SoCon Basketball: In-depth look at Western Carolina star Mason Faulkner

Expectations for Mason Faulkner in 2020-21

The Catamounts finished in the top-20 nationally in scoring offense a year ago averaging just a shade under 80 points per game. That was with Faulkner and two other high scoring players who are no longer on campus in Onno Steger and forward Carlos Dotson. Each of those players averaged over 10 points per game and were able to wreak havoc on offense.

Even without Dotson and Steger, Western Carolina still has an experienced roster with a good mix of young talent that if everything comes together have a team that no one is going to want to play.

As for the individual expectations for the senior guard. Insert whatever expectation you want and don’t be surprised if the player reaches it. He is one of the best players in the country and this year fans outside of the conference will start to take notice.

Faulkner is going to enter the season as one of the preseason picks for the player of the year. He should compete for the scoring title and will be one of the best passers in the country again. He is one of the best rebounders in the country for a guard and he will likely play pro ball somewhere.

I would love for Faulkner to get a shot with an NBA team because he has that small school mentality and he will show out and keep that chip on his shoulder whatever his future in basketball holds.

So, if the Catamounts lost two of their three top scorers why so much hype surrounding them?  As was said they are coached by a great coach. Head coach Prosser is the son of legendary coach Skip Prosser and he has great coaching bloodlines. He has also shown he can be a tremendous recruiter as well.

The team has a few players who are going to help get this team to the top. One of them is fellow senior guard Matt Halvorson. Halvorson is a tremendous shooter from deep, his role this year will likely expand, and he will be needed to score more but he will be up to the task.

The other player who looks to be a guy that is going to make Catamount fans very happy is redshirt freshman big man Ahmir Langlais. Langlais will fill the role left behind by graduating senior Carlos Dotson and should thrive he will also provide the much-needed boost for the Catamounts on the defensive end. The Catamounts were ranked 300th last year in total defense.

If they want to get where they want to be that number must improve drastically. They do have the pieces for that to happen this year, and if they can fix the defense, they can run teams out of gyms quickly.