Player Development vs Team Development

[gmutom]

If that debacle Saturday doesn't light a fire under their collective asses, then there is No hope.

I agree with this. We're going to find out what this team is made of tonight. I'm not pissed we lost to Iona, but the effort and lack of adjustments were unacceptable. The Princeton game should be a good indicator of how much heart and fight this team has.

 

[gmujim92]

Don't tell me that the Patriots don't share the ball on offense and don't help each other on defense. In fact, they often do. But, they don't do it consistently. Frankly, I believe that the inconsistent play needs to be addressed by both the coach and team leadership.

Sorry Captain Literal, I hope you didn't think I really meant that our guys "never" share the ball or help each other on defense.

But in big-boy basketball, doing something inconsistently often gives you the same result as not doing it at all -- a swift a**-kicking.

And why would you expect Hewitt to all of a sudden start addressing his players' inconsistent effort and execution? His teams have been maddeningly inconsistent for the last decade.

You'd think somebody would've gotten the message by now.

 

[GSII]

We will probably respond tonight. But the bigger issue is sustaining the fire and being consistent. The constant theme for Hewitt is that his teams have been inconsistent too frequently. Every team has up's and down's. But his teams, over a 13 year period, have bigger downs than ups. There is something to this. It keeps happening to him for the past 13 years.

All to often he throws his hands up and acts like he pulled an all nighter teaching them what to do. If they don't get it in practice, then don't run it in a game. If you have to play zone, b/c you can't do run outs properly, ie. don't have ball handlers to lead the break or make good passes.....then play zone. Adjust to what you can do good and maximize it while playing hard nosed defense. IMO, this is the crux of hewitts biggest flaw. Not adjusting FULLY. Stubborn, Stubborn, Stubborn.

 

[gmujim92]

Playing zone just makes too much sense for us to do it.

We can't keep even average guards from going all the way to the basket, and we're not a dominant rebounding team anyhow, so we may as well pack it in and force teams to shoot over the top instead of holding a layup drill.

Hopefully Hewitt is just keeping the zone D under wraps during the OOC games and is waiting to spring it on an unsuspecting A-10. If we try to play man in conference, we're gonna give up 90 points every game.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

Sweet Judas Priest - everyone here is a freaking Debbie Downer today. Everyone knows we have some issues - but I don't think we have any more than any other team. So far this season - I have seen definite improvement in defense in all but one game - Iona. I have seen definite player development since last year and more effective end game strategy than last year - save the Iona game. All this without three starters (2 for Iona). So one bad game and we have fans here ready to declare permanent suckatude.

I came into the Iona game after getting back from a road trip and noticed we started off slow and got ourselves into a hole. The key thing I noticed is we did not look like we did in the first few games. And seemed just tired or out of it. It can happen. But I am not ready to say that this will be the trend for the whole season here in November - freaking November.

Man - only the folks here on the board could take a wonderful think like a Mason basketball game or a BJ at a major league ball park while drinking a beer and turn it into a problem.

Can't we all just cheer go Mason! And look forward to a game tonight.

Happy offing Thanksgiving.

 

[gmujim92]

Sweet Judas Priest - everyone here is a freaking Debbie Downer today. Everyone knows we have some issues - but I don't think we have any more than any other team. So far this season - I have seen definite improvement in defense in all but one game - Iona. I have seen definite player development since last year and more effective end game strategy than last year - save the Iona game. All this without three starters (2 for Iona). So one bad game and we have fans here ready to declare permanent suckatude.

I came into the Iona game after getting back from a road trip and noticed we started off slow and got ourselves into a hole. The key thing I noticed is we did not look like we did in the first few games. And seemed just tired or out of it. It can happen. But I am not ready to say that this will be the trend for the whole season here in November - freaking November.

Man - only the folks here on the board could take a wonderful think like a Mason basketball game or a BJ at a major league ball park while drinking a beer and turn it into a problem.

Can't we all just cheer go Mason! And look forward to a game tonight.

Happy offing Thanksgiving.

I admire your enthusiasm, I really do. But when we're beating up on lousy teams, it's awfully hard to say whether our defense has improved.

AU, Lamar and SFPA all had plenty of open shots, they just didn't make them. Iona did and kicked our asses.

Hopefully there will be some adjustments in the near future. If Hewitt's just gonna keep doing the same thing, we're not gonna have the season we were all hoping for.

 

[Pablo]

Am I the only one who believes that team leadership is important in addressing inconsistency? Do you remember how team leaders like George Evans and Will Thomas would react on the court when this occurred? It really wasn't necessary for Larranaga to say anything after those guys got done talking to their teammates.

Of course, that was real "big-boy basketball", when Mason used to play in the NCAA tourney.

 

[Patriotfan49]

PS: Nice win by your Niners last night. I thought at halftime that you were going to let my woeful Skins pull the upset, but the Shanahans made sure that didn't happen.

Yeah I was there and it was a great defensive performance by the 9ers, not so sure it had anything to do with Shanny. Skins O couldnt do anything, and RG3 is awful. He looked very bad last night. Skins have a tough road ahead, void of talent on all sides of the football, a coach and his staff on the way out, and some whispers that are getting louder about the "franchise" QB. Gonna require pretty much a complete rebuild, may be some more lean years coming for you skins fans.

