Listen to Paul Hewitt's weekly teleconference call

Listen to Paul Hewitt's weekly CAA teleconference interview

Read More...

Paul Hewitt does not want to be in this company

History beckons Saturday for George Mason. The last time the Patriots lost four straight CAA home games was 1994-95 under Paul Westhead.
— Kevin Dunleavy (@KDunleavy) February 21, 2013

Read More...

Listen to Paul Hewitt's weekly conference call

Read More...

George Mason's inconsistent play is driving Paul Hewitt "a little nutty"

It's been no secret this year that George Mason has had a lot of ups and downs. They just can't seem to play well together for a stretch of more than a couple of games. David Elfin from 106.7 The Fan relays a few quotes from Paul Hewitt on this frustrating season:

Read More...

Paul Hewitt picture captions

Photo by John Powell

Yesterday I posted this photo of Paul Hewitt from Saturday's game against Delaware and asked followers to caption the photo. Here are the results:

Read More...

Paul Hewitt's early success at George Mason this season has been underrated

Most fans were not quick to pencil in George Mason as pre-season CAA favorites with the departure of Jim Larranaga and then starter Luke Hancock. When Paul Hewitt was hired, I had my doubts. The way things ended at Georgia Tech for him was a less than favorable way for a head coach to leave a program.  Now with the Patriots about to enter February in first place in the conference, you can't argue that what Hewitt's done with George Mason so far has been underrated. Hewitt and Larranaga have vastly different personalities and yet the transition for the returning players seems to have gone rather smoothly. In in my opinion, Hewitt and his staff have gotten more out of seniors Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison than Larranaga and his crew ever did. Hewitt seems to have a more relaxed approach with the players and he has instilled confidence in this team after they had experienced some shakiness in the early games this year.  

When you look at how things have progressed this season for the Patriots it is difficult not to say he's doing an excellent job.  For starters, these aren't his players, with the exception of freshman Erik Copes. Most players on this roster had at least two seasons of Larranaga's philosophy; a defensive-minded system that produced wins and NCAA tournament appearances.  Hewitt didn't come in and try to change a lot of things but he still had big shoes to fill with a roster of guys who were used to winning under a different style of play. 

The fact that he is winning despite basically having a completely different backcourt from last season, is also pretty impressive. He gave the younger players time to develop and didn't have a short leash on them. The rest of the CAA is littered with more seasoned backcourts coming into this season and this where he exceeded expectations. We are also seeing a side of guys like Jonathan Arledge we didn't know existed and it makes you wonder how much more he has in store for the player development on this team.  Ryan Pearson was already a preseason CAA player of year candidate but I didn't think he would be capable of the production he is currently giving. Meanwhile Mike Morrison has improved drastically at the free-throw line, been a more assertive rebounder of late, and has had more double-digit scoring nights than last season.

And while this year's team might very well miss the NCAA tournament, I think it will be difficult for fans to be disappointed with all things considered, especially if this team finishes atop the CAA standings.  It's not often coaches experience this much success in their first year at a new program so fans should be pretty optimistic going forward. And while Jim Larranaga is not forgotten in Fairfax, you'll notice fans aren't constantly bickering about what they think this season would have been like if he was still head coach.

[Photo by John Powell]

Paul Hewitt's speaks to the George Mason supporters

Last week Paul Hewitt spoke to the Patriot Club supporters about this upcoming season and the state of the basketball program. He briefly discusses the Andre Cornelius situation, his coaching philosophy, Mike Morrison's diet, the backcourt, and more.

For more from gmuhoops follow us on twitter (@gmuhoops) and on Tumblr

Paul Hewitt talks about his impressions of the team

Yesterday Jon Rothstein talked with Paul Hewitt about his impressions of this year's George Mason squad and his new opportunity in Fairfax.  Rothstein who works for the MSG network and CBS, often comments on George Mason basketball and always provides good insight.  Here are some of the highlights:

On this year's team:

"I'm really impressed with what I've seen so far because they're so open to new ideas and new philosophies. We're not changing everything that was done here but we're going to add some new stuff"

On freshman Vaughn Gray:

"He's shooting the ball really well in indivdual workouts. It's been a nice surprise."

On freshman Erik Copes:

"He's where I thought he'd be. He's got a great jump hook but I know freshman have a learning curve."

On freshman Corey Edwards:

"Our big men are going to run harder because of how he pushes the ball. He makes you go faster."

