Previewing the Battle of the Orange Line Part II

I like having fun with the whole "Battle of the Orange Line" slogan the GW marketing department came up with last year but I still think them trying to call this game some sort of rivalry is a stretch.  It's great to have a local rival but I don't think we are quite there yet when you consider the teams have only faced 11 times in Mason's 40 some years of having a basketball team.  And before the game last December, George Mason and George Washington hadn't faced eachother in 11 years. What rivals have that long of a break between games?  It remains to be seen if this becomes an annual affair or if it ends up being a short lived marketing campaign by both schools to get attendance numbers up. Hopefully this becomes...

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George Mason rolls past Florida Atlantic

It was another impressive defensive night for the Patriots as head coach Jim Larranaga picked up his 250th win at George Mason. However this time there was not a barrage of three pointers and they got a lot of points inside from Mike Morrison, who led all scorers in a game for the first time this season. Morrison had scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, a lot of them effortlessly through dunking on the undersized Owls. The Patriots finished the 1st half shooting almost 60% from the field and continued that in the 2nd.   Cam Long (6 assists) and Luke Hancock (7) continue to distribute the ball well and in these last two games the Patriots have been playing much improved 'team' basketball. The box score might show that the rebounding stats where about even but the Patriots weren't...

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Lights out three point shooting helps Mason roll past Radford

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Last night was exactly the kind of weaker opponent George Mason needed to fine tune their offense and defense last night.  Mason went 13-of-26 from behind the three point line to coast past Radford for their third win of the season.  Although the offense might be the highlight reel material from last night, the Patritots defense cannot go unmentioned.  They got a lot of opportunities because their defense constantly put pressure on the ball all night when it was in the Highlanders' hands. Although Radford was a team these Patriots are expected to beat this year, you can't help but notice the patience and focus of the team who hard a strong bounce back after a disappointing last two games in the Charleston Classic. Hopefully this game shows...

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Coaches Corner: Previewing Radford with Chris Caputo

This year's Radford team is no where near what they faced last season in the team's blow out loss to the Highlanders.  If you remember that 80-53 blowout down in Radford, you will remember that big guy they had inside dominating, Artsiom Parakhouski. The 6'11" 260 pound center is now gone and is playing pro ball with the Latvian club VEF Riga after he had a brieft stint on the Boston Celtics summer league team.  This year's Radford Highlander team doesn't resemble much of their squad last season and they certainly do not have that same inside strength. It's a little difficult to gauge this year's team because they have only played one game against a DI opponent, and that was at the SEC's South Carolina where they got drilled 85-56.  Their only other two games came against Division...

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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...

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Turnovers doom George Mason as they fall to Wofford in OT

                                          AP Photo/Mic SmithThe Patriots dominated the boards and shot the ball well in their final game of the Charleston Classic but were doomed by turnovers and then inability to force any of their own for the first time this season. In the end Mason was beat by their own game, points off turnovers. Wofford got an amazing efforts from guards Cameron Rundles (career-high 26 points) and Jamar Diggs (career-high 23) who made the shot to force overtime and then went on to score 11 points in the extra time to seal the victory for the Terriers.  The Patriots were up two with 20 seconds remaining...

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George Mason basketball team gets visit from actor Bill Murray in Charleston

The Patriots got an interesting pre-game meal guest before their final game in the Charleston Classic.  Bill Murray, who currently resides in Charleston joined Coach Larranaga and the team for a meal together today and most players identified him as that guy from Space Jam and those Ghosterbusters movies.  Hopefully he was sharing with the guards his awesome passing techniques he used in the movie Space Jam with Michael Jordan.Murray joined Bill Rohland during halftime on SundayLooks like he also had some fun with the Green Machine:Murray was sitting behind the Patriots bench [Photo via Twitpic and Charleston Classic Fan Pa...

