George Mason U. Men’s Basketball Preview: More than a homecoming

Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. Read his latest rankings.

College basketball’s opening week features multiple coaching debuts in and around the Beltway. While Georgetown’s Ed Cooley makes a career move and American’s Duane Simpkins runs his own program for the first time, George Mason’s Tony Skinn is doing more than simply starting a new job. He’s returning home.

The former Patriots guard scored 1,079 points in three seasons at the Fairfax, Virginia, school and was a starter on the 2006 team that advanced to the Final Four. After a coaching path that began in Ruston, Louisiana, and involved three other stops, he’s ready to build a program at his alma mater.

“Winning is not easy, but the formula to win is clear: to recruit the DMV at a high level, to compete for A-10 championships, to make and win NCAA games,” Skinn said at his introductory press conference this past April. “We will play fast, we will fight, we will compete.”

Skinn’s coaching apprenticeship began at Louisiana Tech and has also included stops at Seton Hall, Ohio State and most recently Maryland.

What sort of style can we expect to see at Eagle Bank Arena?

“They have all the freedom in the world offensively, a little structure, but for the most part, you’re going to see a fast-paced up-tempo style. And just from a defensive standpoint, you’re gonna see us kind of ‘junk it up’ with some pressing,” Skinn said. “Early on, especially as we’re trying to find ourselves, we’re going to be creative defensively. But offensively, we’re going to play with a lot of freedom, a lot of spacing.”

There’s one guarantee: you will see a completely different team on the floor, as only three players who saw more than 10 minutes per game last season return: guards Ronald Polite III and Devin Dinkins plus forward Malik Henry.

But the new coach has added to that nucleus with transfers from Power Six and Mid-Major schools alike.

“I was very happy with the staff that I hired — they did a tremendous job in just getting out there and filling in that roster … there’s just a lot of traffic both ways with guys leaving and guys coming in,” Skinn said. “I think we went and got some really good pieces which is giving me a good problem right now, just trying to find different guys for different rotations because I do think I can stretch my bench.”

Two such transfers — Amari Kelly (UNCW) and Darius Maddox (Virginia Tech) — each scored 17 points in the team’s 72-61 win over Monmouth University on Monday night.

While Maddox and Kelly will provide size and scoring, one of the players who elected to stay will be counted on to be a catalyst on both ends of the floor. Senior Ronald Polite III led the team in assists and steals last winter after the 2020 All-Met Selection from Oxon Hill High School was limited by injury to 33 combined games over his first two seasons with the Patriots. And staying in Fairfax allows for some needed continuity.

“The easiest thing to do when you’re going through a coaching change — especially in your third one — he’s (Polite) in a very small percentile of guys that would have actually stayed the course,” Skinn said. “He’s been everything that I think that we expect him to be, he’s been a leader. He’s continuing to be even more of a leader vocally.”

Pre-Atlantic 10 games on the slate include trips to preseason No. 9 Tennessee, Tulane and Toledo plus a tournament in St. Augustine, Florida. Between now and Jan. 3 when the Patriots play at La Salle in their conference opener, their new coach has plenty on his plate.

“Until we start facing real competition, it’s tough to find out who’s who,” Skinn said. “And I think for us just trying to figure out who we are, trying to figure out the rotations, trying to figure out heavy-minute guys, and trying to figure out the guys that I think defensively can help us because that’s where it starts.”

The learning process has already started. Welcome home.