No Help for Thomas, as Mason Falls to Notre Dame
by Jay Pearlman
For a week and a half, George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga has been telling us that “this isn’t two years ago; this is a different team, and most of the players on this team weren’t on that one.” Well, this is certainly a largely different team from that one, one by most measures not as strong. And while that was kept hidden against Northeastern, UNC-Wilmington and William & Mary during the CAA Tournament – in perhaps Coach Larranaga’s best coaching week ever – it was starkly revealed last night in a 68-50 loss to Notre Dame that wasn’t that close.
In a commercial during the broadcast of the Patriots’ CAA Tournament quarterfinal win over Northeastern, I whispered to someone that they should press more, and was responded to that they may not have the depth to press more. Looking at the relative depth of the two teams in front of me I dismissed the comment, but looking back it was right on. And not only don’t this year’s Patriots have the depth to press for all or most of a game, they don’t have the depth to play half-court against a Big East team the likes of Notre Dame.
Will Thomas was ready to play last night (25 points on 10-14, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in 35 minutes), making his best case for the next level and matching Big East Player of the Year and double-double machine Luke Harangody (18 points, 8-19, and 14 big rebounds). But no GMU teammate could play at that level, and streaky senior Folarin Campbell and redshirt junior John Vaughan were a combined 2-19 from the field. In fact, removing Thomas’ 10-14, as a team Mason ended up shooting just 9-43, barely above 20 percent. Only back-up point guard Jordan Carter played to his ability on offense, scoring 7 on 3-6 in 23 minutes.
The first four minutes of the second half were a microcosm. Already trailing 33-21 at the break, before the first media timeout Vaughan missed a wide-open fast break layup, then airballed a trey, then missed a bunny off his own half-court penetration; then Campbell penetrated and missed from just 3 feet away. Finally, when Dre Smith hit a long trey, the points were taken off the board when an official called Smith for stepping on the sideline as he launched. Despite all those good looks the score ballooned to 40-23, and the game was effectively over with 16 minutes to play.
In candor, this result should have surprised no one who followed Mason and the CAA all year long. While wonderfully balanced, the league was weaker at the top this year than the previous two, evidenced by fifth seed William & Mary’s run to the conference final. Mason’s tournament run was made without having to play regular season champ VCU. And the weakness at the top was demonstrated by the home NIT loss by VCU to UAB two nights ago, the absence of any bid for second seed UNCW, and Mason’s showing last night. Only conference 4th seed Old Dominion managed a post-season win – at home over MAAC co-champ Rider – but Virginia awaits in Charlottesville for the next round CBI game.
For Mason and Larranaga, it’s back to building following this year’s graduations. And with this winter’s strong coaching effort, Larranaga left little doubt that he’s up for the challenge. We’ll see you in the Patriot Center for a game next fall!
CAA News and Notes
- Despite ODU Coach Blaine Taylor’s tongue-in-cheek comment that Gerald Lee defended better in the post due to his hyperextended knee, in truth some improved mobility on Lee’s part will be essential for ODU to be competitive in Charlottesville come Monday night.
- Watching the first evening of the tournament in NY, Mason-ND was in fact the featured game on CBS during the late evening time-slot. But with Notre Dame in control almost from the outset, CBS switched quickly to other games. That forced this writer to learn about video (and audio) streaming at NCAA.com, which was surprisingly watchable.
- After 15 games the last two weeks in the southeast, it’s still surprisingly cold up here in the north. Good thing that baseball team from New England chose to make their trip to sunny Japan.