Fedex is possible the worst stadium and surrounding environment in the world.

 

[gmujim92]

Am I the only one who believes that team leadership is important in addressing inconsistency? Do you remember how team leaders like George Evans and Will Thomas would react on the court when this occurred? It really wasn't necessary for Larranaga to say anything after those guys got done talking to their teammates.

Of course, that was real "big-boy basketball", when Mason used to play in the NCAA tourney.

Leadership starts from the top of any organization.

Larranaga was a stickler for details, but he also empowered the guys he trusted to lead his teams. The players listened to their team leaders because they knew the message was essentially coming from the coach himself.

Based on their lengthy record of inconsistent play, Hewitt's teams obviously haven't been blessed with any leadership whatsoever. It's just too bad that all of his players have been stupid, lazy, unmotivated bums ... well, other than the guys he inherited from Cremins.

 

[Patriotfan49]

Do our guys routinely huddle up after a foul anymore? Thats one thing you could count on, CAm, Mike Mo, Luke or Pearson grabbing the guys ever time and huddling up at a foul to regroup.

 

[Pablo]

Larranaga was a stickler for details, but he also empowered the guys he trusted to lead his teams. The players listened to their team leaders because they knew the message was essentially coming from the coach himself.

So, you're saying that even though this is Sherrod's second season as a captain, he has not been empowered by Coach Hewitt to lead the team?

 

[gmujim92]

So, you're saying that even though this is Sherrod's second season as a captain, he has not been empowered by Coach Hewitt to lead the team?

Not saying that at all. I'm saying that the tone for any team is established by the coach, then reinforced by team captains.

It's apparent from your posts that you believe I have some irrational dislike for Paul Hewitt. This is far from the truth.

But I covered ACC basketball for 7 years when he was the coach at GT, and most of his teams had the same cool, laid-back vibe that many of us are getting from this team. It was always like they believed superior talent would eventually trump lack of effort. It's a big reason why his teams had so many peaks and valleys ... sound familiar?

It's no coincidence that Hewitt's first team at Mason had the most fire and played with more of an edge, even when they weren't playing well.

For all of his corny antics, Larranaga had passion for the game that was contagious.

 

[Five Two]

But when we're beating up on lousy teams

I'm not sure we can even say we beat up anyone.

 

[Pablo]

Not saying that at all. I'm saying that the tone for any team is established by the coach, then reinforced by team captains.

It's apparent from your posts that you believe I have some irrational dislike for Paul Hewitt. This is far from the truth.

But I covered ACC basketball for 7 years when he was the coach at GT, and most of his teams had the same cool, laid-back vibe that many of us are getting from this team. It was always like they believed superior talent would eventually trump lack of effort. It's a big reason why his teams had so many peaks and valleys ... sound familiar?

It's no coincidence that Hewitt's first team at Mason had the most fire and played with more of an edge, even when they weren't playing well.

For all of his corny antics, Larranaga had passion for the game that was contagious.

I never implied that you had an irrational dislike for Paul Hewitt. But, this is the type of response that I get from you when I disagree with your conclusions.

Many of us recognize Coach Hewitt's deficiencies, but we also believe that the players should be held accountable for poor play. Frankly, I don't really care about Hewitt's GT tenure (just as I didn't care that Larranaga never went to the NCAA tourney in 11 years at Bowling Green). What I care about is that the Patriots are not consistently playing fundamentally sound basketball. And, I blame Coach Hewitt and the players (particularly the team leaders) for this.

 

[MASONscott]

Last season was not an overwhelming success, but it did appear we saw positive team building in the 8 games of the CBI. I remember not being thrilled we went that route until the CBI started. We played well with a chance to win it at the end on a missed Holloway '3'.

Overall, both the team and the players seemed to mature in that span. I'm not sure if it has carried over this season or not since it is so early. The Iona game was disappointing, but doesn't necessarily have to be the game that defines our season.

 

[GSII]

If you looked at his tenure at Ga Tech, you'd see that your concerns were theirs too.

 

[gmutom]

Do our guys routinely huddle up after a foul anymore?

My source tells me the NCAA banned huddling due to so many more fouls being called every game. In full disclosure, my source might be drunk on scotch and on his way to Princeton as I type this.

 

[Pablo]

If you looked at his tenure at Ga Tech, you'd see that your concerns were theirs too.

His deficiencies at GT should have been thoroughly considered before he was hired. As Mason's coach, he's been given the opportunity to reflect on his deficiencies at GT and take the necessary actions to become a better coach than he was there.

 

[Patriotfan49]

His deficiencies at GT should have been thoroughly considered before he was hired. As Mason's coach, he's been given the opportunity to reflect on his deficiencies at GT and take the necessary actions to become a better coach than he was there.

 

[GMUgemini]

I admire your enthusiasm, I really do. But when we're beating up on lousy teams, it's awfully hard to say whether our defense has improved.

AU, Lamar and SFPA all had plenty of open shots, they just didn't make them. Iona did and kicked our asses.

Hopefully there will be some adjustments in the near future. If Hewitt's just gonna keep doing the same thing, we're not gonna have the season we were all hoping for.

Iona actually shot 29% from 3. So one wonders if we went zone to prevent the layup drill they were performing against us if the scoreline might have looked a little differently.