It's something that could only happen at George Mason. While preparing for the NCAA tournament, the basketball team's baseball game got canceled.
Coach Jim Larranaga wasn't taking any chances after two starters left practice early on Tuesday. Andre Cornelius limped off with the trainer, and Luke Hancock was wheeled off on a rolling office chair with the shoe removed from his left foot.
The trainer who tended to both players wore a green-and-gold T-shirt that read: ''We ARE this year's GEORGE MASON.'' The 2006 Final Four banner high above the Patriot Center court reminded the players of the year that phrase came into fashion.
''We were going to play a little baseball,'' Larranaga told his players as they gathered for a final huddle at midcourt. ''But under the circumstances, I don't want to take any chances.''
Post-practice on-the-court baseball is a longtime Larranaga pastime before big games, one of his many routines that gained notoriety during the Final Four run.
Most of the other ones were still evident Tuesday: He opened practice with a thought for the day (''Before you can become a great team, you must first become great teammates''), had the court lined with large placards listing his ''Ten Commitments'' (No. 7: ''We will share the ball'') and in his office displayed his latest heavily bookmarked reading material (''In the Zone'' by J. Mitchell Pretty and Steve Jamison).
It's all maybe a little corny, but there's always some fun thrown in. No use being uptight when being loose works better. That was evident when Larranaga was asked how his two seniors - Isaiah Tate and Cam Long - should relate to the rest of the team their experiences from GMU's last NCAA appearance in 2008.
''The greatest thing that Isaiah and Cam can do is smile and be happy, and they've done a lot of that this week,'' Larranaga said. ''It sends a message to their teammates: 'You need to enjoy this, too. I'm having fun with this.'
''There are certain programs that maybe that's not the goal. 'Hey, we need to be serious, this is a business trip, and we're taking care of business.' There is a business side to it, certainly, for us as well, but ... everything I read about performance, whether it's in business or in basketball, so much of it has to do with how you feel. How you feel affects how you perform.''
Larranaga wouldn't comment on the injuries to Cornelius and Hancock, or whether either or both is in jeopardy of missing the Patriots' NCAA opener against Villanova in Chicago on Friday.
The Patriots (26-6) are the No. 8 seed in their regional. They were No. 11 when they went to the Final Four five years ago and had to wear their green jerseys for every game because they were always the lower seed. This time, with some pride, Larranaga notes that George Mason will be wearing white against a team from the Big East.
''I don't consider us the favorite,'' Larranaga said. ''I consider us the higher seed.''
And, without a doubt, the looser team.
''The main thing I've been trying to tell the other guys is the same thing coach L was telling me: 'Be happy, enjoy the moment, don't feel any pressure about anything,''' Long said. ''We're still like an underdog team coming in here.
''I was telling them about some of the things that I experienced my freshman year when we went to the tournament, like being escorted by the police. It felt so good; it felt like you were an important person or an important team. We flew in a big charter, not even like a small one. We had so much space in the world. That's the main thing I tell them - just go out and enjoy it.''
