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George Mason AD new head of Selection Committee


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http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WPN%2FMGArticle%2FWPN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353059585&path=!sports

O'Connor to head selection committee

By BRIAN HUNSICKER

bhunsicker@potomacnews.com

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

WASHINGTON -- George Mason athletics director Tom O'Connor rattles off his itinerary for a January week, flying from this place to that, all to squeeze in as much basketball-watching as he can: Follow the Patriots to Delaware, head to the NCAA Convention in Nashville a day early to take in South Carolina and Vanderbilt, find another nearby game to check out, attend the convention, return to Fairfax and catch Georgetown and Maryland home games.

Even November, months away from being sequestered in Indianapolis to determine the 65-team tournament field, will be crazy.

"I believe Georgetown plays somebody on the 8th, we play a game on the 9th at home, then I'm going up to the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York City, then I'm coming back for our game versus Dayton, then I'm going to a game in Philadelphia, then I'm going to the Preseason NIT, and then I go with our team down to Orlando because we play in the Old Spice Classic, which is, I think, eight other teams. I come back and then I go to Boston for a doubleheader there. I'm out in Indianapolis for our meetings ... and see some of the Big Ten and midwest teams," O'Connor said, adding he'd then head west to see mountain-region and West Coast schools.

It wasn't always this hectic. As a member of the NCAA's Division I Men's Basketball Committee, he would be responsible for a handful of conferences, reporting to the committee as a whole what he'd seen. Now that he's the chairman of that committee, his domain sweeps from coast to coast.

During his extensive travels, O'Connor plans on using a beach house in suburban New York and will make Indianapolis a temporary home. He chuckles, but admits he hasn't thought about, the frequent flier miles he's sure to accumulate over the next six months.

"The other thing about that travel is that you show people that you care," O'Connor said. "I think that's critical, because we do care about doing this the right way. We do care about picking the 34 best teams (for the at-large bids)."

O'Connor, who held a press session on Tuesday, estimates that chairing the committee will take up 80 percent of his time until the men's basketball tournament concludes. The committee's job is to administer the NCAA men's basketball tournament from start to finish. That means doing homework throughout the season, which begins with Midnight Madness this weekend, to make the best possible selections when the committee meets to determine the brackets.

Though he wouldn't divulge all the details of what goes on during the meeting -- traditionally a very secretive affair -- but stressed that conference affiliation is of no consideration; the number of ACC or SEC teams that make the tournament simply doesn't matter. He said the committee thinks of all the teams as independents.

"It's the only fair way to do it," O'Connor said. "It's based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of each individual team and how they've done on their schedule against others -- their opponents and opponents' opponents schedule."

His most public work will come just after the brackets are announced, when he appears on CBS to explain to the nation why some teams were included and why some teams were left out. That may seem like the high-water mark, but there will be plenty more to do after that. O'Connor said once the tournament begins, chairing the committee will take 100 percent of his time.

"When the committee gets to the Final Four, we're still responsible to administer that tournament. We have the pregame meeting with the four teams and their staff and do all those things that need to be done," O'Connor said. "At that point, the NCAA staff takes over a lot more than the first round. If you're a committee member in the first and second round, you're there by yourself. You might not have a staff member there."

As chairman, he won't have to worry about staffing a particular site early on, but he did have to do that as a committee member in previous seasons.

But that one trade-off is doesn't equal the breadth of O'Connor's current title. Perhaps in mid-April, after the champion has been determined, he'll be able to relax -- at one home -- and take a breath.

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I would never want that job.

O.T.- Does anyone have knowledge about George Mason? The campus, the classes and the internship oppurtunities are what I'm interested in. I cannot trust my guidance counselor, the whole department doesn't know their asses from their faces. They are the most unhelpful c0ckslaps I have ever had the displeasure of having to communicate with. I don't know anyone who has visited it, and I want to know if it would be worth my time. Thanks. PM me.

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I would never want that job.

O.T.- Does anyone have knowledge about George Mason? The campus, the classes and the internship oppurtunities are what I'm interested in. I cannot trust my guidance counselor, the whole department doesn't know their asses from their faces. They are the most unhelpful c0ckslaps I have ever had the displeasure of having to communicate with. I don't know anyone who has visited it, and I want to know if it would be worth my time. Thanks. PM me.

My cousin went there.

It is more of a commuter school.

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