Update: Breaking down Andre Cornelius

Update: For the record, Andre Cornelius's Twitter is gone. So no more tweets about this from his fingers.


Original Story: To get it out of the way, Andre Cornelius is not a bad apple. The worst thing he has done with the Patriots is stealing a pillow when he was with the team in Puerto Rico two years ago. As Paul Hewitt put it, "He made a mistake. He knows he made a mistake. I’m disappointed. It was an error in judgment.”

From Steven Goff: According to a person not authorized to speak on the matter, Cornelius told police he found a credit card on campus in July, used it to purchase food and gasoline valued at about $60 and then threw away the card.

The felony count is supposed to be invoked if there is $200 in fraud. Based on the above statement, it does not seem to be the case. WUSA 9 has the statue on the fraud charge here.

He was arrested on Friday the 16th and was fell under, in legal terms, ROR. Released on Recognizance. In layman's terms, the reported $1,500 bond was unsecured, meaning that Cornelius was allowed to leave detention if he promised to return to court on Tuesday.

His Twitter feed, often making headlines, read, "I’m doing some re-evaluating in my life. All negative people must go. I gotta make changes. If u ain’t gone have my back den u gotta go. These past couple of days really opened my eyes and made me think people r not who u think they are."

Everything indicates that he will. He will be arraigned tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. in Fairfax County Court, Courtroom #2. The courthouse is located at 4110 Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax. Drive through  Mason on Route 123 and turn left on Judicial Drive for the best entrance. 

Cornelius will have the charges read to him and be made aware that he has the right to an attorney, if he does not already have one.

For his official status with the team, it seems everybody is using the line from the Mason athletics department. Maureen Nasser is quoted saying, “He [Cornelius] has been summarily suspended pending the outcome of the legal proceedings and an investigation by the university’s Office of Judicial Affairs."

So while he awaits the hearing, he is not going to be jailed. He will continue taking classes, but he is not to be involved in team activities.

Connect2Mason.com reports that a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for November 15 at 2 p.m., where the Commonwealth's attorney will make his first appearance in the case. Since he is suspended from the team until the situation is resolved, he may not return to the team at all for the 2011-12 season.

Mason fans should, at very least, start worrying about another gaping hole in a starting lineup that has how lost three players. This may cost the team the top-25 spot in the preseason polls as Bryon Allen and Corey Edwards will instantly fight for the starting PG job.

Paul Hewitt definitely has his work cut out for him.

Andre Cornelius

According to The Mason Bench's own Cody Norman (@Cody_Gaines), Senior George Mason guard Andre Cornelius has been charged with Felony Credit Card Fraud in the State of Virginia. The number of counts on the charge is still unknown. Cornelius was arrested and booked on Friday and is scheduled to appear in Fairfax County court tomorrow, September 20th, at 10:30 am.

According to Virginia State law, Felony Credit Card Fraud is committed when the fraud exceeds value of $200 within a six month period. The charge carries a 1-5 year prison sentence per count, along with a maximum fine of $2,500.

Cody Norman and John Powell will be at the court proceedings tomorrow morning and more information will given as it becomes available.

Updated: Johnny Williams' Status

According to two team sources, junior Johnny Williams will not play on the team for the 2011-12 season, forcing him to redshirt. He is expected to return to the Patriots at full strength for the 2012-13 year.

Williams had surgery on his shoulder for minor repair, similar to the minor surgeries of Luke Hancock and Mike Morrison after the season. In early June, this site posted that, his rehab was going well, but that it was too early to tell if he would go for the redshirt. The Washington Post's Steven Goff reported that he may redshirt, and GMUHoops.com re-posted the info here.

With Eric Copes stepping into the team, even occasionally projected in the starting lineup, Williams would not have a chance to gain the expected minutes to follow last year's NCAA tournament. But Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison are expected to graduate after this season and a lineup including Williams and Copes with the likes of Jon Arledge should bolster the lineup.

It will give more long-term flexibility to this team, and from the sources, there is no doubt he is out for the year.

Paul Hewitt has been known to run a guard-heavy offense though, possibly showing some early issues with a forward-heavy team. It will certainly take time to see how he will form a lineup with this roster, and more time to show how he recruits in this region on a yearly basis.


Clarification: This story was edited for clarification. Williams is not transferring; he is just sitting out the year with the injury.

