ARLINGTON, Va. - Led by Preseason All-Colonial Athletic
Association first team honoree Ryan Pearson, the George Mason men's basketball
team was predicted to finish second in the conference by a preseason poll of
the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media members.
Mason, coming off a regular season CAA title and NCAA round of 32 appearance in
2010-11, was eclipsed by Drexel in the predicted order of finish.
Pearson, a 6'6"forward, begins his
final campaign with the Patriots after earning All-CAA second team honors a
season ago. He is the team's top returning scorer at 14.2 points per game and was
the leading rebounder (6.7 rpg) in 2010-11. Appearing in 34 games, all but once
as a starter, the Far Rockaway, N.Y., native connected on 51.1 percent of his
field goal attempts and swatted 20 shots, both second on the team. He drained
138 free throws, also the highest total among the Patriots. Pearson ranked in
the top-15 of both scoring and rebounding among CAA players last season, and is
the conference's fifth-highest returning scorer.
Rounding out the All-CAA first team was
Bradford Burgess of VCU, Samme Givens of Drexel, Quinn McDowell of William
& Mary, and Preseason Player of the Year Kent Bazemore of Old Dominion. The
full list of honorees, as well as the complete predicted order of finish, can
be found below.
Pearson along with first-year head coach
Paul Hewitt and the Patriots open the 2011-12 season at home on Friday,
November 11 against Rhode Island. As part of a doubleheader, that game will
follow the conclusion of the Mason women's basketball season opener against
American which begins at 5 p.m.
2011-12
CAA MEN'S BASKETBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Drexel
2. George Mason
3. VCU
4. Old Dominion
5. James Madison
6. William & Mary
7. Delaware
8. Hofstra
9. Northeastern
10. UNCW
11. Georgia State
12. Towson
2011-12 CAA MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
First Team Cl. Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/Previous School
Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion# Sr. G 6-5 195 Kelford,
N.C./Bertie
Bradford Burgess, VCU Sr. G/F 6-6 225 Midlothian,
Va./Benedictine
Samme Givens, Drexel# Sr. F 6-5 220 Philadelphia,
Pa./New Church Acad.
Quinn McDowell, William & Mary^ Sr. G/F 6-6 215 Mason,
Ohio/Archbishop Moeller
Ryan Pearson, George Mason# Sr. F 6-6 237 Far
Rockaway, N.Y./Christ the King
Second Team Cl. Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/Previous School
Chris Fouch, Drexel^ Jr. G 6-2 178 New
York, N.Y./Rice
Devon Moore, James Madison Jr. G 6-4 180 Columbus,
Ohio/Northland
Mike Moore, Hofstra Sr. G 6-5 200 New
Haven, Conn./Hillhouse/Fordham
Keith Rendleman, UNCW Jr. F 6-7 215 Iron
Station, N.C./East Lincoln
Devon Saddler, Delaware So. G 6-2 205 Aberdeen,Md./Aberdeen/
Winchendon
Prep
CAA Preseason Player of the Year: Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion
Honorable
Mention: Eric
Buckner, Sr., F, Georgia State; Jonathan Lee, Jr., G, Northeastern; Dartaye
Ruffin, So., F, Drexel; Joel Smith, Jr., G, Northeastern; Julius Wells, Sr., F,
James Madison
# 2nd
team All-CAA in 2010-11
^ 3rd
team All-CAA in 2010-11
