Stifling Defense Returns Mason to Colonial Final
by Jay Pearlman
RICHMOND, Va. – Twice in the regular year, No. 2 UNC-Wilmington’s high-powered offense and senior-laden team bested No. 3 George Mason, 61-58 in Wilmington and then 75-73 in Fairfax – wins that served as the tie-breaker for the tournament 2nd seed. In Saturday night’s tournament quarterfinals, Mason had struggled mightily with Northeastern (63-52), while UNCW dispatched Delaware before halftime (final of 82-59). And while ex-football and basketball coaches on television say “defense wins championships,” it was hard to conceive that Jim Larranga’s team could hold Benny Moss’ to half of its previous night’s output.
Well, they had to, they did, and they won, 53-41, setting up a CAA Final tomorrow night between Mason and no. 5 William and Mary. Like no. 1 VCU eliminated earlier in the day, Wilmington is left with a week to brood and then an evening sitting by the phone, in UNCW’s case hoping for an NIT bid.
Larranaga talked about adjustments he’d made for Wilmington, first for the home rematch in late February, and then for tonight’s game. When Vladimir Kuljanin hurt him in the post in game one, Coach doubled down more in game two. When Dan Fountain and Chad Tomko hurt him from the arc in game two, yet more changes were needed, three that Coach talked about. First, on this night, unlike prior contests, Mason played no zone; that is, they played their aggressive, physical man-to-man defense for 40 minutes.
Second, showing ultimate respect for Coach Moss’ freshman point guard, Larranaga assigned his best perimeter defender, John Vaughan, to Chad Tomko. When focused Vaughan is the best perimeter defender in the league (along with C.C. Williams of Towson), and his individual defense stopped VCU’s Eric Maynor when Mason won the teams’ lone meeting January 29, as well as Northeastern’s Matt Janning the previous night. On the one hand, quite an honor for young Tomko; on the other, Vaughan held the All-Rookie point guard to zero points, pressuring all eight of Tomko’s shots in the game. In combination with backcourt running mate Dan Fountain (often guarded by freshman Cam Long), Wilmington’s sharpshooting guards were a combined 3-21, and the team as a whole shot just 28 percent.
Third, for much of the game Larranaga’s team fronted Kuljanin in the post, be it with star center Will Thomas, or his backup Chris Fleming. Often that required emerging sophomore forward Louis Birdsong, like Thomas from Mount St. Joseph’s in Baltimore, to rotate from the week side and help on Kuljanin. The strategy worked, holding Kuljanin to 10 points in the game (5-9), most of them in the first half.
If there was an “x-factor” in the game, in fact thus far in the tournament for George Mason, without question it was the play of Birdsong. Louis followed up his 8-point, 5-rebound night against Northeastern (3-4 shooting) with even more against Wilmington, scoring 10 (5-7), and garnering 5 more rebounds. After the game Coach Larranaga called Birdsong “a challenge” to coach (not always evidencing complete focus in practice), but a “gifted and important” player for the Patriots. “He provides an outlet when Thomas is doubled, and attacks the goal,” and also “rebounds when teams are completely focused on blocking out Will.” We named Birdsong co-Star of the Game on Northeastern radio Saturday night (along with Folarin Campbell), and the same is likely to have occurred last night by one or more of three radio productions, or by Glenn Consor on CN8 television. Along with the best individual and team defense in the conference, for the second night in a row the play of Birdsong was the difference in a George Mason win.
So now it’s Tony Shaver’s upstart William and Mary Tribe, whose smothering zone (and surprisingly nimble man-to-man) held VCU to 54 points earlier today. This non-athletic group is incredibly confident on defense (also in its shooting, particularly late), and neither side in the Mason-W & M game should reach 60 points. Only late appreciating the threat posed by William & Mary (and the work of Coach of the Year Shaver), this writer has just one thought about tomorrow’s game: if opposite styles give the weaker team a puncher’s chance, similar styles make it nearly impossible for the weaker team to prevail. (Back in the day, Princeton could threaten Georgetown, but not Indiana). But don’t tell the William & Mary kids that (and they surely won’t be reading this column). And even though the VCU fans won’t be Richmond Coliseum for tonight’s final (nor at home in front of their TVs), you CAA fans probably should be.
CAA News and Notes
- Tomorrow night’s CAA final tips at 7 on ESPN, with Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes providing the call.
- Indulge me some applause outside this fun conference, to extend congratulations to dear friend Gary Waters of Cleveland State for being named co-Coach of the Year in the Horizon League. Having beaten Valparaiso in the conference semi-final Saturday, CSU must now upset Butler for the conference championship and a ticket to the big dance Tuesday night in Indianapolis. Go Vikings!
