Sunday Q&A: Gophers' guard Nate Mason

Nate Mason is the rare Gophers men's basketball player this season who has both experience and potential. After a solid freshman year, the 6-1 guard is hoping to take another step forward with a team that could very much use his production. With the Gophers set for a public scrimmage Sunday (4 p.m. at Williams Arena; admission is free), Mason chatted with the Star Tribune's Michael Rand:

Q Coach Richard Pitino was talking about a recent injury scare at practice. He said he thought you tore your ACL, but it turned out to be far less serious. What was going through your mind at the time?

A I was scared. But my teammates were there to pick me up. It was a shock that went through me. I thought it was an ACL, too. That's what I thought. I was crying. I was down. But we got the MRI the same day. I missed two days of practice.

Q Do you think about all the work you put in during the offseason when something like that happens?

A Oh yeah, for sure. I was like, 'My sophomore season. It can't be happening like this.' But it was a blessing that it was that minor of an injury.

Q What's your outlook coming into this season, going from Year 1 to Year 2?

A Just trying to lead this team where we need to go and becoming the best leader I can become. I want to lead these freshmen.

A Yeah. I actually started that. When I found out the bad news that Jarvis wasn't cleared, we made it as a motto for the team. That's who we want to do it for. Everyone's working hard in practice and doing what they need to do.

Q I got a sense, too, that family is pretty important to you and that you might get homesick at times. Is that true?

A I'd say last year I got homesick. This year, it's not that much. I've been through it already.

Q There are a bunch of rules changes this year in college basketball. Have you been working on that a lot in early practices?

A Yeah, for sure. We've been talking about the shot clock, the increase of the arc. We've been talking about a lot of the new things.

A It's fun. It's actually really fun with all the new faces and all the new guys. It's going to be a really fun year trying to get to where we want to go, learning about each other. I feel like we're going to carve out an identity real soon.

Q What about the young guys — I mean, you're a young guy still, too, but what do the freshmen bring to the table?

A They bring a lot. Every freshman has something different they bring. We're going to need them all to step up. Being young is not an excuse that we're using. … We need them to step up.