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Message: [QUOTE="champs99and04, post: 2640614, member: 488"] I don't think the George Mason game is nearly as relevant nationally as it is amongst UConn fans. With the '06/'07 Florida teams having been immortalized - rightly or wrongly - as dominant, George Mason having lost the designation as the only 11 seed to make a final four (VCU did it in 2011 and actually won five games), and UConn going on two perceived miracle runs of their own, there isn't much symbolic value left from that day. At the time, it was huge nationally, bigger than I can remember any on court college basketball story being since. Between Jim Larranaga suspending one of his best players for the first game of the tournament and Marcus Williams roaming free and A.J. Price on the bench, the optics were really bad. Add that to the fact that UConn was an overwhelming favorite loaded with pros while George Mason was from the CAA (UConn players famously didn't know what conference they were in) and you had the recipe for a true David/Goliath match-up. As for this thread, it's an interesting question to ponder. I don't think anybody reasonably thinks we had a better year than Virginia. However, if you're a Virginia fan, you just got served the biggest slice of humble pie at the table. And given this is a culmination of past tournament failures rather than an isolated incident, it will be impossible to shake free from the stench of this disgrace until they break through. "Don't let others define you" is a great quote but you don't tend to hear it from winning locker-rooms. This is one of those times as a fan where you just have to shut up and take it. UConn fans have to take some too, but in a more dignified way. Hire the right coach, put together a strong OOC performance, and you're right back on the saddle like nothing ever happened. When it comes to sleeping at night, you'd much rather an empty closet than one with skeletons. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach