George Mason Basketball: Top 5 Regular Season Games Fans Are Looking Forward to

Last year was sure an exciting time to be a fan of George Mason men's basketball.

The team went 26-6—including owning the nation's longest win streak at 16 games—and was ranked No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today poll for a week. They also won the CAA regular season title for the first time in 11 years, with a 16-2 conference record and they scored their first NCAA tournament victory since that magical Final Four run in 2006, with a thrilling 61-57 victory over Villanova.

Obviously, this past offseason was turbulent for the Patriots.

For the first time since 1997, somebody other than Jim Larranaga will be prowling the sidelines for Mason, with ex-Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt taking over, after coach Larranaga decided to take his talents to South Beach.

The Patriots have also had a lot of turnover from last season. They lost senior leaders Cam Long and Ike Tate to graduation and role player Rashad Whack, along with do-it-all man and NCAA tournament hero Luke Hancock to transfer. Senior point guard and three-point specialist Andre Cornelius is also suspended for the first 10 games of the year, after having some offseason legal issues.

All that aside, there is still plenty of hope for the Patriots this season and a lot of high expectations.

With the return of Sherrod Wright from redshirt, the arrival of highly touted freshman Erik Copes and the senior seasons of Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison to look forward to, there is a lot for Mason fans to be excited about.

Here's a quick rundown of five games that I know I can't wait for, and I know that every Patriot fan has circled on their calendar already.

Nov. 14-25: Preseason NIT

The first real test for this new look Patriots team will be in the preseason NIT, tipping off on Nov. 14.

Mason opens with Isaiah Thomas's Florida International Panthers, but that's not why most Mason fans have been excited for this tournament, since Mason's participation in it was announced months ago. The matchup every Patriot fan wants to see is George Mason vs. Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Seth Greenberg has had plenty to say about the CAA and its teams over the years, and yet hasn't actually faced a CAA team since 2009—a 7-24 Delaware team who took them to the limit in overtime. Not only has every George Mason fan wanted to show Greenberg what the CAA is made of, but just about every fan of CAA basketball has wanted to as well. Provided Mason and Virginia Tech win their first round matchups—Tech goes against Monmouth—the clash of the two Virginia teams will happen.

Virginia Tech, who went to the NIT for the fourth straight year last season, has lost their two leading scorers—Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen—to graduation, and have already been hit hard by the injury bug—with freshman Marquis Rankin and junior JT Thompson set to miss the season with knee injuries and junior Erick Green recovering from a strained Achilles.

Nonetheless, with the game being played in Virginia Tech's home of Blacksburg, you can be sure that this will be a tough test for the Patriots and the hostile environment will be a good precursor to the CAA tournament later in the year, placed in Richmond, Va., the home of VCU. If Mason can score the upset, a date with Syracuse in the Garden most likely awaits the young Patriots.

Dec. 6: Virginia

Another game, another in state rivalry.

Last season, Mason fans were treated with the news that the University of Virginia had agreed to a home series over two years against the Patriots. This year is the first game of that contract and will take place in Charlottesville, Va.

Anytime Mason plays a team from the ACC it's sure to stir up some excitement, but add in the fact that its against UVA and that the two teams haven't met since 1997, and you have yourselves a fun matchup.

Although the two schools share a lot of actual history—George Mason was part of the University of Virginia until 1972—the basketball teams have not met often. Over 32 years they have had six matchups and UVA has won all six. 

This year's Virginia team also has high expectations, and led by senior Mike Scott and sophomores Joe Harris and KT Harrell, the Cavaliers have nothing but upside.

Once again, the Patriots are going to face a stiff road challenge against a tough team who's looking to make some noise in the ACC this season. With the game taking place on a Tuesday night as well, not as many George Mason students will be able to get down to Charlottesville for the game, giving UVA even more of a home court advantage than they already have.

If George Mason can come away from John Paul Jones Arena with a victory, it would be a true testament to this team's toughness and could be a sign of things to come for the Patriots.  

