George Mason to face College of Charleston in first round of CBI

So the 2012-2013 season still goes on for George Mason and they have accepted a bid to the CBI tournament. Remember this isn't the CIT and at least their are BCS programs in the mix. The Patriots take a road trip to future CAA member College of Charleston in the first round of the tournament Tuesday night. The full bracket is here and the game will be televised if you can find the Axs.tv channel on your TV. My FiOS plan has it and here is a channel finder if you dare to watch. On Friday we talked about the merits of continuing the season in this tournament and despite the disappointment of the year I think it's good that they are doing it. 

A win against Charleston tomorrow night gets them either Texas or Houston in the next round. Fun fact, Rick Barnes, head coach of Texas, was George Mason's head coach during the 1987-1988 season. The venue for that game in the semis is still TBD so another game at the Patriot Center might not be out of the question. Don't know how many fans would actually show up for that one though. 

Let's not forget VCU won this tournament in 2010 and then kind of had a good March the following year. Comparing George Mason's situation to that isn't the same but I do think the extra reps will be good for this team. They certainly have been humbled this year and with how they lost against Northeastern in the CAA tournament they must know that they need to put in hard work for next season. Why not start now, especially considering they will have six seniors next year. These tournaments serve a purpose for teams returning a lot of players and if anything it helps the younger guys like Marko Gujanicic and Patrick Holloway.

The way George Mason lost to Northeastern in the semifinals was the story of the season. We saw some flashes of excellence but then it was quickly negated by the team's recurring fundamental problems. At least if Mason plays well in this tournament there will be a glimmer of hope going into next season. We'll just have to see how seriously the players take this tournament.

[Photo by John Powell]