The Official Beat the Saint Mary's Gaels in Albany in the NCAA Tournament Thread

[vcumad]

Biff from Back to the Future? Really? That even made me laugh as it is so far removed from reality it is amusing. That said, given your limitations, it is probably the best you can come up with, so I'll move along as well.

You sorta missed it. I don't think you are as ignorant as Biff. You just come across like Biff when you post.

 

[RowdyPkunk]

not responding well to adversity.

Bingo ^^^^ As I mentioned in my post.... happened in 2019 when Evans got hurt vs Rhody.... we collapsed.

Same thing last night, even though we were struggling... When Ace went down, and Johns & Deloach in Foul Trouble.... we were screwed

 

[vcumad]

So couple things in response to last nights game....

1. Y'all remember a while back when I made a post on another thread, saying how I wish we would find ways to get Lawal/Fermin more minutes in regular season in the event that we need one or both of them to play in the postseason.... well last night was a PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY. Both Deloach & Johns got into foul trouble in the first half (tho Johns not til late)... and then got in foul trouble early on again the 2nd half.

Now I know, we also have Shriver who subs in for Johns or Deloach a lot.... but I feel like if Lawal & Fermin had more meaningful minutes in the regular season.... we could've utilized them more last night, especially against a bigger line up. We've seen flashes from Lawal, but he hasn't been given much playing time to really settle in and find his groove & make a noticeable impact. And Fermin even less so.

Also Banks..... where was he? Maybe if we used him, and ran a play to get him open for 3 & he makes it.... we can spread the defense which gives us better opportunity at the rim... but no, didn't happen.


2. As far as the Ace injury "costing us" (paraphrazing) the game.... give that excuse a rest. The team wasn't playing well when he was in the game. And yes when he got hurt and went out for a bit.... we were shocked/stunned... whatever you wanna call it. And it was all downhill from there. Kinda like 2019, A10 Tourney against Rhode Island..... Evans goes down.... and guess what, so did the rest of our team (despite the fact we were leading at half time of that game).

We rely too heavily on 1 or 2 players to "carry" the team. Now sure we have other players who can score.... we've had what.... 7 different leading scorers this year in a game. But when Johns or Baldwin were hurt, in foul trouble, off the court for long periods of time.... we were a noticeably different team ALL SEASON.... Same thing went Evans went down against Rhody in 2019.... totally different team.

And I'm sorry, that's a problem to me. Injuries happen, can happen at anytime, anywhere... and we certainly are no stranger to the injury bug hitting us (Weber, Evans, Watkins, McCallister, Billups.... just to name a few). When someone goes down, that next person needs to be ready to step up. And simply put... they're not.

If we had continued to give multiple minutes to Lawal & Fermin, we would have NEVER achieved the success we did. Rhoades determined the best combination of players to maximize our chance of winning games as the season progressed and the end result was the team roles and substitution pattern were refined and we won 21 of 24 games in route to the league regular season and tournament championship. There is only so much you can do in season when you have 3 transfers, 3 freshmen and an important contributor (Jamir) coming off a year of inactivity.

 

[92VCUpikapp]

We got beat by a better playing team yesterday. That simple. Really sucks for our argument that the A10 deserved more teams in the dance. One and done does nothing for us, or the A10 preseason ranking next year. Back to a one bid league next year.

Best of luck to the Gaels. I’ll be cheering for you.

 

[HTTRams!]

That’s fine. I don’t think this is worth $10k a year for me anymore.

With no reseating to worry about this year, I think I’ll take a 1 year break and see where we are.

Sucks that this is how you feel man. We need the money, but it's your money in the end and gotta do what you feel is best for you.

 

[Mistachill]

So couple things in response to last nights game....

1. Y'all remember a while back when I made a post on another thread, saying how I wish we would find ways to get Lawal/Fermin more minutes in regular season in the event that we need one or both of them to play in the postseason.... well last night was a PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY. Both Deloach & Johns got into foul trouble in the first half (tho Johns not til late)... and then got in foul trouble early on again the 2nd half.

Now I know, we also have Shriver who subs in for Johns or Deloach a lot.... but I feel like if Lawal & Fermin had more meaningful minutes in the regular season.... we could've utilized them more last night, especially against a bigger line up. We've seen flashes from Lawal, but he hasn't been given much playing time to really settle in and find his groove & make a noticeable impact. And Fermin even less so.

Also Banks..... where was he? Maybe if we used him, and ran a play to get him open for 3 & he makes it.... we can spread the defense which gives us better opportunity at the rim... but no, didn't happen.


2. As far as the Ace injury "costing us" (paraphrazing) the game.... give that excuse a rest. The team wasn't playing well when he was in the game. And yes when he got hurt and went out for a bit.... we were shocked/stunned... whatever you wanna call it. And it was all downhill from there. Kinda like 2019, A10 Tourney against Rhode Island..... Evans goes down.... and guess what, so did the rest of our team (despite the fact we were leading at half time of that game).

