Fleming steps up at opportune time

By Dave Utnik

Published: March 20, 2008

FAIRFAX

Chris Fleming's teammates still haven't stopped talking about the drop-step he used to get to the basket during George Mason University's victory over UNC Wilmington in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.

The finger roll is pretty much a hot topic, too.

"I don't know where that came from," senior center Will Thomas said, knowing that Fleming was sitting just a few feet away in the trainer's room at Patriot Center.

Of course, Thomas realizes as well as anybody what Fleming is truly capable of given that they play the same position and often go up against one another in practice. But witnessing it repeatedly over the course of three must-win games at Richmond Coliseum elevated the 6-foot-7 junior's status and provided the Patriots with an unexpected burst of energy that catapulted them back to the NCAA Tournament.

"Everybody got excited. You saw the bench, they were jumping around," Thomas explained. "When Chris does it, it's a little different. We don't see it all the time so when he does it in a game, it just gets us excited.

"When people started going for his head-fakes and pass-fakes and he was making his layups off that, it gave him more confidence and gave us more confidence in him. When he scores he brings even more intensity."

That's because virtually every basket is followed by an animated fist pump or some sort of primor-dial howl—often both.

"You don't really see Chris score. I don't even remember the last game he scored in before the tournament," senior guard Folarin Campbell said. "So to see him go in there, you know he's going to give the defensive effort, that's what Chris does. But to see him do stuff on the offensive side besides setting ball-screens, it's great. It's a boost of confidence for him and the team.

"Chris knows his role on the team. He knows that for us to do well he has to do the little things right. Not just him, but everybody does. But he knows specifically what he has to do," Campbell contin-ued. "He knows he has to get rebounds, he has to take charges for us and defend and he does it well. Now with him scoring, our team is doing even better."

Over the final 14 games of the regular season, Fleming rarely played more than a couple of minutes. He scored 10 total points and wasn't a significant part of the Patriots' rotation. But in CAA Tour-nament victories over Northeastern, UNC Wilmington and William & Mary, the Osbourn Park graduate was a combined 9 for 11 from the field and he wound up playing 20 minutes—and scoring eight points—in the 68-59 win over the Tribe that gave Mason its first conference title since 2001.

"I've had that ability I think the whole time. It was just about developing my confidence and just going out and playing," Fleming said. "Honestly, the best thing for me has been to go up against guys like Will and Darryl [Monroe] and Vlad [Moldoveanu] everyday in practice, guys that are so talented and bring so much to our team."

Monroe was expected to be the physical inside presence for Mason this season, but he underwent toe sur-gery and subsequently took a medical redshirt—leaving sophomore Louis Birdsong to start alongside Thomas in the frontcourt.

Fleming, who is well respected for his hustle and textbook knowledge of how to play defense, scored a career-high 10 points in an 85-38 victory over Drexel on Nov. 29 but he never played more than 13 minutes in any game until the CAA Tournament. Now, he will likely be the first forward off the bench when the Patriots face Notre Dame tonight in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Denver.

"I just want to go out there and continue to play with confidence," said Fleming, who was a freshman reserve in 2006 when the Patriots made their historic run to the Final Four. "Going into this tournament I don't really feel nervous."

That might change once he takes the court and tries to get past Big East player of the year Luke Harangody near the basket. But probably not.

Like the rest of his teammates, Fleming appreciates what Mason has accomplished and wants more than anything to enjoy the journey—wherever it may lead.

"Freshman year it was a team effort thing and this year will be as well," Fleming said. "It is a little more special because I had a good weekend [at the CAA tournament]. But honestly, you can't really beat going to the Final Four as a freshman.

"It's one of those things you never know if you'll get back next year. This could be my last time ever doing it. You just have to enjoy every minute of it. I remember as a freshman it all happened so fast. Now you look back and it's like, 'wow.'"

Sports writer Joe Conroy contributed information to this story.