PROVIDENCE UPDATE

[Masonfan3]

I don't have time to do a deep dive on this topic but I'm sure there are pieces of statistical evidence that point to the improvement of Mason in year 2. If not, I'll stand corrected.

In addition, the overall play on both sides of the ball from January to March improved which was also in partnership with a 7 game winning streak and 20 win season. Its been a while since either of those have occurred and it felt "right".

Sure you can point to the 30 point blowout against SLU, or the blowout against Duquense or Auburn. Or the early season when things were ugly. But in general, I felt that the corner was turning for him as a coach (and program) in the second half of the year.

Obviously now he steps up in weight class to the Big East. There is still a lot of "potential" and "hype" compared to his actual abilities, but I do think he will be fine.

CKE can recruit, I will give him that. The guys that he got to come here (or were already on the roster) were good enough to win in the A10. The problem is that he is going to have to actually coach to win consistently in the Big East. Since he is lacking in that area, he is going to need someone on his staff who is an X and O's guy and he didn't have it here and he doesn't have it at Providence this season either. I don't think he will be awful but honestly don't see any evidence to show that he will win consistently. Your argument is that we won 20 games against an awful OOC/down year in the A10 and it felt "right". Not sure anyone is buying that...well no one except the Providence AD.

 

[gmubrian]

CKE can recruit, I will give him that. The guys that he got to come here (or were already on the roster) were good enough to win in the A10. The problem is that he is going to have to actually coach to win consistently in the Big East. Since he is lacking in that area, he is going to need someone on his staff who is an X and O's guy and he didn't have it here and he doesn't have it at Providence this season either. I don't think he will be awful but honestly don't see any evidence to show that he will win consistently. Your argument is that we won 20 games against an awful OOC/down year in the A10 and it felt "right". Not sure anyone is buying that...well no one except the Providence AD.

If we are going to do this analysis, I think it should be included that 3 of our starters were injured for significant portions of the season.

Ronnie wasn't healthy for the first half of the season. That contributed significantly to our USVI performance.
Ticket was out for a large portion of the middle of the season. When he came back and Ronnie got healthy is when we got pretty hot, if memory serves me.
VJ was out for the second half of the season.

I know you have to deal with injuries, but, having 3 of your starters out/in bad shape for roughly half the season is a pretty big obstacle. CKE also didn't push any previously existing players out the door (I recall people praising him for that), so our depth was impacted by that. Combine those two things and it is pretty amazing we hit 20 wins if you ask me.

Contrast that with Tony who almost wiped the roster clean, but nobody seems to be complaining about that. I am not criticizing him for that, but, we seem to have different standards for different coaches on here.

 

[Patriotsince81]

We really need some news about our final roster spot. I hate, oops, wrong thread, what we are reduced to when the boredom of the true offseason sets in.

 

[mkaufman1]

We really need some news about our final roster spot. I hate, oops, wrong thread, what we are reduced to when the boredom of the true offseason sets in.

I can help with name calling if you want that!! Dooty head!!

kidding.

Yeah, hopefully soon.

 

[Patriot8]

If we are going to do this analysis, I think it should be included that 3 of our starters were injured for significant portions of the season.

Ronnie wasn't healthy for the first half of the season. That contributed significantly to our USVI performance.
Ticket was out for a large portion of the middle of the season. When he came back and Ronnie got healthy is when we got pretty hot, if memory serves me.
VJ was out for the second half of the season.

I know you have to deal with injuries, but, having 3 of your starters out/in bad shape for roughly half the season is a pretty big obstacle. CKE also didn't push any previously existing players out the door (I recall people praising him for that), so our depth was impacted by that. Combine those two things and it is pretty amazing we hit 20 wins if you ask me.

Contrast that with Tony who almost wiped the roster clean, but nobody seems to be complaining about that. I am not criticizing him for that, but, we seem to have different standards for different coaches on here.

KE didn’t push XJ out?

And what roster did Tony wipe clean?

VJ, Coop & Saquan graduated.

