Twenty-seven years later, they all have special memories of a special season in George Mason basketball history.
   Kevin McNamara remembers a diving hustle play by star Kenny Sanders that sparked a come-from-behind victory at East Carolina for a team that was 5-8 and struggling. Henri Abrams recalls a home blowout loss to Richmond, 84-61, and a subsequent players-only meeting. Later in the season there was an inspirational Rocky sequence the coaches inserted into a tape players were watching during a film session.
   The 1988-89 Patriots won 14 of their last 15 regular-season games, took the Colonial Athletic Association title and earned the school's first NCAA bid. The team, which finished 20-11 after a 6-9 start, will be honored Saturday during an A-10 game against St. Louis as part of the university's celebration of 50 years of basketball.
   The Patriots began the '88-89 season with mixed emotions. For the players, there was some instability in having their third coach in three years. Much of the team had been recruited by Joe Harrington, who left after the '87 season to take over at Long Beach State.
   Rick Barnes, who guided the team to a 20-10 season in '87-88, followed him. The team, spurned by both the NCAA and NIT, lost a close CAA title game to Richmond, which subsequently became an NCAA Cinderella, reaching the Sweet 16. After the season, Barnes left for Providence.
    "That was pretty hard. Devastating would be a good word," said McNamara, a reserve forward who now lives in Raleigh, NC, where he runs his own packaging company and also works for a company that provides information to banks. "It was hard on all of us. We'd have done anything for Coach Barnes."
   Ernie Nestor, 42, an assistant at Wake Forest and California, took over a team that had talent but also was reeling from the coaching instability. When Richmond came to the Patriot Center on Jan.29, 1989, the Spiders took an 84-61 win, leaving the Patriots 6-9.
     The loss also marked a turnaround. The Patriots won seven in a row, lost at Richmond 73-67 and won four in a row, heading into the CAA Tournament in Hampton. By then, the Patriots had found an identity.
   They had talented players. Sanders, who was, Abrams remembers "6-5 in high heels," was an undersized senior forward who had more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for his career. Junior Steve Smith made the transition from small forward to point guard and was known as Mr. Clutch for heroics at crunch time.
   Robert Dykes, a 6-7 sophomore center who spent four years in the Navy after high school, junior forward Chuck Broadnax and freshman guard Mike Hargett rounded out the starting five. Guard Earl Moore, McNamara, the shot blocking Abrams and Danny Deane were reliable reserves.
    "We knew we had a good nucleus," McNamara said. "We saw how far Richmond went the year before and knew we should have beaten them (in the '88 CAA title game.) Coach Barnes made us believe how good we were by how hard we worked.
   "What Ernie was so good at was being positive and upbeat. When we were 6-9, he wasn't beating us up. He stayed positive and supported us. He never got too high or too low. I always said he was the kind of guy you'd like for your girlfriend's father. He was a great man."
    The Patriots went into the CAA Tournament figuring they would have to win in order to get an NCAA bid. They had additional incentive when the CAA named Blue Edwards of UNCW the player of the year over Sanders, who had won the award in 1988 and was greatly respected by teammates for his unselfish attitude.
   "That made it personal. We wanted to show the CAA people they had made a mistake," said Abrams, who runs Abrams BBQ restaurant and catering in Glen Burnie, Md. "We didn't care who started. We didn't care who scored. We wanted to win. We policed ourselves."
   The Patriots figured they'd have to beat nemesis Richmond, the top seed, to win the title and gain the automatic bid. However, UNCW beat Richmond in the semis.
    Mason won the title game 78-72 in overtime, led by MVP Sanders' 19 points and 19 rebounds. Hargett and Broadnax hit consecutive threes in OT to put the Patriots in control.
   "We don't necessarily play a great 40 minutes or a great 45 minutes," Nestor said afterwards. "But these guys make the big plays when the game is on the line.
   "Hell, I'm surprised we lost 10 games to tell the truth. I'm really disappointed we lost 10 games."
   But the team in just its 11^th season of NCAA competition, finally had a bid. "It's the best feeling I've ever had to be going to the NCAAs and putting the school on the map," Sanders said in a post-game interview.
   The season ended with a 99-85 loss to Indiana in the first round in Tucson. "Everybody says we were the pioneers," Abrams said. "But the real pioneers were the '86 team that went to the NIT."
   The 86ers, as Abrams noted, helped the '89 team that helped future Mason teams advance in the NCAA Tournament. It's all part of the university's 50 years in the sport.