OPINION: Jim Larranaga’s long career now punctuated by a second Final Four appearance … a look back at the first is revealing

When George Mason reached the Final Four in 2006 under coach Jim Larranaga, most people outside of the Northeast wondered if that was a small private school. My first thought: George Mason was a quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes from 1975-1977, teams that went 2-8, 3-8 and 3-8. He started a handful of games while sharing the position with Kenny McMillian and E.J. Baker.

In fact, George Mason University is the largest state school in Virginia, based in Fairfax and having a current undergraduate enrollment of more than 26,000. The school is named after a Founding Father and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787.

“George Mason was an unknown,” said Larranaga.  “Most people didn’t know it was the largest state university in the state of Virginia, they thought it was a small private school.”

Larranaga coached the Patriots from 19997 to 2011 before taking charge of the Hurricanes’ program in 2011.

His 2005-2006 team went 22-6 during the regular season, including 15-3 in Colonial Athletic Association. Early in the season they lost to ranked Wake Forest in overtime and were whipped by Creighton 72-52.

On Selection Sunday when they received an at-large bid and an 11th seed, CBS analyst Billy Packer said they didn’t belong in the tournament.

Larranaga’s team quickly showed they indeed belonged. In the Regional at Dayton, Ohio, they ousted sixth-seeded Michigan State, which returned four starters from a Final Four team, 75-65. It was the school’s first NCAA Tournament victory and avenged a six-point loss  the previous season.

To prove that wasn’t a fluke, the Patriots defeated third-seeded and defending national champion North Carolina, 65-60.

In the Sweet 16 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., not far from the George Mason campus, they defeated seventh seed Wichita State 63-55. Then they faced  UConn, a No. 1 seed which would have five players taken in the 2006 NBA draft and was coached by Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun, and won in overtime 86-84.

More than 10,000 fans greeted the team upon its return to campus at the Patriots Center.

Next the Final Four, where there were no top seeds for the first time since the Big Dance expanded to 64 teams in 1985  – UCLA, Florida, LSU and  George Who?

The Patriots lost to the Gators 73-68, who went on to win their first of two NCAA championships. UCLA defeated LSU 59-46 and Florida beat the Bruins in the finale 73-57.

So now this year it’s Larranaga’s second appearance in the Final Four, this one of course with Miami.

Despite its setback, George Mason cemented itself in NCAA tournament lore. And Larranaga’s team set the stage for Final Four runs by Butler in 2010 and 2011, VCU in2011 and Loyola of Chicago in 2018 (the latter stunned the Hurricanes on a last-second shot in the NCAA tournament).

Barry Collier, the athletics director at Butler, later called the now-Miami coach and said, “Now you’ve broken the four-minute mile. Now that you’ve done it, other programs will think they can do it.”

In comparing that stunning run to this year’s Hurricanes, I see parallels: experienced squads, closeness, confidence and having fun.   

“I don’t think people understood how close we were as a team,” Lewis said. “We were together pretty much all the time, no one went anywhere by themselves. The most important thing is we had fun as a team, on and off the court.”

Before the season started, Larranaga brought in friend and sport psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella (who also has talked to his Miami teams), who asked the team to visualize what they could accomplish that season. Senior co-captain Lamar Butler responded that the team would go to the Final Four.

“I believed it,” said fellow senior Jai Lewis. “I wouldn’t say I had a dream, but it was my goal to get to the Final Four.”

There was good reason for confidence. Seven of the top eight scorers from the previous season returned, and the team committed to a lot of work in the offseason.

“Everybody in that room, the coaches, the players, all thought that we were going to have a great season,” said Larranaga. “I told the players I thought this could be the best season in George Mason history.”

Looking back after the tournament, Lewis said, “The pressure was never on us, at all. We just went out there and had fun. Coach L’s number one goal once we got selected was to make sure we have fun and don’t take it all too seriously.”

Though Miami’s first Elite Eight appearance last season brought unprecedented attention to the program, no doubt there will be more following their first Final Four. That clearly happened at George Mason.

Following the Patriots’ Final Four appearance, Robert Baker, then director of the Center for Sport Management, examined the economic and social impacts of the Final Four appearance across the university. George Mason’s improbable run was responsible for an estimated $677 million in free publicity from television, print and radio media.

The university reported an 800% increase in traffic to its official website. The university bookstore, which typically averaged $11,000 in weekly sales, brought in nearly $1 million in the 10 days leading up to the Final Four. Admissions inquiries increased by 350% and out-of-state applications increasing by 40%.

“The run to the Final Four really brought national attention, not just local and regional,” Larranaga said. “With that kind of recognition and publicity, George Mason was really on the map from then on.”

In his office at UM, Larra¤aga displays reminders of the George Mason , including a Final Four poster, bobbleheads of the five Patriots starters and one of the nets from the UConn victory.

“The run to the Final Four has changed my life completely,” Larranaga said. “It hasn’t changed my philosophy, my work ethic, or my belief in what my role is as the head basketball coach. What did change was opportunities that were created by our success.”

The post OPINION: Jim Larranaga’s long career now punctuated by a second Final Four appearance … a look back at the first is revealing appeared first on On3.