The George Mason Patriots began fielding the question more than a month ago. Can you duplicate your run to the 2006 NCAA Final Four? All of the Patriots had ready-made answers in proper deference to their predecessors.
Then there’s Luke Hancock.
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“What they did was really great,” the sophomore guard said. “But now I think it’s hyping everyone up a little bit. We want to make our own name. We’re tired of hearing about them. We want it to be about us.”
For George Mason (26-6), that opportunity begins Friday afternoon in Cleveland, where the No. 8 Patriots face No. 9 Villanova (21-11) in their NCAA East Region opener.
Deference or not, many of the Patriots are at GMU because of 2006. The run allowed Patriots coach Jim Larranaga to recruit beyond the Beltway.
In 2006, all of the Patriots’ starters were from the Washington or Baltimore areas. This year the starters include Ryan Pearson (New York), Mike Morrison (Florida), Andre Cornelius (North Carolina) and Hancock (Roanoke).
They came for the potential of playing in the NCAA tournament. But the opportunity still is rare. George Mason has been to the tournament just once since 2006, falling in the opening round in 2008 to Notre Dame.
The only Patriots left from that team are seniors Cam Long and Isaiah Tate.
As they prepared this week for the tournament, Larranaga wanted his seniors to convey a dose of perspective to their teammates.
“The greatest thing Isaiah and Cam can do is smile, be happy,” Larranaga said. “They’ve done a lot of that this week.”
