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Go Davidson

Hopefully some members of the selection committee are watching tonight. If they want the 68 best teams, vcu isn't one of them.
 
Offensive efficiency, good ball handling and pace to stay in rhythm is what gives VCU trouble. Wildcats are doing it tonight. Teams in A10 know them and McKillop has probably studied plenty of video such as ours and other teams like SLU (last year's team) against them. But in NCAA tourney teams don't know them or how to handle their press. And at worst get speeded up in pace, which is what Rams want them to do. Kind of like teams playing us in OOC and tourney have trouble with our match up D.
 
I haven't gotten this much enjoyment watching a game that didn't involve a team I root for in a long time, possibly ever.

All the chest-beating, mouth-breathers on Broad Street are getting served a nice piece of humble pie.

We need to come out firing on Saturday and lock this bye up.

This post was edited on 3/5 11:13 PM by ur2K
 
I stopped watching in the first half because I thought I had somehow tuned in to the Briante Weber Memorial Benefit Show. How much money did they raise?
 
It makes me happy to know that we started this downward spiral of theirs Jan. 31 at their place.
 
This should get Davidson off the bubble and hopefully at least Davidson and Dayton are in and the tournament winning Spiders (the A10 needs/deserves 3 bids) Frankly as long as they get an at large bid frankly it's better RPI is one of them vs. not getting but 2 (1 at large).
 
Originally posted by Stonewall D:
The announcers are saying that VCU is going to the NIT.
Really? All I heard last night is that they are already in the NCAA Tournament. I don't see how. They're falling faster than Blackberry stock. Wasn't the tourney selection committee going to use how a team finishes more than how it starts?
 
State the obvious, but VCU is not an NCAA caliber team right now. That doesn't mean that they won't get selected.

But, if they lose out and get blown out in the opening round of the A-10 tournament, I think that their at-large bid is on very shaky ground.
eek.r191677.gif
 
Lambs were not an NCAA caliber team in 2011 either, and we all remember what happened. You never know what will happen once a team gets into the dance.
 
Team Rankings has VCU as a 94% chance to make the tournament
(69% at large, 23% to win the tournament).
Spiders as a 19% chance (11.at large, 8% win the tournament)


Davidson 89%(65% at large 24% tournament) Dayton
83% (64% at large 18% tournament)


We split with Davidson, Beat VCU twice. Lost to Dayton in Dayton by 3.

If this is accurate those early season losses
are killing us. Or is it past years reputation carries more
weight than it should?
 
Seth Davis had an article last week on dispelling many of the tournament selection myths; one of them was how you finish mean more than how you started to the committee. It doesn't matter to them they're just taking the whole body of body so not to diminish early season losses/wins.
 
think that is correct to some degree and the entire season has to count or why play the games BUT when it gets down to the final selections, the last few teams, then things like how you finished could be the deciding factor or at least carry some weight.
 
Looks like Lunardi is finally on board (from this morning's Bubble Watch at espn.com):
"Richmond is a long shot. Let's make that clear. Richmond is not so much
of a long shot, however, that it can be discounted from this space
entirely. Indeed, in five straight wins -- highlighted by last week's
second win over VCU -- the Spiders have salvaged their long-lost
at-large hopes to the point that a Saturday win over Saint Louis and a
strong showing in the A-10 tourney might well put them in the picture."
Beat those Billikens!
 
All that being said, it's human nature to give more weight to what you have seen most recently. They will take injuries into account also, whether they say they do or not.

This post was edited on 3/6 10:35 AM by SpiderK
 
Of course, Lunardi hedges a little by going on:

"OK, make that a "very strong" showing. Like a 'lose in the final to a
good team on a buzzer-beater' kind of strong showing. Still, Chris
Mooney's team isn't out of it yet."

A win Saturday, another vs VCU in quarterfinals, and a close one vs Davidson in the semis? I'd hate to be the committee guy who has to go on CBS and explain why VCU got one of the last 4 spots over a team that beat them 3 times...
 
