Senior and men’s basketball guard Jared Billups might have joined George Mason University as a transfer student, but in his two years here, he has managed to leave a historic mark.
Billups, who is graduating this month with a bachelor’s degree in economics, is George Mason’s first conference Defensive Player of the Year since 2001 and was a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player.
As captain, Billups helped lead the men’s basketball team to its best season in the program’s Atlantic 10 history. With 15 A-10 league victories, the Patriots set a new university record and started league play 12-1 for the first time in the program’s 59-year history.
With Billups leading the charge, the team’s Patriot Pressure defense also ranked in the Top 25 nationally this season, and the Patriots ranked third in the nation in field goal defense.
This year the A-10 Tournament was played at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., and Mason Nation packed the building to support the Patriots. The team locked up a double bye in the tournament for the first time and reached the conference title game for the first time since 2009. Behind Mason Nation’s huge turnout, the A-10 Final became one of the top-3 highest attended games in the tournament’s history.
Billups said the team could feel the love. “It’s one of the best feelings in the world,” he said about playing before a roaring arena. “The crowd is cheering for you and you’re playing well, and you just feel so good. I don’t think there is anything else like it in world.”
Billups started his college career playing basketball for Siena College in New York. He was interested in George Mason to be closer to family in Waldorf, Maryland, and because he wanted to play at a higher level. When he had the opportunity to visit campus, he said he knew he had found something special. “I just felt the love and support of the community here,” he said.
Billups admits that George Mason pushed him academically. He said that the George Mason Athletics makes sure everyone stays on course to graduate. “You care about your basketball. You care about your academics. You’ve got to be a whole person,” he said, adding that not all schools are like that.
While graduating is in some ways bittersweet for Billups—“We had an amazing season, and it was an amazing group of guys.”—he is looking toward the future and plans to play basketball professionally. He has already signed with an agent.