2008–09 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team

2008–09 George Mason Patriots men's basketball

NIT 1st Round, vs. Penn State, L, 77–73 OT
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
2008–09 record	22–11 (13–5 CAA)
Head coach	Jim Larranaga
Assistant coach	Eric Konkol
Assistant coach	Chris Caputo
Assistant coach	Michael Huger
Home arena	Patriot Center

	Conf				Overall
2008–09 CAA men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
VCU†	14	–	4	.778	24	–	10	.706
George Mason	13	–	5	.722	22	–	11	.667
Old Dominion	12	–	6	.667	25	–	10	.714
Northeastern	12	–	6	.667	19	–	13	.594
Hofstra	11	–	7	.611	21	–	11	.656
Drexel	10	–	8	.556	15	–	14	.517
James Madison	9	–	9	.500	21	–	15	.583
Georgia State	8	–	10	.444	12	–	20	.375
Delaware	6	–	12	.333	13	–	19	.406
William & Mary	5	–	13	.278	10	–	20	.333
Towson	5	–	13	.278	12	–	22	.353
UNC Wilmington	3	–	15	.167	7	–	25	.219


† CAA Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 2008–09 George Mason Patriots men's basketball team began their 43rd season of collegiate play on November 15, 2008 versus the University of Vermont. They were looking to continue the success from their 2007–2008 season where they won the 2008 Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship game and faced Notre Dame in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and lost 68–50. The Patriots were runner-ups in the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association tournament and reached the 2009 NIT where they lost in overtime to eventual tournament champion Penn State to end the 2008–09 season.

Season notes

On February 2, 2009, it was announced that George Mason would play the Creighton Bluejays on February 21 as part of the annual ESPN Bracket Busters event.

On January 21, 2009, during a game versus Northeastern University senior guard John Vaughan suffered a concussion and was carted off the court. He was taken to a local hospital and released later that night. He will miss at least 1 week of action.^[1]

On December 27, 2008, it was announced that sophomore forward Vlad Moldoveanu will be released from his basketball commitment. He will enroll at American University.^[2]

On December 22, 2008, the George Mason men's basketball team won their 600th game in the history of the program.^[3]

Awards

Second Team All-CAA

Darryl Monroe
John Vaughan

Third Team All-CAA

Cam Long

CAA All-Rookie Team

Ryan Pearson

CAA All-Defensive Team

John Vaughan

CAA Player of the Week

Darryl Monroe – Jan. 12

CAA Rookie of the Week

Ryan Pearson – Nov. 17
Ryan Pearson – Dec. 1

Roster

2008–09 George Mason men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	High School/Junior College	Home town
3.5 !F	33	Birdsong, LouisLouis Birdsong	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 230 lb (104 kg)	3.0 !Jr	Mount Saint Joseph’s	Baltimore, MD
1.5 !G	2	Cornelius, AndreAndre Cornelius	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 70 !5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 172 lb (78 kg)	1.0 !Fr	Victory Christian	Charlotte, NC
3.5 !F	40	Fleming, ChrisChris Fleming	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 79 !6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 250 lb (113 kg)	4.0 !Sr	Osbourn Park	Manassas, VA
3.5 !F	3	Foster, KevinKevin Foster	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 79 !6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 211 lb (96 kg)	1.0 !Fr	Kathleen	Lakeland, FL
1.5 !G	5	Henderson, BrianBrian Henderson	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 195 lb (88 kg)	1.0 !Fr	Magruder	Gaithersburg, MD
1.5 !G	20	Long, CamCam Long	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 187 lb (85 kg)	2.0 !So	Freedom	Palm Bay, FL
3.5 !F	32	Monroe, DarrylDarryl Monroe	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 79 !6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 275 lb (125 kg)	4.5 !RS Sr	First Colonial	Virginia Beach, VA
3.5 !F	22	Morrison, MikeMike Morrison	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 81 !6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 222 lb (101 kg)	1.0 !Fr	Lakewood	St. Petersburg, FL
1.5 !G	10	Nolan, JimmyJimmy Nolan	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 72 !6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 170 lb (77 kg)	1.0 !Fr	Archbishop McCarthy	Plantation, FL
3.5 !F	24	Pearson, RyanRyan Pearson	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 230 lb (104 kg)	1.0 !Fr	Christ the King	Far Rockaway, NY
1.5 !G	1	Smith, DreDre Smith	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 72 !6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 185 lb (84 kg)	4.0 !Sr	Lamar	Houston, TX
1.5 !G	13	Tate, IsaiahIsaiah Tate	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 214 lb (97 kg)	2.0 !So	DeMatha	Upper Marlboro, MD
3.5 !F	23	Vaughn, JohnJohn Vaughn	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 179 lb (81 kg)	4.5 !RS Sr	Laurel	Laurel, MD

Head coach

Jim Larranaga (Providence)

Assistant coach(es)

Eric Konkol (Wisconsin-Eau Claire)
Michael Huger (Bowling Green)
Chris Caputo (Westfield)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2010-07-27

