VCU knocks off Wofford

[morrisar]

http://www.vasportsonline.com/2010/12/v ... f-wofford/

“That’s a big, big win for this team,” coach Shaka Smart said. “Many people might not know about Wofford, but that’s a team that will win 20-plus games and have a great chance of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. I’m proud of the way our guys pulled together tonight.”

That's a pretty interesting statement... Wofford is a 5-8 team with 17 games remaining, according to their athletic site. Is he predicting they win 3 games in the Southern Conference tournament after winning 13 or more of their remaining 17 games?

 

[4RunningRam]

That's interesting. As a fan, seeing the bar raised gets me pumped up...not seeing the bar lowered to the likes of referring to a home win over Wofford as a "huge win" for the program. We're better than that.

No spin: Rams have ONE high quality win at this point (UCLA), and with the CAA being a little down this year, their only real opportunities to collect any others will come in the two battles with ODU. If claiming a Wofford win is "huge" for the program is another soundbite in the long line of marketing tools that the current heads of state have used, then I'll file it accordingly. Though if anyone thinks so little of our program as to believe that wins over Wofford are now huge for our program, it's a sad state of affairs. The UCLA win, even if on name brand alone, was a big win for the program's profile. Beating Wofford, while a most certainly a necessary win, is not a benchmark by any means. You'd better beat the Woffords of the world on your home floor if you intend on reaching greater heights.

Missing the opportunities to beat Tenn and UR hurt, and obviously Wake Forest's plight hasnt done us any favors. Likely the next "huge win" will come either against the Monarchs or in that Friday or Saturday of the CAA tournament in March; need to take care of business in league play.

 

[DCDuck]

I wouldn't consider the CAA "down" at this point when you consider that last year we had one team worthy of an at-large bid (ODU), the year before the same thing (us), and the year before... nobody.

So I think we're on the rise as a conference. Just not to the levels of 2004-06.

 

[Mercury]

Wofford basically being the same team as last year went 15-3 in SOCON play last year. I do not think what Coach Smart is saying is that far fetched.

 

[VCU4LIFE]

Wofford basically being the same team as last year went 15-3 in SOCON play last year. I do not think what Coach Smart is saying is that far fetched.

They haven't had much to complain about lately, let them have their fun....

 

[VCU4LIFE]

I wouldn't consider the CAA "down" at this point when you consider that last year we had one team worthy of an at-large bid (ODU), the year before the same thing (us), and the year before... nobody.

So I think we're on the rise as a conference. Just not to the levels of 2004-06.

Agreed, a few people seem to be of this opinion that the CAA is "down" this year. Down when compared to what??

 

[Mistachill]

Down relative to the "high expectations" that some of our fans have.

I wouldn't consider the CAA "down" at this point when you consider that last year we had one team worthy of an at-large bid (ODU), the year before the same thing (us), and the year before... nobody.

So I think we're on the rise as a conference. Just not to the levels of 2004-06.

Agreed, a few people seem to be of this opinion that the CAA is "down" this year. Down when compared to what??

 

[morrisar]

Wofford basically being the same team as last year went 15-3 in SOCON play last year. I do not think what Coach Smart is saying is that far fetched.

Coming off of a 4th place finish in a tournament featuring Cornell and New Hampshire? They were Cornell's 3rd win of the year and Cornell is currently the worst team in the Ivy League. Charleston, Davidson, and Furman all have a better shot at winning the Southern Conference.

 

[Mistachill]

Last year Wofford started the season 7-6/0-2 in Div-1 games with their best victory coming against #94 South Carolina. They proceeded to go 19-1 the rest of the way in conference and in their conference tournament and ended up #73 in the RPI.

Not saying that will happen again this season, but sometimes I'm amazed how people only look at the surface and what's happening today and not the big picture. Though its true they didn't have a Cornell-like slip up last season, they also didn't have a victory against a team as highly ranked as GMU (#57 RPI) like they do this sesaon.

 

[4RunningRam]

Last year Wofford started the season 7-6/0-2 in Div-1 games with their best victory coming against #94 South Carolina. They proceeded to go 19-1 the rest of the way in conference and in their conference tournament and ended up #73 in the RPI.

Not saying that will happen again this season, but sometimes I'm amazed how people only look at the surface and what's happening today and not the big picture (though its true they didn't have a Cornell-like slip up last season).

Breaking News: Wofford is in the Southern Conference, not the Southeastern Conference. It's not like we handled Kentucky. Beating an average team from the SOCON on our home floor doesnt constitute a "huge win" for the program, or at least it shouldnt; I believe in VCU's ability much more than that and would like to think the bar's been set a little higher with wins VCU's notched over the past 4 or 5 years.

 

[morrisar]

Last year Wofford started the season 7-6/0-2 in Div-1 games with their best victory coming against #94 South Carolina. They proceeded to go 19-1 the rest of the way in conference and in their conference tournament and ended up #73 in the RPI.

