VCU's Peppas at the Today Show this morning with Al Roker.
They're doing a rolling pep rally through Manhattan this morning. Currently at Times Square and will be at the library at 5th Ave and 41st at 10 a.m. for those in NYC who want to check 'em out!
While Georgetown's fingerprints are obvious, a big test of Georgetown's power will be whether or not VCU joins the league in the next wave of expansion. While Georgetown hasn't lobbied against VCU in meetings, television sources say that the Hoyas don't want VCU in the league. (The prevailing thought being that VCU is too close geographically for Georgetown's comfort and being a public school doesn't fit the profile.) Many schools in the Catholic Seven are enamored with VCU, especially because the league's bottom four teams -- Providence, DePaul, Seton Hall and St. John's -- have combined to win just one NCAA tournament game in the last 10 years.
That is an interesting article (I didn't read this before I posted the same article in the C7 thread). This just proves that the people who think all 12 have been picked are wrong.
Yep. It's very much in flux. Creighton hasn't even been a lock all that long. X and Butler have been the only sure things in all of this.
We had a very similar situation in the Metro Conference where Louisville ran things and imposed its will on everyone else. It didn't end up well for VCU and we were left scrambling along with Virginia Tech for a conference home. VT went to the A-10, and we had to go to the CAA.
ok i'll bite. i love the fact that your athletic department has the balls and funds to really create an awesome experience for their fans. this is coming from a umass fan that gets excited about getting 12 buses of students to an nit semifinal and an alumni event across the street from msg.
at the same time, really dudes, a rolling rally through manhatten? what are you the ****ing yankees? you're the 2 seed and haven't won a thing yet.
two conflicting ideas battling for control of my mind.
I'd call that Branding 101. Wouldn't that excite you if UMass did that? I'm obviously biased to VCU, but I thought it was cool as hell for VCU and at the same time attracted attention to the A-10 tournament as well.
Who says you have to win anything to show school pride? That's all I see us doing. I'd think it was awesome if any other school did it as well. It's a great way to get free advertising for your school in a fun way. I'm not sure that's arrogant. It's pretty aggressive guerilla marketing, but I'd think that is anything but bad.
I'd think the A-10 is glad one of their new addition is that enthusiastic about the A-10 tournament, but that's just me.
Thanks for sharing your viewpoint though, it's always good to know what a fairly unbiased person thinks.
should be a well attended nightcap. vcu has turned out in force and i would expect st joes, temple and umass to have large contingents as well given their proximity.
Ed McLaughlin caught heat on a chilly, windy Friday morning here.
McLaughlin, VCU’s athletics director, attended a meeting of Atlantic 10 Conference ADs, and his colleagues complained about Rams fans. It seems on Thursday, when VCU did not play, there were more Rams fans at Barclays Center than fans of teams that were involved in the first round.
That made the other schools look bad, the ADs kidded McLaughlin.
Lee grew up in Brooklyn, keeps an office a couple of blocks from Barclays Center, and said he’d be back today when VCU plays in the semifinals, and for Sunday’s championship game, if the Rams are playing.
“It’s nothing short of impressive. The VCU fans are so die-hard,” said Bernadette McGlade, the A-10 commissioner.
VCU better watch for missing band members, she advised, because officials from other league schools were so impressed by the group’s sound that they may consider abducting a few brass players.
She pointed to the arena portal through which she entered on Friday night, and then motioned to the area of Barclays Center occupied by black-and-gold clad VCU fans.
“You could feel the electricity from them five minutes before the tip,” McGlade said.
Well, there's only one thing to do. Start practicing! Prepare to become the leader.
Get ready for wild, multi-colored posts that disparage your program, and the fact that your coach is heading your ship into the river.
Once you have smacked that nonsense down, you can graduate to the head of your class and get a glove to smell. Not sure why it has 6 fingers.
With Temple leaving, it sure does open the door for a new leader/flagship. Looks like VCU would be the leading contender, with some other teams very much on the rise.
