George Mason has been a silent killer this year, and people were starting to take notice.

That is, until the Patriots got stomped in the Colonial Athletic tournament semifinal by VCU.  79-63 to be exact, a score that will no doubt eliminate George Mason from all top 25 polls before Selection Sunday.

Which is exactly what they want.

You may remember the unsung heroes from our nation’s capital pulling off the greatest Final Four run in NCAA tournament history back in 2006.  In doing so, the giant slayers flew under the radar in knocking off Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut before finally bowing out to Al Horford, Joakim Noah and the dynasty that was Florida.

The Patriots began making a rumble in 2011 before the VCU loss, which will likely bump them down to a 9 or 10 seed.

Look out nation.

The Patriots don’t have a lot of good wins (just three in the RPI top 50 to be exact), and they have four losses to teams ranked outside the top 50.  But in the ‘what have you done for me lately’ category, Mason has lost just once since Jan. 8 (VCU on March 6), and three of the team’s top five RPI wins came after Feb. 1. 

Four players are averaging double figures, led by Cam Long’s 15+ points per game, and they are beating opponents by an average of 12 points per game.  For balance purposes, a different player leads the team in assists, rebounds, points and steals.

In the Patriots’ first tournament appearance since the magical 2006 run, look for them to make another run at shocking some of the best.