Atlantic 10 Tournament: Notes, quotes and thoughts

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Ladies first. The first championship game of the tournament was Saturday evening following the men’s semifinals at the Barclays Center. Saint Joseph’s edged Fordham 47-46 in a thriller.  About 4,400 attended, the largest for an A-10 women’s title game, but the enthusiasm and excitement generated by the respective followers made the crowd seem three times as large.

Sophomore guard Natasha Cloud paced Saint Joseph’s with 15 points, 6 rebounds earning the tournament MOP. Marah Strickland, Fordham’s graduate student forward, in her last year of eligibility, led all scorers with 16 points adding 7 rebounds.

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Barclays to MSG: A long (and enjoyable) day’s journey

Two main venues, two great tournaments, just miles apart. A day filled with some very good basketball and interesting stories. Why not ? It is March Madness….

11:30 AM – Riding the subway to Brooklyn. The  preceding train ride from New Jersey to Penn Station was spent talking with a Cincinnati fan. The train has fans wearing gear from Pitt, Syracuse (most prominent) and of course, Cincinnati. The Bearcats, our new found basketball friend admits, have a tough assignment facing Georgetown at noon. Overall he is satisfied with the way things are going with Cincinatti but would like to see a little more inside play on offense. For now the Big East can wait. It’s onto the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Atlantic 10. It is difficult typing on a moving train.

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Making shots a key reason VCU is back in the win column

SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. – The keys to VCU snapping a two-game losing streak were a couple of simple ones: make shots and hang in when the game gets tough.  The former is one they struggled to do in the two losses, and while an unexpected issue showed up, offensive rebounding helped overcome that as well.

VCU beat Rhode Island 70-64 on Wednesday night in large part because of 48.1 percent shooting and 17 offensive rebounds.  They had just a slight 18-15 edge in second-chance points on the evening, but that helped cover up for giving the ball away 19 times, tying a season high and a total head coach Shaka Smart described as “way too many turnovers.”  It also helped them overcome another tough night from long range, as they were just 2-11 on the evening.

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George Mason and VCU leaving the CAA would make no sense

Earlier in March, there was rumor going around that the Atlantic 10 might look into luring big-time Colonial Athletic Association schools like George Mason and VCU, and another couple of schools were mentioned as well. No one felt it had any legs, but as we near the end of March, that has gained traction. With CBSSports.com reporting that George Mason, VCU and Butler of the Horizon League are indeed having conversations about it, CAA commissioner Tom Yeager had to address it, just as the CAA schools did.

The question one has to ask, though, is something else: why would George Mason and VCU leave the CAA for the Atlantic 10?

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VCU grows into CAA champions

RICHMOND, Va. – VCU won’t have any questions about whether or not they belong in the NCAA Tournament this season. Capturing the Colonial Athletic Association championship with a 59-56 win over Drexel leaves no doubt, and it’s also an indication of how the team has grown over the course of the season.

“We started this season 3-3, we weren’t playing terrific basketball, we weren’t considered an NCAA Tournament-caliber team in November,” reflected head coach Shaka Smart.

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Harvard’s path to the elusive NCAA Tournament bid just got tougher

Harvard is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious institution of higher learning. Many of the brightest young people grow up dreaming of attending the school, unless you’re like me and dreamed of going to MIT (or Cal Tech) because of engineering. The university has produced a number of high achievers in just about every field imaginable.

On the hardwood, it’s been a different story. Harvard has had seasons of 20 or more wins, and they’ve been to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and NIT the past two seasons. But they have yet to get to the holy grail of college basketball, the NCAA Tournament. That has eluded them, including last year when they went to a one-game playoff against Princeton and lost on a buzzer-beating jumper in New Haven. And after Saturday night, they might be on a path to such a game once more, as Penn came to Lavietes Pavilion and stunned Harvard 55-54 on Senior Night.

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VCU shows their growth and potential in win at Old Dominion

NORFOLK, Va. – Saturday’s 68-64 win at arch-rival Old Dominion says a lot about VCU. It was symbolic in how they made it through some early struggles, they got great leadership from their only senior, and he had support along the way as they continued to find ways to win. All along, this continues to be a team that is growing while they are tied atop the Colonial Athletic Association.

Early on, Saturday’s game was all Old Dominion, as the Monarchs put a lot of pressure on VCU and built a 26-14 lead more than halfway through the first half. The Monarchs were clearly better, as VCU then had some self-inflicted bad possessions with reckless driving into the lane and settling for jumpers. But a 10-0 run got VCU back in it, and Old Dominion was only up by three at the break.

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Percolating hoops intrigue makes February a fantastic month for sports

It’s February — one of the most underrated sports months of the year.

With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, the biggest event in U.S. sports will command the attention of tens of millions of viewers, generating tens of millions of dollars for everyone associated with the event.

A few weeks later, the NBA All-Star game will show the NFL how exhibition weekends should be run. In my opinion, the NBA All-Star weekend festivities are the best of any pro sport, with baseball coming in a close second. Did anyone actually watch the Pro Bowl last weekend?

We don’t have any winter Olympics this year, but that’s a February event, too.

And then we have college hoops. To casual fans, March is the month of joy. But February is the month that sets the table for March. Dozens of teams are jockeying for position right now, fighting for a better seed and location or merely a bid to the Big Dance.

The schedule-makers know what they’re doing, too. Next Wednesday — just days after the Super Bowl — the top rivalry in college hoops will go down for the first of two meetings in a month when Duke visits North Carolina. That’s a nice way for the NCAA to tell America: “Guess what? Football is over. It’s time to set your sights on the hardwood.”

And of course, as we work through the thick of conference play, we’ll have the rush of bracket projections to feed the hoops addiction. Hoopville will join the fray as usual, starting this Friday. We choose to wait until February because it just feels right. By now, we have a large enough sample size to judge teams’ résumés and make projections that have a good shot of standing up during the final few weeks before Selection Sunday.

We take you coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Get ready for more technical fouls and a shorter leash on players or coaches who act out. Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog reports that John Adams, the NCAA’s national officiating coordinator, sent a notice to all officials that implored them to clamp down on bad behavior.

Clemson has indefinitely suspended junior Milton Jennings, a former McDonald’s All-American, because of academic reasons, according to the Associated Press. Jennings averages 8.9 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

Arizona will finish the season without junior Kevin Parrom, who broke his foot in a loss to Washington last weekend, according to a CBS Sports.com report. He averaged 4.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 1.7 apg this season.

Iona is looking to remain one of the premier programs in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and the university extended the contract of coach Tim Cluess to help make that happen, according to a CBS Sports.com report.

Don’t mess with a player’s routine. North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes shared some of the details of his routine with Andrew Jones of Fox Sports to explain why he changed his shoes at halftime of the Tar Heels’ win against Georgia Tech. Like the rest of the team, Barnes started the game with pink shoes to help promote breast cancer awareness. But he went with his usual Kobes in the second half.

VCU coach Shaka Smart stirred some commotion in the commonwealth during a teleconference Monday, writes Myron Medcalf for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. Smart asserted that Virginia’s best schools reside in the CAA. He didn’t call out the ACC teams in Blacksburg or Charlottesville by name, but Smart felt compelled to give UVA coach Tony Bennett a call to clarify his comments.

The NCAA won’t be seeking any further action against Connecticut freshman guard Ryan Boatright regarding an investigation into his eligibility because of money and benefits that he and his mother received, according to the Associated Press. But the AP reports that the Boatrights’ lawyer isn’t finished with his actions against the NCAA, lambasting the organization for releasing private information.

The only coach to ever lead Canisius to an NCAA Tournament win died Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Joseph Curran, 89, passed away in Mystic, Conn. He led the Golden Griffins to a 76-66 record in six seasons, which included a shocking four overtime victory against No. 2 North Carolina State in the 1956 NCAA Tournament.

VCU Rams 2011-12 Preview

VCU Rams (28-12,12-6)

Projected starting five:

Jr. G Darius Theus
So. G Rob Brandenburg
Sr. G-F Bradford Burgess
So. F Juvonte Reddic
So. C D.J. Haley

Important departures:

Four starters that keyed last season’s epic Final Four run have departed: G Joey Rodriguez (10.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg), G Brandon Rozzell (11.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg), G Ed Nixon (7.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg), F Jamie Skeen (15.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg)

Returning:

39.1 percent of scoring and 49.1 percent of rebounding

Additions:

Fr. G Treveon Graham
Fr. F Jarred Guest
Fr. F Heath Houston
Fr. G-F Reco McCarter
Fr. G Teddy Okereafor
Fr. G Briante Weber

Schedule highlights:

The nonconference slate is a little like the one the Rams had last year: good, but not full of opportunities for wins that will make the NCAA Tournament selection committee take notice. They play in the Charleston Classic, opening with Seton Hall and then facing either Georgia Tech or Saint Joseph’s. They later head to Alabama, play George Washington at the Verizon Center in the BB&T Classic, and host Richmond and UAB. In CAA play, they have a stretch of three straight at home followed by three straight on the road, and play their two games against George Mason within the final two weeks of the regular season.

Projected finish and outlook:

The Rams still have plenty of talent, but this team lost a lot of experience and, more importantly, intangible value with their departed players. That means Burgess has to be the leader he’s capable of being, as the only senior, and many other players have to adapt to new roles. Brandenburg, Reddic and Haley all showed potential last year in more limited roles, and now they’ll have to show that they can do the same thing with more minutes and bigger roles. It would also help if Theus can settle the point guard spot, although it wouldn’t be a surprise if Okereafor (a late signee who was originally in the high school class of 2012) eventually starts there, and Weber figures to get a lot of minutes as well.

The Rams should be able to make up for the production they lost, but the real question is if they can reach the same place as far as intangibles are concerned. If that happens, the Rams should at least wait until Saturday of the conference tournament before playing their first game and another postseason trip should be in the offing. Shaka Smart is 10-1 as a head coach in postseason play in his young career.

Next: William & Mary Tribe

Back to CAA preview

CAA Hopes Postseason Success Helps Continue Its Rise

The postseason success of last season for Colonial Athletic Association schools is both fresh in our minds and a distant memory at the same time. George Mason won a game in the NCAA Tournament, Old Dominion nearly knocked off national runner-up Butler in the first round, and no one will forget VCU’s magical run to the Final Four. Getting three teams in the NCAA Tournament made it a historical year for the conference; having the added postseason success, especially with a second team making it to the Final Four in six years, was more than just the icing on the proverbial cake.

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