Tony Skinn’s first year back at his alma mater wasn’t as consistent as he would have liked. Still, the Patriots won 20 games and showed an ability to make life miserable for some of the best teams in the Atlantic 10.
He’s expecting even more after a push to tweak the roster and make it more capable of applying pressure at both ends of the floor.
“As long as everybody stays healthy, we should be able to do a bunch of different things with a bunch of different guys,” says Skinn, a former assistant at Seton Hall, Ohio State and Maryland. “I’ve coached at the highest level, and I would put our group of guys from a size and length standpoint with everywhere I’ve coached.”
The Patriots didn’t enjoy much continuity last season, bringing back just a couple contributors (Ronald Polite III and Malik Henry) from the previous year. That’s different this season, thanks in part to senior guard Darius Maddox.
Mason also retained guards Jared Billups and Austin Ball and forward Woody Newton, and Jalen Haynes was on the roster last season while sitting out. And more importantly, Skinn had time to figure out what type of player and people he needed to enjoy greater success.
One of the biggest priorities: Point guard. Three transfers --- K.D. Johnson, Brayden O’Connor and Jeremiah Quigley --- all are vying for the starting spot.
“I’m having a pretty tough time figuring that out, which is a good problem to have,” Skinn says.
But cohesion was something Mason wanted to improve as well, and the early sense is that it has done so.
“I realized in the midseason, toward the end of the season, when you’re in the trenches, it’s not even about talent,” Maddox says. “It’s about guys who are bought in and guys that can just fight with you. I feel like this year, this group of guys, they’re ready to fight.”
A look at the Patriots:
Coach: Tony Skinn, second season at George Mason, 20-12 with the Patriots and overall.
Last year: The Patriots were streaky in Skinn’s first season, opening the year 13-2 before dropping three in a row on three different occasions in conference play. There were definite highlights --- home victories over Dayton and Richmond late in the season among them --- but Mason ultimately bowed out of the Atlantic 10 Championship as a No. 8 seed to Saint Joseph’s in the second round to complete a 20-12 season.
They’ll miss: Three starters depart, including second team all-Atlantic 10 forward Keyshawn Hall (16.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg), who led the Patriots in both scoring and rebounding in his lone season in the program.
Among the other departures who logged significant minutes: Center Amari Kelly (12.2 ppg) and guards Baraka Okojie (8.1 ppg) and Ronald Polite III (7.5 ppg).
Impact returners: Skinn is emphatic about the importance of Darius Maddox (14.0 ppg) returning for his senior year. A second team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection, Maddox made a team-high 67 attempts from 3-point range while shooting 41.4 percent from the outside.
“Just me being really comfortable around them and knowing they’re trusting in me and trusting in my ability to play ball, I feel like it was a no-brainer,” Maddox says of his decision to remain. “I know the money and the NIL, it screams at you. But here I feel like I have a really good opportunity to be able to make a mark and to be able to get the best out of this year, so that’s why I decided to stay.”
Newcomers of note: Skinn didn’t have to overhaul the roster quite as much as he did after first getting the job last season, but there are still five Division I transfers who entered the program since the end of last season.
While guards like K.D. Johnson (Auburn), Brayden O’Connor (UMass Lowell) and Jeremiah Quigley (Iona) will draw attention, Skinn is eager to see Siena forward Giovanni Emejuru’s impact. There’s also Zach Anderson, a summer pickup who prioritized fit when he selected the Patriots for his final season.
“That was a fight to get Zach Anderson to come to George Mason,” Skinn says. “He was recruited highly by some really good programs, and we won that fight. Zach had to get some academic stuff in the summer to join us, so he was a little bit behind. Zach Anderson is a very good player. If you can shoot 46 percent from 3 and make over 55 3s at Florida Gulf Coast, it makes my job easier.”
Reasons to be optimistic: Mason might seem to have a hole in the frontcourt after losing Hall and Kelly, but the answer in the post might have been hiding in plain sight the whole time. Jalen Haynes averaged 14.6 points at East Tennessee State in 2022-23 to earn third team all-Southern Conference honors, and the 6-foot-8, 260-pound senior figures to be a force in the low post.
“He hasn’t played for who knows how many days,” Maddox says. “He’s just ready to get back out there. At practice, he’s a problem. He’s huge, he’s loud, he can score the ball, can pass the ball and defend. Just expect a little bit of everything from him.”
Adds Skinn: “Jalen Haynes is the best-kept secret on our roster that everybody knows but hasn’t seen compete yet.”
X factor: It’s easy to look past guard Jared Billups’ modest scoring numbers --- he averaged 4.3 points last season and only reached double figures four times. But anyone who closely watched the work Billups did in holding co-Atlantic 10 player of the year Jordan King of Richmond to two points on the final day of the regular season knows how vital he is for Mason.
“He’s a guy who doesn’t show up on the stat sheet,” Skinn says. “However, he is as important as everybody else on that floor. We won a lot of games with Jared Billups.”
Circle the date: The Patriots will make a trip to perennial power Duke on Dec. 17 in the highlight of their nonconference schedule.
Bottom line: There’s a wide range of outcomes possible, which is to be expected with so many newcomers. Achieving a steadier performance game to game would help the Patriots immensely, and doing so is the difference between another midpack finish and possibly contending for the program’s first NCAA berth since 2011.