Which run is more impressive? George Mason in 2005-2006 or Virginia Commonwealth in 2010-2011?

Things both teams have in common:
1. Both made the Final Four as 11 seeds
2. Both teams beat a 1 seed in the regional final against an opponent that was declared a paper champion.
3. Both play in the Colonial Athletic Association, and didn't win the tournament title and earned at large bids that were criticized.
4. Both teams did lose or didn't beat teams as badly as desired in conference.

• Mason beat James Madison (last place CAA team in 2005-06) by only 5 points at home. Mason lost to Creighton that year as well.
  
• VCU lost to Georgia State and Northeastern. Narrowly beat William and Mary and Towson who were the bottom two CAA teams this year.
  

BIG DIFFERENCES in their tourney runs
1. Mason did not beat their opponents by more than 10 points any single game. they won four games, but they never beat a double digit seed. Mason won their last two games basically at home at the Verizon Center in DC which is 20 miles from campus. Mason was a CAA regular season champion and did earn an at large NCAA bid without making the tournament finals.
2. VCU won five games because they were in the first four against USC under the new 68 team format. They won all of their games by at least 10 points except for the Sweet 16 match against Florida State where they had to win in OT by 1, and the Seminoles were a 10 seed, oddly enough. Their last two games were won in San Antonio, which is in Big 12 country where Kansas is. VCU got to the tournament finals and beat #25 George Mason (of 2010-2011) to get a bid.
3. Jim Larranaga, the GMU coach was already a 20 year vet of Division I coaching when he got to his Final Four, and he turned down offers to coach at NC State and Providence (his own school) to stay in Fairfax, VA. He's 61, so he probably will not get a big time job anyway. Shaka Smart is 33, in his first head coaching gig and in his second season as a D-I head coach, so he may very well leave after this season if a sexy position opens up, and definitely out withing 5 years at the very very most... He is also a very SMART man, as he went to Kenyon College in Ohio, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

So whose run is more impressive? I go with VCU

over Mason

Love both runs and it's what makes the NCAA Tournament so great. I was waiting for another George Mason moment and always tried to relive it and I get to this season. I love this years tournament like I did 06

I'll say George Mason's run is more impressive just because I believe Michigan State, UNC, Wichita State, and UConn were tougher to beat than USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State, and Kansas by a very small margin

this is tough to call though VCU beat 5 of the 6 major conference teams, and dominated some of these games also had to play an extra game since they had to win their "First Four" game just to get into the NCAA Tournament. George Mason made alot of comebacks in that tournament were down 14 in both the UNC and UConn games

VCU has dominated some of these NCAA Tournament games against USC, Georgetown, and Purdue while pulling out a tough one from Florida State the NCAAs top defensive team in OT. Also had a huge lead against Kansas and found a way to win

Hard to say very hard. I like both equally and think they're equally if I had to choose it'd be George Mason maybe because they did it first

VCU. No question. If you just forget seeds, everyone would be picking this team to win it all at this point. They've been the most dominating team in the tournament so far. They've won 4 of their 5 games by double digits and lead Kansas and Purdue by as many as 18 and 20, who were two most favorite teams in their region of the bracket.

It may not be as cinderella-like or magical, but its way more impressive that they've hardly trailed at all during this tournament.