The recruiting blitz started right after Dave Paulsen was hired and assembled a coaching staff. Paulsen and assistants Dane Fischer, Aaron Kelly and Duane Simpkins essentially compressed a couple years worth of recruiting into a couple of months in the spring and summer.

   The coaches beat the bushes and the odds to come up with six players who did not have George Mason on their personal radar screens for much of their final high school years. Yet this group could be the foundation for the Paulsen Era.

    After the non-conference schedule and heading into Saturday's Atlantic 10 opener at VCU, the freshmen provide three current starters – guard Otis Livingston II, Jaire Grayer, DeAndre Abram -- plus 49.4%of minutes played and 48.8% of the points scored.

    “Where would we be without them?” Paulsen said. “They've been thrown into the fire and they're doing a good job.”

     Getting the group was a scramble after Paulsen replaced Paul Hewitt as coach and several players from last season's team decided to transfer.

   “The guys on our staff worked really hard,”Paulsen said. “We got hired and called everyone we knew and followed up on every lead. There wasn't a lot of sleep for anyone on the staff.”

     Three of the current freshmen played last season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. But it was hardly one-stop shopping.

   Paulsen visited the school to recruit Nikola Akele of Italy but also liked Kameron Murrell and Danny Dixon, all part of the school's post-grad team. All visited Mason. Akele wound up going to Rhode Island, which had been recruiting him before. Murrell and Dixon became Patriots.

    Paulsen spotted IMG product Grayer, who played on a different IMG team than Dixon or Murrell, in the summer at an AAU tournament when the coach was looking at other prospects. Because it was so late in recruiting and he had no definite offers, Grayer had been thinking of taking a post-grad year.

    Livingston, from Linden, NJ,  and Abram, from Carrollton, Texas,  were in similar situations. Assistants on the staff heard about them, did due diligence and both signed in May.

  The last freshman to join the fold was Portugal's Daniel Relvao, who played at Mountain Mission School in Grundy, Va. Relvao thought he was headed to Valparaiso but there were no available scholarships because a player had been granted an unanticipated fifth year of eligibility.

    The 6-10 Relvao, redshirting this season after November knee surgery, signed in August.

    Livingston, who leads the team in scoring at 11.0 ppg,  could be speaking for any his fellow freshmen teammates when he said: “It was definitely stressful (not having scholarship offers.) Then Mason came along which was a great opportunity for me, a blessing. I'm just very thankful to be here.”

    Besides signing late, there's another common denominator among the group, as Paulsen noted: “The Mason name, the Mason brand, carries a lot of weight as does the chance to play in the Atlantic10. Now they also knew there'd be some opportunity to play.

    “I feel we were fortunate with this group. Still, it's a huge adjustment coming from high school ball where you're the best player on the floor every night. Plus there's the academics. With freshmen, there will be inevitable ups and downs.”

   The five freshmen currently playing – Relvao is still recuperating from surgery and can't practice -- have given themselves the nickname “The Freaky Five.”

   “We're all close,” Livingston said. “We like each other on and off the court.”

    Their next adjustment is A-10 play. The Freaky Five will get a baptism of fire at VCU with its Havoc full-court press and sold-out arena.

   Livingston's eyes lit up when the pressure-packed atmosphere was mentioned.

   “Cool,” he said. “It should be a fun environment. I can't wait. That's going to be a great opportunity for the team to get closer together, having to band together against a common enemy.”