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Butler, VCU follow George Mason’s lead

FAIRFAX, Va. — George Mason’s Jim Larranaga is the proud big brother. A regular Roger Bannister. The coach who paved the way for Virginia Commonwealth and Butler to make the Final Four.

And, when he answered the phone on Monday, he was the pitchman ready with the statistics to make the case that the Colonial Athletic Association should be a mid-major no more.

“If I asked you who were the two best conferences in the country on the East Coast, would we agree that it’s the Big East and the ACC?” Larranaga asked.

OK, sure. Most would agree.

“In the NCAA tournament,” he continued, “which is really where you prove yourself on a neutral floor—you’re not playing on someone’s home court—what would the CAA’s record be against the Big East and ACC over the last five years?”

The answer: 7-2. That’s not a misprint. Since 2006, the CAA is 4-2 against the Big East and 3-0 against the Atlantic Coast Conference, the two behemoths that soak up nearly all of the college basketball hype to be found in the area.

So why aren’t people subtracting “mid” from the CAA’s “mid-major” status?

“Exactly,” Larranaga answered. “That’s what I want to know.”

Larranaga will forever be known as the coach who took the Patriots to the Final Four in 2006, a triumph for mid-major schools everywhere. When his team made the NCAAs this year, the players sported T-shirts proclaiming: “We ARE this year’s GEORGE MASON.” Since that didn’t quite work out—the Patriots beat Villanova in their first game but lost to Ohio State in the next round—Larranaga is more than happy to live vicariously through Butler and conference compatriot VCU.

“I have some favorite mid-major teams,” Larranaga said, “and two of them are in the Final Four.”

When Butler made the championship game a year ago, Larranaga didn’t score in the semifinal win over Ohio State and had only one point against Notre Dame.

Trouble seemed to be brewing for the Lady Vols all week. The players had a team meeting after a narrow win in the second round. Then Summitt had to reach back for a fiery halftime speech to inspire the team to overcome Ohio State in the regional semifinals.

Tennessee, down five at the half, picked up two quick baskets by Stricklen only to have the Fighting Irish score on five of their next six possessions. Diggins was the culprit almost every time, hitting two three-pointers and a long jumper and also assisting on Bruszewski’s short shot and also on Novosel’s spinning reverse layup.

That swelled the lead to 41-32—and suddenly that sea of orange filling up much of the University of Dayton Arena began to get nervous.

With Spani twice hitting threess, the Lady Vols remained in contact, but Diggins came up with big plays time and time again. She drove the lane through heavy traffic and flipped in a lefty layup with 11:16 left to keep Notre Dame in charge, 49-41.

The lead never dropped below six points again.

During one physical exchange, Tennessee’s Kelley Cain was fouled by Bruszewski, but Cain was called for a technical.

That seemed to fire up the Fighting Irish. After Natalie Novosel hit both technical shots, and Cain hit only one of her free throws, the Irish pulled away. First Diggins drilled a high arching three from the right wing. After a Tennessee miss, the Lady Vols pressed fullcourt and Notre Dame threw a long inbounds pass to Novosel, who drove the length of the court and then fed Devereaux Peters for a bucket.

Mallory then picked up a steal and Peters slipped behind the Tennessee defense to score again, muscling in a shot off an alley-oop pass from Diggins—for a 60-48 lead.

The teams came in with almost identical numbers—averaging around 79 points a game and allowing around 55. They were evenly matched in most regards. Each team also had seven players averaging at least 7 points a game.

But the all-time series was anything but even. Since their first meeting in 1983, Tennessee had dominated,including three wins in the NCAA tournament.

The last time the two teams had met, in the 2008 NCAA tournament, Tennessee had won 74-64 in Oklahoma City in the regional semis.

But not this time.