VCU's goin' dancin'!

So how many old Metro teams will make it this year?

 

In
VCU

Lock
Louisville
Memphis
Florida State

Bubble
South Carolina

NIT
Virginia Tech
Cincinnati

Sound about right?

 

Ugh. I just got back from the game. Even if Mason had played their best, VCU would have won. They are the better team, and Maynor is the best player in the conference by miles. Total domination tonight.

The stat line for Larry Sanders was ridiculous:
20 rebounds
18 points (most of which came on nasty dunks)
7 blocks

And yes, the Richmond Coliseum is still a dump. And a huge home court advantage every year for VCU. Not that it mattered tonight; VCU would have won that game if it was played on Mars.

 

Went to the game as well. Mason played the worst game I've ever seen it play, but it still wouldn't have mattered. VCU was on point.

Maynor was the shit. Plain and simple. Just nasty. Great vision, gets his teammates involved, and he's a scary accurate shooter. I was glad to get to see him play in person this year since I missed the first VCU-GMU game. Sanders was just silly, too. Mason had nothing for either.

If both of those players aren't on NBA teams very soon, I'll be very surprised. Everyone I know disagrees with me, but those guys can seriously ball.

Eff.

 

I would definitely have stopped by Moddy, but our group walked into the stadium with about two minutes to go before tip. Had to take advantage of the $1 burgers at Capital Ale House. I did wave, though. Guess you didn't see me waaaaay up there in 18U.

I hope Grant doesn't end up in Tuscaloosa. I like him too much.

 

I would love to see him in T-Town, but word here is that he's leaning towards the UGA job.

 

I, too, caught the occasional glimpse of a big bald man at the scorer's table -- when I could see at all. Most of the night my view was obscured by obnoxious VCU fans turning to scream in my face and yell at my 11-year-old son for having the audacity to wear a Mason jersey.
Not that it would've mattered last night b/c Mason couldn't throw the ball in the ocean from the shore, but it gets more and more ridiculous every year the CAA hosts the tournament in Richmond. If the rule is, No. 1 seed gets to host, that's fine; other smaller conferences do it that way. But giving VCU a built-in hometown advantage and 10,000 screaming fans every year just isn't right.

 

Picking nits here, but no chance there were 10,000 in attendance last night. I'm guessing about 8,000, maybe 8,500.

Overall point taken, though.

 

Official attendance was listed at 11,200, if I'm not mistaken. If that's accurate, at least 9,000 were VCU fans.
Personally, having the tournament in Richmond every year is easier on me b/c it's only about a 25-minute drive for me and my kid. But it's not cool having such a significant homecourt advantage in a game that decides a conference's one and only NCAA bid. VCU's program is good enough that they don't need the extra help.

 

In the head for another week, Mods.

 

Official attendance is tickets sold, not turnstile count. Probably some fans who bought ticket books, then got the heck on up outta there when their crappy team crapped itself.

Richmond has been the CAA host forever, well before VCU was in the conference. In fact, the homecourt advantage then was U. of Richmond's. Then for a couple of years, both were in the CAA. Now it's just VCU.

Richmond has always been the geographic center of the conference, both in its condensed and now more spread-out incarnations. All the schools that draw are in Virginia, so it'd be economic suicide to move the tournament to, say, Atlanta or Philly (though they're having the baseball tournament at Fenway). And Virginia has sucky arenas -- they probably couldn't get John Paul Jones Arena in C'ville, Scope is a piece of buttass and Hampton Coliseum is only good for Phish concerts. So it stays in the Cradle of the Confederacy.