Goodbye Ronald Polite

p8triotfan4life · Jul 21, 2019

Best news all weekend! Very excited with this signing. Polite seems like the perfect replacement for Kier.

Coach Paulsen and his staff was on this kid for a long time.

He was probably one of our most targeted recruits in a while. Glad they landed their man. Sounds smart too. 3.5 GPA and 1150 SAT.

In some news on the big man front, 6'8" Giancarlo Rosado from Florida announced his top 5 choices and we made it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/giancarlo_345/status/1152336908648947712/photo/1

GSII · Jul 21, 2019

Very fine student athletes. Sadly, neither with an A10 offer. Its still a proven fact you dont get very far unless you beat your conf foes also in recruiting to a degree. DP showing he knows what is needed, but he cant attain it.

CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY · Jul 22, 2019

Good news!! Only seen him once but been hearing good things all summer. Welcome Ronald!!!

FreeGunston12 · Jul 22, 2019

GSII said:
Very fine student athletes. Sadly, neither with an A10 offer. Its still a proven fact you dont get very far unless you beat your conf foes also in recruiting to a degree. DP showing he knows what is needed, but he cant attain it.

Hot take. But the board at large has countered it time and again with examples from our own team. It’s not all about who you beat out. Kier, Miller, Greene, Livingston, all without another A-10 offer. All better than your average A-10 player.

Meanwhile, Mason beat out multiple A-10 teams for Copes and Holloway. So they must’ve been better players, right?

As for me, I’m excited to see what Polite can bring with his insane scoring stats and I’d love to sign Rosado as well. Rosado’s tape reminds me a lot of Ryan Pearson.

Falco · Jul 22, 2019

masonjoe said:
This still drives me nuts. Wasn't it a hell of a lot harder to recruit at Bucknell? How is he getting zero kids from where he used to have success?

Because Bucknell is a Ivy League wanna-be school. DP goes after high character players who want a good education. It’s easier to sell Bucknell to recruits who care about their education.

p8triotfan4life · Jul 22, 2019

we have one more slot to fill in this class. Potentially two if we don't fill our open spot this summer for a 2019 recruit. we desperately need a big man with one or both spots.

also, AJ will be eligible to be a grad transfer if he desires as well after this season.

Mason32 · Jul 22, 2019

DJ3 said:
Because Bucknell is a Ivy League wanna-be school. DP goes after high character players who want a good education. It’s easier to sell Bucknell to recruits who care about their education.

So Bucknell is Harvard compared to Mason and that gets recruits? What?

tblack33 · Jul 22, 2019

FreeGunston12 said:
Hot take. But the board at large has countered it time and again with examples from our own team. It’s not all about who you beat out. Kier, Miller, Greene, Livingston, all without another A-10 offer. All better than your average A-10 player.

Meanwhile, Mason beat out multiple A-10 teams for Copes and Holloway. So they must’ve been better players, right?

As for me, I’m excited to see what Polite can bring with his insane scoring stats and I’d love to sign Rosado as well. Rosado’s tape reminds me a lot of Ryan Pearson.

Taking off my green and gold tinted glasses here for a minute to look at this objectively, and this won't be a popular post.

Miller and Greene are not better than your average A-10 player, when playing consistently they may be right around the average though. Kier probably won't be better than your average A-10 player now that he's the star of the show and teams don't key in on Otis leaving him open to slash.

Outside of last year Otis was an above average A-10 player so I'll give you that.

I've said it on here before and I'll continue to say it until I'm proven wrong, but finding diamonds in the rough and hoping they develop into all A-10 absolutely can not be our recruiting strategy if we hope to contend in this league. It worked in the CAA because that's what everyone had to do at that level, but the big boys (and even a lot of the middle/bottom half teams) in the A-10 are pulling in 3-4 star guys consistently who are coming in an making an impact immediately. It's fine to take a flyer on a guy on a yearly basis, if the other 2-3 schollys you are giving out are going to guys you KNOW are going to make an impact / play meaningful minutes within the first 2 years of being on campus.