KE took Josh, Ticket, Justyn.

Elvis and Blake entered the portal while KE was still the HC (pushed out).

I think Ojiako entered during the coaching search?

Are we talking about Peter here? Lol

 

[gmubrian]

KE didn’t push XJ out?

And what roster did Tony wipe clean?

VJ, Coop & Saquan graduated.

KE took Josh, Ticket, Justyn.

Elvis and Blake entered the portal while KE was still the HC (pushed out).

I think Ojiako entered during the coaching search?

Are we talking about Peter here? Lol

Elvis, Blake, Ojiako, Peter were all pushed out.

 

[Patriot8]

Elvis, Blake, Ojiako, Peter were all pushed out.

Elvis and Blake were pushed out while KE was still in charge.

 

[thebiasedannouncer]

Elvis, Blake, Ojiako, Peter were all pushed out.

Elvis and Blake were gone whether KE was staying or not and Ginika put his name in the portal before Tony was HC.

The only player you can conceivably say was "pushed out" was Peter. And we have no proof if it was that or because Josh had left.

 

[thebiasedannouncer]

If we are going to do this analysis, I think it should be included that 3 of our starters were injured for significant portions of the season.

Ronnie wasn't healthy for the first half of the season. That contributed significantly to our USVI performance.
Ticket was out for a large portion of the middle of the season. When he came back and Ronnie got healthy is when we got pretty hot, if memory serves me.
VJ was out for the second half of the season.

I know you have to deal with injuries, but, having 3 of your starters out/in bad shape for roughly half the season is a pretty big obstacle. CKE also didn't push any previously existing players out the door (I recall people praising him for that), so our depth was impacted by that. Combine those two things and it is pretty amazing we hit 20 wins if you ask me.

Contrast that with Tony who almost wiped the roster clean, but nobody seems to be complaining about that. I am not criticizing him for that, but, we seem to have different standards for different coaches on here.

I will counter by saying that losing Ticket, while not good, should not have hurt this team as much as it did, especially with the added depth of Saquan and Justyn we had added at that position in the offseason.

 

[Patriot8]

Elvis and Blake were gone whether KE was staying or not and Ginika put his name in the portal before Tony was HC.

The only player you can conceivably say was "pushed out" was Peter. And we have no proof if it was that or because Josh had left.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that I don’t think Peter was asked to stay.

If you want to say that Tony didn’t fight to keep Elvis, Blake or Ginika, then fine, but you can’t push a player out who is already in the portal.

 

[Pablo]

Elvis Nnaji - transferred to Grambling State

Blake Jones - transferred to Montana

Ginika Ojiako - ?

Peter Oduro - transferred to Odessa College

 

[GMUgemini]

Justyn was still a freshmen and his learning curve was higher than we all thought it would be. He was a lot of fun to watch once he adjusted to the speed of the game, though.

Not sure why it took English and Saquan quite as long as it did for them to figure out when his role would be but they at least got there eventually.

 

[MasonFanatic]

I thought Kim grew immensely as a coach during the course of last season, and I still think anyone who is as smart of a student of the game as he is, is very likely to find success in a few years. But I definitely didn't think he was a finished product as a head coach, and I don't know why people point to his current results as proof that that's all he'll ever be. He was just turning a corner at Mason, and figuring out the conference tournament was going to be the next step.

Our KenPom would have been top 100 if Ticket hadn't gotten hurt, if you compare games he played to games he didn't. It happens, and injuries are not an excuse, but I'm not going to hold our KenPom finish against Kim, either. The trend was clearly in the right direction before Ticket got hurt, and almost immediately again after he returned.

My memories of the blowout at the A10T was that we clearly had a gameplan, but that we were too slow to our spots to execute any of it correctly. I'm not going to try to parse why that happened at this distance. It won't bring Kim back to Mason.

