Despite losing one of the most prolific scorers in school history and a key perimeter defender, George Mason men's basketball looks capable of coming back just as strong next year.
This season the Patriots tied a program record with 27 wins and set one with a 16-game winning streak.
The Patriots lose Cam Long, who finished 14th in school history with 1,416 points, and sixth-man Isaiah Tate, but will return four starters and a number of highly-touted young players that coach Jim Larranaga and his staff will count on if they are to compete for their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in six years.
“We accomplished a lot of things this year and put our school back on the map," junior forward Mike Morrison said. "We’re ready to come back and do it again next year.”
Morrison is expected to join two All-Colonial Athletic Association selections in junior forward Ryan Pearson and sophomore swingman Luke Hancock as well junior point guard Andre Cornelius in the starting lineup, and three other rotation players - sophomore forward Johnny Williams, redshirt freshman forward Paris Bennett and redshirt freshman guard Vertrail Vaughns - will also return.
Pearson will be one of the top returning players in the CAA after averaging 14.2 points and 6.7 rebounds this past season, and Hancock's role could increase even more after averaging 10.9 points, 4.3 assists and 4.2 rebounds. The athletic Morrison, who averaged 6.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, and Cornelius, who averaged 9.5 points, will join Pearson as third-year starters on what will figure to be the most experienced team in the conference.
The 6-foot-8, 249-pound Williams came on at the end of the season, scoring a season-high eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the Patriots' win over Villanova in the NCAA Tournament, and Vaughns' 47 percent 3-point shooting and ability to score in bunches (he averaged 4.5 points in just 9.5 minutes) could make him the early favorite to replace Long in the starting lineup.
George Mason will also return 6-foot-9 freshman Jonathan Arledge to the front court and sophomore Rashad Whack and Bryon Allen on the perimeter. The Patriots will also return guard Sherrod Wright, who was a rotation player as a freshman during the 2009-10 season but missed the past season after tearing the labrum in his shoulder during the offseason, and will add two more backcourt players in recruits Vaughn Gray from St. Benedict's in Newark, N.J., and Corey Edwards from Christ the King in New York City.
“They have to work harder at it and get better, and it’s going to start from day one as soon as the workouts start,” Long said after George Mason's loss to Ohio State last week. “They have to understand everything you work on is going to make you better and might get you back to this day again next year.”
They certainly seem motivated to just that, based on Morrison's comments after the lopsided loss to the Buckeyes that ended their season.
“We’re a tight unit, and it’s going to carry over,” Morrison said. “We want to go a little further next year.”