I'll give you Copes, but you can not have watched Holloway play in highschool or his freshman year and not thought he was a stud. He was unlucky to have played under Hewitt, who somehow managed to have every single player he ever brought in regress to worse then when they got on campus (look back on these boards, its something alot of people rightfully complained about at the time). Under better tutelage I have 0 doubt that Holloway would have been 1st team all A-10 by his Junior/Senior year with better coaching and discipline.

Falco · Jul 22, 2019

Mason32 said:
So Bucknell is Harvard compared to Mason and that gets recruits? What?

Bucknell is for 4.0 students who don't get into UPenn. Plus, they make the tournament on a consistent basis.

Paulsen has nothing to sell recruits. Average academics, at best an average A10 basketball program.
He can sell recruits on a locker room.... big whoop.

sleeperpick · Jul 22, 2019

tblack33 said:
Taking off my green and gold tinted glasses here for a minute to look at this objectively, and this won't be a popular post.

Miller and Greene are not better than your average A-10 player, when playing consistently they may be right around the average though. Kier probably won't be better than your average A-10 player now that he's the star of the show and teams don't key in on Otis leaving him open to slash.

Outside of last year Otis was an above average A-10 player so I'll give you that.

I've said it on here before and I'll continue to say it until I'm proven wrong, but finding diamonds in the rough and hoping they develop into all A-10 absolutely can not be our recruiting strategy if we hope to contend in this league. It worked in the CAA because that's what everyone had to do at that level, but the big boys (and even a lot of the middle/bottom half teams) in the A-10 are pulling in 3-4 star guys consistently who are coming in an making an impact immediately. It's fine to take a flyer on a guy on a yearly basis, if the other 2-3 schollys you are giving out are going to guys you KNOW are going to make an impact / play meaningful minutes within the first 2 years of being on campus.

I'll give you Copes, but you can not have watched Holloway play in highschool or his freshman year and not thought he was a stud. He was unlucky to have played under Hewitt, who somehow managed to have every single player he ever brought in regress to worse then when they got on campus (look back on these boards, its something alot of people rightfully complained about at the time). Under better tutelage I have 0 doubt that Holloway would have been 1st team all A-10 by his Junior/Senior year with better coaching and discipline.

Great post!

In the A-10 we are bottom 5 in star rating along with Fordham, Bona, Davidson and GW...

McKillop is legendary so we can not talk about them.....

But would you rather Mason be in the Bona, Fordham, GW class of recruits or....the Dayton, vcu, URI class at the top of the star classification in the A10?... it is a no brainer and people need to start being realistic.. Paulsen couldn't wear McKillop's jock strap... so he damn well better recruit better players to level the playing field..

GMUgemini · Jul 22, 2019

Well, AJ had offers from Penn State, Cincinnati, DePaul and UMD was interested (although they didn’t ever offer I don’t think).

Greg Calixte had offers from St. Binaventure (hey look an A10 school), DePaul, La Salle (another A10 school), and Temple.

Goanar Mar had offers from Iowa State, Nebraska, UNI, and Richmond (hey an A10 school)

Jason Douglas-Stanley had offers from St. Bonaventure (hey, an A10 school) New Mexico, and ODU and had interest from DePaul and vcu

We have probably two diamonds in the rough on the roster, Miller and Kier (maybe Javon Greene if he can just become more consistent shooting the ball).

At least one inexplicably under recruited player, Jamal Hartwell (three star with very few offers).

I mean, that’s 8 players with at least one player at every position. St. Bonaventure and Davidson went about 6 or 7 deep last season and that’s it.

There is plenty of potential on this team, they just haven’t all coalesced at the same time (we though that was going to be last season but Mar regressed, Otis regressed, Grayer stooped playing, Reuter didn’t pan out and Paulsen didn’t switch to Calixte fast enough, and AJ got a concussion and then stopped being played — we discovered Miller could ball, and Kier really stepped it up). If the above 8 players can all put it together (and we didn’t talk about Xavier Johnson and Ian Boyd yet) we will be in contention. But that’s the question.

And welcome Ronald Polite! Can’t wait to see you in green and gold.

sleeperpick · Jul 22, 2019

tblack33 said:
Taking off my green and gold tinted glasses here for a minute to look at this objectively, and this won't be a popular post.