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Game Day Links: George Mason vs Wofford: Charleston Classic Third Place Game

Game Time: 5:30 pmTV: ESPNU, ESPN3Stream: http://channelsurfing.net/watch-espnu.htmlSpread: Wofford by 1Statistical BreakdownRadio Link, Smartphone, GoMason Mobile App is also in iTunes App storeWhat do we want to see out of Mason tonight? After a disappointing 2nd half effort on Friday, I'd like to see the Patriots get back to that whole tenacious defense and balance on offense. It's an important to see how this year's team bounces back overall from a loss. They lost their focus in the 2nd half when they fell behind and too many guys tried to make things happen in one-on-one situations on offense.  Distributing the ball and finding better opportunities is something I'd also like to see and overall just better shot selections. The assist to turnover ratio has been good thus...

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Mason ditches game plan, falls to NC State in Charleston Classic Semifinals

                                                         AP Photo/Mic SmithThe Patriots lost to NC State last night in the semifinals of the Charleston Classic, but it wasn't one of those well they ran into a great ACC type of losses.  Mason was playing well int he 1st half despite Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson getting early fouls.  Luke Hancock was again looking like an All-CAA caliber player.  Down 7 at half time you would have expected another strong 2nd half out of the Patriots while making some adjustments during the break.  Unfortunately that didn't quite happen.  Tarik...

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Previewing NC State, George Mason's early chance to build the resume

Stream to watch the game if you don't have ESPNUAs you know I always look ahead with games like this one.  With Mason's out of conference schedule lacking marquee teams this rare opportunity they have before them tonight could be an RPI booster.  NC State isn't projected to compete for the ACC title but you can't discount a CAA team beating an ACC, unless it's Wake Forest because man they are dreadful. Even without the RPI implications and brand name victory tags, NC State is still a very talented squad and an excellent early test for the Patriots.  This will be a very athletic team they are facing tonight, much more so than Harvard and Charlotte, so Mason's gambling on defense for steals won't be quite as effective if they slouch...

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George Mason routs Charlotte to open the Charleston Classic

AP Photo/Mic SmithThere was not an area of the game last night where Mason didn't out play Charlotte.  Coach Larranaga's bread and butter; defense and rebounding, were just some of the main areas his Patriots excelled in on their way to a 78-56 win in their first game of the Charleston Classic.  The odds would have told you Mason had a slight edge in this one, but those odds must not have taken into account the Patriots' tenacity on defense. However offensively Luke Hancock was the star of the night for Mason scoring a career-high 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting. 15 of those 18 points came in the 2nd half where the Patriots just took over the Niners.  At one point Hancock had 11 straight points for Mason during...

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Game Day Links: George Mason vs Charlotte (Charleston Classic)

GoMason Blog has a video recap of the team's Wednesday night banquet in Charleston, complete with a motivational/motorcycle safety speech from Jay Williams:TV/Game Time: 8:30 pm on MASNSpread: Mason by 4Free Video Stream: http://www.justin.tv/frankcal22#/w/564951040/2 (might update later)Audio Broadcast: Listen from your computer and from your smartphoneGame NotesStatistical BreakdownPreviewing the Charleston ClassicWashington Post: Georgetown, George Mason head south for Charleston ClassicSB Nation DC's local hoops preview for tonightCSNWashington: Hoyas, Mason set for Charleston ClassicPerspective on tonight's game from GreenTintedGlasses.net per TMBLuke Hancock and Charlotte Niners forward Chris Braswell were teammates at Hargrave Military AcademyGoMason.com Live Blog for...

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Previewing the Charleston Classic

The Patriots are in Charleston preparing for tomorrow night's game against UNC Charlotte in the opening round of ESPN's Charleston Classic tournament. If the check the bracket, the Patriots will play either East Carolina or NC State on Friday night and still have the possibility of facing Georgetown on Sunday if they are victorious in their first two games or barring an upset. The field for this tournament is pretty good, you got the ACC and Big East represented and also a very solid NCAA tournament team from last season in Wofford. This will be a true early test for the Patriots on Thursday night and they will have to play much better than they did against Harvard.  Charlotte has not been playing at full strength in their first two games this season as forwards Shamari Spears, An'Juan...

