Washington D.C. notebook: Making a name for themselves

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Regular-season highlights: UConn | Washington | Wichita St. | George Mason

WASHINGTON – Many are calling the George Mason-Wichita State game Friday night the "Mid-Major Super Bowl." The winner doesn't go to Disneyland, but it does get to play for a spot in the Final Four.

Colonial Athletic Association Commissioner Tom Yeager said Wednesday that he and Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner Doug Elgin are good friends and have congratulated one another for the success and attention their programs have enjoyed this season, and, in particular, this March.

"You just feel so good because you've been telling people for years that these are good teams and good programs with good kids," said Yeager, who has run the CAA since its inception in 1985. "Now they have the stage to validate those beliefs and so both of us are just thrilled in the success that we've been having."

Mason's upsets of Michigan State and North Carolina, as well as UNC Wilmington's strong showing against George Washington (the Seahawks lost in overtime in a first round game) have helped Yeager make the case that the CAA deserved multiple bids. It's a case he's been trying to make for years.

"I always thought that that if we could get the one-bid league' monkey off our back, we would be really poised to take off," he said.

The CAA sent a conference-record four teams to the postseason this year, two to the NCAAs and two to the NIT. Hofstra (26-7), which must be watching Mason's run with at least some degree of envy, hosted CAA rival Old Dominion (24-9) last night in an NIT semifinal with a trip to Madison Square Garden on the line. ODU won, ending Hofstra's 21-game home winning streak.

The Pride, however, beat Mason twice in the season's last 10 days. Much to the dismay of the CAA, the NCAA selection committee took a pass on Hofstra for one reason or another.

"Hofstra should have been in the NCAA tournament, no question," Yeager said.

Regardless, Yeager and his conference, which grew to 12 teams with the addition of Georgia State and Northeastern this year, enjoyed numerous wins this season over teams from power conferences. The best of the bunch included victories by Old Dominion over Virginia Tech, DePaul, and Georgia. Hofstra beat St. John's for the third year in a row, and UNC Wilmington opened the season by winning the eight-team BCA Invitational Tournament, defeating Butler, host Wyoming and Northwestern of the Big Ten.

As a result of those wins and the recent tournament success, the RPI of the CAA rose to No. 8 in the most recent conference rankings, and six teams ranked among the top 87 in the country, with George Mason leading the way at No. 16.

UNC Wilmington has yet to enjoy a run like George Mason, but has been to four of the past seven NCAA tournaments. Coach Brad Brownell said CAA coaches knew going into this season that it had the potential to be a big year.

"In the last couple of years we've seen a rise in the talent of the players and progress from the standpoint of schools making big commitments to their basketball programs," he said. "It's great for the league. We all feel that there [are] a couple of teams in our league that could be doing what Mason is doing."

The challenge for the CAA will be to keep the momentum going. As great as this season has been, the league will always compete for air time and recruits against heavyweights like the ACC, Big East and, to a lesser extent, the Atlantic 10.

"This will hopefully transition to increased interest on campuses, more television games, more sponsorships and more ticket sales," Yeager said. "If we aren't able to capitalize on the momentum now, we are yesterday's newspaper."

SOMETHING TO PROVE

Brandon Roy, Washington's do-it-all forward, said he has seen Connecticut play seven or eight times this season, but he's guessing the east coast Huskies haven't seen his team nearly as much, aside from film over the last few days.

The Seattle-based Huskies don't get nearly the same amount of national airtime as their opponents in Friday night's regional semifinal in Washington, D.C. Heck, the Huskies don't get nearly the airtime as UCLA and Arizona in their own conference.

"We have a chip on our shoulder," Roy said during a press conference with Seattle media earlier this week. "UConn, they deserve everything that they get. They have won two national championships in the last 10 years. They have been a great program. We feel that we are on the rise, we feel like Arizona and UCLA and programs like that on the West Coast get more credit than us because they have accomplished more things than we have."

To change the national perception of the Washington program, and perhaps network scheduling preferences, Roy knows his team must advance beyond the Sweet 16, something Washington has never done.

"We need to go out there and try to use that as motivation and say look, they are going out there and getting all of these things because they have won a national championship or been to the Final Four.' We know that in order for us to accomplish those goals or one day have Washington looked at in that way, we have to tear that wall down."

Pac-10 coaches interviewed this week believe that Roy, the conference Player of the Year, has the kind of talent that can carry Washington past Connecticut. His coach, Lorenzo Romar, said Roy has a unique ability to give the team whatever it needs on a given night.

"Jim Harrick used to say that great players take their teams to great heights," Romar said of the former UCLA and Georgia coach. "Obviously it is a team game, and when you have someone who is as talented as Brandon, and who can go out there and assess the game, and see where there is a weakness, or what his team needs, and then go out there and give it to you – that is a winner. "

LOOSELY TRANSLATED

George Mason coach Jim Larranaga wants his team to win of course, but he also has another goal.

"I want us to have more fun than any other team in the tournament," he said.

The affable coach has kept things loose in practice this week, hoping to relax his players as they head into what is undeniably the most significant weekend in the sports history of the university.

At the end of practice Tuesday, for example, Larranaga had his team play a game of indoor baseball with a foam rubber bat and small rubber ball. The coach started out as the pitcher and soft-tossed meatballs to his guys, asking "where do you want it?"

As coaches and players took turns whacking ground ball singles and long fly balls on their home court, they called out home run shots like Babe Ruth, and made wild hand gestures like Sammy Sosa entering the batter's box.

After the "game," Larranaga explained his philosophy.

"Everything I've ever read about sports psychology and preparation says that the more pressure you put on yourself, the worse you perform," he said. "We want our guys saying, Isn't this great?' Isn't this fun?' When you relax and enjoy it, you can perform a lot better."

Greg Abel is a freelance writer based in Baltimore whose work has appeared in The Sporting News, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. He is covering the Washington, D.C. regional exclusively for Yahoo! Sports.