Dancing Fools

Meet George Mason.

Guard, Lamar Butler.

Big man, Jai Lewis.

The coach, Jim Larranaga.

These are some of the characters on one of the most anonymous teams ever to reach the Final Four.

They are a loosey-goosey, live-in-the-moment bunch that has played baseball at the end of practice every Tuesday during the NCAA tournament, using a ball made of athletic tape and crumpled paper to relieve the pressure a few days before playing the basketball games of their lives.

They call themselves kryptonite to college basketball’s elite, and their coach dances in the locker room.

“Probably the worst dance moves I’ve ever seen in my life,” Butler said. “Coach has no rhythm.”

Maybe not, but he has game. So do his players, and it’s unreasonable to say they can’t win the national championship after they’ve already knocked off Michigan State, a rebuilt North Carolina team that was nevertheless the defending NCAA champion, and a Connecticut team that was this year’s near-consensus favorite.

If fans could name any of the Patriots before their upset-filled run to Indianapolis, it was probably point guard Tony Skinn -- and that’s only because he made himself infamous by punching an opponent in the groin during the Colonial Athletic Assn. tournament, earning a one-game suspension from Larranaga.

Now, CBS announcer Billy Packer is cramming to learn the players from an 11th-seeded team he didn’t think deserved to be in the field.

There’s Butler, the 170-pound senior string bean with the irrepressible smile and the killer jump shot -- 11 for 22 in the NCAA tournament.

There’s sophomore guard Folarin Campbell, who averaged 10.1 points during the regular season but is leading the team during the NCAA tournament with 16.8, and making 50% from three-point range, too.

There’s Skinn, the senior point guard, yet another three-point threat.

And Will Thomas, a 6-foot-7 sophomore who went up against Connecticut’s front line of Rudy Gay, Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong -- probable first-round NBA draft picks -- and came away with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

“I think I just wanted the basketball more than them when the shot went up,” Thomas said.

And finally there’s Lewis, a 6-7, 275-pound senior who has drawn NFL scouts to watch him and would like to be the next Antonio Gates. Gates played for Kent State in the Elite Eight in 2002, then became a Pro Bowl tight end for the San Diego Chargers -- though at his size, Lewis might be defensive line material.

The player with the best athletic pedigree doesn’t even start. He’s sixth man Gabe Norwood, a 6-5 junior whose younger brother, Jordan, a Penn State freshman, caught six passes for 110 yards against Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Their father, Brian, is a Nittany Lion assistant football coach.

They were lightly recruited, almost all of them. With every starter from Maryland, most chose the suburban Washington school in Fairfax, Va., to be close to family and friends.

“My final three were [George Washington], Xavier and George Mason,” Butler said.

But when Xavier coach Skip Prosser left for Wake Forest before Butler was scheduled to visit campus, Butler decided to stay home.

“My final three schools were Providence, Georgetown and George Mason,” Campbell said.

But Georgetown signed another guard before Butler visited.

“Basically, they said they didn’t need me,” he said.

Thomas said his choices came down to George Mason, St. Bonaventure and the College of Charleston. He, too, picked Mason because it was close to home.

Lewis?

“It was close to my house, and I just liked the family stuff that they did for me here at George Mason,” he said.

And Skinn’s final three?

“George Mason, George Mason, George Mason,” he said. “I’m glad I chose George Mason.”

Only joking, he said later, adding that Texas A&M; and East Carolina were among those interested.

“My concern was staying close to home,” he said.

Many have given credit to Larranaga, considered a good coach finally getting his due, for finding players with skill and a willingness to play a style that demands defense.

The Patriots’ first three tournament opponents averaged 60 points a game before Connecticut scored 84 in an overtime game.

Yet Connecticut was out-rebounded by a George Mason starting five that gave up 18 inches to the Huskies.

“We won that?” Larranaga said. “Nice job, guys.”

Thank a rebounding drill called musical chairs.

“Offense on the outside, defense on the inside,” Larranaga said. “The defense has to move and find somebody to block out, and you’re not just blocking out your own man, you’ve got to find somebody. We’ve been doing it all season long, and getting better and better in that category of the game.”

Now a team that lost to Hofstra twice is in the Final Four, exactly the way Butler claimed the Patriots would be after he was recruited.

“I think I was joking when I said that,” Butler said.

They are a seemingly contradictory mixture of loose and tenacious.

“We’re all calm and poised, and we just make sure we have fun,” Campbell said. “Basketball was made to have fun, so if you ain’t having fun, you’re not going to perform.”

Such a novel approach, in the realm of the $6-billion TV contract and players awaiting NBA millions, something none of the George Mason players may ever see.

“They don’t measure heart by inches,” Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun said after his team lost. “They don’t measure courage. They don’t measure basketball instinct and intelligence.

“The game is a beautiful game because you can win in so many ways.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Patriot balance

*--* Player Pos. Reg. Season NCAA Jai Lewis F/C 13.8 11.5 Tony Skinn G 12.9 10.7 Will Thomas F 11.3 13.8 Lamar Butler G 11.2 16.0 Folarin Campbell G/F 10.1 16.8

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