It’s 12 months 3 of the Tony Skinn period, and for the George Mason College males’s basketball workforce, it’s the very best expectations have been because the program joined the Atlantic 10.
Final yr, GMU was the shock workforce of the convention, ending 24-7 total (15-3 in A-10 play), incomes a share of the regular-season convention title, reaching the A-10 championship recreation, qualifying for the NIT, and even receiving votes within the Related Press ballot for just a few weeks. However when you’ve adopted Skinn’s journey at his alma mater, none of it ought to’ve been very shocking.
From Day 1, it was clear the place to begin guard of Mason’s magical 2006 Remaining 4 workforce meant enterprise. For the primary time since Jim Larranaga’s departure, GMU has a coach who actually bleeds inexperienced and gold. The indicators of a rising program had been there throughout Skinn’s first season in 2023-24, headlined by a win over a ranked Dayton squad in February. Regardless that the outcomes had been inconsistent, the workforce performed with coronary heart and keenness each recreation, a credit score to the tradition their head coach has instilled.
All of it got here collectively in 12 months 2, however this season will deliver Skinn’s largest problem but: proving it’s sustainable, with an almost totally overhauled roster. Solely two gamers — preseason All-Convention First Staff level guard Brayden O’Connor and ahead Stas Sivka — return from final yr, shedding everybody else to both commencement or the switch portal. However the portal giveth as a lot because it taketh away, and GMU was in a position to herald the prime incoming switch class within the convention, headlined by Kory Mincy, Jermahri “Fatt” Hill, and former Maryland Terrapin Jahari Lengthy. Mason additionally has three gifted freshmen in Emmanuel Kanga, Skinn’s son Isaiah Skinn, and the perfect Devin Booker in basketball.
It is going to be fascinating to look at how all the puzzle items find yourself becoming collectively. In GMU’s 74-41 preseason exhibition win over Alfred College, O’Connor and Lengthy had been joined within the beginning lineup by Masai Troutman, Riley Allenspach, and Dola Adebayo. 15 gamers suited up for the Patriots with 10 taking part in double-digit minutes, and that didn’t even embrace Hill. Very similar to final yr’s squad, this can be a workforce that ought to be capable to depend on its depth as certainly one of its largest strengths.
Mason begins the season ranked 91st at KenPom.com, its highest start-of-season rating since 2014 and the fifth-best workforce within the Atlantic 10. The Patriots had been picked to complete sixth within the convention preseason ballot, behind VCU, Saint Louis, Dayton, George Washington, and Loyola-Chicago. The Patriots have outperformed their preseason projections in each seasons below Skinn up to now, and if they’ll accomplish that once more, they’ll be proper within the combine to win the convention.
Regardless of a short scare that Skinn may depart to take the College of Maryland job, GMU was in a position to retain crucial member of its program, and he now has a confirmed resume to construct upon. So long as this new batch of gamers should buy in and construct chemistry below Skinn’s management, it must be one other profitable season in Fairfax.
