With NCAA basketball practices officially starting on Friday, we’re down do our final week of CAA team previews. Today, we take a look at last year’s regular season champions, the George Mason Patriots. On Friday, we’ll take a look at our own Northeastern Huskies.

2010-11 in Review: The Patriots got off to a 2-2 start on the season but eventually ripped off 16 straight wins, 15 of which came against CAA opponents, to earn the top spot in the conference tournament where they lost to VCU in the semifinals. The Patriots finished conference play at 16-2 and were undefeated through all 14 games they played at the Patriot Center. Despite the loss to VCU in the CAA tournament, the Patriots were still able to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they knocked off Villanova in the first round before falling to Ohio State in round two and finishing 27-7 on the year. This season marked the final campaign for long-time head coach Jim Larranaga, who left the Patriots for Miami after 14 seasons (13 of which were winning seasons). Most notable was his 2006 season, when George Mason shocked the college basketball world by making the Final Four. Former Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt was brought in by George Mason after Larranaga’s departure.

Against Northeastern: The top team in the CAA a year ago did not have much trouble with the Northeastern Huskies. The Patriots played the Huskies twice in 2010-11 and won both contests. The first matchup came in the middle of a historic snow storm that altered travel plans and buried the city of Boston in snow. This early January “Snow-mageddon” did little to slow down the Patriots as they came to Northeastern and won by 26 Led by junior forward Ryan Pearson, the Patriots started the game scoring 11 of the first 12 points and keeping the Huskies without a field goal for six minutes. Pearson hit 10 of his 14 shots, finishing with 24 points while the Patriots shot over 67% from the field. Jonathan Lee and Joel Smith led the Huskies with 16 each. This win marked the start of George Mason’s 16-game win streak. In the second meeting, the Huskies traveled to Fairfax, Virginia, where the Patriots were undefeated in 2010-11. The game was close throughout, with Northeastern leading by 5 at half. However, the Patriots found a way to squeak out a 67-61 victory in their home finale. Ryan Pearson led the Patriots with a double-double, 18 points and 15 boards. Jonathan Lee had 18 to lead the Huskies.

Key Losses:

• Cam Long: The senior guard made an All-CAA team 3 of his 4 years with the Patriots. During his senior campaign Long started every game and led the team in scoring with 15 points per game. He had 30 games game in which he scored at least 10 points, eight of which he scored over 20. Long was named First team All-CAA after his final season with George Mason. Long, at 6-4, was a great rebounder averaging almost 5 per game his senior and sophomore seasons. Long was dominant in his senior season against the league but especially against the Huskies. Long scored 20 in the first contest and fell one rebound short of a double-double on his senior game in the second.
• Luke Hancock: After Jim Larranaga took his talents to the ACC, Hancock decided to move to Louisville of the Big East. Hancock was the third-leading scorer on the team with 10 points per game. He led the team in assists with over 4 per game. Hancock started 30 games last year and was a key reason George Mason had an efficient offense, shooting 47% throughout the entire season. Hancock may have been made famous by his go-ahead 3 with 20 seconds left in the opening round against the Villanova, however his ablity to control the flow of the game and distribute the ball with be a big loss for the Patriots offense. Watch for Hancock in the Big East as it looks like he should fit in well with Rick Pitino’s offense.
• Isaiah Tate: The senior guard was George Mason’s sixth man, contributing big minutes and points off the bench. Tate played in every game his senior year and started in four of them. He averaged over 20 minutes and 6 points per game, scoring in double figures 8 times during the season including a 10-point performance in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Villanova.

Key Returns:

• Ryan Pearson: The 6’6” forward from was the second-leading scorer as a junior last year, averaging 14 points per game and led the team with 6.7 rebounds. Pearson played in every game for the Patriots and started in all but one. In his junior year, Pearson was selected to the second team All-CAA and ranked top 15 in both scoring and rebounding in the CAA. Pearson shot over 50% from the field last year and even hit 18 3’s. Pearson is poised to have great senior year as the top dog on this George Mason team.
• Mike Morrison: The junior forward at 6’9” started every game and was fifth on the team in scoring and second in rebounding with 6.8 and 5.5 per game respectively. Morrison shot over 56% from the floor which was highest on the team. He was also a presence in the paint with 40 blocks on the season.  Morrison has a slight drop in production from his second to his third season however he remains a big piece of George Mason’s starting group.

What to Expect: The Patriots have lost a few key pieces to their first place team from a year ago, however talent still fills up this roster. With Pearson and Morrison returning the Patriots should have a fierce front court. Andre Cornelius was charged with a felony credit card fraud and though it is unclear how long he will be out for, he is a guy that can fill it up in the back court after averaging 9.5 points per game last year. There will be some new faces for this Patriots team, who hope to make another run at a CAA title, including Coach Paul Hewitt and Corey Edwards who comes in from ESPN’s top 100 recruits list. The Patriots will be in the hunt to be one of the conference’s top teams, however they will be trying to find a way to replace some holes left by some key losses.

–Coray Runge

WRBB Sports Basketball CAA, Fall Preview, George Mason