The run that changed a program: George Mason marks the 20th anniversary of its 2006 Final Four appearance

The 2006 Final Four run by the George Mason University men’s basketball team was an achievement so improbable, so unprecedented, that it transformed how the college basketball world viewed possibility itself. 

Now, 20 years later, the Patriots will honor that magical postseason journey on Saturday, December 13, when they host Old Dominion University at EagleBank Arena. That run endures as one of the most defining moments in the university’s history and one of the NCAA Tournament’s most memorable Cinderella stories. What began as a hopeful March ended with a mid-major program standing on college basketball’s biggest stage. 

They captured the hearts of the nation along the way. 

“That definitely opened the door for mid-majors,” said George Mason men’s basketball Head Coach Tony Skinn, who was the starting point guard on that Final Four team. “It showed that if you have belief, the right players, and the right coaches, anything can happen in the NCAA Tournament.” 

That belief was tested again and again throughout that 2006 run. 

Competing out of the relatively unknown Colonial Athletic Association, the Patriots became the league’s first Final Four representative, toppling one powerhouse after another. 

They opened tournament play with a 75-65 win over a Michigan State, a team that had returned four starters from the previous season’s Final Four squad. The sixth-seeded Spartans had outlasted George Mason by six points in an early regular-season meeting a year earlier. 

Next came the North Carolina Tar Heels, the No. 3 seed and the reigning NCAA champions, who fell 65-60 in the Patriots’ second and final game in Dayton, Ohio. From there, George Mason returned to the nearby Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., where a heavily partisan crowd watched four Patriots score in double figures in a 63-55 Sweet 16 win over fellow mid-major and No. 7 overall seed Wichita State University. That victory advanced the Patriots to the Elite Eight against overall No. 1 seed University of Connecticut. 

Loaded with talent, the Huskies featured four players who would soon be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, and five who would be among the league’s top 40 picks. They were also led by Hall of Fame Coach Jim Calhoun. 

Fueled by a massive and vocal Mason Nation presence, the Patriots embraced the underdog role against UConn. After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half and nine in the second, George Mason rallied to shock the sports world with an 86-84 overtime win—one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history —punctuating the victory with a trip to the Final Four in Indianapolis. 

“It was great for college basketball,” said Lamar Butler, a former standout senior guard on that Final Four team who now serves as George Mason’s director of player development. “That’s what people watch the tournament for.” 

In the years since, Virginia Commonwealth University (2011), Loyola Chicago (2018), UCLA (2021), and North Carolina State (2024) have also reached the Final Four as 11th seeds. LSU was the first to accomplish the feat in 1986. 

“We believed in ourselves,” said Jim Larrañaga who serves as head coach at George Mason from 1997 to 2011. “We weren’t hoping to win. We believed we would win.” 

More than 10,000 fans packed what was then the Patriot Center when the team returned home following its dramatic win over UConn. 

Before the tournament, George Mason was largely unknown beyond the Mid-Atlantic region. That changed almost overnight. The team’s improbable run generated an estimated $677.5 million in free publicity from print and broadcast exposure, according to a study conducted by Robert Baker, former interim dean of the College of Education and Human Development and Professor Emeritus of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management. 

The university also reported an 800% increase in traffic to its official website, while the university bookstore in the Johnson Center—typically averaging $11,000 in weekly sales—made shy of $1 million in the 10 days leading up to the Final Four. University admission inquiries increased by 350%, with out-of-state applications rising by 40%. 

Butler still recalls when he playing overseas several months later, walking through a town in Croatia wearing a George Mason shirt, and a local boy approached him. 

“George Mason–Final Four!” the boy exclaimed, much to Butler’s astonishment. 

This weekend’s remembrance festivities will include the return of most members of the 2006 team, and the raising of a banner in EagleBank Arena in honor of the now-retired Larrañaga. 

“It was one of those moments that, when you experience it, it never really leaves your mindset,” Skinn said. “To think that it was 20 years ago is unbelievable, but having a day to celebrate it is definitely exciting.” 

This weekend, that memory returns to life as a new generation of Patriots gathers to celebrate the run that changed everything.