We all love March Madness. The unparalleled excitement, vast uncertainty and crazy school-spirit captivate brackets across the nation. In this month, our eyes and hearts attach themselves to the underdog — that ‘feel-good’ story that isn’t supposed to happen, but does, forever changing lives as the story unravels.

The truth is, all of us have a little underdog burning within us. We are told to dream large, and do, but are never really told how battering that road to victory may be. Seeing other underdogs beat the odds excites us, and gives us a sense of hope that things might just go our way, too.

In 2006, 11th-seeded George Mason University took down three of the last six national champions — Michigan State, UNC and UCONN — in perhaps the most historic route to the Final Four ever. For perspective, George Mason had never won a March Madness game in school history and had only been to the tournament three times ever. In the year of their cinderella run, they did not even win their smaller conference, the CAA. After an at-large bid on Selection Sunday, this special group managed to make an impossible run, cementing their legacies in history forever.

What we learn in their journey is that these ‘feel-good’ stories don’t just happen. To taste mere moments of glory in your personal journey, you have to endure the proper process. As the lowest seed ever to make the Final Four, the 2006 George Mason team paved the way for all other underdogs to dream, and live forever in the small stack of fairytales that actually did come true.

For all you underdogs, don’t stop believing.

I. Intention | Meditation

Coach Larranaga was an early believer in the power of meditation and speaking things into existence. “Coach L” had a pulse on the team; he could feel the weight they carried of constantly having to prove themselves. The senior stars were a talented bunch with real talent to make the NBA. Yet, even if they averaged 25 points per game, there was little guarantee that scouts would notice…unless the team made a splash.

At the first team practice, in a zen effort to allay the team, Coach L had them dim their eyes and quietly envision what the end of their season would look like. It would later become a defining moment for the team.

“Everyone was like ‘yeah we want to win the CAA and make the tournament’ but Lamar was like, ‘I see us in the Final Four.’ That kind of lit a fire for us. Everyday in practice, and off the court, we found a way to bond and come together with this end goal in mind,” Tony refects.

Wherever you saw one player, you saw them all. This team remained inseparable throughout the entire year.

Coach Larranaga continued to emphasize mindfulness throughout the grueling season. He brought in a yoga instructor, and “had us do something with the butterfly...releasing the butterfly…you know, stuff we thought was corny. But, it actually did its job. Just look at the result.” Jai laughs remembering this fondly today.

“He brought in a sports psychologist - who worked with Tiger Woods and other big time people - basically to get our minds to just focus on basketball, and not worry about the pressures of everything else around us; focus on team goals and look out for each other. It really got everyone in their right frame of mind.”

Although these calming acts of consciousness are separate from the game of basketball itself, they are very much etched into the result. It allowed them to block out ‘the noise’ and focus on the task at hand. All five starters averaged double figures for the season, and at each hill of adversity throughout the season, they had the calm resilience to persevere.

In the second round of the NCAA tournament, George Mason fell down 14 points early to 3rd-ranked North Carolina, with 4 future NBA players.

“We played them 2 years ago and lost by like 40. Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green…they didn't lose to the George Mason’s of the world in the NCAA tournament. I remember Coach L telling us we’re not playing with any pressure, and they are because they are supposed to beat the crap out of us — and when each minute goes by and you’re not up 20, things get a little tighter for y’all and a little less stressful for us. Getting that win, then rallying back the way we did, I remember Roy Williams flipping his chair. He just lost it on the sidelines. After being a part of that, it was like we are onto something,” Tony relishes.

As an underdog in life, you get very few chances to change the course of your life. You have to be prepared to make the most of the moment. The power found within a strong intention and a routine of meditation bottled positive energy that the team was able to tap into when it mattered the most.

II. Have No Fear | Respect Yourself

Within this collective calm demeanor, this team had a very different side to them that propelled them towards greatness. Unabashedly, they walked around with an I don’t give a damn attitude.

Starting point guard Tony Skinn went through the rough alleys of junior college before getting a Division 1 scholarship. Six-foot-seven, 275-pound forward Jai Lewis was gibed at for having the frame of a football player, not a basketball player. Remarkably, before playing professional basketball, Jai did make the NFL. His athletic ability was one-of-a-kind and key to this teams’ run.

After coming off a disappointing 16-13 season, seniors Tony Skinn and Jai Lewis knew it was their final chance to get noticed in the pursuit of going pro. Throughout the summer of 2005, they made a habit of showing up to wars they weren’t invited to to sharpen their knuckles.

“We had a routine where we were bouncing around open gyms at Georgetown, Maryland and GW looking for competition in the summer. When you have that type of a mindset, it allows you to get in front of these type of dudes. Normally, Maryland is supposed to beat Mason by 30 in a high-major mid-major game, but its nothing we hadn't seen from a competitive standpoint. That’s a HUGE X-factor. We seen these dudes before. It was just another day,” starting point guard Tony Skinn reflects.

