In Harangody, GMU Faces a Well-Identified Threat

DENVER, March 19 -- The George Mason players huddled around Coach Jim Larranaga on Monday, eager to discover how they would guard one particular Notre Dame player. For comparison, Larranaga reeled off the names of a handful of Colonial Athletic Association forwards, finishing with Vladimir Kuljanin and "who's that kid from Northeastern?"

The name -- Manny Adako -- eventually came to Larranaga, but the disparity between George Mason's recent competition and its upcoming opponent became obvious: No one would misplace the name Luke Harangody, one of the most recognizable players in college basketball this season. The 6-foot-8 sophomore forward began the year in relative obscurity. By season's end, "Gody," as his teammates call him, became a low-post monster who averaged 20.8 points and 10.2 rebounds and earned the Big East player of the year award.

When George Mason plays Notre Dame on Thursday at 9:50 p.m., how the Patriots handle Harangody may decide which team advances to the second round of the NCAA tournament. It will not be easy. Along with Harangody's inside dominance, the Irish have made 41 percent of their three-point shots, second best among teams in the field.

"I don't know if you can stop him," guard John Vaughan said. "I feel if we try to crowd him and frustrate him a little bit and take away his passing lanes, I think that's the way we're going to try to stop him. Try to front him, make him feel like he's crowded."

The Patriots' first recourse to stop Harangody is to try to prevent him from getting the ball. If and when he does receive it, the Patriots will swarm him, cognizant of blocking his passing lanes to outside shooters and immediately rushing back to the perimeter to contest shots.

Before the Patriots left Fairfax on Tuesday, they practiced defending screens in a manner that does not allow space for Notre Dame's guards to fire open shots from the perimeter. Though Harangody demands special attention, Larranaga will not drastically alter his approach. That includes tinkering with his offense expressly to draw fouls on Harangody.

"The thing I learned most about being in this tournament is you don't want to make changes," Larranaga said. "You got to do what you do and do that well. If you're constantly adjusting to the opponent, and you're doing something you haven't done all year long, how can you expect your kids to do that well when you've got something else you've been doing all year long they probably believe in?"

Larranaga, of course, has a well of recent experience to draw from. The notion of forcing the other team to adjust to his team, and not vice versa, became most clear for him in the 2006 regional final against Connecticut. From the sideline, with roughly 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Larranaga called for the Patriots to run "In-Out-In," a relatively simple play: A guard passes to a forward in the post; the forward passes the ball back to the perimeter; the guard passes it right back inside.

The Huskies defended the three-point line fiercely, but were content to play one-on-one inside on Will Thomas and Jai Lewis. Larranaga figured Connecticut would change its defense after In-Out-In worked three or four times, but it never did. So the Patriots did something extraordinary, something Larranaga had never done before and has not done since: They ran the same play 25 consecutive possessions and did not substitute for the final 15 minutes of the game.

"U-Conn. was so talented, so big, so good, they felt like they don't have to change anything," Larranaga said. "We said, 'What you do doesn't bother us that much. So we're going to keep doing what we do.' "

So as the Patriots consider how to guard Harangody, they're confident Notre Dame is worried about how to stop Thomas, now a senior. A destructive offensive player, Harangody is not known for his defense. While the Patriots won't force the issue in drawing fouls on Harangody, they also know it wouldn't hurt.

"I don't think any of their big men can really stick with Will or any of our other post players," sophomore forward Louis Birdsong said. "They're probably not as quick as we are. We can maybe get them in foul trouble."

Though George Mason faced another major conference player of the year this season, Kansas State's Michael Beasley, the Patriots said Harangody most reminds them of 6-10 center Kuljanin of North Carolina Wilmington. The main difference between them, Thomas said, is that Harangody is more athletic.

In three games against George Mason, Kuljanin averaged 10.3 points and 12.6 rebounds. UNC Wilmington won the first two meetings, but Mason held the Seahawks to 41 points in a victory in the CAA tournament.

And, like Notre Dame, UNC Wilmington has another tall forward in 6-9 Todd Hendley.

"The difference is," Larranaga said, "Notre Dame's got like eight of those guys."

One of them, though, stands out most. George Mason has not faced a player quite like Harangody this season, in large part because there might not be another player quite like him this season.

"He's pretty much a beast down low," Notre Dame guard Kyle McAlarney said. "I think the whole country knows that."