Miller and Greene are not better than your average A-10 player, when playing consistently they may be right around the average though. Kier probably won't be better than your average A-10 player now that he's the star of the show and teams don't key in on Otis leaving him open to slash.

Outside of last year Otis was an above average A-10 player so I'll give you that.

I've said it on here before and I'll continue to say it until I'm proven wrong, but finding diamonds in the rough and hoping they develop into all A-10 absolutely can not be our recruiting strategy if we hope to contend in this league. It worked in the CAA because that's what everyone had to do at that level, but the big boys (and even a lot of the middle/bottom half teams) in the A-10 are pulling in 3-4 star guys consistently who are coming in an making an impact immediately. It's fine to take a flyer on a guy on a yearly basis, if the other 2-3 schollys you are giving out are going to guys you KNOW are going to make an impact / play meaningful minutes within the first 2 years of being on campus.

I'll give you Copes, but you can not have watched Holloway play in highschool or his freshman year and not thought he was a stud. He was unlucky to have played under Hewitt, who somehow managed to have every single player he ever brought in regress to worse then when they got on campus (look back on these boards, its something alot of people rightfully complained about at the time). Under better tutelage I have 0 doubt that Holloway would have been 1st team all A-10 by his Junior/Senior year with better coaching and discipline.

and also..... Paulsen has successfully recruited only three players in his time at Mason that anybody on an equal or better conference status has even thought about recruiting (Wilson, Mar and Calixte)... He either can't coach AJ or AJ is uncoachable (definitely the first one), Mar regressed tremendously (still have hope) and Calixte (he has turned into a serviceable big who I enjoy watching play).... 3 players in over 4 full recruiting cycles... and we get a top 5 in the A-10 in its worst year since we have been in it and everyone wants to give Paulsen a pat on the butt??! yikes

tblack33 · Jul 22, 2019

GMUgemini said:
Well, AJ had offers from Penn State, Cincinnati, DePaul and UMD was interested (although they didn’t ever offer I don’t think).

Greg Calixte had offers from St. Binaventure (hey look an A10 school), DePaul, La Salle (another A10 school), and Temple.

Goanar Mar had offers from Iowa State, Nebraska, UNI, and Richmond (hey an A10 school)

Jason Douglas-Stanley had offers from St. Bonaventure (hey, an A10 school) New Mexico, and ODU and had interest from DePaul and vcu

We have probably two diamonds in the rough on the roster, Miller and Kier (maybe Javon Greene if he can just become more consistent shooting the ball).

At least one inexplicably under recruited player, Jamal Hartwell (three star with very few offers).

I mean, that’s 8 players with at least one player at every position. St. Bonaventure and Davidson went about 6 or 7 deep last season and that’s it.

There is plenty of potential on this team, they just haven’t all coalesced at the same time (we though that was going to be last season but Mar regressed, Otis regressed, Grayer stooped playing, Reuter didn’t pan out and Paulsen didn’t switch to Calixte fast enough, and AJ got a concussion and then stopped being played — we discovered Miller could ball, and Kier really stepped it up). If the above 8 players can all put it together (and we didn’t talk about Xavier Johnson and Ian Boyd yet) we will be in contention. But that’s the question.

And welcome Ronald Polite! Can’t wait to see you in green and gold.

Good post, appreciate being challenged with some facts to back it up. Still don't think 4/13 scholarship players with comparable/better offers is great but is admittedly better than I expected.

If that's what we are looking at though I think we have to ask the question what aren't we doing that St. Bonny/Davidson/others at the top are doing? If we are in fact pulling in the same quality recruits as them, how come we haven't been able to put it together and have a season at the top of the league yet? I think my main problem with Paulsen's recruitng lies in the last two years, where it seems like our recruiting seems to have been trending down when we arguably have more resources/recruiting pitches with new facilities, PT, etc and should be bringing in more highly regarded recruits.

Do look forward to seeing Polite in green and gold, hope he comes in and makes an impact immediately. Always need guys who can flat out put the ball in the bucket.

