{"id":2274,"date":"2011-03-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=2274"},"modified":"2011-12-06T11:23:14","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T16:23:14","slug":"who-will-be-this-years-george-mason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=2274","title":{"rendered":"Who will be this year’s George Mason?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, the answer to that often-asked question may very well be… George Mason<\/em>.
\nAt 26-6,\u00a0 Mason has compiled its best pre-NCAA Tournament season record to date, and for several weeks the Patriots have been included in various lists of the top-30 teams in the nation.\u00a0 Though it fell in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament semi-final, it earned an at-large bid to this year’s tournament this past\u00a0 Sunday and is seeded eighth in the\u00a0 East\u00a0 Region. \u00a0 Mason will play Villanova\u00a0 on Friday,\u00a0 March 18th in the first round.<\/p>\n

\"Andre<\/a>

Andre Smith (left) and Lamar Butler (right) embrace after the Patriots' victory over the #1-seeded University of Connecticut in the 2006 East Regional Championship game. Image from the George Mason University Archives Collection, University Publications. <\/p><\/div>\n

It’s hard to believe\u00a0 it was five years ago that Mason received a generous at-large bid and turned it into an historic\u00a0 Final Four run, knocking off Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State, and Connecticut, only losing to the eventual national champ,\u00a0 Florida.\u00a0 It is a safe bet that many of us in the Mason Community remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when Mason defeated heavily-favored UConn on March 26, 2006 to become a member of the NCAA’s Final Four.\u00a0 On that Sunday afternoon, and for four weeks in March, the atmosphere here at George Mason University was undeniably electric.<\/p>\n

Though we collect archival materials relating to all university happenings year-round,\u00a0 Special Collections & Archives<\/a> began collecting items relating to the 2005-2006 basketball season and the historic Final Four run with added enthusiasm during March 2006.\u00a0\u00a0 History was indeed happening right here at Mason.\u00a0 To that end, we assembled a collection of any and all materials relating to that memorable month and year.\u00a0 “Giveaway” items related to the team such as whistles and other items were saved.\u00a0 Fliers and posters advertising events on campus relating to the tournament were carefully collected from campus walls and doors.\u00a0 People stepped forward to donate items they had collected themselves.\u00a0 Oral history interviews of persons involved in the Final Four run – from players to university administrators – were recorded by our Oral History Program<\/a> staff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Interview with Jim Larranaga, 2006. Please click on this image to view a short segment from the interview.<\/p><\/div>\n

The George Mason University Men’s Basketball Collection, 2006<\/a> contains over one hundred distinct items relating to Mason’s 2005-2006 season and postseason.\u00a0 It is comprised of artifacts, such as figurines, t-shirts, objects; printed materials such as posters, banners, fliers, programs, tickets, news articles, and oral history recordings (DVD and Mp3). Though the majority of the items were either produced by the University or members of the University community, some, such as game tickets or game programs, were produced by outside sources.\u00a0 A digital archive displaying many of the items in the physical collection can be accessed at http:\/\/digilib.gmu.edu:8080\/dspace\/handle\/1920\/1021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"

"Coach in the Box" featuring Coach Jim Larranaga. From the George Mason University Men's Basketball Collection, 2006<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, the answer to that often-asked question may very well be… George Mason. At 26-6,\u00a0 Mason has compiled its best pre-NCAA Tournament season record to date, and for several weeks the Patriots have been included in various lists of the top-30 teams in the nation.\u00a0 Though it fell in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament semi-final, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,104,5,121,94],"tags":[227,233,224,226,211,97,221,219,222,231,223,225,234,230,220,228,229,232],"class_list":["post-2274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-oral-history","category-scrc-interest","category-scrc-picks","category-university-archives","tag-2006-final-four","tag-2011-ncaa-tournament","tag-final-four","tag-george-mason-basketball-2006","tag-george-mason-university","tag-gmu","tag-gmu-basketball","tag-mason","tag-mason-basketball","tag-michigan-state","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-2006","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-north-carolina","tag-patriots","tag-uconn","tag-university-of-connecticut","tag-wichita-state"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-AG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5936,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=5936","url_meta":{"origin":2274,"position":0},"title":"Before a Mason Team Made it to the Final Four, We Made it to the Final Two. And Won!","author":"Bob Vay","date":"November 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"While many college sports fans are familiar with the George Mason University Men's Basketball team's run to the Final Four in 2006, not as many know about the Mason Women's Soccer team's National Championship title of 21 years earlier. The author of this post recalls reading about this achievement in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "SCRC interest"","block_context":{"text":"SCRC interest","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"George Mason University Soccer team members (left to right) Sis Koskinen, Pam Baughman, and Meg Romaine lift the NCAA Division I National Championship trophy. 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Prior to that George Mason, then part of the University of Virginia's system of branch\u00a0 colleges, awarded only a two-year associate degree.\u00a0 Attendees were encouraged to complete their degree at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/First-ClassMason68.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9427,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9427","url_meta":{"origin":2274,"position":5},"title":"The Franklin Library Collection at Special Collections Research Center","author":"admin","date":"February 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0This post was written by Colleen Gerrity, Research Services Assistant in SCRC. Special Collections Research Center at George Mason University is the home to a plethora of classic literature and unique literary treasures. Sometimes, the literary classics are made to be unique treasures due to their exquisite design and rarity.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GMU Fairfax Campus"","block_context":{"text":"GMU Fairfax Campus","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=272"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/stacks-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/stacks-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/stacks-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/stacks-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/stacks-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2274"}],"version-history":[{"count":81,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2357,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274\/revisions\/2357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}