On Ryan Pearson:

"He's got some outstanding face up skills. He's great from 17 ft and in.  He can fade and use the up and under as well."

On Sherrod Wright:

"He's got an unbelievable motor and work ethic. He's shooting it better than people said he would."

On Vertrail Vaughns:

"He's shooting the heck out of it. There's no doubt the experience he had last year helped him."

On the makeup of the team:

"I like our front court but Andre Cornelius is our only perimeter player with experience."

[via @JonRothstein, CAAZone]

Doesn't seem like all the George Mason players agreed with Larranaga's coaching style

Last week ESPN.com ran a feature on next year's George Mason basketball outlook, as part of their summer buzz collection. Another article by Dana O'Neil seems to be high on Paul Hewitt's chances to succeed during this "fresh start".  But the most interesting one from the mix was featured on the Insiders page.  It talks about the different coaching styles between Jim Larranaga and Hewitt and how it can have an impact on next year's team.  Seems Ryan Pearson and some other players weren't too fond of Larranaga's substitution style. Here is the excerpt:

"GMU will be one of the most experienced teams in the Colonial Athletic Association next season, and the coaching styles of Hewitt and Larranaga are on different ends of the spectrum. For example, the Patriots have rarely depended on their bench; last season, only six players were on the floor for more than 50 percent of Mason's minutes played. According to Ken Pomeroy's metrics, Mason's bench was underused. (It's worth pointing out that so was every bench in the CAA; after Georgia State and William & Mary, the drop-off was pretty severe.) With Hewitt at the helm, Georgia Tech was known for its hockey-style substitution patterns. Besides Glen Rice, Iman Shumpert and Brian Oliver, the rest of the Yellow Jackets saw a fairly even number of minutes, and their bench enjoyed one of the highest percentage of minutes played in the nation. Ask senior Ryan Pearson, though, and the forward suggests that Mason needed a change. 

"Coach Larranaga had a six- or seven-man rotation, and I didn't think it was good -- but we did win 27 games, so it worked for us," Pearson says. "We have 10 guys who can play, and it'll make guys happier that when they kill in practice, they then actually get to play."

It's hard to argue with Larranaga's results because fans will remember that the Final Four run was basically the result of a 6-man rotation, much like this past season's 27 win campaign. However it's interesting to see one of the players, especially one that played the most during the year, complaining about it and insinuating that it may have hurt team chemistry.  We could witness the returning players warming up to the new coach right away once the season starts and making the transition a much more smooth process.

Another point I wanted to share from the article was about next season's back court.  We already know the strength the front court will have with returning senior starters Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson coupled with the addition of the highly touted freshman Erik Copes. The back court has a few more question marks, especially in the starting line-up.  Matt Giles seems to be high on both Sherrod Wright and Bryon Allen making an impact this year:

"At the moment, it's unclear what the rotation will be, but senior Andre Cornelius probably will start at the point. The potential surprise could be sophomore Bryon Allen, who averaged 5.8 minutes per game last season. "I've been working a lot with Bryon, and he's been doing a good job of working on his shot. With his size, he can play the 1 or the 2, get in the lane and create," Wright says. If Hewitt decides to go with a more guard-heavy lineup, a backcourt of Wright, Allen and Cornelius could cause some interesting matchup problems."

I have to say the mention of that Wright, Allen, and Cornelius line-up is intriguing.  Wright and Allen probably have the most potential to make big strides next season and fans are going to be eager to see them worked into the rotation often.  

Paul Hewitt doesn't need lure of ACC to bring in top recruits

Josh Barr of the Washington Post has an article from yesterday saying Paul Hewitt has been received well so far on the recruiting trails. Despite his struggles towards the end of his time at Georgia Tech it seems coaches and recruits are still excited to see Hewitt observing them:

“People have been great,” Hewitt said. “This is my 21st year on the road. We’ll see how it shakes out in the fall, but so far people have been really, really positive and excited about us recruiting their players.

“You can’t tell until they give you commitments, but I do think there are people with a very high level of interest.”

We will have to wait and see if Hewitt backs up his talk and get a commitment from the top 2012 recruits he and his staff have been observing.

Also speaking of new Mason talent, it seems freshman Corey Edwards is turning some heads in this year's Kenner League. Remember only 88 days until the start of the next college basketball season.