Quotable:
Head Coach Shaka Smart:
"It's a hard-fought game. St. Joe's, give them lot of credit. They really battled in the second half. They came at us, shot the ball extremely well, made threes. We obviously could have played better defense in the second half. That's what won us the game was the first half defense, which gave us a ten-point lead going into halftime. We shot 50 percent, but we did miss a lot of easy shots, open looks. We'll make those as we go. It's good to survive and advance."
"I was happy with the guys. I mean, we talk about having great spirit on our team, and that's where we're at, we have spirit. I think the teams that win this time of year are able to respond when things don't go their way. You know, what really helped us with that was our crowd. There was a phenomenal group of fans from VCU that traveled up here from New York. And I haven't had an official count, but it looked like we had as many or more than anyone else, and that just says a lot about our fans. That helped tonight, because like you said, there were some things that went bad, and we stayed tough."
Senior Troy Daniels:
"The young guys, we stepped up. Once the older guys, talking about guys, they came in the game and gave us a big push. We needed that. We're going into March. We need that, for the younger guys to step up, and they did."
"Just went out there playing loose. We have to play our basketball, and we just attack the ball. Coach gave us the green light, and we made the shots, and he didn't have a problem with it."
Freshman Melvin Johnson:
"I just tried to come in and do whatever a team needs. I didn't want to try to do too much extra to impress anybody in the crowd. But Coach give me a green light. I felt as though I had some great coaches. He ran my play a few times, and I just made some plays."
RTD: VCU fans distinguish themselves at Barclays Center
About 1,500 VCU fans are present, according to McLaughlin. That group clearly is larger than those backing any of the other schools at the A-10 tournament, and includes an acclaimed filmmaker.
Of the Rams’ Havoc playing style, Spike Lee said, “I love it.”
“It’s nothing short of impressive. The VCU fans are so die-hard,” said Bernadette McGlade, the A-10 commissioner.
VCU better watch for missing band members, she advised, because officials from other league schools were so impressed by the group’s sound that they may consider abducting a few brass players.
She pointed to the arena portal through which she entered on Friday night, and then motioned to the area of Barclays Center occupied by black-and-gold clad VCU fans.
“You could feel the electricity from them five minutes before the tip,” McGlade said.
Can someone educate me as to why Spike Lee is a VCU fan? lol, I thought his basketball allegiance was to the Knicks and I have never even heard him comment on College ball let alone VCU. Its awesome, but I don't understand it.
VCU found themselves in an A-10 semifinal slugfest against the UMass Minutemen this afternoon, eventually pulling away in the 71-62 win that punched the Rams their first-ever ticket to an A-10 tournament final.
Down eight with 5:15 left in the first half, senior Troy Daniels sparked VCU’s early comeback, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers in just over one minute to give the Rams a 24-23 lead. VCU held that lead through the remainder of the game.
But what if your conference has 16 members, and each team plays just 16 league games? Such was the case with the Atlantic 10 this season, and I'll be honest. Based on that small smattering of regular-season basketball, I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived at the Barclays Center to watch the A-10 semifinals.
So this particular conference tournament was absolutely a good idea. I know much more about the two winners, Virginia Commonwealth and Saint Louis, than I did before. Nothing like March basketball on a neutral floor to add some clarity. Here's what I learned. (I mean besides the fact that the VCU band is really, really good.)
In the first meeting between Saint Louis and VCU, the Billikens played on their home court and refused to be drawn into any kind of Havoc, committing just eight turnovers in a 56-possession game. SLU won that game easily 76-62. After the semifinal at Barclays, I asked Smart about that earlier game and what his team needs to do to beat the Billikens. "Play better," he told me.
What his answer might have lacked in length, it more than made up for in accuracy. Smart's exactly right. VCU's "normal" game won't be enough against Saint Louis in the A-10 finals. And most teams' "normal" games likely won't be enough against either the Rams or the Billikens in the NCAA tournament. Field of 66 other teams, you've been warned. The A-10's big two are very good at what they do.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Professional and College Basketball Forums
8M posts
37.4K members
Since 2002
A forum community dedicated to Competitive Basketball players and enthusiasts. Talk about everything from the NBA to college basketball to even everything but basketball. It's all here!