15 Minutes Thread

[Washingtonian]

http://nypost.com/2014/03/19/the-10-biggest-upsets-in-ncaa-tournament-history/
George Mason over UConn, 2006

The Patriots, seeded 11th, became the second double-digit seed to advance to the Final Four and the first mid-major team to do it. The Huskies were among the favorites to win it all, but George Mason’s overtime Elite Eight win made it the most popular team in America.

 

[GMUSSTN]

I like this quote from the Yahoo write-up on UMass:

The No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, UMass struggled to get by Rhode Island before being bounced by George Washington in the quarterfinals. They went 8-7 over the last 15 games with losses to George Mason, St. Bonaventure and Richmond.

 

[dr. gunnie]

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncb...03/final-four-runs-build-brands-of-mid-majors

We got left out of this one - probably because our athletic department failed to build our brand unlike the others.

 

[GMUgemini]

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncb...03/final-four-runs-build-brands-of-mid-majors

We got left out of this one - probably because our athletic department failed to build our brand unlike the others.

Didn't we waste a bunch of money on a marketing firm after the Final Four? What did they do for us anyway?

 

[GMUSSTN]

Didn't we waste a bunch of money on a marketing firm after the Final Four? What did they do for us anyway?

"We are the Mason Nation..."

 

[mkaufman1]

"We are the Mason Nation..."

Hey thats still a catchy jingle that I can sing along to..we are the Mason Nation..the hoop sensation!

 

[GMUgemini]

Hey thats still a catchy jingle that I can sing along to..we are the Mason Nation..the hoop sensation!

I know the Patriot Center is from the 80s, but if you're going to go old school the 80s is not the decade to aspire to.

Speaking of old school, "The Butler Way" is a nice old school approach. But I'm pretty sure that was Lickliter and not Stevens who came up with that.

 

[frchrisgaffrey]

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncb...03/final-four-runs-build-brands-of-mid-majors

We got left out of this one - probably because our athletic department failed to build our brand unlike the others.

Or because 2006 was eight years ago and people forget easily.


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[EXpatriot13]

Or because 2006 was eight years ago and people forget easily.


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Or you avoid being forgotten altogether by capitalizing on such a great effort/season and remaining relevant for years to come.

 

[gmujim92]

Jay Williams was on Olbermann last night talking about how this year's Cinderella teams are trying to be like vcu, Butler and Wichita State.

No mention of Mason whatsoever.

Time to close this thread. Our 15 minutes are officially over.

 

[Pablo]

Jay Williams was on Olbermann last night talking about how this year's Cinderella teams are trying to be like vcu, Butler and Wichita State.

No mention of Mason whatsoever.

Time to close this thread. Our 15 minutes are officially over.

See Wikipedia (Examples of Cinderellas that did not win the championship) -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_(sports).

 

[EXpatriot13]

Jay Williams was on Olbermann last night talking about how this year's Cinderella teams are trying to be like vcu, Butler and Wichita State.

No mention of Mason whatsoever.

Time to close this thread. Our 15 minutes are officially over.

We dropped the ball so hard. Those other three teams saw what we did, did it themselves, and then capitalized on it. It's depressing to think about.

 

[PoorManProfit]

Time to close this thread. Our 15 minutes are officially over.

Been over for, at least, 3 years.

 

[GMUgemini]

We dropped the ball so hard. Those other three teams saw what we did, did it themselves, and then capitalized on it. It's depressing to think about.

The other schools built solid programs BEFORE their runs not after. It's why WSU is undefeated and a number 1 seed the year after their FF, Butler went to back to back championship games and vcu is looking like they will go to at least 4 maybe 5 NCAA tournaments in a row at least.

We caught lightning in a bottle and rode a wave. It was an amazing run, but we were not built for long-term success no matter what we did to brand or market or how much money we sunk into facilities.

 

[gmutom]

We dropped the ball so hard. Those other three teams saw what we did, did it themselves, and then capitalized on it. It's depressing to think about.

