Ken Pom preseason for non conf... I was told not to hold too much weight into this last year but seemed to be 99% correct... Quick lineup preview as well
Quite the murderers row this non conference slate...
George Mason is 112
Northeastern 170 (Playing a tougher non conf than we are including games vs Georgia and UMASS. Graduated best player and leading scorer Jordan Roland "GW kid". They also graduated their second best player as well. 5 freshmen 0 seniors on this years roster. Tyson Walker leads a team which should be in rebuilding mode and have issues scoring the rock initially. They have 7 players 6 foot 7 or taller so we shall see how our bigs match up with them. ) Prediction: WIN
Belmont 94 (Non conference schedule incomplete at this time. They are a team that won't be as good as their KENPOM. Lost two of top 3 players from a really good team. Nick Muzinsky should be a top 5 big man Mason plays this year "not hyperbole this kid is good" so we will see early if Paulsen trusts the newly slimmer Oduro with guarding a teams best big man. They are going to score primarily from the inside so hopefully AJ stays out of foul trouble during this game as we will need him defensively. I think our guards specifically Javon should dominate.) Prediction: WIN
Howard 256 (If Nojel Eastern gets eligibility this prediction might be wrong****. Right now Howard is not a very good basketball team that just so happens to have the best player on the court in 90% of their games. But we have AJ Wilson so not today Bison. They currently have 11 eligible players for this season. Outside of Makur Maker their lineup is not going to be very good. If we can keep him to 20 we will mop the floor with them. AJ will have to guard him so that is going to be a match up to watch. He is close to 7 feet tall and has really good handles. Prediction: WIN
Maryland 51 (They are not very good this year. Like bottom of the Big 10 near Nebraska last year not good. But they will probably be a bit too much for us. Jalen Smith left for draft "nobody wanted to see Greg or Oduro guard him". But... the return Wiggins and Morsell and add BC transfer Jarius Hamilton. Hamilton vs AJ is another instant classic matchup to watch out for. They had a crap recruiting class and their coaches seat should be just as warm as Paulsen's. Prediction: LOSS
Morgan St 331 (One of the worst teams in D1, but should stack up some wins with the worst non conference schedule I have ever seen. 2 D2 teams and Mason is far and away the best team on their schedule this entire year. They return 2 of their best 3 players but that shouldn't mean much. Kam Murrell would probably start on this team. Prediction: WIN
JMU 270 (They have Matt Lewis and a couple other starters are back. They will end up being much better than 270 but still shouldn't be very good this year. Joel Mensah "big from SDSU" gets eligibility and will provide issues with us down low. If Javon and Jordan can stop their guards from scoring we should win this with ease. This is definitely one of the upset alert games on the schedule that I think we could lose. Prediction: WIN
ODU 99 (They return everyone off a really bad team. They add URI transfer Mekhi Long and KSU transfer Austin Trice. In theory they should be better than us. I think they will be highly competitive in a bad CUSA this year though. I think this will be a very close game and we definitely could pull out the W but ODU seems too deep for us with scoring that somebody is bound to go off with our ole defense. Prediction: LOSS
Coppin St 340 (Another of the worst teams in D1 but they are coached by UMD favorite Juan Dixon. They return 1 of their top 3 players from a really bad team last year. Former Mason recruit and St Joe's commit Chereef Knox will be in attendance redshirting this year. This should be a 20 point win but Mason will probably win in OT by 3. Prediction: WIN
Towson 199 (They are pretty damn bad themselves. They play 4 other A10 teams and we are last on the schedule so we should have a really good idea of them and conference opponents which is very valuable. They lost almost everyone off of a good team last year and this season should be a rebuild. I do not see us losing to our former CAA foe. Prediction:WIN
Mason OOC prediction 7-2
Quite the murderers row this non conference slate...
George Mason is 112
Northeastern 170 (Playing a tougher non conf than we are including games vs Georgia and UMASS. Graduated best player and leading scorer Jordan Roland "GW kid". They also graduated their second best player as well. 5 freshmen 0 seniors on this years roster. Tyson Walker leads a team which should be in rebuilding mode and have issues scoring the rock initially. They have 7 players 6 foot 7 or taller so we shall see how our bigs match up with them. ) Prediction: WIN
Belmont 94 (Non conference schedule incomplete at this time. They are a team that won't be as good as their KENPOM. Lost two of top 3 players from a really good team. Nick Muzinsky should be a top 5 big man Mason plays this year "not hyperbole this kid is good" so we will see early if Paulsen trusts the newly slimmer Oduro with guarding a teams best big man. They are going to score primarily from the inside so hopefully AJ stays out of foul trouble during this game as we will need him defensively. I think our guards specifically Javon should dominate.) Prediction: WIN
Howard 256 (If Nojel Eastern gets eligibility this prediction might be wrong****. Right now Howard is not a very good basketball team that just so happens to have the best player on the court in 90% of their games. But we have AJ Wilson so not today Bison. They currently have 11 eligible players for this season. Outside of Makur Maker their lineup is not going to be very good. If we can keep him to 20 we will mop the floor with them. AJ will have to guard him so that is going to be a match up to watch. He is close to 7 feet tall and has really good handles. Prediction: WIN
Maryland 51 (They are not very good this year. Like bottom of the Big 10 near Nebraska last year not good. But they will probably be a bit too much for us. Jalen Smith left for draft "nobody wanted to see Greg or Oduro guard him". But... the return Wiggins and Morsell and add BC transfer Jarius Hamilton. Hamilton vs AJ is another instant classic matchup to watch out for. They had a crap recruiting class and their coaches seat should be just as warm as Paulsen's. Prediction: LOSS
Morgan St 331 (One of the worst teams in D1, but should stack up some wins with the worst non conference schedule I have ever seen. 2 D2 teams and Mason is far and away the best team on their schedule this entire year. They return 2 of their best 3 players but that shouldn't mean much. Kam Murrell would probably start on this team. Prediction: WIN
JMU 270 (They have Matt Lewis and a couple other starters are back. They will end up being much better than 270 but still shouldn't be very good this year. Joel Mensah "big from SDSU" gets eligibility and will provide issues with us down low. If Javon and Jordan can stop their guards from scoring we should win this with ease. This is definitely one of the upset alert games on the schedule that I think we could lose. Prediction: WIN
ODU 99 (They return everyone off a really bad team. They add URI transfer Mekhi Long and KSU transfer Austin Trice. In theory they should be better than us. I think they will be highly competitive in a bad CUSA this year though. I think this will be a very close game and we definitely could pull out the W but ODU seems too deep for us with scoring that somebody is bound to go off with our ole defense. Prediction: LOSS
Coppin St 340 (Another of the worst teams in D1 but they are coached by UMD favorite Juan Dixon. They return 1 of their top 3 players from a really bad team last year. Former Mason recruit and St Joe's commit Chereef Knox will be in attendance redshirting this year. This should be a 20 point win but Mason will probably win in OT by 3. Prediction: WIN
Towson 199 (They are pretty damn bad themselves. They play 4 other A10 teams and we are last on the schedule so we should have a really good idea of them and conference opponents which is very valuable. They lost almost everyone off of a good team last year and this season should be a rebuild. I do not see us losing to our former CAA foe. Prediction:WIN
Mason OOC prediction 7-2
