GMU What!?!?!?

William & Mary (18-7, 10-5) at George Mason (16-10, 11-4)

The Tribe or the Pugs or whatever the heck they are now called come to the Patriot Center to take on the Patriots. This is a crucial game as these two are battling to finish in the top four and earn a first round bye in the CAA Tournament.

Mason will be without F Mike Morrison. He earned himself a 2-game suspension for getting two technical fouls against ODU on Saturday. He was only suspended a game by the conference, but then had another game tacked on by coach Jim Larranaga. I don't really agree with Morrison getting 2 games for this, whereas Tony Skinn in 06' got one game for hitting another guy in the nuts. I get that Larranaga is trying to send a message but I think the 1-game suspension by the CAA was sufficient.

William & Mary was garnering some at-large talk earlier in the season but a three game losing streak in January put an end to that. However, they are still a very dangerous team, and just knocked off first place Northeastern. Their best player is senior guard David Schneider, who leads them in points (15.6 per game) and rebounds (6.1 per game). G-F Quinn McDowell is their second leading scorer averaging 14.3 points per game. Another player for Mason to watch out for on the boards is F Marcus Kitts.

Mason has struggled all season with rebounding and the loss of Morrison for this game won't help. However, with Schneider, a guard being tied for the team lead in rebounds Mason should have a good chance to actually out rebound a team for a change. Mason will need Cam Long to be on his game, as when he struggles they stand almost no chance of winning. With Morrison out, forwards Ryan Pearson, Johnny Williams, and Louis Birdsong will need to rebound and pick up their scoring.

The Patriots have won 18 in a row at home in conference play and that is the biggest reason I think they can overcome the loss of Morrison and get a much needed win.

Prediction: George Mason 64, William & Mary 61