Fast Forward : George Mason a Blur Under Westhead; Marcaccini and Davis Also Up to Speed

Paul Ball has resurfaced again. Different town (Fairfax, Va.), different team (George Mason University), same Westhead philosophy:

Run. Shoot. Score. Run. Shoot. Score. Give up uncontested layup. Run. Shoot. . . .

Score?

High. Very high.

Try 117 points a game. “We’re scoring decently,” Westhead said. “We’d like to be in the 120s somewhere.”

The song, with tempo by Pantera, remains the same. Paul Westhead--former NBA-title winning coach of the Lakers, architect of the nationally renowned, hyper-speed Loyola

Marymount teams from 1985 to 1990--is in his second season at George Mason. Already he has pumped life into the formerly moribund program (it only looks as if he pumped it full of Methedrine) and brings his running, gunning, 4-1 Patriots into Pauley Pavilion tonight to face second-ranked UCLA.

Two former area stars, G.C. Marcaccini of Notre Dame High and Pharoah Davis of Highland, are in their first year at George Mason, but both are already playing prominent roles. “I’m very pleased with both of these young guys,” Westhead said.

Marcaccini, a junior starter, is averaging 12.6 points a game, fourth-best on the team. Davis, a freshman reserve, is third on the team with a 5.8 rebound average and has scored seven points a game.

Predictably, they are happy. What player could be averse to playing a glorified, warp-factor-10 pickup game?

“I love the speed game,” Marcaccini said. “You can’t really take any bad shots, except maybe one where you throw it behind your head. (Westhead) may get mad about that, but I don’t know. He hasn’t mentioned anything yet.

“Coaches have always commented on my shot selection, but it hasn’t been a problem here.”

Said Davis: “It looks like the Indy 500. It’s like you line up at the starting line and it’s a jump ball. From there on, you just run the lanes and try to outrun everybody. It’s a frantic pace.”

Westhead’s theory and style of play is elegantly simple.

Play at a pace too fast for opponents and focus only on fast-break scoring. Do not hold the ball-- ever-- for longer than 10 seconds without shooting.

Defense? Full-court press every single possession. Try to steal the ball in the backcourt. If you can’t steal it, make your opponents shoot, because, for heaven’s sake, we need the ball back and they’ve had it for at least four seconds!!!

Give the opponent an open shot. An easy shot. An eminently makeable shot. If they sink it? Fine. If not? Fast break, George Mason. A Westhead team will not stop running at any cost. His players are conditioned by three-hour practices of literally constant sprinting.

“After practices, games seem like a breeze,” Davis said. Thus can his team wear down opponents who are bigger, stronger and more talented by forcing them to make decisions too fast, too quick. Mistakes creep in. So does fatigue. His team goes for the jugular.

When Westhead’s system works perfectly, it is enthralling. Can anyone who watched forget his Loyola Marymount team’s 149-115 dismantling of defending NCAA champion Michigan in the 1990 NCAA tournament?

When it doesn’t work? Uh, hello, blowout. Fancy seeing you again.

His Loyola Marymount system did not work when he tried to bring it to the NBA as coach of the Denver Nuggets in 1990-91 and 1991-92 in a disastrous experiment. Unfortunately for Westhead, pro players must be defensed. They don’t miss uncontested shots. His Denver teams went 44-120 and once gave up 194 points in a single game, to Atlanta.

But college is another matter. The system can work against less-skilled players. And, as Davis says, “It’s guaranteed not to be a boring game. I think every kid in America would want to play this style of basketball.”

That is Westhead’s not-so-secret weapon. Offense sells. It might not win championships, but it does fill seats and it does bring players.

Take Davis and Marcaccini. Both traveled a somewhat roundabout route to Fairfax. Marcaccini averaged more than 20 points for College of the Canyons in 1992-93 after redshirting for a year at UC Santa Barbara. He then played in his native Italy last season, in part to retain his Italian citizenship and to pave the way for a future professional career there. His brother, Monte, also a former Notre Dame High star, did the same. Monte currently is playing for Pepperdine.

Marcaccini practiced for Benetton United Colors’ junior team in Treviso, Italy, and played in a couple of exhibition games for them. He then returned to the United States. At a summer camp in Tulsa, Okla., for junior college players, Marcaccini caught the eye of old acquaintance Bruce Woods, a George Mason assistant and former Loyola Marymount assistant. Marcaccini soon was on his way for a visit to Fairfax.

