On the Recruiting Trails

Coach Larranaga has had success recruiting in his own backyard but every once in awhile he will push hard to bring in an out of state kid. His latest 2008 prospect, Stacey Waters, hails from Michigan and is a 6'4" shooting guard with an excellent perimeter game. All of Larranaga's 2007 recruits have a great shooting touch so its obvious to see what caught his eye in this kid's game. He seems to be the same mold as John Vaughan and incoming freshman Cameron Long. Waters is viewed as a late bloomer that has just recently started to get offers from VCU and Central Michigan. A good mid-major coach has to be able to spot kids like this right from the start and get to him before the major teams start to notice him. Waters speaks of George Mason in an interview on rivals.com:

"I heard from George Mason not too long ago," he began. "They said they are in a good position to offer me a scholarship with one of their guys at my position leaving."

The guy at his position that will be leaving after next season is Folarin Campbell and it will not be easy to fill those shoes. Hopefully Coach L will offer to Waters before his stock continues to rise even more this summer in his AAU league. Here's a quote from an article talking about his AAU team:

Stacey Waters from Detroit Renaissance is playing the best basketball of any perimeter player in the state of Michigan at this point. He's a mid D-1 player now for certain, trying to produce his way to high D-1 status by the end of July.

Larranaga might have to use some recruiting magic and hope for a little luck in order to bring this kid to Fairfax but then again I never thought 'Dre Smith would commit to Mason.

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Spice up the Schedule

Early season tournaments have always given a preview of which teams could be dark horses in March. The pre-season NIT did wonders for Butler last year, giving them a chance to knock off some power house programs and ride the wave of success all year into the NCAA tournament. Mason could have really used a pre-season tournament to help with chemistry last year and this year they will get their chance to prove themselves early. The field was just announced for the Old Spice Classic which has the Patriots squaring off against Kansas State thanksgiving night on ESPN2. The tournament also features Penn State, South Carolina, Villanova, NC State, Rider and UCF. The casual college hoops fan might not think much of this Big 12 Kansas State team but there's nothing about them this year that should be overlooked as they have arguably the best recruiting class of 2007. Before Bob Huggins bolted for West Virginia he was able to sign Michael Beasley (ranked #1 on scout.com) and Bill Walker (ranked #2). Why those two have chosen to stay at Kansas State without Huggins is beyond me. Let's just hope they have not bought into 1st year head coach Frank Martin's system yet, who coached at Northeastern from 2000-2004 by the way. But serious match-up problems aside this is a great opportunity for the Patriots and give me another reason to ignore my family thanksgiving night.

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Goodbye Triple X

Wow it sure was fun to have an ESPN radio station cover all of Mason's games last season but it looks like we have already been dropped. Last week Triple X ESPN radio announced that they had struck a partnership with Virginia Tech to cover their football and basketball games. At first it was thought that this wasn't necessarily the end of the their relationship with the Patriots; until reading Dave Preston's blog. In this blog entry, Preston (an anchor for the station) writes about the new partnership and in the comment section a fan asks if this means the end of Triple X covering Mason games. Preston's response is:

Regretfully yes, after an exciting season of GMU basketball we have decided to make the change to VT Football and Basketball. We only wish we could carry both basketball programs. We will continue to carry the latest info on Patriots basketball in our DC SPortsCenters so keep turnin' us on!

I don't understand why they still can't carry Mason games considering the two teams are in different conferences and don't usually play on the same nights. This is a DC and Northern Virginia based radio station and they give up on the Patriots already? I know there is a lot VA Tech alum in this area but they have not had the most stellar of athletic season recently to merit full time coverage in this area. It basically comes down to the point that the Hokies have football and Mason doesn't. It's a big loss in terms of local coverage and promotion for the Patriots if they are not picked up by a decent local station (possibly WJFK-106.7 ).

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Doc Nix should replace Gunston as mascot

Michael Nickens became Mason's new prep band director last year and had fans wondering why a Pimp had taken over this position. Nickens, more commonly known to the Mason faithful as "Doc Nix", brought new life to the Patriot Center crowd this past season and now even has his own bobblehead! Nickens also works with Thomas Edison High School’s Marching Band, located in Alexandria, VA and as a fund raiser he created bobbleheads of himself (Kryptonite Kane included) to sell for $10 a pop. Sure the thing might resemble Cheech Marin in a Pimp suit but what the hey I'd buy one. It's definitely a better bobblehead than the Gunston one I received at a home game a couple years ago, then used to take out my anger by smashing to pieces shortly after the GMU-Hofstra CAA semi-finals debacle in 2006. If smashing a Gunston bobblehead is wrong I don't want to be right.