We rely too heavily on 1 or 2 players to "carry" the team. Now sure we have other players who can score.... we've had what.... 7 different leading scorers this year in a game. But when Johns or Baldwin were hurt, in foul trouble, off the court for long periods of time.... we were a noticeably different team ALL SEASON.... Same thing went Evans went down against Rhody in 2019.... totally different team.

And I'm sorry, that's a problem to me. Injuries happen, can happen at anytime, anywhere... and we certainly are no stranger to the injury bug hitting us (Weber, Evans, Watkins, McCallister, Billups.... just to name a few). When someone goes down, that next person needs to be ready to step up. And simply put... they're not.

I definitely co-sign on #2.

Regarding #1, that's tricky. If we knew 100% we were completely reliant on winning the tournament to dance, maybe you could make that point. If we had any shot at an at-large we couldn't afford sacrificing any wins. I kinda feel like MR played it right. He needed to win every game in front of him and couldn't afford to look too far into the future.

 

[Rams4Life]

We got beat by a better playing team yesterday. That simple. Really sucks for our argument that the A10 deserved more teams in the dance. One and done does nothing for us, or the A10 preseason ranking next year. Back to a one bid league next year.

Best of luck to the Gaels. I’ll be cheering for you.

This season has little bearing on next season across the A10. I’m not sure how you can draw the conclusion we’ll be a one bid league before the rosters and schedules are finalized, much less any games played. For all we know, the top 10 transfers in the country could land at A10 schools. Very highly unlikely, but you can‘t draw that conclusion this soon without seeing how the off-season and OOC games next season play out.

 

[AlienAiden]

This season has little bearing on next season across the A10. I’m not sure how you can draw the conclusion we’ll be a one bid league before the rosters and schedules are finalized, much less any games played. For all we know, the top 10 transfers in the country could land at A10 schools. Very highly unlikely, but you can‘t draw that conclusion this soon without seeing how the off-season and OOC games next season play out.

Yep. The A10 could get bids like the Mountain West did this year. Gotta have a good OOC. It can be done.

 

[VCU1976]

No doubt, we had a great run and made it to the dance. One of the most successful seasons in school history, especially considering how we began the season. MR deserves credit for delivering for us. St. Mary's may be good, but we didn't get beat by a Duke/Christian Laettner-like team. I saw a squad that was very beatable not playing at their best.

And we didn't lose like UVA did!

 

[VCU1976]

We got beat by a better playing team yesterday. That simple. Really sucks for our argument that the A10 deserved more teams in the dance. One and done does nothing for us, or the A10 preseason ranking next year. Back to a one bid league next year.

Best of luck to the Gaels. I’ll be cheering for you.

YES! That is the best way to describe it. I'm thrilled that VCU was one of the best 68th college basketball teams in the country. There's no denying it would feel even better if they were one of the 4 best teams nationwide. but either way you look at it, our guys played hard yesterday and that's all anyone can expect. Sure, we've seen them play better against other teams, but like the man says... the team who plays the best on that particular day will win.

 

[smc fan]

VCU had the speed and energy but they had trouble with Saxen. SMC played their game which is a pretty frustrating style for opposing teams and fans. Gritty….not Pretty.

 

[SpiderRAM]

I was able to watch the first half on the computer at work. Saw a replay of Aec’s injury and it made me so sad. Did not see the second half because of work responsibilities. Disappointing but also really thankful for a great season. So many things improved from game to game looking forward to next season!

 

[92VCUpikapp]

This season has little bearing on next season across the A10. I’m not sure how you can draw the conclusion we’ll be a one bid league before the rosters and schedules are finalized, much less any games played. For all we know, the top 10 transfers in the country could land at A10 schools. Very highly unlikely, but you can‘t draw that conclusion this soon without seeing how the off-season and OOC games next season play out.

Ok. Guess we’ll see. I’ll stand by my original post. Look forward to seeing the preseason rankings and just how many A10 teams are on the list.

I do agree that we HAVE to win the early tournaments and OOC games. All good. Enjoy the spring and summer folks.

 

[ssvcu90]

You sorta missed it. I don't think you are as ignorant as Biff. You just come across like Biff when you post.

Actually, I didn't but additional resources being put into an otherwise pointless exchange is, at best, minimally productive.

 

[Ramlove81]

Don't want to belabor this point, usually the next day I'm over it, but I watched some of the game again and looked at the box score for the first time. In the 80 minutes of whoever we had playing 4 and 5 we picked up 12 fouls. In the 80 min of their 4 and 5 guys (two guys played 38 minute, neither left for foul trouble) picked up 5 fouls, 3 on Saxen, 2 on Bowen. The foul not called when Rhoades picked up the technical (how many tech does he get, had to be pretty bad and it was) was Saxen. That would have been 4 on him. Does the game change if he sits with 4? I don't have any problem with most of the fouls called on us. But those two guys did not play 76 minutes combined and only foul 5 times, not even close! I'm done, no more.
BTW, Duke is still making flopping an art form.