Not saying that will happen again this season, but sometimes I'm amazed how people only look at the surface and what's happening today and not the big picture (though its true they didn't have a Cornell-like slip up last season).

Their losses at that point though were to 25-9 Pittsburgh, 21-15 Illinois, 22-12 Western Carolina, 28-9 Michigan State, and 24-13 Appalachian State with 16-15 Bradley being the outlier. They hadn't lost to Ivy League bottom dog 3-9 Cornell on a neutral court.

 

[Pavarotti]

Any year that starts conference play with 5 teams in the top 100, 9 in the top 200, and no one in the bottom 300 RPI-wise is what I would call an "up year" for the CAA, at least an "as good" year.

Regarding Wofford. They returned 4 out of 5 starters from a team that went 15-3 (and then won 3 more in their conference tournament) in the SoCon last year. They lost a close game to Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament. They return the conference player of the year. Their losses this season have been at Minnesota, at Clemson, vs Georgetown (Charleston Classic), at Xavier (3OT), at South Carolina and @VCU. They also have questionable losses at home against Air Force (OT), and the loss to Cornell. They have a quality win over Mason.

Is it far-fetched to think this team is ready to make a run through the SoCon? I don't think so. I will agree that it will be no easy task this year, as Davidson and Charleston have also looked good against good competition.

All this aside, why bring it up now? This comment was made a week ago, and there were already threads on the Wofford game.

 

[Mistachill]

And like I added to my post, they hadn't beaten anyone ranked as high as GMU either at this point last year. So what's your ultimate point, they suck because they slipped up against Cornell and that guarantees this isn't going to be a quality win?

Last year Wofford started the season 7-6/0-2 in Div-1 games with their best victory coming against #94 South Carolina. They proceeded to go 19-1 the rest of the way in conference and in their conference tournament and ended up #73 in the RPI.

Not saying that will happen again this season, but sometimes I'm amazed how people only look at the surface and what's happening today and not the big picture (though its true they didn't have a Cornell-like slip up last season).

Their losses at that point though were to 25-9 Pittsburgh, 21-15 Illinois, 22-12 Western Carolina, 28-9 Michigan State, and 24-13 Appalachian State with 16-15 Bradley being the outlier. They hadn't lost to Ivy League bottom dog 3-9 Cornell on a neutral court.

 

[4RunningRam]

Wofford basically being the same team as last year went 15-3 in SOCON play last year. I do not think what Coach Smart is saying is that far fetched.

Hey, I'm certainly glad they won. They absolutely needed to; it was a necessary win. But the same old "spin" of marketing it as a "huge win for the program" is just a bit of a reach in my opinion: it's Wofford for crying out loud. File it away as another W and celebrate it modestly, but to make it something more than that feels like more spin in an attempt to attone for some of the glaring deficiencies noticable in the several games leading up to (and even including) that game..

You cant even listen to the post-game radio commentary anymore without feeling like every win was a win against Duke and every loss was... a loss to Duke. Truth: VCU beats some bad teams when they should and loses to some mediocre teams when they shouldnt. They also beat some big ticket teams when they're least expected to (Maryland, Duke, UCLA, etc): let's not cheapen those experiences by dubbing wins over SOCON schools are "huge for the program". VCU's beyond that and has accomplished enough to safely claim as much and expect more. We know the huge wins when they occur and dont need the spin to differentiate.

 

[Mistachill]

“That’s a big, big win for this team,” coach Shaka Smart said. “Many people might not know about Wofford, but that’s a team that will win 20-plus games and have a great chance of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. I’m proud of the way our guys pulled together tonight.”

Tell me how you pulled all of that out of this quote? Don't you think you're embellishing a bit to prove a predetermined point?

Wofford basically being the same team as last year went 15-3 in SOCON play last year. I do not think what Coach Smart is saying is that far fetched.

Hey, I'm certainly glad they won. They absolutely needed to; it was a necessary win. But the same old "spin" of marketing it as a "huge win for the program" is just a bit of a reach in my opinion: it's Wofford for crying out loud. File it away as another W and celebrate it modestly, but to make it something more than that feels like more spin in an attempt to attone for some of the glaring deficiencies noticable in the several games leading up to (and even including) that game..

You cant even listen to the post-game radio commentary anymore without feeling like every win was a win against Duke and every loss was... a loss to Duke. Truth: VCU beats some bad teams when they should and loses to some mediocre teams when they shouldnt. They also beat some big ticket teams when they're least expected to (Maryland, Duke, UCLA, etc): let's not cheapen those experiences by dubbing wins over SOCON schools are "huge for the program". VCU's beyond that and has accomplished enough to safely claim as much and expect more. We know the huge wins when they occur and dont need the spin to differentiate.