Men's College Basketball
March 3, 2016 10:54 AM Subscribe
George Mason. Cinderella. Ten Years After.
The best thing about not having a rooting interest in a championship-caliber college basketball team is being able to truly enjoy the Cinderellas every year in the tournament.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:34 AM on March 3, 2016
posted by Rock Steady at 11:34 AM on March 3, 2016
RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS! I never cared a whit for sportsball except for that season, my sophomore year. Mason isn't really a sports school, or at least it never seemed that way - we had a pretty good basketball team, no football team, lots and lots of performing arts. But that was an incredibly fun season to wear green and gold and make loud noises, and I have really great, vivid memories of watching the UConn game on a big screen a huge crowd in the student union building.
And the description of how that run changed the school is an understatement. I went there for both undergrad and, a few years later, grad school, and it's like two different places. When I started, it was a sleepy little commuter campus full of people who grew up in the area and couldn't get into UVA, or people who grew up in the southern part of the state and wanted to get a middling distance away from home. Now it's just boomed. The whole campus exploded with new dorms, new academic buildings. Admission is so much more competitive. It's a school people have heard of, even if they didn't grow up in Northern Virginia. And all because of some basketball games!
posted by bowtiesarecool at 11:44 AM on March 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
And the description of how that run changed the school is an understatement. I went there for both undergrad and, a few years later, grad school, and it's like two different places. When I started, it was a sleepy little commuter campus full of people who grew up in the area and couldn't get into UVA, or people who grew up in the southern part of the state and wanted to get a middling distance away from home. Now it's just boomed. The whole campus exploded with new dorms, new academic buildings. Admission is so much more competitive. It's a school people have heard of, even if they didn't grow up in Northern Virginia. And all because of some basketball games!
posted by bowtiesarecool at 11:44 AM on March 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
It was so funny seeing them have that Cinderella season years after I graduated. Suddenly people knew about them, I didn't have to explain that they were one of many schools in the DMV area. It's shocking how different the school is from when I went, when it was mostly a good but unknown commuter school. I went there for their good English dept, and enjoyed my time there, but it wasn't a traditional college experience like it would be now.
posted by PussKillian at 12:03 PM on March 3, 2016
posted by PussKillian at 12:03 PM on March 3, 2016
Still bitter that I came in second in my bracket that year to a fresh graduate of GMU who didn't know a lick about basketball and just had GMU win it all. She won by being the only one to pick one of the Final Four in our 100+ person pool.
It was fun, though.
posted by General Malaise at 12:42 PM on March 3, 2016
It was fun, though.
posted by General Malaise at 12:42 PM on March 3, 2016
No one, though, will ever compete with the personalities and excitement of the 2013 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Cinderella run.
posted by General Malaise at 12:44 PM on March 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by General Malaise at 12:44 PM on March 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
I remember when I was there, students were arguing against the addition of a varsity football program because people who attend a commuter school want to save money, get a degree, get a job, and never return. The few times I've gone back since the final four run, it has felt like a completely different and less welcoming school.
I saved a boatload of money by buying the elite eight tickets before they won the sweet sixteen game. I suppose it was probably my backup plan to scalp them, but I honestly would have been surprised at the time if they didn't advance. And it worked out to be an unforgettable experience. The Florida game on the other hand felt like the refs had a mandate from the league that GMU must not advance any more. Still extraordinarily aggravating and I wasn't even there in person.
posted by mattamatic at 1:13 PM on March 3, 2016
I saved a boatload of money by buying the elite eight tickets before they won the sweet sixteen game. I suppose it was probably my backup plan to scalp them, but I honestly would have been surprised at the time if they didn't advance. And it worked out to be an unforgettable experience. The Florida game on the other hand felt like the refs had a mandate from the league that GMU must not advance any more. Still extraordinarily aggravating and I wasn't even there in person.
posted by mattamatic at 1:13 PM on March 3, 2016
George Mason alum representing (although I graduated long before). They were mostly a commuter school when I went there, then later developed a reputation as a team with a good basketball team. Even so, it was a thrill to see them go to the Final Four.
I usually root for the Tarheels in the tournament, but not that year.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:53 PM on March 3, 2016
I usually root for the Tarheels in the tournament, but not that year.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:53 PM on March 3, 2016
« Older “Rose Quartz” and “Serenity” present a far more... | New hosts for America's Test Kitchen announced Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Larrañaga has beaten UNC a few too many times at Miami for my liking, though.
*On a 0-Weber State scale
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:11 AM on March 3, 2016