Cinderella Madness Simulated College Basketball Tournament: Nevada vs Geo. Mason

Cinderella Madness

WhatIfSports.com and CollegeHoops.net have partnered up to bring you Cinderella Madness 2012.

This college basketball simulation tournament features 16 of the most memorable Cinderella stories from the past eight seasons. We invited teams outside the Big Six conferences, seeded 7th or lower that advanced to the Sweet 16 or beyond in their bracket to participate.

Utilizing our award-winning college basketball simulation engine, we "played" each matchup 501 times.

View the 16-team Cinderella Madness bracket

George Mason found itself in familiar territory, playing with the chance to advance to the Final Four. Opposing the Patriots, the Nevada Wolf Pack were fresh off an upset over Cornell.

Everything went right for Nevada in the opening stanza as they scored 44 points against a team that only surrendered 60.1 points per game during the 2005-06 season. George Mason forward Jai Lewis kept his team afloat, scoring 16 of the Patriots' 32 first half points.

Jim Larranaga's halftime adjustments paid off, as the Patriots scored the first 12 points to tie the game at 44. George Mason held Nevada to just 24 second half points, and found itself with a narrow lead in the game's waning moments. Both Nick Fazekas and Kirk Snyder had a chance to win or tie the game in the final seconds for Nevada, but their three-point attempts misfired. George Mason survived with a 71-68 victory.

Lewis dominated with 27 points and 16 rebounds for the Patriots. Todd Okeson led all Wolfpack scorers with 18 points.

Player of the game: Jai Lewis (27 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals)

Winning Percentage of 501 Simulations: '06 George Mason 55.5% - '04 Nevada 44.5%