Arron Afflalo (left) and the Bruins pulled off an epic comeback -- on the strength of their D -- against Derek Raivio and Gonzaga. Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

In the name of accountability, the post I promised to revisit leading up to the Final Four was called "Defending Your Bracket," from March 13. It was an attempt to help poolsters identify the highly seeded NCAA tournament teams that didn't fit the profile of an Elite Eight team -- and avoid slotting them for deep runs in the dance.

The first step in that post was establishing the general model -- based on offensive and defensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions) -- of the past two tourneys' Elite Eight squads. It's not a deep sample size, but it's all we have available (via kenpom.com) in the efficiency world.

What I found was that, while good offense was a given, only three teams outside the top 25 in defensive efficiency (Alabama in 2004, and Arizona and West Virginia in '05) and just one squad outside the top 75 (WVU '05) advanced to the Elite Eight. And no team outside the top 25 in defensive efficiency made the Final Four in either of those years.

Here's how the 2004 Elite Eight stacked up (all figures are adjusted by Ken Pomeroy to factor in varying levels of competition):

Team        Rd.  Off. Eff.    Def. Eff.
                (Nat'l Rk.)  (Nat'l Rk.)
UConn       NC   115.7 (8)    83.0 (3)
Ga. Tech    FR   111.1 (27)   83.7 (5)
Duke        FF   118.7 (2)    83.5 (4)
Okla. St.   FF   116.3 (5)    85.8 (9)
St. Joe's   EE   115.1 (9)    85.8 (10)
Kansas      EE   111.2 (23)   86.5 (14)
Xavier      EE   112.3 (17)   87.9 (19)
Alabama     EE   112.0 (18)   92.2 (49)

Team        Rd.  Off. Eff.     Def. Eff.
                (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)
UNC         NC   122.1 (1)     85.1 (7)
Illinois    FR   120.0 (3)     85.5 (11)
Louisville  FF   118.0 (6)     87.8 (16)
Mich. St.   FF   118.0 (7)     89.3 (25)
Kentucky    EE   111.4 (25)    85.0 (6)
Wisconsin   EE   110.6 (28)    86.2 (12)
Arizona     EE   116.3 (9)     90.3 (34)
West Va.    EE   113.6 (12)    94.6 (83)

'05 Team        Off. Eff       Def. Eff.     Out
(Seed)          (Nat'l Rk.)    (Nat'l Rk.)   Rd.
LSU (6)         112.1 (22)     94.7 (84)     1
Gonzaga (3)     115.5 (10)     97.0 (119)    2
W. Forest (2)   120.8 (2)      94.0 (76)     2

'06 Team           Off. Eff.     Def. Eff.     Out
(Seed)             (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)   Rd.
Gonzaga (3)        117.6 (8)     100.7 (162)   S16
Boston Coll. (4)   118.0 (6)     96.8 (100)    S16
Mich. St. (6)      115.6 (14)    95.0 (85)     1
Tennessee (2)      116.6 (11)    94.8 (82)     2
Oklahoma (6)       113.8 (20)    94.8 (81)     1
West Va. (6)       116.3 (13)    94.6 (75)     S16

Team        Rd.  Off. Eff.     Def. Eff.
                (Nat'l Rk.)   (Nat'l Rk.)
UCLA        FF   113.2 (23)    84.9 (3)
LSU         FF   110.3 (42)    85.3 (4)
Florida     FF   116.9 (6)     87.4 (8)
G. Mason    FF   108.8 (53)    89.1 (15)
Memphis     EE   111.9 (30)    87.0 (7)
Texas       EE   118.2 (3)     87.7 (9)
Villanova   EE   116.3 (9)     89.0 (13)
UConn       EE   118.9 (1)     89.0 (14)

Will the Mason party keep rolling? AP

Of all the mind-boggling circumstances surrounding George Mason's run to the Final Four ... the fact that a bubble team from the Colonial Athletic Association (or the Connecticut Assassin's Association, if you listen to Jim Larranaga) just beat Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn; or that the Patriots did it as a No. 11 seed, tying 1986 LSU for the honor of lowest seed ever to make the NCAA tournament's last weekend; or that GMU did all this without any true NBA prospects on its roster ... this one is the most amazing:

Very little on Mason's regular-season resume suggested that this was possible. Consider:

- On Nov. 11, the Patriots lost 83-78 at the home of Wake Forest, which would go on to finish last in the ACC.
- On Nov. 22, the Patriots were blown out -- at home -- by Creighton, a non-NCAA tourney team from the Missouri Valley Conference.
- On Dec. 30, the Patriots lost 73-71 at Mississippi State, which had the ninth-best conference record in the SEC.
- On both Feb. 23 and March 5, GMU lost to Hofstra, the third-place team in the CAA.

GMU defeated two NCAA tournament teams prior to the dance: CAA co-champ UNC-Wilmington, and in the Bracket Busters, eventual Sweet 16 foe Wichita State. The Patriots also lost to four NIT squads, and had just one "big" win all season -- over the Shockers on the road. While Wichita was a formidable team, did anyone honestly see that victory translating into Mason's miracle on hardwood?