GMU Nails Connecticut in Overtime -- Final Four Baby, Just Win

[autorank]

Welcome to PATRIOT NATION

Planning the victory in a pre game huddle


Tony Skinn getting the job done against Connecticut

86 GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
84 CONNECTICUT

GMU players are all from Maryland. They had excellent HS careers
But were deemed “too short” for the majors. Oh Yeah…

[baby_bear]

1. What a game!

I thought it was going to go the other way right there at the end of OT.

Way to go, Patriots! I hope to see GMU and UCLA at the end.

b_b

[autorank]

3. GMU UCLA would be the best!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[gizmo1979]

2. Of all the crap I can't

efin believe UCONN lost to a school I'd never heard of crap 250 bucks down the tubes of all the rotten stinkin luck Jesus holy shit Fuck!!!!!!!

[autorank]

6. Sorry about the $$$'s GMU has 24k students, part of VA Univ System

Very good school, clean program, nice kids, they go to class, etc.

The coach is a great guy. When things get too intense at practice,
he cools it off by breaking out in a song or starting to play himself.

Great bunch of people!!! Sorry you lost the Franklins and a Grant:(

[MADem]

12. It is a relatively new school--only 30-some odd years old

And it is the largest university in Virginia. It actually has three distinct campuses.

[Ignacio Upton]

4. FUCK UCONN!!!!!!!!!

From a Syracuse student :)
UConn lost to us in the Big East just two weeks ago, almost lost to SUNY-Albany in the first round, and now they've come crashing down to GMU. Congrats to them...I might root for them in the Final Four :)

[autorank]

7. Root for us, we need the support! n/t

[dusty64]

11. I agree

as an SU fan I just couldn't bring myself to root for UCONN. I know they are Big East, but I just couldn't.

[Bozita]

5. That'll finish off most folks with brackets

I'm done!

[pecwae]

8. Bah!

All the NC teams and Ky are out, so just Bah!

[autorank]

23. Every century that happens once. This is our turn. Picture for you.

win, we'll start stealing the great talent in DC and MD;)

It's all good.


(When we beat UNC, I relized that this was for real. This
is one outstanding picture! Any win over UNC at this level
lends great credibility to a program.)

[Stevepol]

9. Saw the game. GM is unbelievable! What a gas if they'd win it all!!

[autorank]

20. Like a Frank Capra movie...little guy wins the day.

Their tallest buy is 6'7". The rest are well below that.

What I like about them (and The Shockers too) is that they
have no doubt that they belong there. When it went to OT, it
was like, "OK, so how do we beat them now?" Great fun.

[blueinindiana]

10. I love the small schools.

I got to say I laughed just hearing the name George Mason at the start of the tourney but the mor eI have seen them play I have gained respect for them. They maybe a cinderella but yoou can not beat that many top rated teams and call it a fluke.

I like GMU and LSU that is the final I woudl like to see. I think they are both playing alot of heart.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

13. GMU was my first choice (good journalism school); got waitlisted

then "not so much." I don't know if it's viewed this way anymore, but at the time (late '80s, early '90s), it was known as a commuter school. I wound up going to ODU. My dad went to UCONN, so I was torn who to root for...a VA team or the school my dad went to. It was a good game, though.

[autorank]

25. If you want toi come back, it's easy to transfer. ODU's a good school

also, plus you have a beach!

[SaveElmer]

14. You a Mason student?..nt

[autorank]

17. Gratuate of graduate program. Did time at UConn too, way back.

Better time at GMU;) It's an excellent school in a number of areas.

Big mix of locals, foreign students, adults (huge technie contingent
undergrad and adult).

They've never won anything in basketball, no football team;) but won
the NCAA Track title a couple of times.

[SaveElmer]

21. Cool...yeah I'm a grad student there now...

Graduating in May....went to American as an undergrad. AU used to be in the CAA with Mason...

This is pretty amazing!!!

Mason is a good place...really moving up quickly academic wise...it's a nice campus too!

[autorank]

22. Good fori you. Some serious partying going or (or more serious).

Have a ball. Mason has a great collection of students. I think it's the smart choice in VA since
you get great internships that you can actually drive too rather than living in "the woods" so to
speak.

