George Mason will play Cincinnati in the first round of the Emerald Coast Classic, according to Jon Rothstein on twitter. Baylor and Ole Miss will face off in the other first round matchup, and winners meet for the championship on day 2 while the losers play each other in the consolation game.
Cincinnati will face George Mason and Baylor will face Ole Miss in the first round of the 2018 Emerald Coast Classic, per a source. Winners and losers meet on second day.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 26, 2018
I’m very happy with this draw. Cincinnati projects to be a weaker than they were last year, as leading scorer Jacob Evans III has declared for the draft without an agent and looks unlikely to return. Cincinnati also graduates Gary Clark, who won AAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year this season, in addition to starter Kyle Washington. Clark and Washington were a formidable frontcourt duo that combined to average over 24 points, 14 rebounds, and almost 3 blocked shots per game. If Evans does leave, Cincinnati’s leading returning scorer will be Jarron Cumberland (11.5 points per game) followed by Cane Broome (7.9). If you want to read up on more about next year’s Bearcats, here’s an excellent blog post I came across.
Cincinnati figures to have players acclimating to new roles that early in the season and should provide Mason with an opportunity for a winnable game against a power school. With Mason returning all eight scholarship players from last season and adding impact transfer Jarred Reuter (in addition to a solid recruiting class) this draw is exciting news.
