George Mason Upsets UCONN..#11 seed GM going to final Four

CBS

[janetjanet998]

ok..this year is the year of "messed up brackets"

[mhking]

I love it!!!!

[cardinal4]

Yikes, what a finish!

[charming_harmonica]

Yaaaaaahhhhoooooo!

[kinsman redeemer]

Great!

[MinorityRepublican]

First time # 11 made it this far?

[Philistone]

I only have two teams left! (Well, that'll be one after the 'Nova vs FLA game).

[MikefromOhio]

well I was tied for 1st in the FReeper pool, but I had UCONN winning it.

I guess I won't be winning the pool either :)

[janetjanet998]

yahoo sports saying first time a 11th seed made it since 1986..not sure what team thar was

[sanjacjake]

Scrappy team....that foul shooter in last minute for
Mason..missed..missed..almost blew it?? Glad they won
but they have to get lucky to go all the way..Jake

[Will_Zurmacht]

i think that's when they went to 64 team tourney

[jocon307]

YES! YES! YES!

Thanks for posting this, my kid goes to GMU!

What a finish!

FINAL FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[muawiyah]

Was not an upset. GMU "deserved" the win and UCON was dogging it ~ too much partying.

Did you all notice how polite and dignified the GMU fans were ~ delicate little jumps as GMU took the lead, then polite handclapping.

Yes, this is a COMMUTER COLLEGE Fur Shur.

Figuring out how the GMU fans in this household can get tickets to Naptown ~ from their cousin at Florida maybe?

[MikefromOhio]

before 1986, there were no 11 seeds :)

[jocon307]

"irst time # 11 made it this far?"

Second time, I forget who the first #11 was, maybe LSU? Or else some east coast school.

GO MASON! Just about to die from the excitement!

[Quick1]

This tournament has taken years off my life. I'm now officially cheering for GMU to go all the way, as my bracket's done.

Who will play Coach Larranaga in the movie?

[MikefromOhio]

Let's also remember that George Mason isn't your typical 11 seed either.

Had one of their players not lost his head in his conference tournament and gotten ejected and suspended, they probably would have won it and gotten anywhere from as high as a 7 to as low as a 4 seed....

[billbears]

It was LSU. They lost to Louisville who eventually won that year

[LdSentinal]

LSU, who's now in the Final Four.

[Rebelbase]

The Championship belongs to LSU this year.

[advance_copy]

George Mason University in the F I N A L F O U R!!!



GO GMU PATRIOTS!!!

Mason - that school out in Fairfax WINS!

[Para-Ord.45]

DAng

I`m all stressed out man.

Where`s my scotch,I need a belt.

[southernnorthcarolina]

OK, everyone who had George Mason in the Final Four in their bracket, raise your hand...

Just as I thought...

[Cyclopean Squid]

Beautiful! I was really pulling for them. For some reason I really dislike UConn. Maybe it's because EVERY EXPERT picked them to win it all. Now virtually everyone's bracket is completely screwed up. MUHUHAHAHAHA

What makes it even better is that UConn was winning by so much at halftime. COLLAPSE

[charming_harmonica]

I think so...don't quote me on that

[mware]

It screwed up my office pool, but what the heck

way to go GM

[Ligeia]

Woohoo! Even the bronze is dancin'!!

[charming_harmonica]

my bracket was fried yesterday. I had Georgetown, Illinois, Duke, and Memphis in my final four.

and yes, I know I'm an idiot

[Cyclopean Squid]

UConn had been barely scraping by the last couple of games. Maybe the most talented team but they played as though they were were fated to win, especially after the Fall of Duke.

[johnny7]

Ditto...

[advance_copy]

Boogie woogie PATRIOT style.

[THX 1138]

You know, there's just something about UConn; you look at their talent up and down the roster, the size advantage, their atheticism, they should just kill teams, but they don't. They screw around, make poor decisions, let lesser teams hang around. Not to take anything away from GM, but good God, there's just no way this should happen.

Having said that, ya just gotta love this.

[muawiyah]

The network announcers don't know that GMU is in Fairfax ~ they keep saying "20 miles away" (somewhere). They only know Georgetown, George Washington and Maryland ~ of course those are all punk schools this year.

Feels good.

[advance_copy]

Feels good.



Will Thomas seems to think so.

[Ligeia]

Who was George Mason? Virginia is for Lovers and Wikipedia

[IndyTiger]

Way to go GMU!

Bet the CBS execs are greatly saddened by UConn going down. :-)

[FreeKeys]

GMU:
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY -- HOME of The CAPITALISTS!
WALTER E. WILLIAMS
DONALD BOUDREAUX
PETER BOETTKE
THE MERCATUS CENTER
INSTITUTE FOR HUMANE STUDIES

[ctyankee00]

Yes, final four congrats to GMU and their fans. They played with a lot of heart.

[advance_copy]

(11) George Mason 86, (1) Connecticut 84, OT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- George Mason is no longer the cute little underdog. The Patriots, by golly, are going to the Final Four.

The suburban commuter school from Fairfax, Va., beat top-seeded Connecticut 86-84 in overtime Sunday in the Washington Regional final, ending the stranglehold that big-time programs have enjoyed for 27 years in college basketball's biggest showcase.

They lacked in size, athleticism and history relative to their opponent, but the 11th-seeded Patriots made up for it with tenacity.

Buoyed by a partisan crowd and playing some 20 miles from their campus, George Mason rallied after trailing by 12 late in the first half and nine early in the second. They hit six straight 3-pointers in the second half, shot 5-for-6 in overtime and outrebounded UConn 37-34 even though the Huskies have three starters taller than any of the Patriots' frontcourt players.

