Showdown in Fairfax

The VCU Rams come to town tomorrow night in what could possibly be the biggest game of the season for the Patriots. The game could end deciding who ends up first in the standings, as the Patriots are two games behind the Rams for first place. Mason's inconsistency this season has been an issue but the lone constant has been winning in Fairfax. The Patriots face their toughest opponents to come to the Patriot Center this season since the Dayton Flyers. The Rams are a roll lately and slowly separating themselves from the pack in the CAA. A key stat to that could doom the Patriots is that the Rams are leading the nation in three-point FG percentage defense. Considering there has been way too many times this season that Mason has lived off the three-point shot, they could find themselves in serious trouble if they don't establish the inside game. Will Thomas will have a hard time tomorrow night, he's never been able to go off against the Rams. Wil Fameni was able to hold Thomas to only 10 points and 4 rebounds in last season's CAA championship. Head coach Anthony Grant will have his boys prepared and I have no doubt that stopping Thomas is going to be the focus of the defense. This puts big pressure on the guards, they will have to make outside shots and get to the foul line, something they aren't great at. Speaking of getting to the foul line, Vlad needs to do that more, he rarely misses. But when you think of the Ram's you think of Eric Maynor (pictured above and flipping you off with teammate Jamal Shuler), the golden savior in last year's NCAA tournament game against Duke. He is clutch and difficult to contain. He won't drop 30 points on you like Hofstra's Agudio but he will make players around him better. He's a solid floor general and agruably one of the best pure point guards in the country, and along with every other Mason fan, I hate him. And speaking of Shuler, (pictured to the right gettin' his Goose on) he has been a large part of VCU's success thus far averaging 16 points a game. I am not even going to try to predict the outcome for this game because usually when I write something like that it dooms the Patriots but now this, it will be an exciting game, guaranteed.

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ESPN Chat with Will Thomas

Join Will Thomas today at noon as he will answer your questions during this "Spirit Week" chat edition on ESPN.com. Hmmm, I wonder how many questions will be about the '06 Final Four and not about the current season. Nevertheless, good to see ESPN giving tomorrow's game some hype.

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Trouble at Trask

The Patriots suffered another disappointing but not surprising road loss to UNCW Saturday night. Mason was living off the three-point shot in the first half then it disappeared in the second. I don't understand the strategy they were going for on offense, especially when it alienates your biggest offensive weapon, Will Thomas. The barrage of three-pointers was nice at first when the Patriots made three in a row to start things off but it made Thomas a non-factor early. It would have been nice to at least get UNCW's Kuljana in foul trouble considering Thomas is ten times more athletic then him. Even though Mason out rebounded the Seahawks, Kuljana killed them on the boards in the 2nd half. This wasn't to stay Mason didn't play a good game because they shot the ball well again and kept pretty good care of the ball. UNCW is always tough at home as I stated in my last post and this game was no exception, they played great and never gave Mason an inch. As it stands now we are in a four-way tie for 2nd place with them, Delaware, and William and Mary. Never thought I would be saying that in late January. VCU still has a two game lead for 1st place and the face-off Tuesday in Fairfax hasn't lost any luster despite this recent loss. If UNCW blew out the Patriots Saturday I'd be a little worried but let's all be thankful this a home game.

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Terrible Trask

The Raiford G. Trask Coliseum is the home of the UNCW Seahawks and is a place where Coach Larranaga has not won in four years. The UNCW faithful pack this small gym and you will see nothing but a sea of students in teal colored shirts. Not the prettiest thing to look at, so I can understand why it's hard to play there. The last time Larranaga won in Wilmington, sophomore Jai Lewis scored 21 points and the Patriots pulled it out in overtime. During Coach L's tenure the Patriots have scored an average of 56.6 points per game at the Trask, that is scary bad. But with the way this team has been playing defense and shooting the ball lately it might be time for some old habits to die hard. Depth will be important in the game as it is in any road conference match. A lot of bench players saw more action Wednesday night and that should provide some excellent preparation for tomorrow. UNCW in no way boasts a scary lineup this year but they are well coached and play great defense; your not gonna see any Mason player score over 20. Make no mistake though TJ Carter and Vlad Kuljanin can play but they recently seem to shy away in big games. The double overtime game at Hofstra was important because this game could very well end up just like that. Similar results will not come easy.