Stats

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Cam Long	33	33	32.7	.462	.404	.748	4.8	3.2	1.1	.1	11.7
John Vaughan	31	29	32.3	.418	.369	.747	4.5	1.6	.9	.5	10.8
Darryl Monroe	33	33	29.6	.573	.000	.574	7.7	2.1	1.1	.5	10.5
Dre Smith	33	32	28.4	.355	.265	.784	2.8	1.0	.8	.2	8.9
Ryan Pearson	32	1	17.1	.488	.000	.643	3.8	.7	.6	.8	7.0
Louis Birdsong	33	32	22.8	.488	.308	.702	3.5	.6	.8	1.1	6.4
Andre Cornelius	33	3	18.8	.399	.324	.545	1.8	1.3	.5	.1	5.5
Mike Morrison	31	0	10.8	.545	.000	.302	2.5	.3	.1	.7	4.0
Vlad Moldoveanu	7	0	9.9	.353	.375	.500	2.1	.6	.0	.0	2.3
Isaiah Tate	28	0	9.2	.333	.257	.375	1.6	.4	.2	.0	1.9
Jimmy Nolan	6	0	4.0	.375	.333	.000	.3	.5	.0	.0	1.3
Brian Henderson	5	0	2.6	.250	1.000	.000	.4	.2	.0	.0	0.6
Chris Fleming	10	1	6.0	.125	.000	1.000	1.8	.4	.1	.1	0.4

Game log

Date	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance)
Regular Season
November 15*	at Vermont	W 80–79 ^OT	1–0	Patrick Gymnasium (3,266)
November 17*	Brown	W 89–52	2–0	Patriot Center (5,469)
November 20*	at Hampton	L 50–44	2–1	Convocation Center (2,147)
November 22*	at East Carolina	W 77–71	3–1	Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (4,781)
November 25*	Mount St. Mary's University	W 72–60	4–1	Patriot Center (5,512)
November 29*	Ohio	W 74–65	5–1	Patriot Center (5,159)
December 1*	at Liberty	L 69–66 ^OT	5–2	Vines Center (4,172)
December 6	at Drexel	W 56–55	6–2 (1–0)	Daskalakis Athletic Center (1,406)
December 19*	Radford	W 67–55	7–2	Patriot Center (5,164)
December 22*	Tulane	W 60–52	8–2	Patriot Center (4,508)
December 30*	at Dayton	L 66–62	8–3	University of Dayton Arena (13,107)
January 3	UNC-Wilmington	W 101–60	9–3 (2–0)	Patriot Center (8,010)
January 5	Georgia State	W 58–52	10–3 (3–0)	Patriot Center (3,841)
January 7	at Towson	W 71–59	11–3 (4–0)	Towson Center (1,507)
January 10	Old Dominion	W 61–53	12–3 (5–0)	Patriot Center (6,626)
January 14	at William & Mary	W 61–57	13–3 (6–0)	Kaplan Arena (2,283)
January 17	James Madison	W 71–57	14–3 (7–0)	Patriot Center (8,665)
January 21	at Northeastern	L 58–57	14–4 (7–1)	Matthews Arena (2,300)
January 24	at VCU	L 76–71	14–5 (7–2)	Stuart C. Siegel Center (7,594)
January 27	Delaware	W 78–55	15–5 (8–2)	Patriot Center (4,845)
January 31	at Old Dominion	L 73–71	15–6 (8–3)	Ted Constant Convocation Center (8,424)
February 3	Hofstra	W 78–54	16–6 (9–3)	Patriot Center (5,067)
February 7	at James Madison	L 68–66	16–7 (9–4)	Convocation Center (5,470)
February 12	at Delaware	L 66–58	16–8 (9–5)	Patriot Center (3,062)
February 14	Northeastern (Homecoming)	W 64–53	17–8 (10–5)	Patriot Center (9,840)
February 18	Drexel	W 49–48	18–8 (11–5)	Patriot Center (5,579)
February 21*	at Creighton (ESPN Bracket Busters)	L 76–63	18–9	Qwest Center Omaha (17,411)
February 25	at UNC-Wilmington	W 53–52	19–9 (12–5)	Trask Coliseum (3,625)
February 28	Towson	W 71–59	20–9 (13–5)	Patriot Center (9,840)
2009 CAA Men's Basketball Tournament
March 7	vs. James Madison (CAA Tournament)	W 61–53	21–9	Richmond Coliseum (N/A)
March 8	vs. Towson (CAA Tournament)	W 56–48	22–9	Richmond Coliseum (7,925)
March 9	vs. VCU (CAA Tournament)	L 71–50	22–10	Richmond Coliseum (11,200)
2009 National Invitation Tournament
March 17	at Penn State (NIT First Round, No. 2 vs No. 7)	L 77–73 ^OT	22–11	Bryce Jordan Center (5,549)
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time ^[4].

Recruiting

The following is a list of players signed for the 2009–10 season:

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Rashaad Whack SG	Forestville, Maryland	Bishop McNamara	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Sep 6, 2008
Rashaad Whack SG	Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 86
Paris Bennett SF	Elizabeth, New Jersey	St. Patrick's	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sep 21, 2008
Paris Bennett SF	Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 85
Vertrail Vaughns PG	Mesquite, Texas	Mesquite	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sep 28, 2008
Vertrail Vaughns PG	Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 85
Johnnie Williams PF	Memphis, Tennessee	Briarcrest Christian	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Oct 19, 2008
Johnnie Williams PF	Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 89
Luke Hancock SF	Chatham, Virginia	Hargrove Military Academy	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Oct 19, 2008
Luke Hancock SF	Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 86
Sherrod Wright SG	Mount Vernon, New York	Mount Vernon	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Apr 17, 2009
Sherrod Wright SG	Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 89
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2009-02-09. "2009 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2009-02-09.

References

↑ http://gomason.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/012209aaa.html
↑ http://gomason.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/122908aaa.html
↑ http://gomason.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/122208aaa.html
↑ "2008–09 Schedule." gomason.com. Retrieved on October 7, 2008.

George Mason Patriots men's basketball

Venues	Patriot Center (1985–present)

Rivalries	VCU

Culture & lore	History The Patriot

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

NCAA Final Four appearances in italics