Nobody likes to lose. I get it. I, myself, am overly competitive to the point that I will not even admit defeat in Facebook Family Feud. As a former athlete, that is just the way I am. And that’s the way it has got to be for all collegiate athletes: Win at all costs.

But a loss in the semifinal game of the CAA Tournament this weekend may be a blessing in disguise for the Patriots.

Math is not my strong suit so correct me if I am wrong, but there is this idea called the Law of Averages that states that outcomes of a random event will even out within a small sample.

So since Virginia Commonwealth University had their horns hardened for their match-up with George Mason University on Sunday, they’ll find there is a good chance that they will return to their typical, limp state on Monday against Old Dominion University. Or by the NCAA Tournament, at the very least.

But it also states that, at some point, a 16-game winning streak is going to catch up to you. And if Mason would have rolled through the tournament without a loss, they would have been playing on the heels of an 18 game streak. That, to me, would have been a scary, scary thing.

The ball is going to bounce a different direction at some point. And you do not win 16 consecutive games without a little help from the basketball gods.

Mason rolled into Richmond on Thursday night with a little swagger. They were the No. 1 seed in a growing conference and were playing an outstanding brand of basketball.

Ryan Pearson has been the top player in the CAA for the last two months and Cam Long was, well, Cam Long. The tandem has been an unstoppable force as of late and sometimes it takes a tough outing to knock you back to reality.

I would have loved to sit courtside as Jim Larranaga and his bunch climbed the ladder to cut down the nets in Richmond as much (if not more) than the rest of the Green & Gold Nation.

But it needed to happen at some point.

And it is better that it happened now than in the first or second round of the NCAA Tournament. We want another Final Four bid. Hell, we want a National Championship appearance. We don’t want to settle for a trophy at the beginning of March. The one in April is much more important and much more desired.

So what if we aren’t a higher seed in the Big Dance? Who cares if we end up matched with one of the better teams in the nation. Mason fans, we are one of the better teams. To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. Somebody has got to knock off the bigger guys.

Why can’t we be that somebody?