A Sea Of Red

Friday, November 13 - 7:30 pm



The Patriot Center (10,000)


Head Coach Jim Larranaga


#20 Cam Long G 6'4" 187 JR (11.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.2 apg last season)


#33 Louis Birdsong F 6'6" 230 SR (6.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg last season)

Season preview from ESPN: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insider/ ... %3d4536745

Last season: 22-11 (13-5) 2nd in CAA

This game should be on MASN. Is it? I'm not even sure I'd be able to watch the whole thing. It could get a little ugly.

I don’t think it’s going to get very ugly. Mason is very young as are we. They only really have 2 returnees that did anything last year. Granted their recruiting class is ranked as the top in the CAA and one of the best among all mid-majors, but who knows how those guys will actually pan out. Their strength will be their guard play. I think we match up pretty well with them other than Birdsong.

I don't think we'll get blown out.

I don't think we'll score much either.

Apparently our defense at the scrimmage was very good this weekend.

holy crap that like a week away! I am going to miss basketball games..and I am sure I am going to get grief for this..but I am going to miss basketball games so much more then going to football games..and I miss going to football games a lot...anyways, I think this game should be a decently competetive game..probably not a win, but I think we will hang in there

Stickied this.

Am ready for basketball season!

Is anyone going up? I will be there at the Patriot Center. I have to call the game the next day in Lynchburg so I want to see how they play the 1st game of the Dale Layer era.

Is this a four game series? it would be awesome to host George Mason again next year.

It was signed as a four-game series, yes.

SCAR wrote:Is anyone going up? I will be there at the Patriot Center. I have to call the game the next day in Lynchburg so I want to see how they play the 1st game of the Dale Layer era.

The wife and I are going up.

Thinking about driving down for this game. Only 2 hours. Don't think it's on masn up here

SuperJon wrote:I don't think we'll get blown out.

I don't think we'll score much either.

Apparently our defense at the scrimmage was very good this weekend.

Defense... I know not of this word you speak.

You will this year. This coach stresses it big time.

SuperJon wrote:You will this year. This coach stresses it big time.

This excites me.

prototype wrote:

SuperJon wrote:You will this year. This coach stresses it big time.

This excites me.

YESSSSSS

I hope you embarrass them.

Has anybody gotten their tickets yet? What section is the visiting team's section?

CAN'T WAIT FOR BASKETBALL SEASON!!!!!!!!

jcmanson wrote:Has anybody gotten their tickets yet? What section is the visiting team's section?

I usually see the visiting fans sit in section 103 in the double lettered seats.



Expect Mason to try and push the tempo up this year. We are young but very deep (hopefully) on the bench as we have seven freshman. Our team is more athletic than it has, perhaps, ever been. Our recruiting class was ranked #1 among non-BCS schools and our excitement to see them is palpable in Fairfax. While we did lose three of our starters from last years team our hope is that this off season was more of a reload than a rebuild. Look forward to the game. We are picked to finish as high as 2 and as low as 6 in the CAA, though a 3-4 finish is most likely.

Our unquestioned leader and star would be junior Cam Long. A lot of people think our season rests on his shoulders. Another important factor is how well our starting point guard sophomore Andre Cornelius has developed since his freshman year. He had a <1 assist to turnover ratio last season; however, he showed flashes of brilliance in his court vision and displayed excellent basketball acumen during our exhibition against VSU last week. Our other starters will be senior Louis Birdsong, who is more known for his consistent defense than offensive prowess, and sophomores Ryan Pearson (All CAA rookie team last year) and Mike Morrison. Morrison is a god awful freethrow shooter but is considered by many to have the most potential of our sophomore class. His game against Penn State in the NIT's last year was monstrous and, hopefully, indicative of how he will play this season.

For a bit of insight on our freshman see this thread on our exhibition. The game recap starts on page 5.

JMUDukes wrote:I hope you embarrass them.

Typical JMU fan, living your dreams vicariously through other teams because your team can't do anything . You guys suck and will suck even more with Devon out now. Enjoy getting you asses kicked by Ohio State and then by the rest of the CAA, come conference play. A little trivia for Flame fans: What is JMU's record against Mason over the last 11 games. Hint, it's less that a .100 winning percentage.

I'm very excited for basketball season...I'm looking for Jesse, Jeremy, and Minaya to have really great seasons. I could be wrong, but I think Birdsong and Long both had really good games last year when we played them, so hopefully we can slow those two down a bit so GMU has to rely on their inexperienced players for points.

If I recall Birdsong completely owned us. I'm not gonna go look up his stats (I assume manson will) but at the very least he kept answering Seth's clutch shots although obviously it wasn't enough in the end.

LUconn wrote:If I recall Birdsong completely owned us. I'm not gonna go look up his stats (I assume manson will) but at the very least he kept answering Seth's clutch shots although obviously it wasn't enough in the end.

33 BIRDSONG, Louis..... f 5-7 fg 0-0 3pt fg 2-2 ft 7 rb 4 fls 12 pts 4 to 4 blks 35 mins

What's the starting lineup for Liberty look like?

Mason will likely be:

Mike Morrison 6'9" 222 lbs
Ryan Pearson 6'6" 230 lbs
Louis Birdsong 6'6" 230 lbs
Cam Long 6'4" 187 lbs
Andre Cornelius 5'10" 172 lbs

The team is transitioning back to Larranaga's Scramble style of play; fast-paced, lots of traps and full court press. Long is our best player, a 1st Team CAA pre-season pick.

Jesse Sanders - G - So - 6'3 - 200
____________ - G - Fr - ___ - ___
David Minaya - G - So - 6'6 - 205
Kyle Ohman - F - Sr - 6'4 - 200
Tyler Baker - F - Sr - 6'9 - 215

The blank will be Evan Gordon or Chris Perez.


What's going to be fun to watch is how GMU's up-tempo plays with our grind it out defensive approach.

SuperJon wrote: What's going to be fun to watch is how GMU's up-tempo plays with our grind it out defensive approach.

"grind it out defensive approach"...are you talking about Liberty? Wow, Layer is definitely different from his predecessor.

Rumor from the Mason side is there will be a link posted to watch the game over the internet. Not sure if it is free or not though.