Paul Hewitt's legacy at Georgia Tech gets further tarnished

The NCAA investigation of Georgia Tech that somehow spanned from 2009-2011 without anyone knowing is mostly about the school's football program. However there were some infractions to the basketball team during the time Paul Hewitt was running things. The violations were due to a graduate assistant and an academic advisor being present at an AAU event run by the Atlanta Celtics program that was held on Georgia Tech's campus. Hewitt says he is "disappointed by the NCAA's decision" and says the assistants were there to help make sure things run smoothly because of instances that have occurred during the event over the last couple of years. The NCAA says this gave Hewitt and his staff a recruiting advantage, despite them not landing a single player who played in the event.

Georgia Tech basketball does not lose any scholarships from these violations, so according to Hewitt's contract the buyout money is probably still going to be owed to him. Not that all this really has much to do with George Mason basketball moving forward, except for the the fact that our head coach is still going to be paid about $130,000 a month from the Yellow Jackets over the next five years. If you want to call Hewitt a shady recruiter because of this news that's your business but I still feel like he was just a very unlucky guy during his final years at Georgia Tech.

Paul Hewitt's summer in the FIBA U19 world champion could bring some international flavor to George Mason

After looking shaky in their first two exhibition games, Paul Hewitt and the U19 USA team have been doing well in the 2011 FIBA U19 world championship. The team suffered their first loss Wednesday against Croatia but still remain the #1 seed in Group F heading into the quarterfinals (UPDATE: they lost to Russia and are out of the medal round). Some Mason fans would rather Hewitt be on the recruiting trails with his assistants during the hottest time of the year for evaluating potential college prospects than in Latvia. But just because he's not in the US doesn't mean he isn't building connections and observing basketball talent.

Last summer Hewitt began to build a strong network of contacts to recruit internationally after being an assistant coach on the USA U18 national team and also traveled with the U17 to Germany.  Hewitt has already proven he can recruit in the states but it will be interesting to see if he can bring some international talent to Fairfax.  The most recent international players to play for George Mason were Jesus Urbina (Venezuela), Makan Konate (Mali), Raoul Heinen (Netherlands), and Jesse Young (Canada). Young was the most successful of that group and in his best season in 2001-2002 he averaged 14.6 ppg and 8.4 rebounds while earning 1st team All-CAA honors. He and Raoul Heinen were the only foreign players I ever saw at my time at Mason that weren't projects and contributed right away.

Luke Winn of SI.com has a breakdown of the top prospects at this year's FIBA U19 to give you an idea of the some of the talent other schools are picking up overseas.  Most of the players in the U19 games are either already committed to a school or have plans to play professionally but you can see there could be some future DI stars there. You will notice Boise State and Butler are heavily entrenched in scouting Australia players, which have had success in college hoops in recent years.  Paul Hewitt could be on his way to landing some talents like they have and I think that is exciting for George Mason basketball moving forward out of the Jim Larranaga era.

Paul Hewitt's first exhibition with the Team USA U19 squad doesn't go well

The team USA U19 squad and Paul Hewitt got a wake-up call over the weekend with a 101-72 drubbing at the hands of Lithuania. Not exactly exciting news for Mason's new head coach but remember it was an exhibition game. Team USA shot 2-for-15 and were down 32-8 in the 1st quarter. They never got closer than 15 points for the remainder of the game. The 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men is being held June 30-July 10 in Valmiera, Liepaja and Riga, Latvia. They are in Group D, along with China, Egypt and Serbia. Their first preliminary round game is against Egypt on June 30.

Despite how the team performs this summer I think the international experience only helps Coach Hewitt entering the 2011-2012 college season. The different styles of play and talent he and his squad will have to endure will be quite a challenge.  Trying to bring a team together so quickly is no easy task and it's basically what he will have to be doing shortly after with this year's George Mason squad. 

Paul Hewitt rounds out his staff with former NBA assistant Mike Wells

The school announced today that Paul Hewitt has added Mike Wells as the final assistant coach to his staff.  Wells at one time was an assistant on the Washington Wizards coaching staff and also spent time with the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets.  All together he has 17 years of experience in the NBA including being apart of two NBA championship staffs. The press release has another quote from Hewitt stating how he wanted to a staff that would be "strong on player development and also recruit domestically and internationally".  That's great and all but where is the x's and o's guy on this staff? Wells profile seems to read that he was a scout in the NBA and seems to be more a player developmental type of coach.  Perhaps I'm not giving enough credit to the other assistants in this area. Regardless having a guy on the staff with NBA experience could a huge boost for the program and perhaps he can bring a lot of things to the table that the other coaches have not experienced.  

