Cinderella men dance on
NCAA men’s basketball tournament history, it’s clear the Patriots can win it.“We’re not going just to go,” guard Lamar Butler said in the on-court bedlam moments after his Patriots beat Connecticut 86-84 in overtime Sunday in the Washington, D.C., Regional final. “We can win. We know we can win. Everybody is surprised by us except us.”
Just ask top-seeded Connecticut, which was the favorite to win the tournament before it began — while George Mason was barely noticed, except by some critics who thought the Patriots were not worthy of their at-large bid
Sunday’s game was played 22 miles from George Mason’s campus in the Virginia suburbs, and a mostly green-and-gold-clad crowd lapped up every improbable moment. The fans screamed and urged and beseeched their team at every gut-wrenching turn.
And when it was over, as coach Jim Larranaga cut the net, twirled it in the air, then wore it around his neck, they stood and cheered and believed. Some wore yellow shirts with two words in green block letters: “Cinderella Story.”
