{"id":2203,"date":"2011-03-07T22:46:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T03:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2203"},"modified":"2011-03-07T22:47:15","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T03:47:15","slug":"oduh-wins-caa-3bids4caa-goes-down-fighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2203","title":{"rendered":"ODuh wins CAA; #3bids4CAA goes down fighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s the game story from the Richmond Times-Dispatch<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 But here’s the JMUSB angles on the CAA tourney.<\/p>\n

The Good<\/strong> – The game was incredible! You’ll be hard-pressed to find a game this whole championship week that comes close to this one for atmosphere, level of play, and sheer intensity.\u00a0 Unfortunately, VCU may be doomed to bookend their season with NIT berths (pre and post seasons) and sending GheorghetheBlog’s season-long dream of #3bids4CAA down in flames, but it wasn’t without an incredible effort to comeback from 18 down early in the 2nd half to close within\u00a0 a single point before the Monarchs pulled it out.\u00a0 Was it possibly even enough to keep the dream alive though?\u00a0 Could be, CAA Commish (Senior Doofus) Tom Yeager said before the game the NCAA told him VCU was in consideration win or lose.\u00a0 But the crowd was fabulous and for all the yakking from Hempstead to Wilmington (with most of the loudest whining coming from Fairfax) about moving the tourney out of Richmond, tonight was awesome.<\/p>\n

The Bad –<\/strong>\u00a0as in badass, did you see the elbow the VCU kid Henry took from ODU’s manchild Frank Hassell?!\u00a0 And then returned to the game with stitches INSIDE his mouth and glassy eyes.\u00a0 Great toughness that defined this game.\u00a0 That said, are you friggin’ kidding me VCU training\/medical staff.\u00a0 I’m sitting on my couch and when they first showed the replay, I did a full Chris Tucker as Smokey in Friday “You Got knocked the -uck out!” to my unamused wife.\u00a0 Then when they showed him on the bench before he returned, it looked like the poor kid had no earthly idea where he was.\u00a0 You’ll never convince me he did not have a concussion and had no business even back on the court, much less IN THE GAME.<\/p>\n

The Ugly – <\/strong>The CAA.\u00a0 I’ve been bitchin’ for a while now about the shoddy, provincial, bush-league, low-rent, d-list nature of the poor little old Colonial and tonight they nearly screwed up<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

CAA Production Truck<\/p><\/div>\n

their one big shot on a national stage with that absolute debacle of a smokeshow or whatever the hell ruined the floor, nearly ruined a VCU player’s ankle, and clearly caused the Rams to play very nervous on that end of the floor in the first five minutes or so.\u00a0 Look, the CAA is a proud conference, especially here in the Commonwealth.\u00a0 It has served Virginia’s collection of acronymn schools well over the last few decades and has at least made an effort (football) to upgrade it’s status the last couple of seasons.\u00a0 But this is pure alpaca shit.\u00a0 It actually makes the ACC’s Jefferson Pilot\/Raycom Sports, league-killing, Food Lion, redneck production look downright classy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tonight’s HUGE upgrade in announcers only served to drive home the point.\u00a0 ESPN’s national team doesn’t even know the CAA as well as our regulars, but they clearly did their homework, actually love and watch a ton of college hoops, and added to the excitement in the building throughout.\u00a0 I’m going to leave the details of my feelings on the Conference’s LARGE questions and issues for the silly season approaching, but suffices to say it’s time for the Dukes and Monarchs to make the calls to Boone, Atlanta, and Newark, ditch the old rivalries and cute pep bands,\u00a0and set out for “greener” pastures.<\/p>\n