Oct. 11, 2007

The 2006-07 George Mason men's basketball season saw both school and conference records set throughout the season. With 88,837 fans coming to 13 games at the Patriot Center, Mason set a school record for home attendance. With two dozen contests broadcast, the Patriots set a Colonial Athletic Association record for games on television. Mason also became the first team in CAA history to advance to the conference title game by winning three games in the CAA Tournament.

Mason fans got to see something special develop over the course of a season. Despite playing with heavy expectations, despite playing with a target on their back, the Patriots grew as a team and developed a chemistry that culminated in yet another memorable March run.

Now, on the cusp of the 2007-08 season, Patriot fans are excited. They're excited because the same starting five that was two minutes from the NCAA Tournament last season are back on the floor. They're excited because 92 percent of the scoring, 92 percent of the rebounding and 86 percent of the assists from last year are back this year. And they're excited because four freshmen with a lot of talent join the team looking to contribute and become part of Mason Nation.

Patriot fans will get their first glimpse of this year's squad on Friday night at Mason Madness. Patriot Center doors open at 9:30 p.m. and admission is free and open to the public. The Patriot's cheerleaders, Masonettes and Doc Nix and the Green Machine will provide an atmosphere that will energize the crowd as George Mason ushers in the start of the new season. Patriots' players and coaches from the men's and women's teams will be introduced to their fans for the first time this season, followed by short scrimmages and a three-point shooting contest. The Amazing Christopher, UrbanKnowlogy and Sam Trocki will all perform as well.

So with experience and talent, what should be expected of this year's men's basketball team?

"As always we will want to compete for the regular season and tournament championships of the CAA," said Mason head coach Jim Larranaga, the Colonial Athletic Association's all-time leader in victories. Entering his 11th season as the head coach of the Patriots, Larranaga is also Mason's all-time leader in wins. "We're going to want to perform very well in the non-conference portion of our season and try to put ourselves in a position to be considered for an at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament. With a veteran team, I know our players are excited to show that the way we ended last season is the way we want to begin this season and yet sustain that effort and be a consistent team throughout the season. Consistency is going to be a huge emphasis for this team"

Over the past two years, the Patriots have had tremendous consistency from Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas. The seniors were both All-CAA last year and Larranaga expects them both to be candidates for CAA Player of the Year.

"Will Thomas has been our go-to guy on the inside and will continue to be," Larranaga said. "He has expanded his game to include a nice medium-range jump shot and a tremendous driving game. We will take advantage of these new skills and that will make him and us more difficult to guard at the offensive end.

"When you have a player like Will Thomas, it's very, very difficult for an opposing coach to just leave him in a 1-on-1 situation because not only is he likely to score, but he's likely to get your guy into foul trouble. So other teams have adjusted to Will's propensity to score in the low post by double and triple teaming him. But Will has worked on his game to the point now that he can score not only with his back to the basket, but facing the basket as well. And that's going to make us much harder to guard."

Thomas was second-team All-CAA last year, he was also selected to the CAA All-Defensive Team for the second-straight year. Campbell, meanwhile was third-team All-CAA in 2006-07.

"Folarin Campbell is a charismatic leader who has played almost every position here at George Mason," Larranaga said. "He is a point guard who can score. He is wing man who can rebound and we are counting on him to have the best season of his career.

"One of the areas we desperately need to improve in is our ability to get to the foul line. The way you do that is by attacking the rim and getting inside the defense. Folarin Campbell is the best we have at beating the perimeter defender, getting inside and still scoring inside. Folarin is a good free throw shooter and we want him to become the premier free throw shooter in the conference and we know he's very capable of doing that."

Thomas and Campbell comprise just two-fifths of the returning starters. The other returning starters are Jordan Carter and Dre Smith in the backcourt and Darryl Monroe in the frontcourt. Carter is a fourth-year senior, Monroe is a second-year senior and Smith is a second-year junior. Carter came off the bench as a freshman and sophomore and moved into the starting lineup early last season.

"Jordan's development really helped our team finish last season on a strong note," Larranaga said. "When Jordan was at his best, we were an awfully tough team to beat. We expect his senior year to be his best season."

