[Hi its BenParticipant]

So I was thinking over soccer practice about the whole VCU thing and I came up with a question.. First off, are there any people on here who watched VCU play most of the season?

If so, I was wondering what they didn’t do during the season that they are doing so well now. Were they not shooting the ball well? Did they not have good team chemistry? Is a player stepping up huge for them during the tourney that wasn’t that great during the year? Or have they all stepped up?

 

Just wondering, because we don’t see runs like they’ve had from barely getting in to the tournament.. to the Final Four.

[ghettosermonParticipant]

 

 

Having graduated from George Mason I watch CAA games often, watched all the Mason games and a good chunk of most other CAA teams. Obviously I can’t be foolish and call that VCU would ever play this well, although I did have ODU in my final 4, wrong CAA team lol, but yeah I have a few thoughts on VCU. First of all they had a very solid season in the CAA which we all see know is a top mid major conference. 12-6 is respectable considering they played ODU 3 times, and Mason twice. Most of their losses were not bad losses. 5 point loss to the then 24th ranked Tennessee, 1 point OT loss to South Florida, 12 point loss to Richmond in which they played a great 2nd half, 3 point loss to UAB. Really they only had 2 bad losses at Georgia State and North Eastern. I can say with confidence that the biggest difference in the tournament is the play of Mr. Joey Rodriguez. The crazy thing is VCU in the tournament isn’t playing much different than they did all season. Guys like Skeen, Burgess, Rozell pretty much played well the whole season. The guy who struggled for most of the season was Joey Rodriguez. He digressed big time from last season which was surprising since he’s a senior, but I understand as last year he fell in love too much with throwing oops to Larry Sanders that he forgot how to play the point. Back to my point for most of the year Rodriguez was not playing well. Taking ridiculous out of range 3 pointers, constantly trying to force in passes he shouldn’t be. This whole tournament he has been on fire though. Playing with eyes behind his head, extending the dribble for the pass, I commend him for his great effort. I really think the media sparked this run. Guys like Bilas saying VCU was garbage really lit a fire. They have 3 seniors on this team 3 of their best players, Joey Rod, Jamie Skeen, and Brandon Rozell. It’s true they thought their college careers were over, I really feel that making the tournament gave them the feeling that they were getting a 2nd chance at life. A guy like Jamie Skeen was probably looking at a career in Europe but now realized that a great tournament run and he could regain some of that buzz coming out of high school as Mr. North Carolina. I am just shocked because VCU is playing much like they have all year except Joey Rodriguez has finally put the things he learned from Maynor together. The thing is this team is built exactly like the GMU final 4 team. Joey Rod the sparkplug like Tony Skinn, Rozzell silky smooth perimeter game like Folarin Campbell, Bradford Burgess sharp shooting and willingness to play down low like Lamar Butler, Ed Nixon super defender like Gabe Norwood, and Skeen has held it down inside against much taller guys like Jai Lewis and Will Thomas did. I really feel like they copied that GMU mode of attack and it has worked. As a side note I really enjoy reading tweets from former Mason players like Folarin Campbell supporting VCU. The CAA is a tight nit family. I really believe that this run validates the quality of the CAA. The CAA has constantly produced teams who have done damage in the tournament. I will also address those saying they shouldn’t have gotten in, even before a team like UAB. The element that you have to consider with the committee is the eye test. The committee felt VCU passed the eye test so I think that pushed them over. Also while some of the other teams did nothing relevant out of conference VCU beat UCLA and Wichita State and played tough against Tennessee and Richmond. They also won against both George Mason and ODU who were tourny teams and top 30 in the rankings by the end. I also think they considered that VCU had 22 wins last year as well and didn’t get an at large bid. What did they do, they made a great statement by winning the CBI tournament. All in all so proud of VCU and the CAA for really flexing their muscle. I always say it but the CAA always has quality teams. They pick up those 6-7” PFs and 6-3” SG’s who are highly skilled but don’t get big offers by bigger schools. What you end up with are a ton of skilled players with a chip on their shoulders. Gary Neal is a perfect example of this from Towson. For people who don’t think the CAA is a quality league just look at Gary Neal at Towson. Neal was like Kemba Walker at Towson, averaged 18.3 as a freshman, 18 as a sophomore, 26.1 as a junior, and 25.3 as a Senior. With one of the most dominant scorers in the nation you’d think in a mid major like the CAA he’d lead them to some special years, what did he do his last two years led Towson to a 23-42 record and a consistent bottom dweller in the CAA. I think that proves the quality of play in the CAA. The top scorer in the nation couldn’t even get his team to .500. I can say with confidence that had ODU not been nipped by Butler at the buzzer they could easily have been in the position Butler is in today. GMU I knew wasn’t built to be great this year. Played admirably but had zero size and were not a great shooting team.

[B FreeParticipant]

I went to the USF VCU game and we beat them in OT by one. What I saw then was a team that started slow but dominated the second half, even though we won they outscored us 32-22 in the second half. I went back and looked and they win the second half of most of their games, in the tourny they won all but Kansas and FSU in the second but they kept it within 4. They were slow starters. In the tourny they have been able to not get behind by as much in the first and keep that second half surge and finish games strong.

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