GMUgemini · Jul 22, 2019

sleeperpick said:
and also..... Paulsen has successfully recruited only three players in his time at Mason that anybody on an equal or better conference status has even thought about recruiting (Wilson, Mar and Calixte)... He either can't coach AJ or AJ is uncoachable (definitely the first one), Mar regressed tremendously (still have hope) and Calixte (he has turned into a serviceable big who I enjoy watching play).... 3 players in over 4 full recruiting cycles... and we get a top 5 in the A-10 in its worst year since we have been in it and everyone wants to give Paulsen a pat on the butt??! yikes

You forgot JDS.

It’s also pretty obvious that Otis and Jaire were way under recruited, as was Jordan Miller (although it looks like at least West Virginia was giving him a look even if they didn’t offer) and Kier.

Quentin Daniels · Jul 22, 2019

sleeperpick said:
and also..... Paulsen has successfully recruited only three players in his time at Mason that anybody on an equal or better conference status has even thought about recruiting (Wilson, Mar and Calixte)... He either can't coach AJ or AJ is uncoachable (definitely the first one), Mar regressed tremendously (still have hope) and Calixte (he has turned into a serviceable big who I enjoy watching play).... 3 players in over 4 full recruiting cycles... and we get a top 5 in the A-10 in its worst year since we have been in it and everyone wants to give Paulsen a pat on the butt??! yikes

Here's your last 15 posts. See if you can spot the trend the rest of us do.

It's not that everyone else thinks everything is kittens and rainbows, it's that you're over the top and belaboring the point over and over again. You've become a parody.

And worst of all, you're not clever about it, or funny, or bringing any new information. You're a drain and you've become a troll as bad as DJ3 & PMP who are the only ones that like your posts.

Do better. Add some value or STFU.

GMUgemini · Jul 22, 2019

tblack33 said:
Good post, appreciate being challenged with some facts to back it up. Still don't think 4/13 scholarship players with comparable/better offers is great but is admittedly better than I expected.

If that's what we are looking at though I think we have to ask the question what aren't we doing that St. Bonny/Davidson/others at the top are doing? If we are in fact pulling in the same quality recruits as them, how come we haven't been able to put it together and have a season at the top of the league yet? I think my main problem with Paulsen's recruitng lies in the last two years, where it seems like our recruiting seems to have been trending down when we arguably have more resources/recruiting pitches with new facilities, PT, etc and should be bringing in more highly regarded recruits.

Do look forward to seeing Polite in green and gold, hope he comes in and makes an impact immediately. Always need guys who can flat out put the ball in the bucket.

Davidson and St. Bonvanture have landed at least one dominant player that changes games and we haven’t. Look at Payton Aldridge, Kellen Grady, and JAG for Davidson and then Jaylen Adams, Matt Mobley, and Courtney Stockard for St. Bonaventure (probably will be Kyle Lofton next year, considering how good he was his freshman season, Osun was also really, really good). We thought Otis and Grayer were going to be that for us last season but they weren’t.

sleeperpick · Jul 22, 2019

GMUgemini said:
Davidson and St. Bonvanture have landed at least one dominant player that changes games and we haven’t. Look at Payton Aldridge, Kellen Grady, and JAG for Davidson and then Jaylen Adams, Matt Mobley, and Courtney Stockard for St. Bonaventure (probably will be Kyle Lofton next year, considering how good he was his freshman season, Osun was also really, really good). We thought Otis and Grayer were going to be that for us last season but they weren’t.

Davidson and Bona recruit mostly only 2 stars as well. Why are there's panning out at a much higher clip than our 2 stars. They are getting guys to the NBA that had minimal scholarship offers... Schmidt and McKillop (answer is yes) that much better of a talent evaluator, scout, coach, etc than Paulsen?

sleeperpick · Jul 22, 2019

Quentin Daniels said:
Here's your last 15 posts. See if you can spot the trend the rest of us do.

It's not that everyone else thinks everything is kittens and rainbows, it's that you're over the top and belaboring the point over and over again. You've become a parody.

And worst of all, you're not clever about it, or funny, or bringing any new information. You're a drain and you've become a troll as bad as DJ3 & PMP who are the only ones that like your posts.

Do better. Add some value or STFU.

Post
Welcome Ronald Polite
and also..... Paulsen has successfully recruited only three players in his time at Mason that anybody on an equal or better conference status has...

