George Mason gets ready for a showdown with VCU

With George Mason's win over UNCW on Saturday they are now only one win away (or an ODU loss) from locking up a top three seeding in the CAA tournament. That will be easier said than done with their showdown with VCU tomorrow and a visit to Boston to take on Northeastern.  In their victory over UNCW the Patriots again turned another game into a squeaker as the Seahawks clawed back late in the second half.  The team shot the ball well, even from behind the three-point line but the turnovers and Mike Morrison finishing with only 5 points and 2 rebounds is discouraging.  With VCU coming to the Patriot Center tomorrow we can only hope Mike Morrison comes out with more fire.  

Eamonn Brennan of ESPN thinks the winner of tomorrow's game still has a remote shot at an at-large for the NCAA tournament. I don't really agree with that but the game tomorrow is still a huge deal for George Mason. Grabbing the #1 seed in the CAA tournament this year is a lot more crucial than it has been in previous seasons.  Without a realistic chance at an NCAA tournament birth outside of the CAA automatic bid, having that easier path to the conference finals is vital.  Especially since VCU's crowd at the Richmond based tournament this year will be bigger than ever. Even during a down year for the Rams you'd see the place littered with VCU t-shirts, now throw in a team coming off a Final Four run.  The Patriots need to position themselves in the best position they can for this tournament and that starts with beating VCU tomorrow night.

Tomorrow I'll get into the three keys for George Mason in this game but I still wanted to get into a few things.  First of all, VCU is #2 in the country right now in steals per game (10.2), which should really scare Mason fans as we just saw this team turn it over 16 times to UNCW on Saturday.  Mason already averages almost 15 TOs a game, while the Rams have the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the CAA.  The numbers don't worry me as much as the Rams style on defense does.  I don't think the Patriots have played a team this year that has this kind of aggressive, attacking style defense.  They are an athletic team, like Mason, and this could be a very uptempo game.  This might be the first time this season that I say I don't think an uptempo game is what Mason wants.  If they get into a track meet with VCU I think they will lose because the Rams are just too good at turning TOs into points.  Mason can win the game in the paint and getting to the free-throw line but they will need to be very disciplined.

When the Rams tighten down on defense, I don't know what Mason will do if they dig themselves into a hole early.  I think the Rams are the only team in the conference outside of Drexel that are good enough on defense to throw the Patriots off their game.  Sometimes they do that to themselves but they still find a way to win. Will they be able to do that against VCU?

More on the George Mason-VCU showdown tomorrow.