By Jerome Boettcher

Javon Greene grew up inundated with sports. 

There's a photo of a young Greene with a smirk on his face and a soccer ball at his feet. He was a southpaw on the pitcher's mound. On the gridiron, he played both quarterback and cornerback. 

But, toward the end of middle school, Greene began to shed sports. Living in central Georgia, about 30 miles south of Atlanta in McDonough, Greene became all too familiar with practicing and competing in the summer heat. So he turned his attention to the indoor sport.  

"I like the outdoors – but that heat," Greene said, laughing, "especially in Georgia, that Georgia heat is kind of crazy." 

Humidity aside, Greene knew basketball was in his blood.  

His parents, John and Nicolette, played the sport through high school. John, who also played collegiately at NJIT, and Nicolette coached Javon's rec league teams. John even coached his AAU teams in eighth and ninth grade. Plus, Greene's older sister, Brittany Holloway, who is nine years older, also played collegiately at a junior college in Alabama.  

"I felt like I had a passion for it and I wanted to get better at it," he said. "I was always at my older sister's AAU games and high school games. I was always around it." 

As he enters his sophomore season at George Mason, the 6-foot-2 guard continues to draw from his family's experiences with the sport. This past winter, when Javon was adjusting to the learning curve that is college basketball, he often turned to his parents for advice – and criticism. 

"After almost every game they'd call me and tell me what I need to work on," said Javon, a sport management major. "That really helped me. I like it, personally. I like to hear the good stuff but stuff I need to work on that is even better – to expand my game. They don't sugarcoat anything. My dad was telling me stuff he went through in college. The things not to do and what to do. I think that really helped me going through the process now – just listening to him and following his footsteps." 

Basketball in the family tree is a common theme on the Mason men's basketball team.    

Parents or relatives of five current Patriots have played collegiately and Jaire Grayer's father, Jeffrey, the all-time leading scorer at Iowa State, played 10 years in the NBA. 

"In addition to high character guys, we have a lot of guys whose parents have had a pretty substantial history of the game," head coach Dave Paulsen said. "We have a lot of guys whose fathers or mothers, or both, have played the game at a pretty high level." 

Also not lost on Paulsen is the championship mentality his team exudes thanks to their experience playing for, well, championships.  

Six members of the team won state high school championships and four more made at least the state semifinals. That includes Greene, who guided Henry County High to the Georgia AAAA Final Four after he dropped 34 points in the Elite Eight. 

"They know how to win and they know how to sacrifice to be a part of team," Paulsen said. "That's really important." 

Greene left Henry County as an AAAA First Team All-State selection and was named the Senior of the Year by HoopSeen.com. But he might be most remembered for an unforgettable performance the day after Thanksgiving in 2016. 

Greene willed Henry County to a 92-89 overtime win over Langston Hughes in Atlanta in the annual Holiday Hoopsgiving tournament, one of the nation's top holiday tournaments. The sharp-shooting guard scored 58 points. Fifty-eight. With his team trailing by 21 at halftime, Greene propelled the Warhawks to victory, making seven 3-pointers and setting the Hoopsgiving record for points in a game. 

"I really didn't know until the fourth quarter," Greene said about his scoring output. "We were down 20 at half. It was on TV. The (Mason) coaches were watching. I didn't really want to go out like that. So I put my team on my back but my team had my back as well. They were knocking down shots. They were playing defense." 

Just a few months before his monster performance, Greene verbally committed to Mason. The Patriots found out about Greene through his AAU coach, Ben Miller.  

Paulsen and assistant coach Aaron Kelly have known Miller for a while but had never signed one of his players. Kelly regularly checked in with Miller and two years ago Miller told him about an "under the radar" guard.  

"Aaron saw him at one of the first tournaments in July. I think he pretty much said, 'Coach, scrap your plans for Friday. You're coming here and you're watching Javon Greene play,'" Paulsen said. "Within a day or two, we quickly identified he was a guy we were really going to zero in on." 

While Greene's ability to fill up the basket attracted Paulsen, he also noticed the point guard's instincts. He knew how to break a zone. He had a knack for deflecting passes. 

"I think he has a chance to be a complete player," Paulsen said. "He really scored in high school but he has a chance to be an elite defender as well. He is really long. He is a tall kid as a guard but he is longer than he is tall. He has good instincts. That was really important for us." 

His first season on campus showed glimpses of his potential. He played in all 33 games, averaging 4.5 points and 2.8 rebounds off the bench. His 25 steals led all Mason freshmen and ranked third on the team. 

He had early flashes, too, including career highs of 17 points and five 3-pointers at Auburn in December in front of his mom and dad and a smattering of friends and family just two hours away from his hometown.  

But Greene admits the transition from high school to college was tough at times, especially when faced with the physicality of the game. Last June, he arrived at Mason weighing 170 pounds. As this summer winds down, he is up to 188 pounds as he has placed more of an emphasis on strength and conditioning. 

"In high school, I really didn't lift like that," he said. "In college, everybody can play so you have to play defense on everybody. That is the biggest adjustment I had to go through. I'm just getting stronger and getting my weight up. Coach Paulsen, he praises defense. I just want to be able to hold my ground and guard anybody he needs me to guard." 

Greene was that guy on March 8 against Massachusetts in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Championship. 

With Justin Kier battling foul trouble, Paulsen turned to Greene in hopes of containing the conference's co-leading scorer, Luwane Pipkins. Greene was more than up to the challenge, helping keep Pipkins scoreless over the last five minutes. Then, in the waning seconds of regulation and with Mason leading by just three points, Greene drew an offensive foul on Pipkins. The UMass turnover all but sealed the victory for the Patriots. 

Paulsen called the performance a culmination of a stretch late in the season where he played more consistent at a high level. After a tough transition in which Paulsen said that Greene was not having the success he or the coaches were anticipating, something changed around the middle of January.  

"At a certain point, he really solidified himself – 'Hey, I'm a player. I'm a legit piece of this rotation,'" Paulsen said. "Instead of wallowing, he just buckled down – worked that much harder with our assistant coaches, developing his game and playing with the physicality and toughness that was required. It was his gradual evolution of a guy – he just belongs out there. He always has had the ability. He is just putting the pieces together. The UMass game in the conference tournament, he played at a very high level defensively." 

He also relied on the help of fellow guards Otis Livingston II and Kier. He looked up to his older teammates and welcomed their feedback. 

"Playing with Otis, he tells me what I'm doing wrong, what I need to work on," Greene said. "He has been through it so he knows what to expect. He helps me through it. He critiques me. Otis and Justin as well. That helped me through my freshman year as well. They kept trusting me." 

With everyone coming back – Mason is the only Division I team in the country that can boast 100 percent of its scoring returning – the Patriots most likely won't be flying under the radar once conference season rolls around.  

The expectations will be higher for everyone on the team.

Having a year under his belt, Greene is excited to expand his game. He is focused on strengthening his defense and developing a mid-range jumper while also attacking the basket more. 

"I feel like that will help us," he said. "When we attack, that opens the 3-pointer up as well for other people – for Jason (Douglas-Stanley) or Otis or Justin or whoever." 

The selfless attitude is exactly what Paulsen desires in his team.  

"Javon is a team-oriented guy," Paulsen said. "He believes in himself so he has a little bit of a swagger but in a humble way. That is what we want. I think he loves his teammates. I think they love him. He is a team-first guy and a lot of fun to be around." 

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