What we learned about George Mason from the Charleston Classic

George Mason started off the Charleston Classic strong with a decisive victory over Charlotte but faltered in the 2nd halves of their losses to NC State and Wofford to finish 4th in the tournament.  The Patriots definitely got some quality experience out of this weekend but time will tell if they learn anything from their mistakes and shortcomings.  Here are some things we learned about this year's team so far:

• The team has depth but I don't think Larranaga knows fully how to use it just yet.  I say this because their were a ton of different lineup combinations at there this weekend. I know he was trying to get the younger guys some good experience but the substitutions in the 2nd half of the NC State were head scratching.  I think the coaching staff is still figuring out who they trust in late game situations off bench.

• They need to be more patient.  Coach Larranaga said this in the post game yesterday after the loss to Wofford and it really showed late in the game.  Mason faded in the 2nd half twice over their last two games mostly because they had too many players looking for the quick score one-on-one plays.  They don't have any good one-on-one guys in my opinion, they need all five guys contributing in their motion offense for them to score consistently.  The rushed shot attempts and poor decision making are things that can be corrected if they were more patient late in the games.  This stuck out a lot of some of Luke Hancock's game.  

• You can't blame the defense and rebounding. Larranaga's bread and butter haven't been the problem so far but what they have been doing after an offensive rebound or a defensive stop has been.  It doesn't matter how good of defense you are playing if you constantly turn over the ball. And as for rebounding, Mason needs to capitalize more on those 2nd chance opportunities, they squandered a whole lot yesterday.   

• Problems from last year are still carrying over. And with this I mean finishing strong in the 2nd half when they have the lead.  Towards the end of last season the Patriots struggled to close out opponents and the CIT game against Fairfield was an exclamation point on the matter. So far we have seen a little bit of that as the Patriots seem to forget that there are 40 minutes in the game. You could blame it on youth last season but what do you say if it keeps happening this year?