The Game: #5 Villanova (2-0) vs. George Mason (2-0)
Location: The Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Broadcast: ESPNU
Brief Rundown: After struggling for a half against Fairleigh Dickinson, ‘Nova beat the brakes off of city-rival Penn for the full 40 minutes. It was one of the best games that I’ve ever seen a Villanova team play. All the shots were falling, the defense was superb, and even when the bench was emptied, the reserves continued to build the lead. Things will not come that easy against George Mason, and the team needs to be wary of that.
Like ‘Nova, George Mason is off to a 2-0 start to their season after a close win against Liberty and a more comfortable win against Dartmouth. Also like ‘Nova, the Patriots are very young and have 7 new players on their roster this fall. Louis Birdsong is the lone senior, but is not expected to make his mark on this game. Junior Cam Long is the most heralded, but he’ll receive plenty of help from Ryan Pearson (leading scorer against Dartmouth) as well as Andre Cornelius. George Mason likes to play high pressure defense, so the ‘Nova guards need to come prepared.
What I Want To See: I want to see how for real we are. George Mason is a mid-major, but also a well-coached team that is always hungry for an upset. This may prove to be a game where the 4-guard lineup is used quite often. George Mason has some size inside but isn’t the biggest team in the world, and their high pressure defense may be best countered with a lot of ball handlers. Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek may be relied upon to make smart decisions. Hopefully the young guns are up to the task.
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November 18, 2009
Not overlooking George Mason and am excited to see how the team responds. Pretty much know that I am not getting any work done tomorrow afternoon.
I think it will be interesting to see what the team does when (heaven forbid) they are not shooting 40+% from behind the arc. We all know that at some point during a Big East game the shots aren’t going to drop and I think that is when we will see how good this team can be.