UPDATED: 8th-Seeded Patriots Start NCAA Against Villanova

The Patriots of George Mason learned their NCAA fate just like the other 67 teams that were invited into “March Madness” yesterday. And all things considered, Coach Jim Larranaga’s squad have to be pretty happy with their No. 8 seed in the East Region. It means they’ll play a ninth-seeded Villanova team that’s lost five straight and 10 of its last 15. However, at one point earlier in the season the Wildcats were ranked as high as 7th nationally.

Coming off a semi-final loss to VCU in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament last week in Richmond, the thinking in some quarters was that GMU’s seed might have dropped. But the loss doesn’t appear to have blemished a fine 26-6 campaign.

The downside of being the 8 seed? If the Patriots get past Villanova, they’ll likely be facing the top team in the country in Ohio State. GMU begins action on Friday afternoon at 2:10 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland (In case you're wondering, it's a six and-a-half hour drive to Cleveland).

While the loss to VCU didn’t appear to hurt Mason, it appears to have helped the Rams, as they earned a surprise bid as the 11th seed in the Southwest Region. The Rams were one of the last four teams to earn an at-large invite, so they’ll begin their NCAA journey on Wednesday night in Dayton versus USC. If the Rams win, they’ll play Georgetown on Friday in Chicago at approximately 9:50 p.m.

A third team from the CAA received an automatic invitation to the tournament in Old Dominion. The Monarchs won the CAA Tournament last weekend and will be the ninth seed in the Southeast Region.

Two other Virginia schools also earned bids. Richmond, a 12th-seed out of the Southwest Region will play Vanderbilt in Denver on Thursday at 4 p.m. And Hampton, champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, picked up a 16 seed in the West which gives them the privilege of playing Duke, a 1 seed, on Friday at 3 p.m. in Charlotte.

Of the five Virginia teams that made the tournament, ODU will be closest to home. They start play on Friday afternoon versus Butler at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Virginia's total of five teams was tied with Pennsylvania for the most tournament teams of any state.

For as surprised as VCU was to make the tournament, that’s as disappointed as Virginia Tech was in being left out. For the fourth straight year the Hokies put together a solid season only to have it not deemed good enough in the eyes of the selection committee.

As mentioned, the Verizon Center in Washington, DC is one of eight sites for the second and third rounds. The slate of games there is as follows:

No. 8 Butler plays No. 9 Old Dominion at 12:40 p.m.

No. 1 seed Pittsburgh plays the winner of UNC-Asheville/Arkansas-Little Rock 30 minutes after the end of the Butler/ODU game.

No. 3 Connecticut plays No. 14 Bucknell at 7:20 p.m.

No. 6 Cincinnati plays No. 11 Missouri 30 minutes after the end of Connecticut/Bucknell game.

As of last evening, tickets for games at the Verizon Center were still available. They can be purchased here.

You can check here for all start times and for complete brackets