The Return of The Mason Bench

It's back! TheMasonBench.com is under new management! As you all undoubtedly know, Josh has decided to step away from TMB in order to focus on his family, career, and coaching. We all wish Josh the best of luck in everything his future holds. We also hope to hear from him on TMB from time to time.

Josh started this blog as an unbiased source of news and notes for George Mason University Basketball. We hope to continue the blog with that mantra. We believe our passion for the program and school, our presence on campus, and the diversity of our opinions will allow us to provide you all with a great blog with amble amounts of content.

In the coming weeks we will begin to update the site with up-to-date information regarding recruiting, scheduling, opponent breakdowns, player profiles, and much more. Please bare with us as these changes take place.

If you have any suggestions regarding content you would like to see on the site, suggestions for us, or any questions at all, feel free to leave them in the comments section or email us directly at TheMasonBench@gmail.com3!

Check back with TMB in a few hours, as we will have an update on a developing story!

-Kyle

Here We Go Again

Now I know how Brett Favre feels. 

After much thought and some different circumstances that have come up, I've decided to close up shop on TheMasonBench.com.  I had every intention to start the site back up again, but there were a few things have turned up over the past two weeks. 

I really enjoyed my trip back to Mason and I have the highest respect for the new staff.  As an Insider, I feel that there is a conflict of interest in supporting the team and writing the blog, and I would rather have a relationship with those tied to the program and the Insiders as a fan first, and not a blogger.  It's hard to explain, especially since I'm not a writer, but I know from people that they are hesitant to share info with me about the program because of this blog, and I don't want that. I want to be a fan again, I want to be more involved with the Insiders and raising money for the program.  This is doesn't exactly mix with writing a blog about the team.

Another big change that I learned about during my trip back to Illinois is my new football coaching position.  What was originally going to be me helping out with the high school team has turned into more.  This new job is going to take up a lot of my "free time". Between teaching, coaching, and my family, I knew that TMB would have to take a back seat.  As much fun as I have had doing the site, it doesn't compare with the fun I've had coaching football and lacrosse at the high school level.  I love working with kids, I love Friday nights in the fall.  It's been difficult not coaching over the past three years and TMB helped fill that void, but I'm ready to get back into coaching.

Thanks to everyone for reading over the past year and a half. 

Go Mason!

Vacation!

I'm back in VA with the family this week. I'll be back next Monday with some nuggets. See you next week.

News and Notes for Thursday, June 9th

Not a whole lot of interesting info today - after all it is the off season.  Here's what I got:

- Mason is now looking for just one more home game to complete the 2011-12 season according to the Basketball Travelers website.  As of last week Mason was still looking for two games, but yesterday's post from Assistant Coach Kreider now only lists one more game needed (a home game on November 11th).  No word yet on who was added.

- A new name has surfaced in the recruiting arena. According to his AAU coach, Mason has shown interest in 6'7" Derek Reese from Orlando, FL. His coach says that Wake Forest, Cincinnati, UCF, Tennessee, Richmond, James Madison, MTSU, Georgia Southern, and Florida Gulf Coast have all shown interest.

Derrick averaged 10.2 ppg last season along with 6.6 rebounds. He can hit behind the arc as well making 37 three pointers (shot 41% from 3) and shot 85% from the line.  Derrick is also a high jumper on his school's track team with an impressive best of 5'8".

News and Notes for Wednesday, June 8th

- It was a busy day today updating a lot of the pages on the site. We have the new midnight madness ticker up and running. We updated the roster for next year. Most importantly (and most time consuming) was updating the recruit list for the 2012 class. There are lots of new names added that I've gathered from Rivals, Scout, Recruiting Recon, and from Twitter. It's hard to know which recruits were shown interest from the old staff, and which are from the new staff. I'll continue to add name as they come. You can find the link to the 2012 recruits at the top of the page.

(Trentonian photo/Jackie Schear)

- Speaking of recruits, Ramon Johnson tweeted last night that he will be taking an unofficial visit to Mason next weekend. Johnson is a 6'9" PF who will prep next year at The Robinson School. Georgia State, Hofstra, New Mexico State, St. Peters, and VCU have offered Johnson and Charlotte, Dayton, and George Mason, are showing interest. This past season, he averaged 18.4 points and 8.6 rebounds in helping Central High School (NJ) to the Group 2 state title. He had 23 points and 16 rebounds in the championship game and was named MVP. Johnson has a Jai Lewis type frame and also played football for Central.