Section 124: Leadership

December 4, 2011   ·   4 Comments

by Daniel Zimmet

Which senior is the team leader?

Both Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson are keys to this Mason basketball line up.  Coach Hewitt has made it clear that these two guys are his leaders.  It has to put a ton of self-assurance in those two guys to have a brand new head coach sees an instant leadership role in both of them.

Last year the clear leader on the team was senior guard Cam Long, but this season was a question mark as to which one of the three seniors would take the role as the team leader both on and off the court.  Since Andre Cornelius ran into some legal trouble in the preseason, he had to have been counted out as the team leader.  That left us with Morrison and Pearson to decide between.  When Coach Larranaga left, the team made a decision to have one player representative give a statement regarding his decision.  The chosen one was none other than Morrison, a rising senior at the time.  Now that doesn’t necessarily make Morrison the team leader, but clearly the team felt like they saw him as a person who they wanted to addresses the media and represent the entire team.

Players with high amounts of emotion always draw attention to themselves.  Morrison and Pearson would probably be the firsts to admit that they sometimes let their emotions get the best of them on the court.  However, their teammates clearly react to their passion and get fired up right alongside them.  Not only do they get their teammates fired up, but the fans get into the game even more as well.  I always notice when Morrison starts to get upset about something, Pearson immediately steps in to try to calm him down.  On the other hand, Morrison does the same exact thing for Pearson.

Strictly statistically speaking, Pearson is the easy pick to be the leader of this team.  He leads the team in average points per game (19.8), rebounds per game (8.4), as well as time on the court averaging 32.1 minutes per game.  That stat line doesn’t lie; Pearson is the backbone to this team’s performance.  However, team leaders aren’t always picked from just leading in stats.

Team leaders step up in big situations and want the ball in their hand when the game is on the line.  On the other hand, they pick players up when they go cold, and keep the team comradery in check at all times.  This year’s team is all about playing for the name on the front and not the name on the back.  Both Morrison’s and Pearson’s Twitter handles have been changed to @ForTheTeam_22 and @ForTheTeam_24, respectively.  It is clear that the team leadership position will contently have to be shared between the two of them.  They both work together, to play for the team while leading with their emotions as well as their statistics.  They’ve embraced being team leaders, and they are hungry and ready to lead Mason Nation back to another NCAA Tournament bid.

Rating: 5.0/5. From 1 vote.
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Readers Comments (4)

  1. Dear Peason and Caroline, I used to receive your English lenssos from the beginning of this year up to June, 16th. Honestly, I’m deeply attached to you and your lenssos make me interested in English. No word can express my deep gratitude to you. By the way, I still want your lenssos, so that I sent you an email to 1 month ago, but up to now I haven’t received your confirmation letter. Could you check up your email and add me to your loyal list, please? Thank you very much!

    Reply »
    • Priyani

      Dear Mr.P. Brown and Ms.Caroline,I think this is what Teaching’ is all about. When you know something and then you help so many ppeole to learn a language, grammatically correct, which is so noble and a generous thought. Tons of Thanks,Deepa.

      Reply »
      • Beny

        – Dude,This has been interesting to read to say the least What you ialtinliy intended seemed pretty clear to me- and I agreed with it. Although given the reaction, this apparently is a subject that more people really need to spend some deep though on It’s about priorities. Weddings are celebrations, which include all kinds of attention to detail, fun stuff, etc. You’re not disputing that. You like it. You encourage it. Rad. Me too. However, I think the point you were making is that the GREATER MEANING of a wedding extends far beyond how cool of mason jars one has. For me personally as a follower of Jesus Christ, it’s a completion. A challenge, a joy, a struggle, synergy, legitimacy, test of commitment, etc. (These things are present even without the Christ part) Our flowers died a week after our wedding, I pooped the wedding food the next day, the deets have all been sold. But Sarah’s and my love and commitment to ourselves and Christ WILL REMAIN. Lord willing, for 50-60 years. But where are the wedding blogs that highlight, and whose *sole purpose* is to tell, love stories? To celebrate that greater meaning ? Details are great and have their place, but an over-obsession with the details *can* sometimes cause people to miss the forest for the trees

        Reply »
        • Dude. SWEET!! I’m going to have you come shoot my kid! It’s due any day now, which is why I’ve pulled the camrea back out and dusted it off. Love that first pic in your stream and a few in this thread. Damn Well done!I’ve just locked down my web page (www.charlesprevitire.com) and I’d love suggestions.Cheers mate.Chuck

          Reply »




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