Jan. 12: Drexel

Jan. 12 may be a pivotal day for CAA basketball this season, as it's the day where the preseason favorite Drexel Dragons meet the preseason No. 2 George Mason Patriots.

This is set to be an epic clash between two teams who want nothing more than to win the CAA and punch their ticket to the Big Dance in March. For the Patriots, it will be yet another major road test in a building where they have not had much success, having beat Drexel only once in the last eight years.

This is a big year for Drexel. They return leading scorer Chris Fouch, albeit it off an injury, and the only man to average a double-double in the CAA last season, Sammie Givens.

This is also the team that knocked off Louisville in the KFC Yum Center, a place where no other team won last year, and very nearly derailed VCU's Final Four run before it ever started.

For the first time ever, Drexel has been picked as the favorite to win the CAA and they have their sights set on their first tournament appearance since 1996. Needless to say, they will be hungry to face a George Mason team who has made a habit of getting to the tourney and ruining brackets.

This is going to be a major matchup and with it being broadcast on ESPNU, will be a great showcase for the CAA and will propel the winner of this game into the front-runner position of the CAA.

Feb. 4: Old Dominion

Finally, a home game I'm looking forward to.

Last year, Old Dominion cut down the nets again in Richmond, winning their second consecutive CAA tournament and earning another bid into the NCAA tournament, where they almost knocked off the national runner ups, Butler.

Despite the fact that ODU won't have the power of Blaine Taylor's mustache this year, you can bet that they want to win another CAA title, and the only way to do that will be to go through the Patriot Center.

ODU lost a lot of talent last year, in the form of Frank Hassell, Kenyon Carter and Ben Finney, but returned CAA preseason player of the year, Kent Bazemore and will surely be competing for one of the top spots in the CAA again.

Last season, ODU visited the Patriot Center, a building where Mason rarely loses as it is, on Mason's homecoming, and took a 62-45 drubbing. This year, once again, the Monarchs have been invited for homecoming, as Mason hopes to once again pack the house and make a statement against their perennially successful CAA foes.

Once again, this game is going to be televised on ESPNU and will give Mason another shot at showing their stuff for a national audience. Add in the homecoming festivities, and you have one highly anticipated matchup

Feb. 25: VCU

Let's make one thing perfectly clear before I begin this slide: I hate VCU. Nothing gave me greater pain than having to watch them go on their own Final Four run last year. That being said, you can't deny that this year's two matchups between CAA Final Four gatecrashers George Mason and VCU has a ton of intrigue to even fairweather college basketball fans.

These two teams have slugged it out over the past five years, and I expect both matchups this season to be no different. Although VCU lost a ton of talent from that Final Four team—Joey Rodriguez, Jamie Skeen, Brandon Rozzell and Ed Nixon—they will still be as dangerous a team as there is in the CAA, and you know that head coach Shaka Smart and star player Brad Burgess want nothing more than to shock the world again.

The reason why I chose the second of the two games to be the one I'm more looking forward to is simple: it's at VCU.

If there is one thing George Mason has struggled in it's winning in Richmond. Granted, last season they crushed VCU in their own building, VCU paid back the favor in the CAA tournament in the Richmond Coliseum for the third consecutive year.

By winning this game, George Mason can prove, once again, that they can beat VCU in Richmond, in front of a surely hostile crowd. Seeing as this is the last regular season game of the year, there could be major implications riding on the outcome of this one.

The GMU-VCU games are some of the most anticipated games on the CAA schedule every year, and with VCU's Final Four run adding to the rivalry, it should make for some intense games and some compelling action, making it by far my most anticipated game of the season.

Conclusion

Needless to say, this is going to be an exciting season for George Mason basketball. With the fresh young talent, as well as the returning big guns, I truly feel that Mason has a shot to win any game that they're involved in.

These five games are only a taste of the season ahead for the Patriots, and with a bracketbuster game still to be announced, and of course the CAA tournament and hopefully the NCAA tournament ahead of them, this year should provide plenty of excitement for George Mason fans and college basketball fans in general.

And hey, you never know, the team that invented shocking the world may just do it again this year.