Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, March 15, 2007, Washington Post

Small Conferences, Big Dreams

The NCAA men's basketball tournament begins today. The big question is what team will be this year's George Mason?

The Northern Virginia university shocked the basketball world last year by making it all the way to the Final Four. Some basketball experts thought that George Mason should not have been invited to the 2006 tournament. But the Patriots upset four higher-ranked teams in the early rounds before losing to Florida, the eventual national champion.

Underdogs make the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament fun. During the season, most fans pay attention to the teams from the six "power" conferences: Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific 10 and Southeastern.

The teams from these conferences are the bullies of college basketball. The big-name schools usually won't play teams from smaller conferences during the regular season unless the small-conference schools come to play on their court, in front of their fans. The big-conference teams are like kids on the playground who will play only if it's "my ball, my rules, and I choose the teams."

But in the NCAA tournament, every team has a chance. So what small-conference team will be this year's Cinderella? It won't be George Mason. The Patriots didn't make the 65-team field.

Here are my picks of some small-conference teams that could make some big noise at this year's tournament.

Southern Illinois (27 wins and 6 losses) has experience: All five starters were in last year's tournament. The Salukis (I love that nickname) play tough defense. The Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champs limited opponents to 56.5 points per game.

George Washington (23-8) could be this year's surprising "George." The Colonials have two good guards in senior Carl Elliott and junior Maureece Rice. GW also is getting hot at the right time. The team has an eight-game winning streak.

Nevada (28-4) has a player who could win a few games by himself. Nick Fazekas is a 6-foot-11 senior forward who averaged 20.5 points and 11.2 rebounds a game. To advance, he and the Wolf Pack will have to beat Creighton (22-10), another tough small-conference team.

Butler (27-6) and Old Dominion (24-8) meet in the first round. I can't make up my mind who will win this matchup between two small-conference giants, but whoever does just might keep on winning. The Bulldogs and the Monarchs have wins against big-conference teams this season.

It's unlikely that a small-conference team will make it to the Final Four. Only two (George Mason and Utah) have done so in the past 10 years. That's why George Mason's 2006 run was so special.

So root for Winthrop, Long Beach State, Penn, Wright State and the rest of the underdogs. Because every time a big-conference bully is beaten, it's wonderful.