WASHINGTON — The nets were gone, the trophy was packed away, and virtually everyone wearing green and gold had already been hugged.

So, nearly an hour after George Mason guard Lamar Butler cradled the rebound of Connecticut's final errant shot Sunday, some two dozen jubilant Patriots fans finally decided it was time to leave the arena.

But not before they said those sweet-sounding words again, just for emphasis.

"Final Four! Final Four!"

That's right, as improbable as the following sounds, it's the absolute truth: George Mason is going to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.

The 11th-seeded Patriots are headed to Indianapolis as the Washington Regional champions after shocking No. 1 seed Connecticut 86-84 in overtime.

"Yeah, we expected this," George Mason freshman Chris Fleming said, flashing a huge grin. "Honestly, we came in thinking, what do we have to lose? Everyone else thinks we're underdogs. We think we can beat this team."

And they did. Using the same five players over the final 10 minutes of regulation and throughout overtime, George Mason (27-7) stunned the Big East regular-season champions and became the first No. 11 seed to reach the Final Four since LSU in 1986.

The Patriots will face Florida, which advanced by eliminating No. 1 seed Villanova on Sunday.

George Mason's win over a Connecticut squad that spent five weeks as the top-ranked team in the nation will be remembered as an upset. But given the fashion in which the Patriots have played over the past two weeks, combined with UConn's inexplicable failure to play up to its potential this month, the outcome wasn't outlandishly surprising.

"We didn't play our best basketball and they did everything great. They outrebounded us, shot better in the second half," said Connecticut's Jeff Adrien, a reserve who scored 17 points. "That's a real good team."

Evidently better than the Huskies, whose late-season lapse began with a loss to Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

UConn got a top seed anyway, but nothing came easy for the Huskies in the NCAA tournament. They fell behind by 12 before beating Albany, then squeezed past Kentucky. On Friday, Connecticut beat Washington in overtime after Rashad Anderson nailed a game-tying 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left in regulation.

Alas, the Huskies (30-4) had no comebacks left against George Mason after forcing overtime on a last-second layup by Denham Brown.

"We were kind of playing like that the whole tournament. Rashad saved us last game and Denham saved us today," Adrien said. "It was a matter of time for us to break out, but we just didn't do it. We haven't been able to put teams away."

The Patriots, meanwhile, fed off the enthusiasm of their quirky coach, Jim Larranaga, who told his players during timeouts that UConn didn't know George Mason played in the Colonial Athletic Association.

"That's a little bit of disrespect," guard Tony Skinn said. "Coach told us the CAA stands for 'Connecticut Assassin Association."'

It sure did Sunday.

Add UConn to an impressive list of George Mason victims that includes Michigan State and North Carolina. The Patriots may not have the size, speed, athleticism and depth of some of the nation's elite programs, but there's no arguing with the results.

"Talent is not everything, especially with a team playing on such a roll as they were," UConn forward Josh Boone said. "A lot of those guys probably didn't get recruited by big-time schools, so they're going to play harder against a team like us, especially in the Elite Eight, when nobody but them and their fans thought that they were supposed to be there.

"Now they're in the Final Four."

And the Huskies? The two-time national champions were left trying to make sense of a solid season that ended far sooner than anticipated.

"If we keep winning 30 games a year," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said, "I think we'll be in pretty good shape and we'll win our championships again."

George Mason may never have another run like this one, so the Patriots and their fans are going to savor every minute of this.

"We were not supposed to get into the tournament, we got into it," said Skinn, one of five Patriots to score in double figures Sunday. "We were not supposed to beat Michigan State and we beat them. Weren't supposed to beat North Carolina and we beat them. We definitely weren't supposed to be UConn. I think we'll stick to the script. We don't mind being the Cinderella."

MINNEAPOLIS — When Florida lost its three top players and nearly 60 percent of last season's scoring, a confident group of Gators sophomores took over the team last summer.They're still running the show, with April fast approaching and all the experience they'll ever need.Young Florida beat a steep learning curve with a 75-62 win over Villanova in the Minneapolis Regional final Sunday, dispatching the last remaining No. 1 seed and reserving a spot in the Final Four a lot sooner than anyone could have thought."It's been a remarkable run up to this point in time," coach Billy Donovan said, reflecting on the athleticism, poise and leadership provided by Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Taurean Green and Corey Brewer — the four sophomore starters who have guided the Gators (31-6) to a school record for victories and a matchup with George Mason in next Saturday's national semifinals."When you're young and you don't play in these situations, you just don't know," Noah said. "I think the more we play in these situations, the better we're going to become."Noah had 21 points, a career-high 15 rebounds, five blocks and was selected most outstanding player of the regional. Horford added 12 points and 15 rebounds."Anytime our guards got into their guards, there was always an outlet to one of their forwards," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said. "I was very impressed."Green scored 19 points for Florida, which made sure that the Final Four would be missing a top seed for the first time since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985."We're the Gator boys. The Gator boys are hot right now," Noah said.Villanova star Randy Foye fouled out with 28.9 seconds left and walked slowly to the bench to hug his coaches and teammates, as tears streamed down his face. He carried the Wildcats (28-5) for the second time in three days, without any help from fellow senior Allan Ray."Like Randy said, this is going to hurt for a while," said Ray, who had 11 points on 5-for-19 shooting.Foye had 25 points, but Lee Humphrey helped keep him from getting free behind the 3-point line. Foye missed six of his eight 3-pointers."We've won games that way. We've shot poorly and then got on the offensive boards and played defense," Wright said. "They were just too good."This is Florida's eighth straight trip to the tournament under Donovan, but so many of his previous teams — minus the national runner-up in 2000 — failed to fulfill their postseason potential.This tight group of sophomores, led by the fiery, ponytailed Noah, vowed to change that after bonding during their first few weeks on campus. Despite a second-round loss in the tournament last year to Villanova, the Gators are a nation-best 15-1 in March over the last two years."They were unselfish. They wanted to win, wanted to learn. They wanted to work, and they wanted to get better," Donovan said.Noah and Horford were too tough for the Wildcats to use much of the flashy, four-guard attack for which they are known. Foul trouble made it impossible in the second half, as Foye drew his third at the 18-minute mark, Kyle Lowry picked up his fourth with 14 minutes left and Ray's third came soon after.A smooth, sweeping layup across the lane by Ray cut the Gators' lead to 54-47 with 7Qw minutes to go. But after a foul by Will Sheridan, a timeout, and two more free throws by Noah, it was a nine-point edge for Florida.The cap came when Horford, slowly backing down with the ball in the post, spun and dropped an easy pass on the baseline to a streaking Noah — who powered up and threw down a rim-bending dunk for a 66-54 lead with less than 3 minutes left."I can't say I'm surprised," Gators reserve forward Chris Richard said. "We've been playing together a while and impressed a lot of people in the summer. I'm not going to pinch myself. You know, I'm not cocky, but I knew we had a great team."Florida failed to make a field goal in the final 4:39 of the first half and led 35-30 at the break. The Gators committed 10 first-half turnovers and gave up 16 offensive rebounds before intermission."That's generally a disaster for a very, very poor half, but because we defended the 3-point line that gave us an opportunity," Donovan said.Since their national championship in 1985 as a No. 8 seed, the Wildcats have been trying to get back to the Final Four. With seniors Foye and Ray leading the way, this Villanova squad was no underdog.Ranked near the top of the polls all season, these Wildcats were favorites to get to the Final Four."Everybody was crushed," Wright said. "I told them to just cry. Everybody let it out. It's supposed to hurt. I'm so proud of them. I know it hurts for everybody, but I really want to make sure this group feels great about itself."