Well, it nearly was George Mason again.

They had to play four games in 95 hours to get to the finals of the Colonial Athletic Conference against the regular season winner, Virginia Commonwealth. George Mason lost in the final two minutes after leading most of the way. Sophomore guard Eric Maynor came up with two steals that he converted into fouls and made nine straight points down the stretch to earn MVP honors for the tourney. George Mason had a 57-52 lead with 2:22 left in the game before Maynor’s heroics turned the tide.

Virginia Commonwealth set a new conference mark with 16 straight wins in its first season under Anthony Grant who was lured away from NCAA champion Florida after Jeff Capel left VCU for Oklahoma last April.

The Patriots run through star-studded teams en route to an almost unbelievable place in the Final Four last spring may not be repeated this year, but a bunch of mid-majors and George Mason wannabes are expected to try to duplicate their feat.

The reason? This year’s Big Dance seems to incorporate all the big-time cage name powerhouses including Georgetown and Louisville of the Big East who have resumed their place among the nation’s best.

Here are some sleepers to consider.

Creighton won the Missouri Valley crown despite finishing second in the regular season behind 13th ranked Southern Illinois, who at 27-6 should get an at-large bid. They are solid in the post position which gives them an advantage over most mid-majors.

Davidson won the Southern Conference crown and with the crafty veteran coach Bob McKillop at the helm they could upset anyone.

Winthrop – a team that has lost only four games to bigs – has been to the Dance six times in eight years and is certain to get a lot of attention, especially with two senior pro prospects a part of the squad.

Akron, who is coming into its Mid-American Conference tourney at 24-6 and 13-3 in the conference in the East section will get some looks even though they may not win the conference crown. Toledo, with the better conference record at 14-2 and winners of the West, would need to win it all to get a nod, but is one of the strongest mid-majors this year.

And don’t overlook the University of Pennsylvania who won the Ivy League out right. They and Princeton have divided up the Ivy crown for years with Penn usually coming out on top. They have a veteran group.

Xavier, who won the Atlantic 10 regular season crown, will get a nod even if they do not win their conference tourney. They are deep at every position.

Long Beach State easily finished first in the Big West with its best mark in years (22-7, 12-2 in conference play) but they could get surprised by California State Fullerton who boasts one of the league’s top scorers in point guard Bobby Brown (20.2 ppg).

The Western Athletic Conference regular season winner was Nevada at 27-3 (14-2 in the conference). Any team that wins 27 games in a season usually gets a bid even if they lose out in the postseason tourney. Fresno State (22-8, 10-6), Utah State (22-10, 9-7) and New Mexico State (22-8, 11-5) under second year coach Reggie Theus can’t be overlooked. Expect this conference tourney to include some upsets.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference tourney has Mississippi Valley State (13-5), Jackson State (12-6), Grambling State and Alcorn State (both at 10-8), and Texas Southern, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Southern all tied at 9-9).

But the Southland could produce the real long shot. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who is playing in the conference tourney for the first time since joining, won the West regular season crown with a 14-2 mark and an overall mark of 23-6 They are coached by the veteran Ronnie Arrow who started this program and has a winning record since its inception. They are big and they are deep. Northwestern State (La.) won the East at 10-6 but their seasonal mark was only 15-14. In the past they have given the big-time programs fits.

And then there is Holy Cross, winner of the Patriot League. Veteran mentor Ralph Willard, the head man there, is no stranger to postseason play. Its conference tourney win this year came on a last second shot to down American University in one of the closest final contests in years.

Do we have a special favorite to cause some concerns for big time teams?

Take a shot at the Mountain West Conference. This tourney race will be as close as any one this March. Four teams – Brigham Young, UNLV, San Diego State and Air Force – have won at least 21 games. UNLV has 25 wins. These are not mid-major teams, but they can seldom get national recognition due to the time change.

With that in mind, how about the Pac-10 where UCLA, Washington State, Southern California, Oregon and Arizona have each won 20 or more with the Bruins at 26-4 and State at 24-6.

Upset city here we come.