Previewing George Mason vs James Madison

The Patriots are riding a five game winning streak and currently sitting alone in first place in the CAA standings.  They are finding production from different areas and Wednesday night's 36 bench points proved they are becoming a deep squad.  They host James Madison Saturday afternoon and hopefully this time the game won't be as foul plagued as their previous meeting in Harrisonburg. And whether or not you believe this series is actually a rivalry it always seems to be a fun atmosphere at the Patriot Center when the Dukes come to town. Madison still leads the all-time series 43-49 but have only beaten Mason once in their last 17 meetings, including CAA tournament games. As we mentioned last time JMU has struggled this season to due to various injuries and inefficiencies on offense. However last time out against them the Patriots squandered a large lead in the second half, due to some terrible officiating but also because of their numerous turnovers and other miscues.

This continues to be a good team, that has shown flashes of greatness, but then often seem to leave us holding our breathes at the end of games.  I don't really think they are sleepwalking through games, but simply just have trouble playing their game for a full 40 minutes. They play hard for 40 minutes but don't always seem to stick to their game plan for 40 minutes. They let a defensive change disrupt their rhythm too easily and once the turnovers start teams find it easy to chip away at their lead. Then the rushed possessions start and that's when we see them abandon the easy baskets that mounted them a lead and start launching up ill-advised three-pointers.

These turnovers continue to be a problem for George Mason, most recently coughing it up 18 times Wednesday night against Hofstra in an ugly 55-50 road win. If the trend continues I think the Patriots are going to be upset by a lesser team sooner rather than later. Not in this game however as I think Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison will return to form at home and dominate the paint like what we saw against Delaware. Something to continue to watch is how much the team continues to get from the bench especially from guys like Jonathan Arledge, Corey Edwards, and Vaughn Gray.  No word yet on whether or not Erik Copes will be playing but he dressed for the Hofstra game so I would have to think he's a go for this one.

NCAA Basketball