By Hogan LePore
GoMason.com Staff Writer

Freshmen in college sports are not usually thrown into the fire in their inaugural season.
 
Some are even redshirted in order to develop. However, for Mason men's basketball head coach Dave Paulsen, a young roster in 2017-18 translated into serious minutes for a number of Patriot rookies.
 
Of the 12 players on Mason's roster in 2017-18, six were freshmen. And arguably the largest impact of any of those student-athletes came from forward Goanar Mar.
 
The freshman averaged the third-highest minutes per game (31.9) on the team, along with finishing fourth in scoring (10.9). That average is the third-highest by any freshman in the program's last 20 years, eclipsed only by George Evans in 1997-98 and rising senior Otis Livingston II in 2015-16.
 
Mar ranked third on the team in total rebounds (144) and shot a sizzling 41.9 percent from 3-point territory in league play. He also was named to Cancun Challenge All-Tournament Team (17.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg) just two weeks into his collegiate career this past November.
 
Paulsen has high praise for Mar when he speaks about the characteristics that make him a great basketball player.
 
"He's as mature as any kid I have coached in my 24 years as a head coach and that maturity takes on several levels," Paulsen said. "He has a very high basketball IQ and he is extremely coachable. He embraces constructive criticism and uses it to go get better. With all the championships he won in high school, he knows the value of little things that set teams apart."
 
Mar attended DeLaSalle High School, in Minneapolis, and helped his prep program to four-consecutive 1AAA state championships. The Mankato, Minn., native was also a finalist for the 2017 Minnesota Mr. Basketball Award.
 
Mar believes being a part of a prestigious high school program prepared him for a successful collegiate rookie season.
 
"I am thankful to have been a part of a winning culture," Mar said. "That level of team success is not common. It helped me a lot, just to adjust to the high level of play in college. I think the high school program I played for and the AAU program I competed with have always expected a high level of competition. It wasn't always perfect, but they stressed to work through adversity and keep working hard no matter what. I think constantly working helped me attack on the court in my first year."
 
Being a highly-touted recruit from Minnesota, Mar had offers from Xavier, Butler, Purdue and Cincinnati, among others. Mason assistant coach Dane Fischer played a large role in recruiting the Minneapolis Star-Tribune All-Metro First Teamer and had a sense of the impact Mar could make for Mason in his inaugural campaign both on and off the court.
 
"The physical abilities were obviously there," Fischer said. "He's versatile. He can score from the 3-point line, he can get to the basket. But what really got us excited was once we learned who he was as a kid. The work ethic, the competitiveness, the drive that he has. He treats basketball like it is his profession. He is up here before workouts start and he has a sweat going. That's something he goes through daily. Then he will come back in, later in the day, with a manager and get extra shots up. Once, we learned that side of him and what kind of person he was - that's what got us really excited about him."
 
Once the Mason coaches had a sense of Mar's character, work ethic and demeanor, the staff went all in to make him a member of the Patriot roster. Soon enough, Mar took notice and that stuck with him throughout his decision-making process and into his first season in Fairfax.
 
"During the recruiting process, I built a relationship with the staff and they were some of the most truthful. They always shot me straight," Mar explained. "I was really able to get comfortable with them. It's easy to be comfortable because they are completely honest and they aren't going to lie to you, whether it's about playing time or anything else. It's easier to work hard knowing that it's all worth it to make the team better while also making improvements in your own overall game."
 
Looking into next season, Mason returns its entire 2017-18 roster, along with three recruits that will enter as freshmen in 2018-19. Mar, who started all 33 games last season, will look to build on that role and continue to progress his game in the coming months.
 
Paulsen acknowledges that Mar will have to take on a bigger role for the team to be more successful and he believes the rising sophomore can do just that with his natural ability to adjust and improve.
 
"He is extremely versatile," Paulsen said. "Early in the season, he had to play the five spot [as a center], and that's not what we recruited him to do. But he played and helped our team function. He also played his best ball at the end of the year and didn't hit that proverbial freshman wall. The kid also is super clutch."
 
Paulsen references a number of games where Mar made critical plays down the stretch. At James Madison on Nov. 29, he hit both free throws in a one-and-one opportunity to give Mason the lead with seven seconds left. He then drew an offensive foul on the ensuing Dukes possession to help clinch the win for the Green & Gold.
 
Then, on Feb. 24 vs Massachusetts, he was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with less than a second to go and Mason down by three. He would have to hit all three free throws to sent the game into overtime. Making all three is a difficult task with no pressure, never mind with the game on the line. But Mar made all three, and the Patriots went on to win the game in overtime on an Ian Boyd buzzer beater.
 
And on Feb. 28 at VCU, Mar exploded for a career-best 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and put up some impressive shooting numbers (8-12 FG, 4-6 3pt FG) to push Mason to its first win in the Siegel Center since 2011.
 
"Down at VCU, he hit two huge 3-pointers and helped to create mismatches for Otis [Livingston III]," Paulsen said. "In a hostile environment, we were playing through Goanar to create an offensive advantage. That's big, to be able to rely on a freshman to do that."
 
Mar truly enjoyed his freshman season as a member of the Green & Gold. But despite all the great individual achievements, Mar is a team-first player, and  that big team win in Richmond remains his greatest memory from 2017-18 as he looks back a few months later.
 
"VCU will always be a memorable game for me," Mar stated. "Just because that was a game where we had crucial contributions from everybody. All of our guys did something down the stretch to help us win that game. That was one of the best team wins that I can remember from my career."
 
Although Mason fans saw a great deal of Mar's game last season, there's always room for improvement. And that is exactly what Mar is doing: working.
 
"He didn't show a lot of attributes last season that would make you think he was a freshman," Fischer stated. "One thing he probably did not do a ton last season was post up. That'll be something that will expand his game. I think it is a blend of being more consistent in all the areas we saw, along with adding a couple more layers to his overall skill set."
 
Mar is excited to display those improvements he's going to work on in the offseason and Mason pushes toward a potential postseason opportunity in 2018-19.
 
"This summer is definitely going to be big," the Minnesota native said. "I want to work on being more vocal and showing more leadership, in terms of both communicating and leading by example. On the court, just working on getting stronger and ball-handling a lot. I want to develop more of a motor and be able to run up and down the court consistently without getting tired."
 
As the 2018-19 the men's basketball season moves closer, Paulsen is excited about his young forward and believes his composure will help him, and the program, greatly moving forward.
 
"He is not an attention seeker, it's not about him, it's about what he can do for the team," Paulsen said. "Gregg Popovich says, 'you have to get over yourself,' and Goanar is never consumed with himself. That gives him an ability to play with so much poise. It will just help him expand his game even more in the years to come."
 
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