He signed, but the NCAA mandated he sit out two Patriot exhibition games for his indirect involvement with professional basketball in Italy. He says he was never paid and did not play professional basketball there.

Davis made an oral commitment to San Diego State in September of his senior year in high school, then backed out a few weeks later, saying he decided prematurely. After accepting trips to Louisiana State, Arizona State and Texas El Paso, Davis settled on George Mason.

Westhead is thankful for both.

Marcaccini, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound swingman, is just rounding into Westhead shape after missing time because of the suspension and a bruised shoulder.

“He’s playing very well now,” Westhead said. “He’s an exciting player, a terrific scorer. And he has a hunger for the game.”

Davis, a 6-6, 230-pound forward, is making his mark as well. “Pharoah has done exceptionally well,” Westhead said. “He’s a live, active player with a lot of bounce to his game. What I do from a rebounding sense is perfect for him. A shot could go up and he’ll be at half court, and he’ll be at the rim by the time the ball is (rebounding off). He’s a very, very good young athlete.”

And right now, for a very, very good young athlete, resurgent George Mason is a very interesting place to be. The Patriots posted identical 7-21 marks the two seasons before Westhead arrived and improved marginally to 10-17 last season, Westhead’s first. But now the system, and Westhead’s notoriety, is starting to take hold.

The Patriots won four of their first five games.

Granted, those wins came against a quartet of schools so unfamiliar they couldn’t even be an answer on Final Jeopardy (What is Macalester College? Who is Troy State?), but the Patriots have racked up two of the top three highest team scores in the nation this season: 140 against Macalester, 148 against Troy State.

People notice when you flash gaudy numbers at them. A USA Today reporter is spending two weeks with the team to do a cover story on it. Westhead will appear on an ESPN2 talk show while in Los Angeles.

“He vaulted us into the big time,” George Mason sports information director Carl Sell said. “We need to carve our niche and he’s different enough to do it. It’s going to get bigger and better, because it looks like he’s going to win.”

“Paul Ball” signs are appearing on campus, and the interest level, perhaps even excitement level, about the team is rising. “People are starting to come out and talk about it,” Marcaccini said.

That should only continue, because Westhead’s coaching connections get him some big-name dates, like the Dec. 3 game against Louisiana State (a 127-104 loss), future matchups against Virginia, Ohio State and, of course, UCLA.

Tonight’s game against the Bruins could be the least winnable on the Patriots’ schedule.

“They’re as good as I’ve seen them since John Wooden,” Westhead said of this year’s Bruins. “They’re quick, they’re fast, they defend, they score, they’re unselfish.”

“The only thing you want to question about them, is: They’re second in the country. Should they be first?”

UCLA (4-0) should pose plenty of problems for George Mason, but don’t tell the Patriots that.

“Once I get my guys cranked, it’s just a game,” Westhead said. “We just have to play a game--our speed game. We just try and get out and burn rubber. It just so happens we have to try and burn rubber against a great team.”

Burn rubber or double clutch, the event will still be a homecoming, not only for Westhead but for Marcaccini and Davis.

Marcaccini estimated that 30 friends and family members plan to attend the game, including his brother, Gianandrea, a 6-4 senior standout at Crespi, and his father, Giancarlo, who recently flew home from Italy after undergoing lung surgery.

“It’s going to be a big reunion,” G.C. said.

Brother Monte won’t be at the UCLA game because he will be playing in Pepperdine’s game against San Diego State, but there will be plenty of familiar faces on the Pauley Pavilion floor.

Marcaccini played with and against current Bruins Tyus Edney and Toby Bailey. It will be Davis’ first time in Pauley, but he will have his own rooting contingent, led by parents Earl and Molene. “They’re all jazzed up,” he said.

Davis will be, too.

“We know we can get in (Pauley Pavilion) and get a win,” he said. “(UCLA) looks strong, but we’ve got that running on our side.”

Whatever the outcome against the Bruins, the game will mark another point in George Mason’s hopeful rise toward respectability, success, national recognition.

“I came here hopefully to pull them out of last place and from having a losing program,” he said. “Things have changed. Hopefully, it’s a slow but steady progress up.”

Slow? Steady? Westhead?

Progress, yes, but it certainly isn’t slow.