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Previewing the GMU Patriots aka Cinderella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh
By Chris Mottram | October 12, 2007
For those of you who have read my brilliant work over the past three-plus years, you know I went to George Mason University. For those of you who haven’t; I went to George Mason University. I was there for the Final Four run (more specifically, behind the players’ bench) and graduated last year with about 170 credits. Changing your major three times is a bad idea.
So although Maryland is my No. 1 hoops team, I have a special place in my heart for the Patriots, and with Midnight Madness going down tonight, I figured it was as good a time as any to take a look at your 2007-08 GMU Patriots.
The Bottom Line First: Me thinks they’re going be good enough to win the CAA. They’ll compete with VCU for the title in one of the three best “mid-major” conferences. They struggled last year after losing their three top players from the Final Four team (Jai Lewis, Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler), but they return virtually everyone from last season, plus have added a Romanian. You cannot go wrong with a 6’10” Euro star named Vlad who lead his National Team to the U-18 European Title last year.
Rest of the Squad: They have four solid guards lead by Folarin Campbell (part of the Final Four team) and supplemented by Jordan Carter, John Vaughn, and Andre Leaward LaVaé Smith (aka Dre). They also have arguably the best player in the conference in senior forward Will Thomas (aka Spider Man; also part of Final Four team). The team’s biggest (literally) question mark comes opposite Thomas in the form of 270-pounder Darryl Monroe. He was more or less a poor man’s Jai Lewis last season. Although this is his second year in Fairfax after transferring to Mason, so some more knowledgeable than I expect to see some improvement from him.
Schedule: They start the season with three very winnable home games in a row, then travel to Orlando for the Old Spice Classic to possibly play some “real” teams (participants include: K-State, Villanova, NC State). It’s an early opportunity to impress by beating major conference teams. Looking at the rest of the season, the conference schedule will be tough, as usual, but they don’t have any great non-conference foes. Apparently, Larranaga learned his lesson after scheduling a trip to Duke last season.
Non-Basketball Related Anecdote: My friend (who is 26 and still an undergrad at Mason) has a Hip-Hop Literacies class with several of the players, including Dre Smith. The topic of discussion was something about urban myths. Someone in the class said “Christmas.” Genius. The teacher responds with something to the effect of, “Well, Christmas itself isn’t a myth, it’s real, but Santa Claus would be considered a myth.”
“Well, actually St. Nicholas was a real person who dropped treats down people’s chimneys in the Old Country,” responds one eager to impress student.
Dre Smith raises his hand for the first time all semester. “Not in my hood!” he exclaims.
The moral of the story: There is no Christmas in Dre’s Houston, Texas hood.
See Also: Rivals Has Mason as 47th out of their top 64 teams. The CAA blog has Mason finishing 1st in the conference (sorta).
Topics: Mason, College Hoops |
8 Responses to “Previewing the GMU Patriots aka Cinderella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh”
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October 12th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Rihanna actually thought this was kind of cute, even though she’s a big time Big East fan.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Dude, you talk to Rihanna? Put in a good word for me. She digs white guys, right? If not, tell her I’m black.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
You can definitely pull it off with the Prince George’s ghetto pass you earned this week.
October 13th, 2007 at 10:24 am
“Not in my hood!” I love that, but not as much as the fact that Mason offers a Hip-Hop Literacies course.
October 13th, 2007 at 11:20 am
it’s the 14th coolest college course in america. research it.
October 13th, 2007 at 11:22 am
and he didn’t raise his hand. he just shouted it out. your whole story is bullshit.
October 13th, 2007 at 11:36 am
I thought the hand-raising added to the suspense. It’s a story telling device. Research that shit, bama.
October 13th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
“and he didn’t raise his hand. he just shouted it out. your whole story is bullshit.”
How could you see that when you were googleing “coolest college courses in america”?