After winning the CAA Championship last week, the George Mason Patriots are back in the NCAA Tournament:
The last time the George Mason basketball team gathered for the NCAA tournament selection show was two years ago in the basement of Coach Jim Larranaga’s home in Oakton. The Patriots had endured a week of anxious speculation before being subjected to another long wait in front of a widescreen TV to see if they would receive an at-large berth.
Now compare that setting with this year’s: The atrium of Johnson Center in the heart of campus, several hundred fans and students in attendance, the team on a stage constructed below an admissions office and between the Burger King and Mrs. Mason’s Cookies.
And much to the Patriots’ relief, it came with none of the unbearable tension that served as the backdrop for the 2006 announcement.
By virtue of winning the Colonial Athletic Association championship last Monday, the question was not whether the Patriots (23-10) were in the field of 65, but what seed they’d be assigned, where they would be sent, when they would play and who they’d face.
The answers came quickly: No. 12, Denver, Thursday and fifth-seeded Notre Dame (24-7).
Go Patriots !
