been called for a foul on that final 3-attempt by LaSalle? I'm not saying I had sex with ACW, but I'm also not saying I didn't. Perhaps our curse is slowly being lifted.

I would have went on a killing spree if they called a foul there.

or in the wise words of Jackie Moon, "S MY C. I"LL MURDER YOUR FAMILY."

 

[Patriotfan49]

Many folks here on the boards were still on fence abot Hewitt after last seasosn, thus it seemed that a coaching staff over haul might not be necessary. After year 3 there is no doubt that there needs to be a staff shake up. Like Jim noted, a older, task oriented, scheme junkie type might really help balance out the recruiting and people skills that Hewitt and Kreider appear to have. I'd be happy with canning both Houston and Skeeters after the season. I feel like Kreider does all the grunt work that many other more established guys probably wouldn't want to do. It certainly won't hurt to bring in a new guy(s) with new ideas.

It wouldnt hurt at all thats not the question. The issue is would Hewitt do it (even with an opening on his staff he didnt)? I just dont envision him doing it, let alone firing Skeeters or Houston.

 

[Dawgs99]

It wouldnt hurt at all thats not the question. The issue is would Hewitt do it (even with an opening on his staff he didnt)? I just dont envision him doing it, let alone firing Skeeters or Houston.

Firing guys on your coaching staff is right out of the head coaching job preservation hand book. I for one will be disappointed if there is not any change on the staff for next season. Side bar here, I feel bad for VG....he plays so little that when he finally gets some PT I bet hes nervous as hell and doesn't play with confidence. Of all 3 juniors on the team that almost never play, I feel like having Corey return as a verteran back up is the most important for next season. Can't see VG or AO helping us next season.

 

[smccart5]

GREAT game last night by both teams. Amazing effort and hustle...was an awesome game to watch.

Gotta give a shout out to JII who was a BEAST last night. Played with the most balls I've seen him play with in his whole career here. He was going after rebounds so hard and even had a put back JAM! I don't know if we've ever seen that from him.

And on the dunk note, Copes even had a dunk last night! I'm hoping someone has gotten in their ear to finish plays strong and stop with this soft layup crap.

 

[gmujim92]

It wouldnt hurt at all thats not the question. The issue is would Hewitt do it (even with an opening on his staff he didnt)? I just dont envision him doing it, let alone firing Skeeters or Houston.

Well, let's be brutally honest for a second: It's not Hewitt's call. He doesn't pay their salaries, the university does.

Now I understand that it can do more harm than good by forcing a coach to fire an assistant and hire somebody he doesn't want. I'm not advocating such a move at this point -- Hewitt has to be able to trust and work constructively with whoever is brought in.

But at this point, I don't think it would be inappropriate for TOC to tell Hewitt that if he wants to coach next season at Mason, he needs to pink-slip Houston and be willing to accept help on the X's and O's front.

I can see the value in keeping young guys like Kreider and Skeeters for their recruiting. On our level, you need young assistants who are willing and able to beat the bushes for players all summer while sleeping 3-4 hours a night. We've already acknowledged that we need as much talent as possible to cover for Hewitt's weaknesses.

The one guy I just don't get is Houston. He just seems to sit there like a bump on a log most of the time -- which is weird, because he's by far our more experienced assistant coach. He's obviously Hewitt's consigliere.

It probably would cause friction with Copes to can him, but after 3 years, it's obvious that Hewitt needs more help than Houston is giving.

 

[gmujim92]

Firing guys on your coaching staff is right out of the head coaching job preservation hand book. I for one will be disappointed if there is not any change on the staff for next season. Side bar here, I feel bad for VG....he plays so little that when he finally gets some PT I bet hes nervous as hell and doesn't play with confidence. Of all 3 juniors on the team that almost never play, I feel like having Corey return as a verteran back up is the most important for next season. Can't see VG or AO helping us next season.

I agree, if Edwards is willing to stay and play backup minutes, Hewitt would be wise to keep him. We could do far worse than Edwards as an A-10 backup PG.

I also think we really could use Gray's scoring ability, but with so much water under the bridge, I wouldn't blame the kid if he transferred out.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Dawgs and Jim I agree with what you are all saying....but my problem is I just dont see that happening. I dont really forsee Hewitt being forced to make that move, nor finding a strong candidate to come and really make an impact. I just dont see that happening.

 

[gmutom]

I don't think Hewitt did anything last night to save his job if it was in jeopardy, but I do think he deserves some credit for coaching one of his better games (especially with Moore out and Copes hurting). Little by little our offense is starting to look like it actually makes sense, especially when our big men get the ball out top from one of our guards and then hit the cutting guard for an uncontested layup.

Defensively, our zone was effective for the most part, even though we gave up seven 3s. The good thing is we cut off a lot of dribble penetration, which led to them taking 20 shots from behind the arc.

Perhaps most importantly, he resisted the urge to go small when they played their 4-guard lineups. There were times in the past when I think that counter-move would have worked, but we were able to exert our will on them last night in the paint and the boards with Jenkins, Copes, J2 and Marko all logging at least 17 minutes.

 

[NoCliche87]

I will be there with the family

nice... shoot me a message when the game draws near and i'll give u n the fam a shout

 

[emjayar08]

I was at the game w HaxorMax. I was sitting next to a guy that looked like a younger Tom O'Connor, but he was wearing a Lafayette Jacket. He was asking me about a few players, which I found interesting. He asked about Johnny Williams, Patrick Holloway and Jalen Jenkins. It seemed obvious he was looking for possible transfers, but I told him those guys weren't going anywhere/were graduating (in JW's case).

