Heavily-courted 6-foot-9 forward Michael Morrison had plenty of options coming out of high school. But last fall he was having trouble picking among suitors George Mason, Butler, Nevada, Old Dominion and Tulsa, so he decided it was time for a family meeting.
Morrison sat down his mother, father, and two brothers in the living room of their home in St. Petersburg, Fla., gave them each a piece of paper with his list of prospective schools and told them to rank the programs top to bottom.
Morrison took one look at his brother Sean’s list, and shook his head. George Mason was at the top.
“Man, you better ball that up,” said Morrison. “They’re only at the top of your list because they went to the Final Four.”
Well, yeah, exactly.
Cue Morrison’s 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting in his collegiate debut, part of a stellar freshman class that is proof of George Mason’s increased national recruiting pull since the 2006 Final Four.
Besides Morrison, Andre Cornelius is from Charlotte, N.C., Kevin Foster is from Lakeland, Fla., and Ryan Pearson is from New York City. The Patriots (2-0) announced another five-member class this week that includes more New York-area talent and players from as far away as Memphis and Texas.
“Being on ESPN three straight games in the Old Spice [Classic] last year, we called a kid in Chicago this preseason, and he was so fired up that we called him,” said Patriots head coach Jim Larranaga. “I said, ‘How do you know us, from the Final Four?’ He said, ‘No, I watched all your games last year.’ He had seen us play on TV so much.”
A lesser schedule this season means George Mason won’t be back on national TV until January’s highly-anticipated conference showdown with Virginia Commonwealth.
Up next
George Mason at Hampton
Where » Hampton Convocation Center
When » Tonight, 7
Radio » 570 AM
