Mason Sports Blogger Previews Brown Game

By Connect2Mason Blogger Ryan Kish

Big night for Mason basketball, first home game, CAA champions banner to be raised, and the unveiling of a new athletic mascot. All this after coming off an impressive down the wire road victory to start off the new season. Fans should be glowing with excitement to see such a road victory when thinking back to how terrible some away games have been the last two seasons. Fans should also be gitty over the play so far from freshman Andre Cornelius and Ryan Pearson, who were inserted into the lineup early on Saturday and didn't look like they were playing their first Division I game. Darryl Monroe's play was probably the most exciting thing for Mason fans to see as he gives reason to think the front court won't be a glaring weakness this year.

Now on to Brown. This Ivy league team is not something to overlook, really no team can be who runs the Princeton offense and plays a lot of man-to-man defense. Brown was picked to finish fifth in the Ivy and on paper they don't look like much, especially in their front court. But for whatever it's worth the Bears lost to Rhode Island by 2 on Friday, the same Rhode Island team that nearly upset Duke last night. The Bears have a decent amount of size on their roster and they can roll out a starting five with players from 6-5 to 6-9. Look for Brown to stay mostly on the perimeter because of their lack of post players and try to take advantage like Randolph-Macon did. Darryl Monroe should have another big night, which will open things up for Mason's guards to hopefully have a better night from behind the three-point line.

Mason will win this game because:

...Darryl Monroe and Ryan Pearson should have their way down in the posts, which will take the pressure off guards John Vaughan and Dre Smith. Depth is another issue that will help the Patriots in this game, especially with the strong play from the freshmen.

Brown can upset Mason if:

...they play a very disciplined, up-tempo, Princeton style of offense and create confusion for the younger inexperienced Mason players. If ran the right way, the Princeton style of offense can help a team like Brown hide their front court weakness and make a team play out of their realm.