Which brings to up the point I am trying to make. Doc Nix, decked out in his full attire makes such a better mascot than Gunston for the Patriots. It's not a Patriot but it's also not a confusing, poor man's green cookie monster either. Unlike Gunston, Doc Nix actually gets the Mason crowd fired up and all the students love him. And I'm not just saying this because he added me as a friend on Facebook. Gunston is a symbol of the old GMU days when we were a school tucked away in Fairfax that no one knew about; Doc Nix represents the new look of Mason with pride, spirit and cheer that was lacking for many years.

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Will new 3-point Line Hurt the Patriots?

Last week the NCAA men's basketball panel approved moving the three point line back a foot for the 2008-2009 season. This move comes from the panel in an attempt to prevent excess crowding around the basket but it won't do much to help that problem. Many coaches feel its a long time coming since the line was implemented in the late 80s because players seem to hit more every year with a little too much ease. But will this change hurt mid-major teams such as the Patriots, who live and die by the three point at times and rely on it to cause upsets in the tournament. A lot of mid-major teams compensate for the fact that they are undersized when going up against big name programs by raining three-pointers. You see it every year in the tournament; its how Davidson almost upset Maryland this past March. And thats because mid-major teams will sometimes have the better pure shooters on their team because thats all they can do. Big schools will always take the flashy wingman who create and drive the lane over a slow kid who makes a living behind the arc but can't ball handle or play defense. Coach L has always brought in three-point shooting talent and this years class is no different. Most coaches will probably tell you that the change does not really effect a players shooting percentage because almost all Division I kids can hit threes from 20 feet 9 inches just as they could from 19 feet 9 inches. And thats all well and good but don't forget about the changes on defense that this could present.

A defense guru like Larranaga should have no trouble making necessary adjustments to his schemes due to the extra space inside the arch but there could be some growing pains. One can remember how difficult it seemed at times last season for the Patriots to defend the three-point shot. This new change doesn't exactly make things easier for them; as the increase in area will make it more difficult to close out on shooters, creating more wide-open looks. We can only hope this change will not farther the gap between majors and mid-majors, but that seems to be the likely outcome in the long run.

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Threatt Completes Recruiting Class

It appears that Coach Larranaga has decided to use his last available scholarship on Jay Threatt, a talented ball-handler from Highland Springs, Virginia. It was uncertain if Larranaga was going to use this scholarship to sign a fourth recruit for his 2007 class or save it for next season but now Richmond area periodicals are reporting that it is a done deal. Threatt has been on Larranaga's radar for awhile after an impressive senior year that included a performance against fellow Mason signee Cameron Long that made his stock rise. What is interesting about this signing is that Threatt is a very similar player to other two guards in Mason 2007 recruiting class. Hes a 5'8" point guard with excellent three-point shooting skills, but his ball handling skills are what probably got Coach L interested. Is it just me or does this team already have enough guards and not enough depth in the front court? Guard is always the key to any great mid-major school but with guys like Will Thomas and Monroe gone after next season I don't understand why Larranaga isn't bringing in some big bodies to groom as replacements. But I do understand how important it is to have enough ball-handlers on the team, especially when watching the CAA tournament final this past March. You can never have enough three-pointer shooters in college basketball, its a valuable asset to a team and Larranaga has made this a point of emphasis in recent recruiting.

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Recruiting class getting more attention

When has Mason ever had two recruits honored as first teamers on the Washington Post's All-Metro team? The answer is never and this official announcement in today's Post just reinforces what avid Mason hoop fans already know: we got a damn good recruiting class coming to Fairfax. Cameron Long and Vlad Moldoveanu were honored on the first team and Isaiah Tate was an honorable mention making the group one of the most decorated recruiting classes in Mason's history. If you look at the rest of the first team they are made up guys will be playing in the Big East and the ACC conferences. Maryland and Georgetown won't be stealing all the best local recruits anymore. Also notice that on the first team Vlad is joined by teammate Chris Wright who averaged 30 points a game and was a McDonald's All-American. Amazing Vlad was able to get enough attention for himself with a guy like Wright hogging the ball during the year. The more I read about these recruits coming in next season the more confident I feel about the future of this team. Usually Coach L has to settle for players who are basically overlooked by everyone and than have to be molded into guys like Lamar Butler and Tony Skinn. Now he has the luxury of having guys come in that have the talent to step in and contribute right away. And thats not a knock on the previous recruiting classes that Larranaga has brought in, but these new guys that he is bringing in have played against much better competition and in some cases have carried their teams. Cameron Long for instance did have much of a supporting cast at Freedom high school in Woodbridge but he was able to get them to the state semi-finals. Vlad is a 6'11" versatile player who shot 42.3% from the three point line. Usually players over 6'7" are hard to come by for mid-major teams, let alone a guy nearly 7-feet tall that can knock down three pointers. Vlad will have a huge advantage over most of the competition in the CAA at the 3 or 4 spot creating mis-matches for other teams. Mason returns its entire starting lineup and two guys on the all-met first team; oh yeah the future looks bright.

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