Atlantic 10 Basketball: In-depth look at George Mason transfer Devon Cooper

Expectations for Cooper in 2021-22

It is hard to pinpoint exactly how good George Mason will be, the bottom line is that former head coach Dave Paulson was never able to get it done and he had some quality rosters. His teams always underachieved. New head coach Kim English is extremely capable and a good coach, but he is going to have his work cut out for him with a largely new roster and a roster made up of a lot of guys who have never played together.

Cooper is going to be in the mix for first-team All-Atlantic 10 if he continues to play like he did last year. The good part for the Patriots is that Cooper may be one of the most important players on the team, but he is not the most talented and many Patriot fans are expecting more from another player who has been in Fairfax much longer.

Josh Oduro is the player who should make the biggest leap on this roster. He already made significant gains a season ago and now with an experienced lead guard, he should get the ball in a better position to score. D’Shawn Schwartz who is a sharpshooter from Colorado is also on this roster to provide some support there as well.

These two players are going to make Cooper that much better. He is already an extremely skilled player, but he is going to likely see his personal numbers increase with the ability of these other two players. Cooper is not going to be relied on to take nearly as many shots which will help his efficiency numbers.

He should see a slight uptick in his assist numbers due to him being the primary ball handler but with these three George Mason has the potential to have one of their best seasons since Jim Larranaga left the school. Regardless of what the record is Cooper is going to be in the middle of everything that happens for the Patriots this season good and bad.