To be sure, we mainstream media types love our hyped-up hyperbole.

We have our best-evers and worst-evers, and our Top 25s and our Bottom 10s, and our never-ending lists of never-ending lists in which every event in the history of man is among the best ever or the worst ever, with nothing in between.

Still, given all that, this time we mean it.

This is the Greatest (with a capital G) NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament ever.

Yes, ever. Better than any of the incomparable Lew Alcindor/Walton Gang runs for UCLA in the '60s and '70s. Better than Bird-Magic in '79. Better than North Carolina State slaying Phi Slamma Jamma in 1983. Better than any of Duke's titles in the early '90s. Don't tell him this, but better than Pitino on Parade in the mid-90s. Better than Glory Road.

Better even than 1985 when Villanova pitched its perfect-game upset of Georgetown in that epic final right down the street in Rupp Arena.

This one's the best ever. Best ever for upsets. Best ever for buzzer-beaters. Best ever for storylines. Best ever for underdogs. Best ever for characters. Best ever for overtimes; six in all, four in the last 12 games. Best ever for schools you never even knew were schools.

Who knew there was a Northwestern State before the Demons' buzzer-beater cut down Iowa Coach Steve Alford's chance at getting the Indiana job? Who knew Albany even had a basketball program before the Great Danes, a 16 seed, led Jim Calhoun and Connecticut, a No. 1 seed, by 12 points in the second half -- on St. Patrick's Day, no less?

You want drama? UCLA rose from the Dead Sea to score the game's last 11 points and gun down a gagging Gonzaga. Louisiana State would not even be in Indy to play the Bruins if Darrel Mitchell doesn't stick a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left to beat Texas A&M in round two.

You want tears? On the same night, the game's top two players, J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison, gave their own personal Roy Williams imitations.

After hitting three of 18 shots against LSU, Redick's consolation prize was another one of those unavoidable man-hugs from Coach "Not So Special" K. A few hours later in Oakland, Morrison was picking up an unwanted floor burn, collapsing in a trail of tears after the Zags ended up with zilch.

You want stars? You were just staring into the wrong galaxy. Three days before the Final Four, NBA types claim that the top two players in this year's draft might well be an LSU redshirt freshman no one had heard of (aka Tyrus Thomas) and a ponytailed Florida sophomore (aka Joakim Noah) who played two minutes in last year's tourney.

Any Final Four without a team from the Big (L)East, the ACC, the Big 12 or the Big Ten -- 10 being the number of minutes that conference was alive in this year's Big Dance -- and with a boa-wearing 6-foot-9, 300-pound man-child nicknamed "Big Baby" is all right by me.

You want Cinderellas? George Mason is this year's Lesley Ann Warren. The Patriots' win over UConn on Sunday was/is the greatest upset in tournament history.

With all due respect, that '83 N.C. State team that took down Houston did play in the ACC. That '85 Villanova team that shocked Georgetown did play in the Big East and had taken the Hoyas to overtime in the regular season.

Even that '86 LSU team, like Mason a No. 11 seed, reached the Final Four by beating a Kentucky team it had already lost to three times. With Dale Brown, the fourth time was the charm.

Jim Larranaga is no Dale Brown. The GMU coach looks like your high school civics teacher, and, before this year, had never won an NCAA Tournament game. Neither had his school. George Mason lost to Mississippi State in December, and trailed Georgia State by 11, in its conference tournament, for heaven's sakes. Yet the Patriots and Larranaga are in the Final Four.

As reported by the Washington Post's John Feinstein, when the Masonites conquered cocky, overconfident and clueless Connecticut, Larranaga's wife congratulated her hubby with, "You deserve it."

"A lot of coaches deserve this," said Larranaga.

"Well, let their wives worry about them," said Liz Larranaga.

For those who think there have been better NCAA Tournaments, your significant others can worry about you.