When Friday's game against Morgan State is over, Mason coach Dave Paulsen can expect a folder on his desk with scouting information on the next opponent, Rhode Island, which hosts the Patriots in the team's A10 opener on Dec.30.

Scouting is a constant duty of the coaching staff. Paulsen's three assistant coaches – Dane Fischer, Aaron Kelly, and Duane Simpkins – divide the scouting assignments and then provide the head coach and players with reports backed with video and stats.

"Everyone does them differently; we all have little different routines," says Fischer, in his 12^th season with Paulsen following stints at Williams and Bucknell.

The first thing Fischer does for a scout is to look at the opponent's seasonal stats, the box-score type data available online at every team's website. He also mines data on more detailed metrics provided kenpom.com, a stat service to which the Patriots and most other teams subscribe.

In prepping for Morgan State, Fischer drilled down on the Bears' stats by studying the kenpom.com numbers, which rank teams in stat categories. For example, the Bears average 11.2 steals per game, 33^rd among 351 teams. They shoot 40.3% from inside the arc, ranking 344^th. But they also get a lot of offensive rebounds, ranking 117^th in the category.

"It gives you an overview of how they play, what they excel at, what they're not as great at, what they give up more than what they take away," Fischer says of the stats.

Then Fischer logs onto Synergy Sports Tech for video clips of teams and individuals. The assistant will watch clips on each starter and key reserves. By then, he'll have a feel for who is a slasher or long-range bomber or a catch-and-shoot player or a pull-up threat.

Once he has a sense of the style and abilities of players, the next step is to watch games. Fischer typically will observe a team's most recent five games, charting all kinds of offensive and defensive information. He sends Paulsen an edited clip that includes offensive sets and actions, types of defenses, inbounds plays.

Paulsen also gets a game prep list with all kinds of detailed info on offenses, defenses and personnel. The assistant who scouts will meet with Paulsen to go over strategy and how to structure practices to address key issues.

"I know what he wants in a scouting report," Fischer says. "I know what he wants me to bring

to him when the two of us meet. I know the stuff that's is relevant to him and how he wants it pared down for our players.

"We'll talk about personnel, who the guys are going to guard, what the matchups are, about style of play, what we need to guard in practice, what we want to run against them and what they'll do against us. We come to a conclusion about what we are going to do in practice to prepare for the game and what our final scouting report will be like."

The scout's job is to condense information. From the 20-30 hours he has spent analyzing video, Fischer will send Paulsen an edit of 30-40 minutes. The clips for players will be less than three minutes, typically.

The day before a game, the team meets after practice for about a half hour with the scouting report that includes a couple of sheets of info and video clips. After a game-day shootaround, the players will again go over the scouting report in a meeting that usually is about 15 minutes.

The goal is to inform the players but avoid too much detail that could produce paralysis by analysis.

"Physically we give them less information and show big picture stuff on film," Fischer says. "We don't want our guys thinking too much. Want them to be able to execute and play with an attention to the scouting report. Coach (Paulsen) says the scouting report is a tool to help you, not to weigh you down."

The coach who did the scout has absorbed the tendencies of the opponent and is ready to offer suggestions or information during the game. "That's all talked about before the game (among the coaching staff) and applied during the game," Fischer says.

There's a coaching adage that there are no secrets in conference play. The coaches and players know so much about opponents. The Patriots play four A10 opponents – St. Joe's, VCU, Richmond, GW – twice a season.

"When you get to the league, the scouting gets more ramped up," Fischer says. "You have more data with games to watch and more history with a team and players.

"Numbers will tell you a lot. But sometimes you'll see a season box 10 games in and a guy's shooting 20% from three. You look back at last year and the guy's a 45% shooter. You always know more about your league, know more about the tendencies of teams and players."

Thanks to the internet, scouting can now be done anywhere and anytime. Fischer's most enjoyable situation is at home with his wife, Chelsea, a former player at Kentucky, and their daughter, Camryn, 13 months.

"We'll watch a lot of video together," Fischer says. "(Chelsea) always likes to get copy of the scouting report so she knows who the players are."

Even though the duties are divided, scouting really never stops.

"It's fun," Fischer says. "You start from the beginning, getting all this information and trying to pick out the stuff that's the most relevant and significant in terms of how a game is going to be played. Where can you take advantage of strengths and hopefully exploit their weaknesses? … It's fun, but there's a lot of work that goes into it."

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