Welcome Ronald Polite
Great post! In the A-10 we are bottom 5 in star rating along with Fordham, Bona, Davidson and GW... McKillop is legendary so we can not talk about...

Kenner
Where’s the anger from everyone about Herndon being so negative about AJ. Some people say one bad word about any of our players and they need to...

Welcome Ronald Polite
Paulsen is supposedly a north eastern recruiter too. Wonder what happened

Kenner
Kenner Something something blah blah something something. AJ is a monster. We must use him as a weapon.

2019 Recruiting
Your original point about Dixon had absolutely no point to it. I don’t think you meant this but Dixon is not a needed piece to Our program today and...

2019 Recruiting
Idk what else to say other than he either won’t play for NC state next year or he will be a slightly better version than what we saw. He’s not good...

2019 Recruiting
I will let you figure out yourself why this was kinda dumb to post.... Greg might average 15-10 at UMKC

2019 Recruiting

I’m going to be a bit more positive in thinking that maybe paulsen has a preferred walk on spot available. Other positive light... Zion Williamson...

2020 Recruiting

doubtful but we will see

2019 Recruiting

I cannot find a single offer for him anywhere... he did grow over 7 inches in less than a year from what I can piece together...
0 Recruiting

MaxPreps has him at 6 foot 2.. kid hit a 7 inch growth spurt in less than a year it looks like LOL

Otis to play in Denmark

They don’t really drink soda over there. Not sure he would make it

2020 Recruiting

Now that we got Polite as a guard.... go get a damn big man that isn't a project..... PLEASE

Welcome Ronald Polite

https://www.prephoops.com/2019/05/recruiting-report-ronald-polite-2020/. Congrats Ronald. Happy to have you here. Beat out Robert Morris, JMU,...

the problem is they do find things kittens and rainbows.. the guys I argue with on here are the ones that are ecstatic about being 5-7 in the A-10 (Herndon) and guys that don't see a problem with recruiting non-A10 caliber players and then them not panning out (pretty much everyone else).

I bring statistics over why Paulsen is underwhelming and failing and I get called a troll and told to stop supporting the program

I bring statistics why our recruiting is underwhelming as well as player development and I get called a troll and told to stop supporting the program

A10 media outlets, Rothstein, all think we finish 8-10 next year.. I agree with them and I get called a troll and told to stop supporting the program

At some point you guys will look at statistics over fuzzy feelings inside your tummies about Paulsen...

We don't have to recruit at the level of Dayton to be a good A10 team.... but we damn sure shouldn't be at the level of GW and Fordham....

Lasalle's new coach would have been my dream hire here and he has pulled in 2 3 stars and a 4 star at one of the shittiest schools (facilities, city, area, program) in the A10... just watch in two seasons time about which program is better.. unfortunately it won't be us

tblack33 · Jul 22, 2019

GMUgemini said:
Davidson and St. Bonvanture have landed at least one dominant player that changes games and we haven’t. Look at Payton Aldridge, Kellen Grady, and JAG for Davidson and then Jaylen Adams, Matt Mobley, and Courtney Stockard for St. Bonaventure (probably will be Kyle Lofton next year, considering how good he was his freshman season, Osun was also really, really good). We thought Otis and Grayer were going to be that for us last season but they weren’t.

So do you think we are 1 impact player away from being top 3 in the A-10? (legit question not trying to attack your opinion on it)

If Greene or one of last years freshman came back this season, and absolutely took a leap forward and put up 2-3rd team all a-10 type numbers and Kier kept up his averages +2-3 PPG, with no major injuries would we be a top 3 A-10 team?

tblack33 · Jul 22, 2019

sleeperpick said:
Davidson and Bona recruit mostly only 2 stars as well. Why are there's panning out at a much higher clip than our 2 stars. They are getting guys to the NBA that had minimal scholarship offers... Schmidt and McKillop (answer is yes) that much better of a talent evaluator, scout, coach, etc than Paulsen?

Is Davidson ever in the conversation for 3-4 star type players? Are they recruiting against other A-10 schools or just looking at a completely different pool than the rest of us (legit questions I do not know the answer to)?

Goodbye Ronald Polite

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