Balanced Patriots adhere to the Wooden ideal
George Mason basketball coach Jim Larranaga always wanted to speak with the legendary John Wooden. But when Larranaga realized Wooden’s birthday was Oct. 14, the same day as his wife, Liz, and that Wooden was born in 1910, two days before his father, Larranaga was compelled further.
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“Then I felt there was an extra-sensory reason for me to talk to him,” Larranaga said of the former UCLA coach who died last June.
| Up next |
| Hofstra at GMU |
| When » Wednesday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Patriot Center, Fairfax |
| Radio » 1500, 820 AM |
Three years ago, Larranaga got his chance through Wooden-disciple Bill Walton, who recited his former coach’s phone number off the top of his head, and then arranged the call.
“The first thing [Wooden] said to me was life was all about balance and basketball was all about balance,” Larranaga said. “As a player, you need to be balanced when you’re shooting, when you’re defending, when you’re rebounding. Your team has to be balanced on defense, balanced on offense. You have to have inside scoring, outside scoring, 3-point shooting, free-throw shooting. You have to have spacing on the floor … Everything was all about balance.”
Most of what Wooden said, Larranaga already knew. But hearing it from the man many believe to be the greatest basketball coach of all time had a powerful impact. Three years later, Wooden’s words still resonate.
“He was 97 years old and as clear-spoken as anybody I’ve ever spoken to,” Larranaga said. “I think about his words all the time.”
This year, Larranaga’s team is built with an emphasis on balance. George Mason (17-5, 9-2) doesn’t have a player among the top five in points in the Colonial Athletic Association, yet leads the league in scoring (74 ppg). The Patriots don’t have a true point guard, but they rank No. 2 in the league in all ball-handling categories — assists (14.9 pg), assist/turnover ratio (1.3 to 1), and turnover margin (plus-2.5 pg).
On Wednesday night, when Mason hosts Hofstra (14-8, 8-3), the Patriots will try to use balance to negate the league’s best player, senior guard Charles Jenkins. The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder is the runaway leader in the CAA in scoring (23.3 ppg) and assists (5.1 pg).
Jenkins is not only compiling huge numbers, he’s doing it efficiently, hitting 54.9 percent of his field-goal attempts, 85.3 percent of his free throws and 43.3 percent of his 3-point tries. He leads the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.3 to 1).
“What we’ve been able to do offensively — move him around and share the ball, and do some good things with him on offense — has really made him a dynamic scorer,” first-year Hofstra coach Mo Cassara said.
In the first meeting between the teams, Jenkins wrecked the Patriots, hitting 9 of 13 shots, scoring 32 points, handing out eight assists, and collecting five rebounds in an 87-74 victory.