Now that I did some research, he is the Lafayette Assistant Coach, JOHN O'Connor. Is he Tom's younger brother??? I wish I talked to him some more and told him who the real possible transfers were (OK, VG, CE).

http://www.goleopards.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/oconnor_john00.html

 

[Scythe]

I was at the game w HaxorMax. I was sitting next to a guy that looked like a younger Tom O'Connor, but he was wearing a Lafayette Jacket. He was asking me about a few players, which I found interesting. He asked about Johnny Williams, Patrick Holloway and Jalen Jenkins. It seemed obvious he was looking for possible transfers, but I told him those guys weren't going anywhere/were graduating (in JW's case).

Now that I did some research, he is the Lafayette Assistant Coach, JOHN O'Connor. Is he Tom's younger brother??? I wish I talked to him some more and told him who the real possible transfers were (OK, VG, CE).

http://www.goleopards.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/oconnor_john00.html

Trying to get any info he can...love it.

 

[mkaufman1]

I was at the game w HaxorMax. I was sitting next to a guy that looked like a younger Tom O'Connor, but he was wearing a Lafayette Jacket. He was asking me about a few players, which I found interesting. He asked about Johnny Williams, Patrick Holloway and Jalen Jenkins. It seemed obvious he was looking for possible transfers, but I told him those guys weren't going anywhere/were graduating (in JW's case).

Now that I did some research, he is the Lafayette Assistant Coach, JOHN O'Connor. Is he Tom's younger brother??? I wish I talked to him some more and told him who the real possible transfers were (OK, VG, CE).

http://www.goleopards.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/oconnor_john00.html

He may just be a friend of Hewitt?

I found this part of his bio very interesting:

He left Lafayette in 2004 for Georgia Tech where he became the director of basketball operations and later an assistant coach under Paul Hewitt, spending six seasons (2004-10) in Atlanta. O'Connor left Georgia Tech in April of 2010 to become the head coach at Holy Family University. After his time at Holy Family, O'Connor worked and traveled with USA Basketball's Under-19 team coached by Hewitt which competed in the world championships in Latvia in the summer of 2011. O'Connor also spent time coaching youth basketball and training professional players during the NBA lockout.

 

[Pablo]

I was at the game w HaxorMax. I was sitting next to a guy that looked like a younger Tom O'Connor, but he was wearing a Lafayette Jacket. He was asking me about a few players, which I found interesting. He asked about Johnny Williams, Patrick Holloway and Jalen Jenkins. It seemed obvious he was looking for possible transfers, but I told him those guys weren't going anywhere/were graduating (in JW's case).

Now that I did some research, he is the Lafayette Assistant Coach, JOHN O'Connor. Is he Tom's younger brother??? I wish I talked to him some more and told him who the real possible transfers were (OK, VG, CE).

http://www.goleopards.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/oconnor_john00.html

Why would a former Hewitt assistant need to obtain this information from a fan?

 

[Pablo]

He may just be a friend of Hewitt?

I found this part of his bio very interesting:

He left Lafayette in 2004 for Georgia Tech where he became the director of basketball operations and later an assistant coach under Paul Hewitt, spending six seasons (2004-10) in Atlanta. O'Connor left Georgia Tech in April of 2010 to become the head coach at Holy Family University. After his time at Holy Family, O'Connor worked and traveled with USA Basketball's Under-19 team coached by Hewitt which competed in the world championships in Latvia in the summer of 2011. O'Connor also spent time coaching youth basketball and training professional players during the NBA lockout.

The bio certainly gloss over his experience at Holy Family as you would expect.

 

[gmujim92]

The bio certainly gloss over his experience at Holy Family as you would expect.

Yep. I'm frankly stunned that Hewitt ever had a guy like O'Connor on his staff.

I know some guys who claim that all that stuff at Holy Family was blown out of proportion, but I'm not buying it.

O'Connor was basically Mike Rice, before Mike Rice became Mike Rice.

 

[Quentin Daniels]

I don't think Hewitt did anything last night to save his job if it was in jeopardy,

I don't know - if you wanted to make an argument (and he & his agent will want to make that argument) and assuming the team wins at Duquesne, they'll have gone 5-3 to finish the season and one of those losses was an overtime to a (then) top 10 team. If they go on a bit of a run in the tourney - then what?

I'm thrilled to see the team winning and never bought into the bullshite argument we didn't have the talent to compete - Allen & Wright are as good a pair of SGs as any A-10 program. What I've always been worried about though is not that Hewitt will implode the program in spectacular fashion, but will do just enough to hang on and allow us to cling to mediocrity for years.

 

[A.-Siegfried]

I don't know - if you wanted to make an argument (and he & his agent will want to make that argument) and assuming the team wins at Duquesne, they'll have gone 5-3 to finish the season and one of those losses was an overtime to a (then) top 10 team. If they go on a bit of a run in the tourney - then what?

I'm thrilled to see the team winning and never bought into the bullshite argument we didn't have the talent to compete - Allen & Wright are as good a pair of SGs as any A-10 program. What I've always been worried about though is not that Hewitt will implode the program in spectacular fashion, but will do just enough to hang on and allow us to cling to mediocrity for years.

Then what?

Then he's still got two years left on his contract. Business as usual.