If you understand marketing and PR, it actually makes a lot of sense. I'm not saying we couldn't have done much more, but those schools had the luxury of learning from our blunders off the court. There simply wasn't a template when we broke down the door, so we had to learn on the fly.

As for mistakes on the court, our 15 minutes started to fade after we had a very mediocre season the year after our run — beginning with the loss to WSU in front of a sold-out Patriot Center. We unfortunately had to reload after losing three seniors, whereas Butler, vcu and WSU haven't skipped a beat.

We've been fortunate to get to get back to the dance a few times (and even win a game), but it was never about sustained success. It was more about, "Hey, isn't that the team that went to the Final 4 a few years ago?"

 

[GMUgemini]

If you understand marketing and PR, it actually makes a lot of sense. I'm not saying we couldn't have done much more, but those schools had the luxury of learning from our blunders off the court. There simply wasn't a template when we broke down the door, so we had to learn on the fly.

As for mistakes on the court, our 15 minutes started to fade after we had a very mediocre season the year after our run — beginning with the loss to WSU in front of a sold-out Patriot Center. We unfortunately had to reload after losing three seniors, whereas Butler, vcu and WSU haven't skipped a beat.

We've been fortunate to get to get back to the dance a few times (and even win a game), but it was never about sustained success. It was more about, "Hey, isn't that the team that went to the Final 4 a few years ago?"

I would like to point out that those other teams lost huge contributions too. They had depth on those teams that we didn't have. Our rotation in the final four was 6 players and we lost half of them to graduation. You can't lean that much on so few players and not expect a huge drop in production the following year.

I mean our bench included guys like Jesus Urbina, Makan Konate, Sammy Hernandez and Chris Fleming. I mean seriously that's a low major bench.

 

[gmutom]

I would like to point out that those other teams lost huge contributions too. They had depth on those teams that we didn't have. Our rotation in the final four was 6 players and we lost half of them to graduation.

Coincidentally, it's the same thing Coach L did with Miami. He went all in with his seniors last year — and some underclassman named Larkin — and rode them to the Sweet 16. This year was obviously a rebuilding year, and then he will attempt to make another run next season.

Folarin and Will were obviously huge in our Final 4 run as sophomores, but we saw how much we missed Lamar, Jai and Tony the following season when we had to replace them with Monroe and Dre Smith.

 

[GSII]

It's not that hard to create a catchy slogan like "Dunk City" which Fl Gulf Coast did. Gmu and vcu had similar paths. I didn't hear much about Havoc in 2011 but they pushed that brand soon after b/c they looked for something about themselves to brand. So ask yourselves what about Mason could we have branded during the FF run or in the following year? What made Mason so good it could beat Mich St, Unc, WSU, and Uconn? Is there anything reallying in that pudding that stands out? I think we were pretty traditional in terms of style of play. If you want to reach you could push "Scramble" but we didn't press much as a way of playing 40 minuets. Simply put there wasn't much there other than a great team and great coach for us to brand. We didn't miss out on an opportunity b/c we weren't gimmick oriented. We were much like Witchia State sans the coaching blunder. And I'd much rather be like them (one day) than some gimmicky style of play. Where is "Dunk City" this year. And how long until "havoc" is reduced to "harmony"?

You want GMU to be a household name? Just win baby!

 

[KAOriginal]

Everyone talks about the season after the FF being down. While the reg season was uninspired...we were still 2 minutes from making the NCAAs...which would have been 3 years straight.

If May nor doesn't do his thing...then all of the sudden our trajectory looks different.....

 

[gmutom]

If Maynor doesn't do his thing...then all of the sudden our trajectory looks different.....

I blame it all on gmubrian. We were leading by 5 with about a minute to play and he turned to me and said something like, "Well it looks like we're going to have to spend more money traveling to follow the team."

I was speechless. At that point, nothing could be done to undo the jinx he had put on us. The damage was done. I knew we were hosed before Maynor took over and treated poor Gabe Norwood like his personal rag doll.