Listen to Assistant Coach Chris Caputo on 106.7 last night with Bill Rohland

George Mason assistant coach Chris Caputo was on Overtime on 106.7 The Fan radio last night with host Bill Rohland. Rohland as you know is the play-by-play voice of George Mason basketball radio. 

Confirmed Out of Conference Home Opponents for 2010-2011 Season

James Meyer of George Mason Athletics sent a letter to all season ticket holders recently about the upcoming 2010-2011. In the letter he includes the out of conference home opponents for the team this year and they include George Washington, Harvard, Loyola, and Florida Atlantic.  The only new opponent to be added recently is Loyola out of the MAAC.  This schedule won't wow you but I think the coaching staff is looking more for W's at the Patriot Center instead of tests, which they may get on the road at Dayton. The coaching staff is still looking to fill their final road game, apparently a contract is in the works but nothing is official yet.

The Top 5 Plays of the Past Decade for George Mason Basketball

The Top 5 plays of the Decade. Enjoy:



Amazing work by Thuc Phan.

Top plays #50-41

Top plays #40-31

Top plays #30-21

Top plays #20-11

Top plays #10-6

[Videos by Thuc Phan]

George Mason leads CAA in annual APR report

UNCW blogger Brian Mull had a post yesterday showing all the APR scores from the CAA for men's basketball. George Mason received the highest score in the CAA (995) from the annual report. The men's basketball team score of 995 was the highest of all the athletic teams at Mason. APR stands for Academic Progress Rate and it penalizes schools who have student-athletes leave early and don't earn a degree. More specially, schools that have teams score below 925 and have student-athletes who failed academically and left the school can end up losing scholarships. Coach Larranaga prides himself by making sure his players graduate and although this accomplishment won't get you on the front page of ESPN.com it shows the kind of character of men he brings into this program and what he expects from them.  

Here are the APRs from some local DC area teams:

Maryland - 913

Georgetown - 937

George Washington - 936

American - 981

[http://web1.ncaa.org/maps/aprRelease.jsp]

Return of the Top 50 plays of the Decade: #10-6

Mason basketball Director of Technology Thuc Phan had some technical difficulties after the season ended which delayed the Top 50 plays of the decade countdown. Here is plays #10-6 and Phan says #5-1 will be uploaded sometime on Wednesday so stay tuned.

Top plays #50-41

Top plays #40-31

Top plays #30-21

Top plays #20-11

[Videos by Thuc Phan]

Update on team's trip to Italy

Last month we first heard about the teams plans to head to Italy this August for a tournament, and now we know it's confirmed. Newcomers Bryon Allen and Jonathan Arledge just started taking summer classes and will be eligible to play in this tournament. The dates and the professional teams they will be playing will not be known til sometime in July but the team does know that they will be playing four games in three cities: Rome, Florence, and Lake Como. 

Maryland to hire Bino Ranson, Chris Caputo still a Patriot for now

Just got word that Maryland's head coach Gary Williams will hire Orlando "Bino" Ranson of Xavier to fill his vacant assistant/recruiting director position.  The official announcement will come Monday, but it is a done deal. Larranaga's assistant Chris Caputo was in the running but I believe Ranson's AAU ties were what sealed the deal in the end. Mason fans should be rejoicing that the program holds on to their prized recruiting ace for at least one more recruiting period.

UPDATE:

Per DeMatha's coach Mike Jones:

"Just spoke to Coach Bino from Xavier. Congrats to him as he will be joining Coach Williams staff at UMd"

Update on Chris Caputo and the Maryland coaching assistant job

Maryland fans all over the internet are saying it's a done deal and that Chris Caputo will be the new assistant and recruiting director on Gary Williams' staff. They have noticed that Caputo has been currently "friending" Maryland players and signees on Facebook, including recent commit Sterling Gibbs. So naturally that's all the evidence Twerp fans need to pencil in Caputo on their coaching staff. I am not so sure it's a done deal just yet but I am very hesitant to believe Caputo will be back on Larranaga's staff next season. At this point it seems like it could go either way.

According to the Terrapin Times it's a two-man race between Caputo and Xavier's assistant coach Orlando Ranson. Former Terrapin Juan Dixon is rumored to be pushing hard for Williams to hire Ranson. I guess Dixon has a lot more free time to be involved with Maryland coaching changes after being banned from FIBA for using  steriods back in February. 

However on the Junkies radio show today on 106.7 the Fan Gary Williams mentioned that he is taking his time in filling the position when asked. He also mentioned the new recruiting period beginning July 1st so you know he can't really be mulling this over for too much longer. But if Caputo was such a slam dunk pick for this spot as Maryland fans are saying wouldn't he be chosen by now?