Smith set a CAA Tournament record last year for 3-pointers made as he drained 14 from behind the arc in four games. He was 7 of 8 in the tournament's first game and he was named to the CAA All-Tournament team. If Mason had won the tournament title, Smith would have been the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

"Andre Smith is a high-octane shooter and scorer," Larranaga said. "He added a ton of energy to our lineup last year. He played better and better as the season progressed culminating in an outstanding all-tournament performance in the CAA tournament. We expect him to have an incredibly productive junior year."

Darryl Monroe made his own impact last year, shooting better than 56 percent from the field and putting together one of the most accurate seasons in school history. He was also second on the team in rebounding.

"Darryl Monroe has added a strong presence and secondary option to our interior game," Larranaga said. "A lot was expected of him last year and as the season progressed, he was able to meet those expectations. We expect that with his one year of experience under his belt, Darryl will be even better as a senior."

Three veterans return to provide depth off the bench - redshirt junior John Vaughan, junior Chris Fleming and sophomore Louis Birdsong. Vaughan was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team as a freshman but missed the 2005-06 campaign with a knee injury.

"John Vaughan is a highly electric player," Larranaga said. "He can really shoot the 3 and when he gets it going, that really opens things up for our inside guys. Now that he's been able to regain the form he had as a freshman, we're expecting John to be a tremendous contributor during his junior year."

Fleming and Birdsong are both frontcourt players and both made starts for the Patriots last year.

"Chris Fleming is one of the hardest workers and one of the strongest and most physical players we have," Larranaga said. "We're counting on him to give us additional inside presence to go along with Will and Darryl. Chris is an outstanding defender in the post and a great team defender. He's someone I have a great deal of confidence in.

"Louis Birdsong is a very talented player who learned an awful lot during his freshman year," Larranaga said. "We expect him to continue to make the progress that we saw late in the season."

While Birdsong spent a lot of time learning last season, that's what lies ahead for four talented area freshmen. Cam Long comes to Mason from Freedom High School in Woodbirdge, Va., Vlad Moldoveanu is from St. John's College High School in Washington D.C., Isaiah Tate is from DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md. and Jay Threatt is from Highland Springs High School in Richmond.

Long, a 6-foot-4 guard, averaged 18.9 points, six assists, seven rebounds and two steals as a senior, nearly identical numbers to his junior season. He was Cardinal District Player of the Year, Northwest Region Co-Player of the Year and a nominee for McDonald's All-American.

"Cameron Long is a very versatile guard that plays both the point and shooting guard positions," Larranaga said. "He's an outstanding defender and he adds a dimension that most guards don't concentrate on in that he's an outstanding rebounder for a guard. We're counting on him to give us a great lift."

Moldoveanu, a 6-foot-10 forward, was All-Met and a nominee for McDonald's All-American. He averaged 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks as a senior and he led Romania to the U-18 European Championship during the summer of 2006, being named MVP in the process.

"Vlad is the most skilled big man we've ever had. He can shoot the three, pass, catch, he can handle the ball as well as any perimeter player but at 6'10" he creates a lot of match-up problems for opponents. When Vlad becomes as strong as we know he's capable of becoming, he's going to be a handful for any of our opponents. Right now he continues to work on his strength, working very, very closely with Handy in the weight room"

Tate, a 6-foot-4 guard, was selected to the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference All-Conference team after averaging 15.6 points, 4.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals. He helped the Stags win the WCAC and city titles.

"Isaiah Tate is an outstanding 3-point shooter. He'll be making a little bit of an adjustment to the guard position. He was more of a forward in high school, but now he'll be playing more of the guard position. He's a lethal 3-point shooter."

Threatt, a 5-foot-10 guard, was All-District, All-Metro, All-Region and honorable mention All-State as a senior. He averaged 15.0 points, 7.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 steals while leading Highland Spring to the AAA state title.

"Jay Threatt played on a state championship team in Virginia and he knows how to win. He's very good at distributing the basketball. He's very clever at penetrating the defense and he knows how to get his teammates involved."

To Mason fans, an incoming class of four freshmen from the Washington D.C. area probably sounds very familiar. In 2004-05, Thomas, Campbell, Carter and Vaughan made up one of the top freshman classes the CAA has seen, as three went on to the CAA All-Rookie Team. Larranaga cautions that expectations for this class should be different.

