For a small public university in Fairfax, Virginia this kind of national media attention is no doubt very abnormal. The George Mason Patriots were underestimated from the beginning. Even their selection by the board to play in the tournament was criticized by American sportscasters like Billy Packer. George Mason was shrouded in some early controversy as well with the suspension of Tony Skinn after punching a Hofstra player below the belt in the midst of a CAA tournament loss. The Hofstras who beat the George Mason patriots twice in the final 10 days of the season were overlooked by the board for admittance to the tournament. It is reasons like this that not many people were paying attention to Mason when the tournament began on March 14th. It literally wasn’t until Denham Brown’s three point attempt overshot the rim as the final buzzer of overtime sounded that most of us could believe that George Mason University was going to be going to the semifinals. That win made them the first mid-major team to reach the Final Four since 1979 when Larry Bird’s Sycamores and an underestimated Penn team did it as well.
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