With UConn losing, the door to my brackets has re-opened. If Florida beats George Mason I will be victorious in the First Annual Vigilante Sports NCAA Bracket Challenge. At first glance I like my chances. However, I like Michigan State’s chances (as much as that kills me to say), I liked North Carolina’s chances. I didn’t know how to feel about the Wichita State game, but Wichita State was a 7 seed so I’d expect them to beat an 11 seed. And I certainly felt that UConn would be able to take care of the Colonial League champs. But… George Mason has written the most unlikely Cinderella story.

They didn’t just coast into the Final Four. They have beaten four teams to get to the Final Four, 3 of whom have won national championships since 2000 (Michigan State, UConn, and UNC). That is just outrageous. I’m trying to think of some similar situation to compare this too, but I’m unable to. They have toppled 3 of the most recently successful basketball programs in the country. If they do indeed go ahead and beat Florida on saturday, that would add the runner-up from MSU’s title game to the list of powerhouses defeated. If we then look forward to the final game against either LSU or UCLA (two other strong programs) they could move into a whole new category of underdog. I have a feeling that George Mason’s streak will end on saturday, and if it does, congratulations to the Patriots of George Mason for getting to the Final Four, but if they prevail and take one step closer to a National Championship, I think that there will a whole lot of interest in the final game.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 27th, 2006 at 12:20 am and is filed under Basketball, NCAA, Vigilante Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.