I've spent the last two hours on the phone and IM with friends discussing this monster, and as far as Notre Dame's draw goes, I think Irish fans have to be pretty pleased with the pod.  George Mason is the weakest of the twelve seeds, when compared to Villanova (who we obviously couldn't play), Temple and Western Kentucky (a team a lot of people had pegged as a potential Cinderella).  They won against Kansas State, but lost a bunch of games down the stretch in conference play.

As far as Washington State goes - and again, there's no guarantees Notre Dame even makes the second round, or that Winthrop doesn't strike again - they're a solid squad, but not one who would have a considerable athletic advantage on the Irish like a lot of other power conference teams.  Rob thinks we have a terrible draw, although I haven't got his reasoning for that yet.  I think, all things considered - one and done in the Big East tournament, one non-conference win of note - this is a pretty good pod for the Irish.

(There's no point in looking ahead to potential Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight match-ups yet, although it would be a pleasure to get to discuss hoops with Carolina March, Rocky Top Talk or Card Chronicle next weekend.)

Full George Mason research will be forthcoming on this site.  Bring it, Patriots.

What the...