George Mason saw much of its roster depart after tying a school record with 27 victories, sharing the Atlantic 10 regular season title with VCU and then playing a tight game with the Rams in the conference championship final before falling 68-63.
It would be easy to dwell on what the Patriots have to replace. Coach Tony Skinn understandably would prefer to point to who stuck around.
Considering it’s Brayden O’Connor, a First Team all-Atlantic 10 preseason pick, his sentiment is understandable.
“If pulse was a person, it would be Brayden O’Connor,” Skinn said. “When you lose 91 percent of everything, your production and your minutes, you’re starting from scratch. But when you have an all-league guy like Brayden O’Connor who was a part of that 27-win team last year, it makes it a little bit easier for me as a coach.”
O’Connor, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound guard, might seem like he has plenty of responsibilities as something resembling an elder statesman.
But the demands won’t be nearly as unusual as last year, when Skinn plugged him in at point guard despite minimal experience at the position. O’Connor estimates he played 80-85 percent of the time there last season, learning on the fly. With that knowledge, he’s likely to spend about 60 percent of his minutes there this winter.
“I feel like being thrown into the role was kind of like being thrown to the wolves, but having a coach like Skinn, a coach like [assistant] Lou [Hinnant] who played the point guard position helped me a lot, and I think it actually helped my development as a player because now I can see things that I couldn’t see before and I’m making different reads I couldn’t see before,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor became a better all-around player in his first season after transferring from UMass Lowell. His shooting percentage ticked up across the board, and his scoring went from 9.9 points a game in 35.0 minutes to 9.1 points in 27.9 minutes.
And with a year playing for the Patriots and a more athletic cast around him, he could be the centerpiece of another league contender this year.
“He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever coached,” Skinn said. “He puts a lot of pressure on himself and I know he wants it and when you have that type of leadership, you’re always going to have a chance, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Skinn has deftly managed the transfer portal heading into his first two seasons, and that’s no doubt a source of comfort to George Mason fans who don’t want to see the Patriots slip from the league’s top tier.
But it’ll take more than an impressive array of incoming talent to do so, and O’Connor is prepared to play a major part again on a contending team.
“I think because we know what it takes now to get to the championship and we also know what it takes to get to the tournament, the big stage where everybody wants to play at the end of the year,” O’Connor said. “We definitely have a chance to do it.”
A look at the Patriots
Coach: Tony Skinn, third season at George Mason, 47-21 with the Patriots and overall.
Last year: The Patriots claimed at least a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title for the first time in their 12 years in the league, at one point winning 19 of 21 while playing suffocating defense. Mason fell to VCU in the A-10 title game, then split two games in the NIT to finish 27-9 overall and 15-3 in the league.
They’ll miss: A quick scan of the numbers would suggest forward Jalen Haynes (14.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and guard Darius Maddox (13.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg) are the heftiest losses. Haynes was a First Team all-Atlantic 10 pick, while Maddox landed on the third team.
Both were valuable, but don’t overlook the impact the graduated Jared Billups had, too. Billups drew the top assignment every game and earned the A-10’s Defensive Player of the Year nod for more than just averaging 1.5 steals. Billups helped hold together Mason at that end of the floor the last two seasons, and he won’t be easily replaced.
Impact returners: Brayden O’Connor is the only player who logged heavy minutes last season who returns. The Canadian senior is in his second season in the program and was one of the Patriots’ most vital players during their regular season title run.
Sophomore forward Stas Sivka is also back and expected to expand his role after averaging 1.5 points in 14 games in his debut season.
Newcomers of note: Skinn didn’t waste much time pinning down most of his portal additions, a haul that includes four players who averaged double figures in points last season and a fifth who nearly did so.
Bolstering the backcourt is Jermahri “Fatt” Hill (15.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg at Ball State), Kory Mincy (15.0 ppg, 4.4 apg at Presbyterian) and Masai Troutman (13.5 ppg, .396 3FG% at Northeastern). The key frontcourt additions include Dola Adebayo (13.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg at Mount St. Mary’s), Nick Ellington (9.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and Riley Allenspach (7.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg at Samford).
That transfer class is enhanced by veteran guard Jahari Long, who missed last season with injury. Skinn coached him as an assistant at both Seton Hall and Maryland.
Skinn described the new group delivering “doses of good” throughout the offseason, and it will be leaned on heavily by necessity. Adebayo, Allenspach, Long and Troutman all started Mason’s exhibition victory over Alfred on Saturday.
Reasons to be optimistic: The irony that Skinn --- a point guard in his playing days --- hasn’t had a true point guard on the roster of his first two teams as a head coach is not lost on him.
That changes in Year Three, as Mincy makes the jump up from the Big South.
“He’s learning this is a different level,” Skinn said. “He’s very coachable, he’s very competitive. Just from a defensive standpoint from what his job is in what we do, he’s stepped up.”
X factor: The Patriots haven’t played at a sweltering tempo under Skinn. Don’t expect a complete transformation into a run-and-gun bunch, but Mason could generate more transition than it has the last two seasons.
“We’re going to be more fast-paced than we were last year,” O’Connor said. “Because we have athletic guards like Jermahri, Masai, we have a chance to be really special out in transition.”
Circle the date: The Patriots will celebrate the 20
th anniversary of their riveting Final Four run when former CAA foe Old Dominion visits on Dec. 13.
Bottom line: O’Connor is a great place to start, and Skinn surrounded him with plenty of proven offensive pieces from other places. If George Mason can re-establish the defensive identity that’s served it so well the last two seasons, it will go a long way to giving the Patriots a chance to earn their first NCAA tournament berth since 2011.
Patrick Stevens is a veteran college basketball writer that has worked for The Washington Post, Syracuse Media Group and The Washington Times. He has written selected pieces for the Atlantic 10 since 2013.