Final 4- anyone care ?
- Thread starter andynap
- Start date
It's been non-stop Mason Madness in the DC area all week.
Lots of people will be watching. America loves underdogs.
Mason means business
Let's just say their fan base has expanded -- by millions.
Lots of people will be watching. America loves underdogs.
Mason means business
Let's just say their fan base has expanded -- by millions.
onebigdawg53
Senior Insider
My sons and I will be watching. My 8 year old has already picked Mason and LSU and he has been right on with his picks on every game we have watched together. He picks Mason to go all the way.
So that's four now? Or is it six if you count my sons.
So that's four now? Or is it six if you count my sons.
JEK
Senior Insider
Along with a few of us . . .
Patriots Proving to Be Real Crowd Pleasers
Mason Players Seem to Enjoy the 'Distractions'
By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 1, 2006; E11
INDIANAPOLIS, March 31 -- College basketball's Final Four is so huge that the NCAA hasn't held it in a basketball arena since 1996. Only a domed football stadium, its seating capacity pared to 45,000 or so, is sufficiently big to accommodate the hordes of fans, media and corporate guests clamoring to get in.
For George Mason senior guard Lamar Butler, Friday wasn't notable simply because it was his first day of practice for Saturday's national semifinal against Florida. It also was the first time he'd set foot in a domed stadium. So it was understandable that Butler's first shot during the Patriots' workout at the RCA Dome was an air ball -- his sense of space so distorted and his mind drifting to images of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning throwing a touchdown pass, feet planted, perhaps, in the same spot where Butler's sneakers were planted.
It was one of several surreal experiences the 11th-seeded Patriots have had since arriving in Indianapolis on Wednesday night. On Thursday, each player was presented with a Final Four watch and measured for the commemorative ring he could receive after Monday's championship game. On Friday, a crowd estimated at 15,000 -- nearly four times the turnout at a Patriots home game -- showed up at the cavernous dome to watch practice. The court was bathed in floodlights and ringed with TV cameras and telephoto lenses, so it was impossible for any Patriot to adjust his gym shorts, stretch a hamstring or so much as wipe a bead of sweat from his brow without it being chronicled by a journalist.
All of this -- not to mention the autograph-seekers at the hotel and the reporters with their endless questions -- comprises what's referred to with disdain by most seasoned coaches and players as the "distractions" of the Final Four. But to the Patriots, who still can't quite believe they've made it this far, these are experiences to savor.
"It never gets old, talking to the media," said freshman Chris Fleming of Manassas. "We're not like the big schools; we've never had this before."
As required by NCAA officials, each Final Four team made its players available for interviews on Friday, and George Mason's contingent couldn't hide its excitement. Coach Jim Larranaga went first, taking the stage in a partitioned interview room to regale reporters with tributes to his coaching mentors and hosannas for his scrappy players.
Midstream, Butler poked his nose out from behind a curtain and peered out at the rows and rows of journalists while his coach spoke of the virtues of character, teamwork and mutual support.
"I was looking at how big the room was -- how many media people were here," Butler explained after joining teammates Tony Skinn and Jai Lewis on the dais. "Never seen this many people just to ask questions and write a story!"
The Florida Gators followed. And the contrast with Mason's players was startling as sophomores Joakim Noah and Taurean Green fielded questions, dour and uninterested, as if there were a competitive disadvantage in displaying joy.
"You just have to be able to handle all the distractions that are going to be thrown at you in the Final Four -- all the media, all the hype with all the other teams," Green said. "We're here to handle business. We're not here to have fun."
Each is the son of a lauded professional athlete (Noah's father, Yannick, won the 1983 French Open; Green's father is former NBA standout Sidney Green) and came of age with more than a little insight into what's required to perform before a packed stadium and legion of TV cameras.
George Mason's Skinn, when asked earlier what sporting advice he had received from his father, replied with a smile: "My mother left me in the gym and left me in there by myself. That's pretty much where it started for me."
Florida played in the 2000 national championship game, but no member of the Gators' current squad has appeared in a Final Four. So it was hard to understand why they seemed inured to the privilege it represented. Maybe they were weary of answering questions, or maybe they had learned too well the art of using cliches and clipped answers to reveal as little as possible about their games or themselves.
"Right now, it's all about getting a win," Noah said. "That's what it's all about: just playing basketball."
