I Was There! by Eric Mirlis

Author:Eric Mirlis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Published: 2018-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

2006 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Regional Finals, George Mason vs. Connecticut, Verizon Center, Washington, DC, March 26, 2006

We have all become a little desensitized to mid-majors making runs in the NCAA Tournament, after teams like Butler and VCU have done just that in recent years. But before them, the notion of a school like George Mason making it to the Final Four seemed preposterous. The Patriots had upset some name-brand programs earlier in the tournament, but everyone assumed this was where the road would end, against the top seed and a team where all five starters would eventually end up drafted by the NBA. UConn jumped out to an early lead, but Mason made a run and got back into the game. Because the game was being played in Washington, DC, there were already a lot of Mason fans there, but unless you were a Connecticut fan, you ended up rooting for the Patriots.

The longer George Mason hung around, the longer you believed this actually could happen, but everyone just expected the Huskies to go on that run eventually and put the game away. Connecticut was able to send the game into overtime with a last-second layup, and once they did that, it felt like it was just a formality that they would win. Mason ended up winning in overtime, though. I had covered Mason for two rounds at this point, so I had gotten the chance to know the vibe of that team pretty well, and it wasn’t nearly as giddy as you thought it would be. The team had held onto the notion that they belonged there at that point. I then went over to the UConn locker room, and you could get a feeling for how something like this could happen. It was an incredibly talented team, but as talented as they were, they always felt a little “off” during the season, and you got the feeling that everyone was more interested in getting to the NBA than winning a national championship. It showed after that game; they weren’t devastated and were more matter-of-fact about losing. Once it all sunk in, though, it was hard to believe that a school like George Mason, that barely anyone had heard of, was going to the Final Four.

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