Davidson shot the lights out last night against George Mason and ran away with the quarterfinals game 99-67. It was an embarrassing but common exit from the Atlantic 10 tournament for Mason, who have never gotten to a the semifinals round since joining the conference. Davidson came into the game the best shooting team in the conference, efficiency wise, so it was so surprise this was going to be their game plan and yet the Patriots still had no answer.

The Wildcats packed the paint and prevented Mason from scoring inside yearly. The Patriots struggled mightily to get points in the early going and fell into an early 20-point deficit. Davidson went 17-for-31 on three-pointers and at certain points seemed like they were never going to miss. Mason didn’t make it difficult for them, often sitting back in a zone and watching open looks go up.

This was the game where they needed the seniors to step up and do something to try to get them back in the game. That never happened as Javon Greene and AJ Wilson combined for 12 points. Overall the offense just couldn’t get any of the looks they wanted to as Davidson’s defense just smothered them. Josh Oduro and Jordan Miller’s scoring in the paint was much more laboring and took a ton more effort.

Now we have another offseason of where the hell is this program going under Dave Paulsen. It’s been six years and Mason hasn’t come close to even being a fringe bubble team. Do they roll him out for this last season under contract? Would seem like a lame duck year to me. It will be interesting to see how the new school president views the men’s basketball program and if a change needs to be made. Personally I don’t think Paulsen is a bad coach but he just isn’t good enough to consistently win at this level and doesn’t recruit well enough to survive.