 In the case of George Mason, this was possibly because of the absence of Tony Skinn, who was suspended for one game by the Patriots for punching Hofstra guard Loren Stokes in the groin during the CAA tournament semifinal loss.Moreover, many believed that Hofstra, who didn't get invited to the tournament despite of the fact that they beat the Patriots twice in a span of ten days, deserved to get in instead of them.Nevertheless, the Patriots entered the tournament as an 11th seed and defeated the 6th seeded Michigan State Spartans, who had played in the previous year's Final Four.