The Patriots became the second double-digit seed to make the Final Four, matching LSU's run, also as an 11th seed, in 1986. The Colonial Athletic Association team is the first true outsider to crash the Final Four since Penn and Indiana State both got there in 1979. The Patriots celebrated after the final horn by standing on the press row table and saluting their fans.

All five Mason starters finished in double figures. Jai Lewis had 20, and Lamar Butler and Will Thomas each scored 19. Jim Larranaga's team kept the same five players in the game from the 10:37 mark of regulation to the very end of overtime.

George Mason (27-7), having by far the best season in school history, had never won an NCAA tournament game until it beat half of last year's Final Four -- Michigan State and No. 3 seed North Carolina -- back-to-back in the first two rounds. Now it can say it has beaten the last two national champions -- Connecticut and North Carolina.

Rudy Gay scored 20, and Jeff Adrien had a career-high 17 points for Connecticut (30-4), which never could put together a complete game in the tournament. The Huskies had to rally from double-digit second-half deficits to beat Albany and Washington and barely held off Kentucky.

Folarin Campbell's tough baseline fadeaway gave the Patriots an 84-80 lead in overtime, and UConn suddenly looked like a rattled underdog from a mid-major. Rashad Anderson tossed up an airball 3-point attempt that could have cut the lead to one, and Adrien missed one of two free throws in the final 30 seconds.

But Mason gave UConn a chance to win with poor free-throw shooting. Lewis missed three attempts in the final 15 seconds -- the last two with 6.1 seconds to go -- giving the Huskies a final possession to tie or win. Denham Brown, who made the reverse layup at the regulation buzzer to send the game to overtime, was off the mark from the left wing with a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Throughout the game, chants of "G-M-U" and "Let's Go Mason!" reverberated off the ceiling of the Verizon Center. Green and gold, as expected, were the dominant colors, and the building reached a new-level din of enthusiasm when Tony Skinn made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 21 in the first half.

The pregame mannerisms of the coaches also reflected the different state of the two programs. Larranaga looked like someone running for mayor, shaking hands with everyone and high-fiving the cheerleader's pompoms, while UConn's all-business Jim Calhoun stood with folded arms and an expression that suggested a man fighting stomach cramps.

UConn started 7-for-10 from the field yet couldn't pull away from the tenacious Patriots, who somehow managed to pull down and chase rebounds despite their height disadvantage. When the Huskies went cold, missing seven straight field goals, George Mason pulled even. The second of back-to-back steals by Skinn led to two free throws by Thomas that put the Patriots ahead 29-28, their only lead of the first half.

But the Huskies responded with a 15-2 run, including four 3-pointers from four players over the final three minutes of the first half. The lead was 12 when George Mason got a boost just before halftime -- Campbell's three-point play with less than one second remaining cut the deficit to single digits, 43-34, at the break.

Mason outrebounded UConn 16-15 in the half, but the Huskies shot 57 percent, with Adrien going 5-for-5 for 10 points.

The Patriots pulled within one early in the second half with an 8-0 run. Campbell hit a 3-pointer after a gritty offensive rebound by Thomas, and Skinn made a driving layup despite losing control of the ball and changing hands in mid-air. Then, with 12:31 to play, Campbell hit another 3-pointer that tied the game at 49. The next milestone came with 11:09 remaining, when Butler sank another 3 to give Mason a 52-51 lead.

For the next six minutes, the teams punched and counterpunched, with neither leading by more than two until Skinn's 3-pointer with five minutes to go put Mason ahead 67-63. Marcus Williams' steal and three-point play cut Mason's lead to 71-70 with 47 seconds remaining, and the Patriots went 2-of-5 from the foul line in the final minute to give UConn the chance to send the game to overtime on Brown's buzzer-beating layup.

[razorback-bert]

For some reason I really dislike UConn.

I know why I dislike UC, they are the darings of the northeastern elite MSM.

[Ligeia]

George Mason players and staff celebrate their win after
defeating Connecticut, 86-84 in the fourth round of the
NCAA basketball tournament in Washington, Sunday, March
26, 2006. George Mason advanced to the Final Four.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

[feefee]

nice work, Mason.

I have to call my friend, she graduated from Mason and has been following the games.

[Mr. Mojo]

Tremendous outcome: A conservative school (and a HUGE longshot) beats a team of lazy, unfocused, underachievers (some of whom have criminal records) who are the darlings of the NE media elite.

A hearty congratulations, Patriots!!!

[ml/nj]

everyone who had George Mason in the Final Four in their bracket, raise your hand...

72 entries out of about 2.5 million had the in the ESPN Pool.

ML/NJ (currently 39,123rd)

[TwoSue]

Mine's graduating this year! He was at the games!

[RayChuang88]

Well, explain this: Florida is leading Villanova as I type this message. This year's Final Four could be the year of the low on radar teams; note that both UCLA and LSU--while having storied programs--weren't exactly picked by many experts to make it to the Final Four.

[Mr. Mojo]

#2 seed UCLA was indeed picked by many college hoops buffs to make the Final Four.

....But you're right about the rest of them (although Nova isn't out of it just yet).

[js1138]

Lotta Gators in my family -- the Microsoft of sports franchises. Feared and hated by everyone.

[Jokelahoma]

I'm with you. My bracket was fantastic after the first weekend, then collapsed like Howard Dean's campaign. Therefore, I'm rooting for the underdog all the way on this one. Go Patriots!

[mainepatsfan]

Well I still have UCLA.