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Listen to Coach Larranaga on the Junkies 106.7 The Fan today

George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga went on and talked to the Junkies today from 106.7 The Fan DC. He talks about the Charleston Classic, this year's team and the rest of the CAA while the Junkies try to get him to bad mouth Towson head coach Pat Kennedy.player.render('fileUrl=http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d0/dW/d4/dZ/dM/W4ZM_3.MP3&name=Seg. 11- Jim Larranaga calls in&artist=The Sports Junkies&stationID=114&configFile=config.xml&buttonColor=0xd20000&buttonOverColor=0xa80000&backgroundColor=0xFFFFFF&guid=5542BC4B1C3D...

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George Mason's quick defense takes down Harvard

Early on in this game yesterday you could tell it was opening day for both squads.  Turnovers and fouls were abundant and easy lay-ups were just not falling. The Patriots played a much more aggressive 2nd half and used their quick defensive players to secure a 66-53 victory over the Crimson.  Luke Hancock led the Patriots in scoring with 14 while Ryan Pearson had 13, most of which came on the Patriots run in the 2nd half. Cam Long was the game MVP though as he collected 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.  You can already tell the difference in his confidence between this season and last year. The team had 18 assists including a behind the back pass from Mike Morrison to Vertrail Vaughns late in the 2nd half.  Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson however were limited in the...

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Game Day Links: George Mason vs Harvard

Game Time: 4:00 pm Patriot CenterGame PreviewSpread: Mason by 7Game NotesListen live from your computerListen from your smartphoneGametrackerGoMason.com Live BlogFollow me on twitter for live updates (@gmuhoo...

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Coaches Corner: Eric Konkol gives a coach's perspective on tomorrow's game

The voice of the Patriots Bill Rohland sat down with assistant coach Eric Konkol recently. They discuss the game tomorrow against Harvard and how the team played in the exhibition against Bowie St last week. At the end he also talks about freshmen Jonathan Arledge and Bryon Allen and Mason recruits Corey Edwards and Vaughn Gray.[Video from George Mason athletics]Also, GoMason.com just posted information on how to watch and listen to the game tomorrow.The GoMason Mobile app itself doesn't appear to be in app stores yet but you can point your smartphone mobile browser to the radio broadcast tomorrow by going to http://www.gomasonradio.com/ on your iPhone, Blackberry or Android, or any phone with internet access. Not sure if this is...

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Previewing the season opener against Harvard

Oliver McNallyThe season officially gets underway this tomorrow at 4pm as George Mason hosts Harvard. We have talked about this year's George Mason squad in detail already, now it's time to see what they are up against. Harvard was picked to finish 2nd in the Ivy this year despite losing their best player from last season Jeremy Lin (now in the NBA on the Golden State Warriors). Cornell's tournament run last season and then Lin making an NBA roster gives the Ivy league some respect around the NCAA and proves they have teams that can be just as dangerous as other quality mid-majors. The Crimson got a taste for the post season last year in the collegeinsider.com tournament and will be wanting to build off that.  However, Harvard won't be...

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Mike Morrison will be a big factor in George Mason's success this season

Although Cam Long continues to get the preseason press clippings, I feel Mike Morrison will most likely end being just as big of a factor this season for the Patriots. Jake Whitacre of SB Nation will agree with me on this one. It's often difficult for mid-major teams to find tough inside players to battle with the big boys and Morrison's improvement over last season could give the Patriots a much improved inside prescence in the CAA.  Ryan Pearson is a consistent scoring threat at forward but he's still undersized for the position.  Morrison becoming a terror in the middle only helps Pearson's game while also giving plenty of scoring chances for the team's stellar guards.  Larranaga's best teams always had strong forwards/centers,...

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Video and Pictures from Corey Edwards and Vaughn Gray's Signing Day

Photo via NY PostYesterday Corey Edwards and Vaughn Gray signed their national letters of intent pledging their commitment officially to George Mason.  The GoMason blog has a great "behind the scenes" look at the recruiting process that took place in order to get these guys to commit to the green and gold. Also, the NY Post also has a story up this morning talking about Corey Edwards and other Christ the King players who signed yesterday. We talked about how Corey Edwards could be the old school type of point guard that Larranaga covets and how Vaughn Gray's versatility will be big asset for the Patriots.Photo via Rivals                                ...

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