Cinderella Men

April 24, 2006

While I am as pleased as anyone about George Mason's Final Four run (11th Heaven, April 3), I am dismayed that you have discounted the accomplishment of the 1979 Pennsylvania Quakers. Ninth-seeded Penn beat a No. 8 and a No. 10 seed on its way to the Final Four, as you stated, but the no-athletic-scholarship Ivy League champs also knocked off fourth-seeded Syracuse and, in the second round, shocked No. 1--seed North Carolina in a game played in Raleigh. Until some future Cinderella dances into the championship game, Penn remains the most improbable Final Four team ever.