That somewhat recent loss to George Mason (sub 200 RPI) is going to look brutal on the old resume.

We have some other "bad" losses based on RPI:
Wake - 111
Northeastern - 100 or lower depending where you look (so lets hope they are below 100 on the NCAA RPI)
JMU - 135
La Salle - 113
 
Don't get me started on the Nov/Dec schedule. Reluctantly gave up season tix after many years when pre-conference started to become Radford, Norfolk State, Hampton, Northeastern, Delaware, etc. Not quite Virginia Tech, but if we schedule these kinds of teams, at least beat them!
 
Not so much who you schedule but you have to win those games. Look at Davidson.......11 of their wins where against 200 or below RPI teams. That's half of their wins for the year. But they won them all and they gave shown they can play with the big boys.
 
Though apparently Davidson's RPI/SOS is still dogging them now. Mentions of it throughout last night's game, as well as on a number of bubble discussions. After the success we've enjoyed, and the name we've made, how is it possible that we can't beef up the non-conference?

The AD needs to leverage their relationships throughout NCAA to improve the schedule; if we don't have those kinds of relationships, then that calls for a different conversation. One big game can make all the difference: look at Buffalo for ex - their #37 is largely due to that one loss to Kentucky...
 
Everyone says Davidson has to schedule better. Davidson says this season is an anomaly.

Here is last season OOC

2013-2014
 
Just like our schedule was pretty weak this year OOC.

Hopefully we get a good Thanksgiving or Christmas tourney next year, but too soon to project!

Win Saturday!
 
Originally posted by tjtwo84:
Though apparently Davidson's RPI/SOS is still dogging them now. Mentions of it throughout last night's game, as well as on a number of bubble discussions. After the success we've enjoyed, and the name we've made, how is it possible that we can't beef up the non-conference?

The AD needs to leverage their relationships throughout NCAA to improve the schedule; if we don't have those kinds of relationships, then that calls for a different conversation. One big game can make all the difference: look at Buffalo for ex - their #37 is largely due to that one loss to Kentucky...
There was no issue with our SOS in terms of the NCAA conversation. Our SOS is around 29/30. We just lost some inexcusable games OOC.
 
Agreed. Just would be great to see fewer South Alabama (279), IUPUI (255), and Howard (249) in Nov/Dec. Then even a couple of bad losses to long-time (Wake), in-state (JMU) or league (GMU) rivals wouldn't be such an issue. If the boys downtown can schedule Oregon, Villanova and Cincinnati OOC, we should be able to up the quality as well...
 
Fact check: they didn't schedule Oregon and Nova, they got into a tournament and played Oregon and Nova. A strong presumption that their Havoc brand played a big part in them getting into the tournament (also, they were good with a healthy Weber and Graham). If we are good, we will get better preseason tournaments, and play those teams as well.
 
If Wake happens to play well in the ACC tourney, there is a chance they could go under 100 in RPI, and help our chances just a little bit. I single out Wake because they will have a shot at playing some of the better RPI-ranked teams in their tournament.

I will be pulling for the Deacs.
 
Other than the Mohegan Sun tourney where we at least got to play UNC, we haven't been invited to good ones since KA and that crew played. Their senior year they played in the Chicago one and beat #8 Purdue. But even that one was not really on the TV radar. No excuse for our staff to not be getting us in good ones. Should be a priority, since it's difficult for us to get games with power conf teams (we might beat them). And please let's send enough emails to CM and Staff to get us out of scheduling games against all these CAA teams, except for W&M.
 
Putting aside the issue of the Sheep, and how proactive they are in terms of securing tournaments
and an overall solid schedule, it seems like the larger point was re the quality of our OOC opponents.

It's hard to disagree with the notion that there's considerable room for improvement; upgrades help
ticket sales, RPI, and prepare the guys for post-season. It just doesn't seem to be as much of a priority
as it once was.
 
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