"The difference between this freshman class and the 2004 group is that this freshman class joins a team that has nine players returning from last season," Larranaga said. "In 2004, a lot of guys had graduated and that opened up a lot of playing time. We expect this to be a learning year for this year's freshmen. We expect them to contribute, but we're really counting on our veterans to carry the load."

Certainly the veterans will have to carry the load early, but for once, they won't have to carry the load on the road throughout the entire month of November. For just the second time since 1996, the Patriots will open the season at home.

"The first thing about our schedule that is unique is that we open up the season with three straight home games," Larranaga said. "We've only opened up at home once in my first 10 years and having three straight home games is a first in my career."

Those three teams that will visit the Patriot Center in November are Vermont, Cleveland State and Dayton. After that, Mason will participate in the Old Spice Classic over Thanksgiving, with three games in four days against schools from BCS conferences.

"Playing in the Old Spice Classic gives our team an opportunity to compete against some of the best programs in the country and some of the most talented teams in the country. We will face Kansas State in the opening round (on Nov. 22) and they have two of the premier freshmen in the country in Mike Beasley and Billy Walker. They have assembled one of the most physically gifted teams that we'll have ever faced."

Mason will take on Villanova or Central Florida in the second round of the tournament on Nov. 23 and then either N.C. State, South Carolina, Penn State or Rider on Nov. 25. "This is an opportunity that I know our players are looking forward to - playing against very high caliber teams very early in the season," Larranaga said.

After the Old Spice Classic, the Patriots will host Drexel in the first CAA game of the season. That will be followed by a return appearance in the BB&T Classic where Mason will face East Carolina.

"We're playing in the BB&T Classic for the fourth straight year which is exciting because it's one of the premier local events," Larranaga said. "It's played at the Verizon Center where we made history two years ago. It's also an event that benefits the Children's Charities and there's no better way to contribute to an organization like that than to put on an outstanding basketball event."

Mason will play four more non-conference games before the end of the calendar year. The Patriots will host Hampton, then travel to Kent State for a return of last year's ESPN BracketBuster contest before breaking for finals. After exams, Mason will travel to Florida International, then host Liberty on Dec. 30.

The Patriots will begin the 2008 calendar year by traveling to Georgia State. January also has road games at Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison and UNC Wilmington with home games against Towson, Northeastern, Old Dominion and VCU. In February, Mason will host James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Delaware and William & Mary while traveling to Drexel, Old Dominion and Towson. Mason will also play on the road in the ESPN BracketBusters. The regular season will conclude on March 1 when Mason plays at Northeastern.

"I think the conference has gotten stronger and stronger over the past several seasons and I think this is going to be another great year," Larranaga said. "I think there are a lot of tremendous players who will be on the preseason all-conference team. You have VCU's Eric Maynor, who demonstrated how good he is in last year's CAA and NCAA Tournament. He's being talked about as an NBA prospect. You have Hofstra's Antoine Agudio, as good a 3-point shooter as there is in the country. You have Frank Elegar from Drexel, who's going to get a lot of looks from NBA scouts. You have T.J. Carter from Wilmington, who is coming back from an injury after winning the Outstanding Player of the CAA Tournament as a junior. You have Folarin Campbell and Will Thomas, two of the premier players in the league. And you have guys like Vladimir Kuljanin and Todd Hendley from Wilmington who are veteran players who have proven they can be major players in this league."

With so much talent in the league, the Patriots will have to improve in several areas if they want to climb back from their 9-9 CAA record in 2006-07 to compete for the league title. Mason shared the regular season crown in 2005-06.

"Number one, we have to get to the foul line more," Larranaga said. "Number two, we have to score more. If we get to the foul line more we should average more points per game. We're also going to have to shoot the three at a better percentage. We were a good solid defensive team, a good solid rebounding team. What we need to improve is our ability to score points and to finish games strong. Last year we lost six games at home which is uncharacteristic of our program. We need to correct that and we also need to play more consistently. We had many games that we had the opportunity to win down the stretch and we didn't execute the way we expect to execute. If we improve in those areas, then we'll be a much tougher team to beat."

A Patriot squad that is tougher to beat? Probably not what Mason opponents want to hear.