Cam Long poised for big year

Don't be surprised if Cam Long is this year's team MVP. The sophomore showed flashes of brilliance and poise at times last season and looks to build on that this year. It's a shock to no one that he will be asked to step up by his coach and teammates this year and take over the duties of Folarin Campbell.

“What we’ve told Cam now is (he’s) got to step up and take Folarin’s job,” said Larranaga, entering his 12th season in Fairfax. “You’ve got to score, you’ve got to rebound, you’ve got to get assists, steals, you’ve got to defend. You’ve got to contribute in a lot of different ways and be a team leader even though you’re just a sophomore.”

Those are some pretty big shoes to fill for Long and the rest of this young Patriots squad. It's still John Vaughan and Dre Smith's team but leadership will be given by Long who ended the season averaging about 18 minutes a game. His progression could be the difference between Mason fighting for an NCAA or NIT bid.

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First Practice

Here's a YouTube of the Patriots first practice of the season. You gotta love the passion from Dre Smith!

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Mason picked 4th in the CAA

Today is media day in DC for the CAA and the ball is already rolling as VCU was picked to win the conference while the Patriots came in at #4. No shocker there, Eric Maynor is a senior and two other starters return for the Rams. CAA media day is more interactive then ever apparently, which isn't hard because it was never interactive with the fans at all! Hurry and send in your questions to Coach Larranaga now.

Side note: Per caasports.com, it seems Mason will have 14 televised games this season, with the Liberty game being on "Flames TV", whatever the hell that is.

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Mason gets it's Big Man

Great weekend for the Patriots on the recruiting front as they picked up two signees for the class of 2009 including 6'8" center Johnnie Williams (pictured) of Memphis, Tennessee. Mason also picked up a verbal from 6'5" small forward Luke Hancock of Chatham, VA. Williams had been considering Alabama, Oklahoma State and Boston College. Both are key pickups to round out the class of 2009 with Williams being that big man Mason needs now that the Jai Lewis - Will Thomas era is officially over and Monroe is in his last season of eligibility. Williams has been listed as much as 230 lbs on some recruiting websites, which is definitely a plus for an incoming freshman at the forward/center position. For most mid-major schools getting quality guards is not a problem but getting skilled big men with size and atheltism can be difficult and that is why this commitment is so huge for the Patriots. Mason has already been noted as having the best incoming freshman class of 2008 in the CAA and adding Williams to that mix next season could possibly have fans seeing the most talented squad they have seen in Fairfax in awhile.

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Madness Begins

Didn't go to Midnight Madness last night but I heard the freshmen looked great and Coach L could not resist mentioning about the US News report on Mason being the #1 up and coming University. I so could have called that, he loves the stats rankings.

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Where's the Madness?

It's that time of year again, Midnight (9:30pm) Madness! Call me crazy but it's difficult for me to get excited about this now that I am an alumni. Being a recent grad, last year's was the first I attended while sober and I was pretty damn bored. What do Indian belly dancers have to do with college basketball? At least some schools find loop holes and get creative with it and then there's Kentucky who I guess can do whatever they want. It's a glorified pep rally that gets fans all hyper for Randolph Macon? I'd much rather have something like this before the first home game which isn't against a middle school jv team.

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Larranaga building on success

Jeff Goodman, author of the College Hoop Blog: Good N' Plenty, writes today about Larranaga using the success of the Patriots to expand his recruiting beyond the DC Metro area. This is the first year in a long time that the Patriots incoming freshman class doesn't have a local scholarship player. Interesting quote from Coach L:

"We look wildly good and wildly bad at times,” Larranaga said of preseason workouts. “But we’ve got a lot of talent.”

Should be a fun season.

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