The confident swagger they had in the season wafted in an element of fear in the opponent. David was prepared to take down Goliath’s.

After beating Wichita State, who Mason would later face in the third round of the NCAA tournament, George Mason ranked top-25 for the first time in school history. This was a prelude to the storybook season that was about to unfold.

“We went down there man, and to this day, Wichita State is still one of the toughest arenas I’ve ever played in — 10,000 people, sold out, standing room only, and we got the dub. That got us in the top-25. Even though we lost to Hofstra in the conference tournament, without that win at Wichita State, we don’t get in. It was mayhem. You’re talking 30,000 students, right by the city. Every time we got off the bus, it was crazy. The Sweet 16 was at home in DC, and we’re playing Wichita State again. It’s just surreal, everything was just kind of manifesting for us.”

Yet, after ranking top 25, beating Michigan State in the first round, defending champion North Carolina in the second round, and Wichita State again in the Sweet 16, going into the Elite 8 the UCONN players scoffed at playing George Mason. Jai Lewis will never forget how he felt.

“I kind of already had a chip on my shoulder going into that game, because when UCONN was doing media time, the reporters were asking them if they even knew anything about us. They were saying, ‘nah we don’t even know who they are, we don’t know them”’…but, Rudy Gay and Josh Boone, they know us, we done played against them. We’re all Maryland guys, they know who we are. I played against Josh Boone in high school, I played against Josh Boone in the national AAU tournament, I played pickup ball against Josh in hood tournaments...like I know Josh, that’s somebody I like play against everyday — you know what I mean? So when it was time, I was ready. That kind of lit a fire underneath me.

Will Thomas played against Rudy like six times in high school — Rudy had never beaten Will. It was personal for a couple of us. You acting like you don’t know who we are, disrespecting our game. We can actually play this game, just at a smaller school. 

We didn’t even shake hands after the game. We was celebrating. We didn’t worry about them. It felt so great going to the Final Four. One thing we talked about in the locker room, we were like ‘we’re getting a ring for sure!’. We just beat 6 NBA guys, #1 team in the country, we was ecstatic.

If you look at the game, I don’t think the camera’s get it, but I’m really chewing Denham Brown up at half court when Lamar is shooting the free throw at the end, ‘you don’t know who we are now?’ Tony was trying to calm me down like ‘yo, chill chill, we still got some of the game left.’” 

Seconds later, George Mason was in the Final Four.

For their entire lives, these players individually, nor collectively, were given the respect they deserved. In their minds, they were just as good as the best. It is easy to think that of yourself, but much more difficult to embody. As an overlooked underdog, you have to fully believe deep down inside that nobody is more talented than you. The victory starts from within.

“Seeing guys like us, it’s a recipe for a disaster if you're a high-major dude. There’s not a scared bone in any one of us. You put 5-6 dudes together from the inner-city, even if you win by 15-20, you’re going to get punched in the mouth. Got to get it through the mud, they say,” Tony laughs.

Coach Larranaga, in his Phil Jackson type of touch, worked a bit of magic with this group of DMV rough-riders. The team opened their eyes, and they were in the Final Four.

III. Strive for a Legacy

Although they fell short to Florida in the Final Four, the 2006 George Mason team lives on forever as an inspiration to the hundreds of small programs within the NCAA. Since then, two other 11-seeds, VCU and Loyola Chicago, have followed suit making remarkable runs to the Final Four themselves.

Nobody will ever do it quite like George Mason did. They took down stalwarts, and played a beautiful brand of unselfish basketball. They did it first, and fulfilled the legend of what March Madness was created to do; give a chance to the underdog.

What was most endearing about the spirit of this team, is captured within this reflection by Jai Lewis.

“That whole experience was amazing to me. Around March, that’s kind of like when I can come back and be relevant. I just feel good. We had kind of stamped ourselves in history for a while. I enjoy that. That’s that one thing I can live on — I left my legacy. Now I just try to start another legacy with my family, and find another way in life other than basketball to continue that. I’m a behavioral therapist in a high school. I teach social and emotional learning, coping skills, and to problem-solve without having to go to the extreme. That’s my new legacy.”

Jai Lewis and Tony Skinn were never two names that surrounded a lot of national hype. Yet, as many top names have faded, theirs remain etched in the quilts of history. Tony is now an Assistant Coach for Seton Hall, bringing his magic to another mid-major program.

Their mindsets were never self-serving. They dreamed sincerely, worked together, and quietly grinded. All of the little underdogs within us deserve that fighting chance. Everyday, give that to yourselves. It might just work out.