Mason came within two minutes of making the NCAAs again this year, but then VCU’s Eric Maynor picked Mason’s pocket twice in succession and scored nine straight points himself to put VCU into the big dance. (Click on the video on the right of the page to see the sequence).

ESPN’s Simmons is right that this is one of the best individual college hoops moments you’ll see.  Just an incredible individual performance at a huge moment in the biggest game of the year (yet) for his team.  The bummer to me is that VCU would probably have received an at-large bid even if Mason had won, much like Mason got an at-large last year.  It will be interesting to see if Old Dominion gets an at-large for the CAA; hopefully Mason’s performance last year after their controversial-at-the-time at-large bid will pave the way for the CAA and other mid-major conferences to be considered for second bids more often.  If I had to bet, though, I’d say ODU will be playing the NIT.

By the way, I haven’t liked Billy Packer for a while, and his comments re. Mason last year ticked me off on a personal level (I think he’s a hack for the ACC, Big Ten, Big East, Pac 10 industrial complex) and his commentary on the Duke-Carolina end of game fiasco last Sunday made me wonder if he’s lost his marbles.  Still, I think he was right when he said that the potential national champion could be beaten on any given night by at least 50 of the 64 teams that will be playing in the tournament.  He didn’t think that those 50 could all win the tournament, but that the parity in the field is great enough that on any given night 50 of those teams could beat anybody.  It’s gonna be fun to watch.