Patriots take an 8 seed in NCAA Tournament

George Mason University’s Patriots have received an 8 seed in the East region of the NCAA Tournament. The Patriots will go on to play the Wildcats of Villanova on Friday.

This year the NCAA Tournament will be slightly different expanding to include 68 teams instead of the previous 64 teams.  The additional four teams will be required to participate in a new first round known as “The First Four."

The First Four round will take place Tuesday and Wednesday with the final match of the round being played at 9:00 p.m. EST between the University of Southern California and Virginia Commonwealth University, a fellow member of Mason’s CAA Conference.

The First Four round allows for the four additional teams to have a chance to play into the playing field of 64.

The second round of the tournament will be the round of 64, the previous first round.

The tournament seedings were announced Sunday night.

George Mason University and Old Dominion University received a seed in the tournament, while VCU earned a spot in the first round to compete in a game for a seed, potentially giving the CAA three bids.

The Patriots of George Mason (26-6, 16-2 CAA) received an 8 seed in the East Region after ending the regular season as CAA champions, but falling short in the semifinals of the CAA tournament to VCU.

The Patriots are scheduled to take on the Wildcats of Villanova (21-11, 9-9 Big East) on Friday at 2:10 p.m. EST at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.  The game will be covered on TNT.

In the Southeast Region, #9 ODU(27-6, 14-4 CAA) will take on #8 Butler (23-9, 13-5 Horizon) on Thursday at 12:40 p.m. EST at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. The game will be covered on truTV.

If VCU wins over USC on Thursday night, VCU will receive an 11 seed in the Southwest Region and will take on #6 Georgetown (21-10, 10-8 Big East) on Friday at 9:50 PM at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.  The game will be covered on TNT.

The tournament format is different than previous years, but the excitement is still as exhilarating as ever.

Who will win? What upsets will occur? Will George Mason make another final four run?

Only time will tell.