Freshman Phenoms Play Major Role in Basketball

Luke Hancock, above, goes for the basket in this shot from the recent homecoming game against College of Charleston. Hancock is one of seven freshmen on this year's team. (Photo by Peter Flint)

As the CAA tournament looms for the men’s basketball team, it is time to reflect on the season thus far and to evaluate their potential to make a run in March. Typically, when evaluating a team you first look at the upperclassmen, the leaders of the squad. However, this is no typical team.
 
Jim Larranaga’s crew consists of seven freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors and one lone senior. The young players look to the older guys, primarily junior Cam Long and senior Louis Birdsong, to serve as role models on and off the court. However, this team’s potential lies in the hands of the seven rookies.
             
Luke Hancock, a 6’5” guard/forward out of Roanoke has been an impressive performer for the Patriots this season. He is averaging over 22 minutes per game and just under eight points on the season. He played high school basketball for Hidden Valley High School and played one year at Hargrave Military Academy before coming to Mason.
 
“Coach L started recruiting me from Hargrave when I first got there my post-grad year,” Hancock said. “He made Mason feel like a home and seemed like the type of coach who really wanted me to succeed on and off the court.”

Hancock was recently selected to the CAA All-Rookie Team in honor of his contributions this season. The league’s coaches, sports information directors and members of the media made the selections.
 
Although he was not highly recruited out of high school and says he actually preferred soccer as a child, he quickly became a major contributor for the Patriots. He was named the CAA Rookie of the Week twice in November. After the first two games of the season, Hancock was averaging 11.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting just under 60 percent from the field. In the three games following during the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, he averaged 8.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists.
 
“I think just being a guy that can do a number of different things and being able to help out in many different areas has earned me a good bit of playing time,” Hancock said.
 
Johnny Williams, a 6’8” forward from Memphis was the most highly recruited player in this years’ freshman class. He averaged 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists as a senior at Briarcrest Christian School. Rivals.com deemed him the top rated power forward recruit in the CAA and the second highest rated recruit for the entire conference out of high school.
 
“Actually, when I was little, I was just into baseball and I didn’t even think about basketball until the end of eighth grade,” Williams said. “But when I knew I was going to play basketball, I chose Mason because I have family up here and Coach L is just a great coach.”
 
Although he is only averaging 10 minutes of playing time on the season, he had a breakout game in the loss to College of Charleston on Feb. 20. He contributed a career-high 18 points on an astounding 8 of 10 shooting from the field.
 
“It was a good experience, but I would have traded it for a win because that win could have helped us make it to the Big Dance,” Williams said. “And I will have multiple opportunities in my career at Mason to have even better games.”
 
Kevin Foster, a 6’7” redshirt freshman out of Lakeland, Fla., has also made major contributions to team during the latter part of the regular season. He had a breakout game of his own in the loss to William & Mary on Feb. 16 with a career-high 22 points on 11 of 16 shooting. That same week, he registered his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against College of Charleston. He was named the CAA Rookie of the Week thanks to his back-to-back outstanding performances.
 
“You just got to outwork the next guy and be ready at all times,” Foster said. “It felt good to play like that. It showed everyone that I could play.”
 
Foster was first team all-state his senior year in high school and was named a McDonald's All-American Honorable Mention. He averaged 19.6 points and nine rebounds his senior year, and was named the CAA’s top forward recruit for the 2008-09 season. After redshirting last season, he is a part of the seven-deep freshman class of 2009-10.
 
“Playing college basketball always been a goal of mine,” Foster said. “And it makes me feel better knowing I get to play with these guys for four years.”
 
Sherrod Wright, a 6’4” guard from Mount Vernon, N.Y., has been a steady performer for the Patriots all season. He is averaging 5.4 points in 15.5 minutes per game. Just like this season, Wright averaged just five points per game as a freshman in high school. However, he drastically improved his game each year and averaged 23 points per outing his senior year.
 
“Coach L started recruiting me at the end of my senior year, and I picked Mason because I felt it was a good fit for me at the moment,” Wright said. “Sometimes I feel like I would have made a different decision because there are so many freshmen. But I like my teammates and we have something special in the making at Mason.”
 
He had a career-high 24 points against a high-flying VMI team on Dec. 22. As a result, he was named the CAA Rookie of the Week. He also led the team in scoring with 13 points in the loss to Northeastern last weekend. Based on these numbers, he has the potential to have a bright future for the Patriots.
 
“I want to push myself to become the best player I can be while I'm at Mason and to win a national championship,” Wright said. “And then I want to make it to the NBA.”
 
As for the other freshmen on the team, Rashad Whack has played in 16 games this season, including one start. However, Paris Bennet and Vertrail Vaughns have seen little action.
 
The CAA Tournament begins today in Richmond. Mason will be the fourth seed, meaning they have a first round bye. In the second round, they will play the winner of fifth-seeded VCU and 12th-seeded Delaware. With Foster and Williams coming on strong late in the season and Hancock and Wright continuing their steady play, the players say they expect to perform well both in terms of the rest of this season and beyond.
 
“To finish out this year I want to help the team win the conference tournament and move on to challenge other schools,” Hancock said. “And in years to come I want to continue the type of winning tradition Mason fans have come to know from past teams.”
 
Many teams with an abundance of young talent such as the Patriots often quarrel for playing time. Yet, this team remains unselfish and even says they relish the opportunity to play with the same guys for four years.
 
“It’s better that we have so many young players,” Williams said. “I want to have the best four years of my life and do something that Mason has never seen before, and actually win the CAA tournament and the NCAA tournament.”
 
An NCAA berth this season remains a possibility if the Patriots capture the CAA title.