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Bracket Buster Update

ESPN's Bracket Buster has become important date in February for mid-major teams across the country. Mason used it in the 2005-2006 season as a stepping stone into the NCAA tournament with a road win at Wichita State. Since then mid-major have gotten more market coverage but this showcase of games has really turned into larger and more meaningful event. After our losses to ECU and Georgia State I was starting to think that this event would be meaningless to our schedule but now things are starting to look up. With Mason's current RPI around the 40's and 50's depending on which formula you use, a road game with an opponent of a similar standing could be another quality win for the resume. Mason still has work to be done in the conference but this game could still be a factor. The match-ups are announced February 3rd and here is a chart with all the teams participating and who they would possibly be matched up with, courtesy of our friends from the CAAZone.com. Looking at the chart, Illinois State and Ohio look like probable opponents if the announcements were made today. These might not be "sexy" teams but it's really a matter of numbers and rating scores. Cleveland State is ruled out because we already played them this season but Valparaiso and Oral Roberts are not. Either of those teams could be a tough match up for the Patriots. Truthfully I would love to see Butler as our opponent but I think they will mostly be matched up with Drake. Southern Illinois, despite having a disappointing season would still be an excellent test for the Patriots, you just never know with those Missouri Valley teams.

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Home Sweet Home

The Patriots are looking better then ever and even with more confidence then we saw at the Old Spice Classic in November. They are undefeated at home this season and I don't even have to look up the average margin of victory to know it's down right impressive. Last night's massacre of the ODU Monarchs was a game in which Mason again shot the ball extremely well, and apparently handed ODU their worst loss in 12 years. The Patriots made their first 14 out of 25 shots and this time it wasn't the Dre Smith show, it was Folarin Campbell's night. Campbell was able to pour on 25 points, including 5 three-pointers. Vaughan added 17 and Thomas had 14 in a game that saw a lot of the freshman get minutes as well. Big Vlad even had 4 blocks, I couldn't believe my eyes. Now if he could only hit a three-pointer. Jordan Carter was limited to only 11 minutes but he seemed to be able to move around fine out there despite the ankle problem. Dre followed up his record breaking night in Harrisonburg with a 5 point showing and only going 1 for 6 from behind the arch. Oh well, at least we know what the guy is capable of now. Mason is finally starting to show that passion and fire in their game play and the results have been domination on the court. This could not have come at a better time with the VCU game and battle for first place on ESPN2 less than a week away.

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Unsung Hero

Andy Katz, probably one of the only ESPN "writers" I don't hate, has a great write-up in his blog about Thuc Phan, George Mason's student manager for the men's basketball team. Apparently he went way beyond the call of duty at the Hofstra game last week and set the new standard for all student managers across the country. The funny thing is I am pretty sure this is a job that I once applied for and was denied during my freshman year. Looks like they made the right decision on who to hire. Here's an excerpt from Katz's blog entry today:

"The Patriots get two tapes of every game. One is a television version of the game. The other is dubbed down by Phan, who hooks his computer up with the television crew, to get a direct feed while the game is going on, which allows him to edit it during the game to speed up the process for the staff. George Mason was off to James Madison Saturday and had only Friday in between the Thursday game at Hofstra and JMU to watch the game.

But Hofstra couldn't accommodate Phan near the camera. That didn't deter him. He went out to the television truck and asked if he could hook up his computer directly to the truck. Larranaga said he was told he could but there was no room for him inside the truck. Once again, that didn't stop the senior engineering student.

He got an extension cord, ran his computer directly to the truck and sat out in the cold, driving rain with a small awning over his head to protect his computer.

The game went into overtime.

The game went into a second overtime.

Phan didn't budge. He sat there, logging the game, to ensure Larranaga's staff had the necessary breakdown of the game."

I mean wow, what dedication. It's the little things like that which people never see that can really make a difference in terms of a team's preparation. I think I can speak on behalf of many Mason fans out there when I say thank you for all the hard work you put in each season.

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