FAIRFAX.

FAIRFAX, Va. -- You can forgive Tony Skinn's literature teacher if she's got other things forward her mind these days than basketball. She's from Iraq. moreover even she has gotten caught up in the hullabaloo that has George Mason University in a tizzy:

Sweet 16 syndrome

"I actually went into class nervous because I wasn't done with my midterm exam yet" Skinn, the Patriots' senior point guard, said. "But she e-mailed me (Tuesday) night and gave me an extension to change the direction of that in on Monday.

People who don't succeed college basketball that closely, they're flat into it, because it's in such a manner big."

It's been crazy here since Mason knocked on the outside half of last year's Final Four -- Michigan State and defending champion North Carolina -- last weekend in the opening globulars of the NCAA tournament. Now the Patriots have a date upon Friday night ...