 

[gmujim92]

I thought Kim grew immensely as a coach during the course of last season, and I still think anyone who is as smart of a student of the game as he is, is very likely to find success in a few years. But I definitely didn't think he was a finished product as a head coach, and I don't know why people point to his current results as proof that that's all he'll ever be. He was just turning a corner at Mason, and figuring out the conference tournament was going to be the next step.

Our KenPom would have been top 100 if Ticket hadn't gotten hurt, if you compare games he played to games he didn't. It happens, and injuries are not an excuse, but I'm not going to hold our KenPom finish against Kim, either. The trend was clearly in the right direction before Ticket got hurt, and almost immediately again after he returned.

My memories of the blowout at the A10T was that we clearly had a gameplan, but that we were too slow to our spots to execute any of it correctly. I'm not going to try to parse why that happened at this distance. It won't bring Kim back to Mason.

I thought he had us moving in the right direction last season, but was puzzled by the recruiting. Taking on so many freshmen after Year 2 was a curious decision and it seemed likelier than not that we were gonna be fighting to stay out of the PIG next season. Would love to know what he was thinking even though it’s obviously water under the bridge at this point.

 

[The Great PATSby]

Hard to explain, but I remember sitting there, and watching our guys being slow when going through screens, and the ball moving faster than our guys. That was at least defensively.

Why they were slow? Was it coaching? Was it tiredness? No idea. But I know I lost my mind along with everyone else watching it.

No question fatigue played a role. They looked completely gased that game.

Curious to see if we'll see a major difference on the court with the new strengh Coach Keon Marsh v.s. Handy.

 

[gmubrian]

Elvis Nnaji - transferred to Grambling State

Blake Jones - transferred to Montana

Ginika Ojiako - ?

Peter Oduro - transferred to Odessa College

@Patriot8 My information is first hand on 3 of them and second hand on the fourth. I think Pablo's date gives the backup proof on who was welcome to stay or not. 3 of those are huge steps down and Montana is no step up. It doesn't look like greener pastures to me...

Ginaka is a word game on whether he was pushed or not. He was initially welcome to stay, but dragged his feet, and ultimately was no longer welcome to stay.

 

[Falco]

In
You and a lot of people are saying this. May I ask what body of evidence leads you to this conclusion?

His magnificent turnaround of Mason’s program?
Oh oh! I know what it is! The 30 point blowout in a god damn conference tourney? Where he had no game plan and his team looked lost and unmotivated from the opening tip?

I swear it’s like the emperor’s new clothes with FKE. Despite all the evidence everyone swears he has invisible clothes on.

CKE's coaching style and philosophy of letting players to take charge of their own offense will be a roller coaster ride.

While CKE excels in recruiting top talent and building strong connections with his players, the team's success is contingent on having superior players consistently performing on the court.

In my opinion, in order to achieve sustained success, a coach must be able game plan, and have set plays prepared to take advantage of mismatches. In addition, a coach needs to be able to adjust the game plan to the flow of the game. At this point, CKE has not proven his ability to do so.

He did almost immediately since he personally negotiated an extension for VBL as rumors connected her with the WVU job

Who is VBL? Forgive me it’s a long week

I thought he had us moving in the right direction last season, but was puzzled by the recruiting. Taking on so many freshmen after Year 2 was a curious decision and it seemed likelier than not that we were gonna be fighting to stay out of the PIG next season. Would love to know what he was thinking even though it’s obviously water under the bridge at this point.

Not sure why you think Mason would be playing in the PIG if CKE stayed. The whole team was coming back.

 

[GMUgemini]

Who is VBL? Forgive me it’s a long week

The women’s basketball coach.

 

[GMUgemini]

Not sure why you think Mason would be playing in the PIG if CKE stayed. The whole team was coming back.

Cooper, Saquan, and Bailey weren’t. They were replaced with freshmen. One of them would have had to be game ready right away (or at least by conference play) for the team to really be dangerous, but can’t see PIG for a team with Polite and Oduro anchoring it.

 

[gmujim92]

Not sure why you think Mason would be playing in the PIG if CKE stayed. The whole team was coming back.

Minus Cooper, VJ and Saquan …