George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga remembers calling his close friend and Creighton head coach Dana Altman in the spring before the 2005 season to schedule a home-and-home.

Worried that a relatively unknown mid-major like George Mason would not fill up the 17,000-seat Qwest Center, Altman declined. But when the season drew closer and Creighton did not find another team willing to visit Omaha, Neb., Altman called Larranaga back and reluctantly accepted the offer.

Creighton blew out the Patriots that year in Fairfax, Va., only a few weeks before George Mason made its miraculous run to the Final Four. When the venue switched on Nov. 25, 2006, 15,445 fans – the sixth-largest crowd in school history – showed up to see the most unlikely team ever to advance so far in the NCAA Tournament. Larranaga looked at his coaching adversary before the game, as if to ask if his team drew a big enough crowd.

‘Nobody wants to play George Mason anymore because Jim and his ballclub will beat you,’ Altman said. ‘But there was so much excitement in the building that day because of who we were playing.’

Larranaga saw all year how much his program brought the university from obscurity to prominence but did not fully recognize how much his team shaped the basketball world until this season’s Selection Sunday. When the NCAA Tournament bracket was released on March 11, fans and analysts debated about which team would be ‘this year’s George Mason.’

To Larranaga, there is no such thing.

‘People are referring to George Mason as the benchmark for all other mid-major programs and wondering if they could accomplish what we accomplished,’ Larranaga said. ‘But there isn’t going to be a ‘next George Mason.’ All those other schools are trying to make their own history.’

Big crowds now follow the mid-major Patriots almost one year after captivating college basketball fans around the country. Now cemented on the national map, the school once known almost exclusively by Virginia natives has become a legitimate college option for both athletes and students in and out of the Old Dominion State.

The Patriots, though, weren’t able to repeat their postseason success this year, losing by six points to Virginia Commonwealth – a team that went on to upset Duke in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament – in the finals of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

Nonetheless, the game capped off a calendar year few at George Mason will likely forget.

‘It’s been a wild year,’ senior captain Gabe Norwood said. ‘The Final Four, the expectations this season, having everybody on campus supporting us all year – it’s just been wild.’

Few cared about George Mason basketball before last year’s Tournament run. The Patriots’ average home attendance was less than 3,500 per night, and there was virtually no student section. Students could arrive at the 10,000-seat Patriot Center minutes before tip-off and find prime seats on the floor.

Not the case this season. The average attendance doubled to 7,000 fans per night and a record 24 games were televised. Membership to the Patriot Platoon – the GMU student section – nearly tripled to almost 500 students.

A school-record crowd of 9,804 saw the Final Four banner raised to the rafters on opening night in a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 matchup against Wichita State. Students started lining up for seats four hours before the game.

‘The most students we ever had at one game before this season was 1,200 against UNC-Wilmington,’ sophomore Chris Brooks, one of the Patriot Platoon leaders, said. ‘This year we had more than 3,000 against Wichita State and everybody was wearing yellow, which is something we never had before. Everyone really wants to be a part of this place, and a lot of it has to do with the national exposure we got.’

Even students who already committed to other colleges changed their minds. More than 1,000 high school seniors called the admissions office trying to regain admittance to the university after the Patriots knocked off No.3-seed North Carolina in last year’s round of 32. During the summer, GMU granted 500 of those students admission but could not provide them housing.

Although George Mason is currently building new dorms and apartment complexes for incoming freshmen and transfers, some of the school’s 25,500 students this year are living in nearby hotels because there is not enough housing to support everybody.

Only about 5,500 students live on or surrounding campus, while the other 20,000 commute from home. In the next few years, George Mason hopes to have at least half of its students living on campus.

It may be on its way to that goal. There was a 47 percent increase in out-of-state applications – 28 percent overall – for the 2007-08 academic year, and the applicant pool was considerably more qualified, Dean of Admissions Andrew Flagel said.

When the Patriots reached the Sweet 16, the admissions department sent out almost one million e-mails to prospective students, started a new Web site, hired new staff and participated in college fairs around the country.

Schools that reach the Final Four traditionally see a temporary spike in applications, but Flagel thinks that applications to GMU will continue to rise because the number had grown ‘precipitously’ in the years leading up to last.

‘There is a lot of national evidence that the rise is just a flash in the pan,’ Flagel said. ‘But schools in this area like Georgetown, George Washington and Maryland radically changed their profiles after major athletic accomplishments. We think we can be next.’

3 Texas A&M vs. 2 Memphis South Region at San Antonio, Texas Thursday, 7:27 p.m., CBS

Texas A&M survived a scare in the second round, beating Louisville in Lexington, Ky., by three points. Memphis is riding a 24-game winning streak into this Sweet 16 matchup, but the Tigers have not yet seen competition like the Aggies.

Texas A&M 74, Memphis 64

3 Pittsburgh vs. 2 UCLA West Region at San Jose, Calif. Thursday, 9:40 p.m., CBS

Though UCLA lost its last game of the regular season and first-round matchup in the Pac-10 tournament, the Bruins have won its two NCAA Tournament games by a combined 33 points. Pittsburgh is one of just two Big East teams left in the field and the only at-large.

UCLA 80, Pittsburgh 77

5 Butler vs. 1 Florida Midwest Region at St. Louis Friday, 7:10 p.m., CBS

Florida needs just four more wins to become the first team to repeat as national champions since Duke won it all in 1991 and 1992. But the Gators need to get by this year’s Cinderella: Butler. After winning the preseason NIT, the Bulldogs went on to win 29 games and now look to become this year’s George Mason.

Florida 87, Butler 84

7 UNLV vs. 3 Oregon Midwest Region at St. Louis Friday, 9:40 p.m., CBS

UNLV comes into this one on a nine-game winning streak, one game removed from upsetting No. 2-seed Wisconsin this weekend. Oregon has an impressive eight-game streak of its own and is coming off a 14-point win over red-hot Winthrop.

Oregon 72, UNLV 69

5 Southern California vs. 1 North CarolinaEast Region at East Rutherford, N.J. Friday, 9:57 p.m., CBS

North Carolina won the ACC tournament and now looks to ride its six-game winning streak to the Final Four. Despite a broken nose suffered against Duke on March 4, Tar Heels star Tyler Hansbrough has averaged 27 points in his two NCAA Tournament games. USC busted a lot of brackets Sunday by upsetting Texas.

North Carolina 84, USC 73

Published on March 19, 2007 at 12:00 pm