Citizens of Mason Nation punch their passport to the NCAA Tournament with a 68-59 win over William & Mary in the CAA Championship game. The Patriots' formula once again was Folarin Campbell outside (3-8 from three-point range en route to 20 points) and Will Thomas inside (18 points and 13 rebound)...and GMU received contributions off the bench from Cam Long and Chris Fleming-- but once again defense was the difference as Mason held the Tribe to 38% shooting one day after handcuffing UNC-Wilmington to 28% from the field.
Where will the Patriots land in the bracket? ESPN.com has Mason ticketed to Tampa Bay as the 13th seed where they'd play Purdue. CBS Sportsline.com has the Patriots seeded 13th as well.
While George Mason's win has no effect on the NCAA Tournament hopes of Maryland and Virginia Tech, San Diego's triumph in the West Coast Conference championship game did. The Toreros upset of #20 Gonzaga means the Bulldogs will gobble up an at-large berth.
Now the hair-splitting begins: Virginia Commonwealth, South Alabama and Saint Mary's all lost in their respective conference semifinal games-conventional wisdom had all three schools needing to get to the finals to secure an at-large selection.
VCU and South Alabama both have regular season championships to their credit but the Rams lost close to campus in Richmond while the Jaguars fell on their home floor in Mobile. At least Saint Mary's has on its resume finishing second to nationally ranked Gonzaga in its league and losing to tournament champ San Diego on the Toreros home floor.
How many wins do Maryland and Virginia Tech need to get into the NCAA's? The Terps probably need to beat Boston College, prevail in a rematch with Clemson and then stun Duke to reach the finals--and a 21-14 mark is no guarantee.
Virginia Tech's 4th place finish actually works against the Hokies; they won't have a first-round game to add to their victory total and would likely face North Carolina in a must-win semifinal matchup (the team they lost to by 39 in February), but if they get both wins I think a 20-13 mark with a sweep of Maryland and 6 wins in 8 games might be enough.
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