Paul Hewitt adds Roland Houston from GW to his staff

Paul Hewitt has finally added another assistant to his coaching staff, Roland Houston from George Washington.  TheMasonBench is saying it's a done deal but Coach Houston joining the George Mason staff isn't the most interesting news. Houston has a nephew, Erik Copes, who is a prized 2011 recruit who was committed to GW but has since been released from his letter of intent. Perhaps to follow his uncle to from Foggy Bottom to Fairfax? Copes is a 6'8" 230 pound center who is one of the top rated recruits in the country at his position.  ESPN has him as the 6th rated center in his class, while scout.com has him at #5, so yeah this would be a huge get for George Mason if it happens.

Roland Houston is labeled as a "respected big man coach" and "is widely known throughout Philadelphia and the East Coast." He could really help develop Johnny Williams and Jonathan Arledge and perhaps improve Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison's rebounding and interior defense.  Houston is a great addition to the staff to complement Paul Hewitt's guard heavy mentality.

The possibility of Erik Copes coming to George Mason could mean a lot of things for the Patriots. First of all he'd be the highest rated recruit to ever commit to the green and gold and would very likely have an immediate impact on the 2011-2012 season.  He's labeled as a blue-collar type player who works hard in the low post collecting rebounds and blocking shots.  There are no players on the current roster who could be described like that and Copes is the kind of asset the Patriots need to go toe-to-toe with more BCS programs.  His offensive game is limited to dunks and tip-ins around the basket, which won't be a problem because the Patriots will not have any shortage of scoring power next season. 

Paul Hewitt's first recruiting pull at George Mason was getting Corey Edwards to stay

When a coach leaves a program the incoming recruits re-evaluate if they want to still honor their letter of intent. A new coach coming in has the difficult task of trying to get these kids to stay.  Vaughn Gray didn't seem to hesitate and said as soon as Paul Hewitt was hired that he would honor his commitment with George Mason.  Corey Edwards wasn't as quick to make that decision.  It was rumored earlier this week that Jim Larranaga had reached out to Edwards and asked if he wanted to follow him to South Beach. After the news got out Edwards story slightly changed and he said a Miami assistant coach merely asked him if he liked Miami. Then Edwards stated "in June I'm coming to George Mason".

Edwards was probably on the fence and then Coach Hewitt went to visit his family and being the stellar recruiter that he is probably eased any doubts he may have had about coming to George Mason post-Larranaga.  He's a quote from Edwards that shows how Hewitt's background could pay dividends for the Patriots' on the recruiting trails:

"Once I found out they hired him, it was real positive, knowing he was an ACC coach, he put guys in the league. He knows how to win, basically,” Edwards said. “He’s a great coach. He’s recruited the best, he’s coached the best.”

The fact that guys like Gray and Edwards decided to stay means that they see stability still in the program despite the coaching changes. Some Mason fans may have wanted a young up-and-comer assistant to take the reins but you know what, I doubt these kids would have stayed committed to the green and gold if that had happened.

Georgia Tech fans were pretty harsh on Paul Hewitt

No one likes losing but it certainly got ugly with Georgia Tech fans and Paul Hewitt towards the end of his time in Atlanta. Hewitt had a little problem ignoring fans on twitter, which is probably why you won't see a MasonCoachHewitt account spring up anytime soon. Tech fans went so far as to create FireHewitt.com and produce a series of videos like the one below.  Sure Mason fans don't have a history of this but the last time George Mason had consecutive losing seasons or a losing conference record for that matter, the internet didn't even exist. Don't stoop to this level no matter what happens Mason Nation.

Watch Paul Hewitt's Press Conference

Washington Post has the short highlights of Paul Hewitt's remarks yesterday:



Here is the full video from GoMason.com:

Paul Hewitt hires first assistant, retains both 2011 incoming recruits

We learned that none of Paul Hewitt's from Georgia Tech are following him to Fairfax so that is three positions he needs to fill quickly.  Justin Young of National Hoops Report and Fox Sports says Hewitt has hired Chris Kreider of Georgia Southern as his first assistant.  Kreider worked with Hewitt as an admin at Georgia Tech is described by Young as "a star in waiting". Kreider is a labeled as excellent recruiter and will hopefully help fill the void of losing Chris Caputo. 

You may have read this elsewhere over the weekend but both incoming 2011 recruits, Corey Edwards and Vaughn Gray are honoring their intents to play at George Mason next season.

The National Hoops Report had a Q & A with Hewitt, check it out here.