Another local stand out commits to Mason

Coach L's recruiting class of 2007 rounds out with another local product in Vlad Moldoveanu. Moldoveanu is a 6-foot-11 native of Romania playing for St. John's high school in DC, where he has made a name for himself with his outside shooting touch and rebounding. Vlad also had offers from West Virginia and Kentucky, which shows that you should not mess with Coach L when he is trying to recruit in his own backyard. West Virginia has often recruited big men who can shoot from long range, remember Kevin Pittsnogle last season? He was a 6-foot-10, 255 pound center who shot better than 40% from three point land. Thats better than most shooting guards. Vlad will most likely play small forward and create mismatche problems for the rest of the CAA; and will hopefully have better tatoos than Pittsnogle. Vlad "The Impaler" Moldoveanu (yes, I am already giving him a nickname, big whoop wanna fight about it?) has international tournament experience, gaining MVP honors in the 18-Under European Championship this past summer and currently is ranked as the best player in Europe in his age group . International play in Europe is nothing to overlook when you can see how the game overseas is improving and also why Team USA can't seem to get better than a bronze in any international tournament. The NBA says you gotta be 19 years old now to play with their boys so we can hopefully expect even more international recruits to join Coach L and our diverse campus. And people thought that #1 ranking in campus diversity at GMU was nothing to brag about.

Midnight Madness

Another Midnight Madness passes in Fairfax bringing the with it the highest expectations ever for the Patriots. A lot has changed in one season and ESPN broadcasting our Midnight Madness festivities is more proof of that then ever. This is the time of year when all the talk starts and pre-season rankings start pouring in. Will Mason be in the pre-season Top 25 coaches/AP poll? No. Thats the way I like it for now, were we ranked last pre-season? Pre-season rankings are garbage, remember when Maryland was ranked #24 in last years pre-season poll, and they lost to Manhattan in the NIT. Yeah they thats right, Manhattan, and NIT. It's the time of the year where everyone is undefeated and everyone thinks they will be the next George Mason. Sure the Patriots will have a huge bulleye on their backs this season but how much different is that kind of pressure then what most of these guys witnessed last year in the NCAA tournament. I'm sure I speech for the players when I say "bring it on".

Midnight Madness is also the first time we get to look at new guys coming in this year and of course start to put them under the microscope. Is Monroe going to take over in the middle and be like Jai? Will 'Dre Smith cut to basketball and get steals like Tony Skinn did last year? Will Birdsong stick his tongue out more than Will Thomas does when he dunks? Of course the reality is that these new incomers probably will not have a large role this season. They need time to learn the system and find out where to eat on campus besides Ciao Hall. Lets not forget they will have compete will a lot of quality guys returning who have experience over them, including Jesus Urbina and John Vaughn who missed all of last season. Vaughn was the best freshman out of the trio that all were named to All-Rookie team in the CAA. Watching the Patriots last season has to be leaving Vaughn hungry as ever to come back and contribute. Everyone keeps talking about Hofstra's backcourt, Campbell and Vaughn will pour on the points this year and make people go back to asking what state Hofstra is in.