Best of luck to you!!!!!!!!!!!

[Doctor_J]

15. Is this in the correct forum?

:shrug:

[autorank]

18. For you avatar? Why not. It's a multi-cultural school making a political

statement about the ability of motivated, talented, intelligent people to overcome the
power structure.

Vive la Revolution! Short basketball players can win too!

[baby_bear]

16. George Mason was a cool guy - could have been a DUer

He declined to sign the Constitution, even though he was a framer, because he was afraid the way the Congress and Judiciary had been set up, that we would end up as a monarchy or gee, maybe that the rich would rule and the poor would suffer. I'd say the guy was prescient.

b_b

[autorank]

19. You are so right (and so whas he;). His VA Bill of Rights had only

one two requirements to vote--being a citizen of the state and owning a 1/4 acre of land (no
race restriction). He's smiling somewhere, probably with a beer bong and a ocuple of
cheer leaders;)

[CTyankee]

24. Hello? Coach Calhoun???

Man, he had the talent and what happened? I just can't believe it, otherwise.

congrats to GMU. My daugher's best friend in an alumn.

[Eurobabe]

26. I DO hope GMU wins, I love underdogs!

I am sad that Villanova lost though. But glad to see some of the SAME OLDTEAMS eliminated!!!! Go George Mason!!

[tarkus]

27. Now all the northern teams are out of the running

I am boycotting the rest of the season.

[autorank]

29. No, no...we're NORTHERN Virginia...all tech, transplants from the North,

West, Mid West...65%-30% Democrat in Fairfax County in the 2005 Gov election.

The players are all from MARYLAND (haha). What a deal.

Stick around, we are the blue team!

[TheMightyFavog]

28. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

rips up bracket in disgust

Oh, well there's always next year...

[autorank]

30. Who would pick these guys. Asked a regular at all the games if

they had a chance. Very knowledgable guy, he said "they could do it." Not a strong endorsement.

Sorry for your loss.

[Missy Vixen]

31. Congratulations, autorank!

I'm thrilled for your team. I hope they win it all!

Julie

[autorank]

33. Hey Julie...thanks. This is a real kicker. These players believe in them

...selves. It's fun to watch.

Happy days for a school thats waited its entire history to win its first NCAA tournament game.

This will make the school more appealing to the talent rich DC-Maryland area. Get the really
good players before they get swiped by those Carolina schools.

:hi:

[autorank]

32. Check this out...GREAT Sports Page article:, Wa Post - Monday

Liz Clarke, Wa Post, Monday 3/27/06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/26/AR2006032601040_pf.html

In toppling Connecticut, the team most college basketball analysts predicted would win it all, George Mason became only the second team with a double-digit seed to advance to the Final Four, following Louisiana State, also an 11th seed, in 1986. The Patriots also became the first team to defeat the two previous national champions -- Connecticut and North Carolina -- en route to the tournament's final weekend. All of this would have been a stunning achievement for a basketball powerhouse, but it defied description for an undersized, overlooked squad from a school that had never won an NCAA tournament game until 10 days ago.

Larranaga, the affable coach whose playbook stresses the value of playing loose and having fun, had made a practice of celebrating huge wins this season by dancing, much to his team's amusement. Yesterday afternoon, when the scoreboard confirmed the result no one would have predicted, Larranaga's Patriots did just that -- breaking into wild, jerky, joyous dances on a stage that was hastily erected at midcourt in their honor as recipients of an NCAA tournament region championship.

"It was like a dream come true," said Butler, a senior guard, whose three-point shooting keyed the Patriots' second-half comeback. "I used to dream about that when I was a little kid, in front of my home town, home fans, my family. It's indescribable."

Connecticut entered the game with every possible advantage: A roster stocked with five NBA prospects and a half-dozen blue-chip recruits backing them up on the bench. George Mason started five players who stood four to six inches shorter than their Connecticut counterparts. But only one statistic was needed to convey the moral of the game that unfolded. Dwarfed by their opponents at every position, George Mason outrebounded Connecticut 37-34.