The entire tournament can be summed up in two words, George Mason!

I was posed a question, is this the best tournament of all time or the worst? I can’t remember a tournament that featured more close games. Instead of trying to recall great games, try to recall some bad ones. But on the other hand, the close games have sometimes led to the familiar names going home and brand new “mid-majors” hanging on for the ride.

I wasn’t sure how to answer that question until Sunday. To be honest, watching George Mason play against Wichita State in the Sweet Sixteen didn’t get my blood pressure up, but having these Cinderella’s hanging around way past midnight is fantastic.

Over the course of time the allure of NBA dollars along with the ever increasing talent pool have resulted in some NCAA parody. Every so often a Missouri Valley team or a Patriot League squad is secretly primed and ready for a tourney run. They are a veteran squad because their kids haven’t gotten the publicity to leave early. The “mid-majors” also get overlooked by the high school burger boys at the North Carolina’s of the world. The result is George Mason. How can you hate it?

The NCAA Tournament is great because it gives every team that made the cut an opportunity to win. If you win six games, you’ll cut down the nets in the National Championship; this is regardless of national rank, school size or publicity. The phrase “anything can happen” is thrown around a lot, but now that George Mason is in the Final Four, I am a believer.

How many people nationwide filled out their brackets and had the Patriots in the Final Four? You would probably have to know absolutely nothing about basketball and have graduated from the small private school. George Mason didn’t receive one single vote in the Associated Press final vote. George Mason had never won a tournament game before. But when the slate is wiped clean everyone is equal.

Crazy things have happened before in the tournament. Think of Jimmy V rushing the court after his N.C. State team shocked the world, or when the ultimate Cinderella Villanova team took the title. I saw George Mason with my own two eyes and anything is possible.

Whomever George Mason plays in the future, its head coach will have the hardest job in America. Convincing the heavily hyped and possible NBA draft entries that these guys could beat you will still be hard. Even after going through basketball powers Michigan State, North Carolina and UCONN, the next team to play George Mason will be telling themselves it couldn’t happen to them.

Following the game, my tournament buddy Alphonso Tindall called me up.

“I think I’m about to throw up,” he said. “I can’t believe I have to watch this garbage team again, they are so bad and just keep playing.”

Sorry Fonz, they aren’t so bad, they are actually beating everyone. The Patriots are more than half way to the ultimate goal. But so is the rest of the field; 61 teams are at home wondering what could have been and wishing a few breaks went their way. The four remaining squads are about to be lifted up to the summit of college hoops and for at least March and early April, all of sports.

Two words, George Mason. I love sports.

Ian Gold is a senior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].