Wow.

I am almost speechless. I knew Drexel was not going to be the same squad that took down Syracuse, Villanova, and St. Joe's last season but I did not think they would end up on the wrong side of the biggest blow out in CAA history. Watching this game was like watching a father beat his son; offensive at first but yet you can't look away. Saying Mason was on fire last night is a serious understatement. Every Patriot scored at least 5 points except for Jay Threatt, even big Chris Fleming had 10 points. With Dre Smith knocking down three pointers, Will Thomas was barely needed in this one. Let's just think about this for a second, Mason won by 47 points, shot over 50% from the field and their best shooter (percentage wise), Will Thomas, attempted only 7 shots. Mason is becoming the definition...

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Previewing Drexel

After a holiday weekend in Disney and some national attention, the Patriots play their first conference game Thursday against Drexel. The key matchup in this game is of course Will Thomas against Frank Elegar. Both are all-CAA material and have been putting up similar numbers thus far in scoring and rebounding. Elegar returns as the team's leading scorer from last season but the Dragons lost Bashir Mason (11.2 ppg, 3.4 apg, 2.7 rpg), Chaz Crawford (6.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.3 bpg), Dominick Mejia (11.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg). I am especially glad to see Crawford (last seasons CAA defensive player of the year) gone as he played superb defense against the Patriots last season in Philadelphia. Despite losing some key three point shooters from last season the...

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Mason finishes third in classic

Mason was able to squeak by South Carolina Sunday night to take third place in the Old Spice Classic, in a game where they missed their first 12 shots and shot under 50% from the free throw line. The Patriots were down 14-2 to start as the Gamecocks were able to contain Will Thomas. It was difficult to watch a guy who as only 5'9" (Devan Downey) drive to the lane against the Patriots almost every play and make something happen. Downey is arguably one of the fastest players in college basketball and was disruptive all night. Mason was able to bounce back in the second half with strong play from Will Thomas, freshmen Cam Long, and Louis Birdsong. Birdsong must have eaten something different for breakfast on Sunday or maybe he got a boost riding the Tea Cups at Disney World because it was...

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First cut is the deepest

Well the Patriots were unable to pull off consecutive "upsets" as they fell to Big East power Villanova yesterday. The loss is disappointing from the standpoint that if Mason played as sharp as they did against Kansas State they probably could have easily taken this one. But Mason fans should not feel down about this loss, for starters it was the the second game in less than 24 hours against a nationally ranked team. Scottie Reynolds was held in check by the Patriots in the first half but then took over in the second. Mason shot well from the field and from the three point stripe but 'Nova just shot better. They boasted a lineup that often featured Reynolds and two other point guards, all of whom could hit threes from anywhere on the court....

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Taking'em to school

Oh how sweet it is to see Mason's experience take down another talent heavy but young squad. I figured I had to start this post with a sentence containing the word "experience" because the ESPN2 announcers probably said about 2345 times last night. It got to the point were my brother and I started to play a drinking game about it. I also love how every time Mason plays on ESPN some announcer has to say what "Folarin" means in Nigerian. But they were right, Kansas State's inexperience really showed in this game as the Patriots looked calm and cool throughout the whole game. Also I don't think it hurt that was some extra motivation involved here after Michael Beasley's name was being mentioned every five seconds. The Patriots are off to...

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Previewing Kansas State

On Thanksgiving night the Patriots will most likely face their toughest regular season opponent, Kansas State in the Old Spice Classic on ESPN2. The wildcats boast a young but powerful and high octane lineup which includes Michael Beasley; who so far seems to have the makings of the next Kevin Durant. Despite it still being very early in the season, Beasley seems to arguably be the best player in college basketball right now as he is averaging 30 points and 20 rebounds through his first 3 games (and no that's not a typo). I don't care who he was playing, those are ridiculous numbers. Beasley and his fellow top 2007 recruit Bill Walker create serious mismatches for the Patriots. Both will have more size and athleticism than anyone who will...

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Big Week for Big Willie Style

Well I think most Mason fans saw this one coming, Will Thomas is the CAA's player of the week. In this first week of action Thomas has been putting up some very impressive numbers and even improved his free throw shooting percent recently. I do believe his rebounding numbers are a little inflated due to the fact that Monroe is still out, but nonetheless it's an impressive stat line. I think the real question this poses to Mason fans is can he keep this up against Kansas State and will that even be enough? Thomas will need at least 20 and 15 to help Mason pull this off on turkey day and that might not even be enough if the team doesn't connect on it's three pointers. Now if only Folarin Campbell could show the same consistency Thomas brings...

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Record setting night

Now that is more like it. The Patriots were able to take down the Dayton Flyers last night in Fairfax, going 21 for 21 from the free throw line despite struggling from there in the previous contests. Mason is 3-0 to start the season for the first time in almost 30 years. Folarin Campbell was able to find his shooting touch and Will Thomas again was able to dominate on the boards. Jordan Carter also had a great night running the point and picked up three steals to go along with his 15 points. Big Vlad got his first career start but was held scoreless despite having a few open looks. His time will come, I'm not worried. Dre Smith seemed a little bit more like himself in the this game but still was 0-5 from three point land. The best thing to take away from this game was Campbell and Thomas...

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It ain't pretty but it'll do

Sorry for the delay in posts, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me. Larranaga is off to a 2-0 start for the first time in his 11 seasons at GMU, although the wins have been less than stellar. Cleveland State and Vermont will not be going to the big dance this year without pulling off some miracles within their respected conferences, and yet Mason struggled at certain points in both games in Fairfax. Will Thomas and John Vaughan have been impressive but in both games the team looked a lot like last years squad and I'm not talking about the same squad that ran through the CAA tournament. Also, Darryl Monroe's absence might have more of an impact that I once thought. Let's look deeper into these games.Vermont:In a night that was filled with terrible shooting and Mason line-ups that were...

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More Hype

Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell are ranked in the Top 10 CAA players on Collegehoopsnet.com, here's the full list:"1. Eric Maynor, G, VCU2. Antoine Agudio, G, Hofstra3. Frank Elegar, C, Drexel 4. Will Thomas, F, George Mason5. TJ Carter, G, UNC-Wilmington6. Matt Janning, G, Northeastern7. Herb Courtney, F, Delaware 8. Folarin Campbell, G/F, George Mason9. Abdulai Jalloh, G, James Madison10. Vladimir Kuljanin, F, UNC-Wilmington"Also, Mason is projected in Lunardi's famous bracketology as an 11th seed. I wonder what changed since June that would make Lunardi add Mason to the field now. CBS has Mason as a bubble team with VCU projected as the auto-bid winner. And lastly Mason gets some love from the Storming the Floor blog and from the Washington Post at the end of this article. Love from the...

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One Week Away

The season opener against Vermont is a week away, here's some more hype for Mason to get you in the mood:-Mason season outlook by blue ribbon yearbook aka "basketball bible"-Will Thomas was named a mid-major all-american-Mason is #9 on the first mid-major Top 25 p...

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