W&M on ESPN

[wade moore]

And here is a shameless gloating/excitement post.

Those of you who watched Sportscenter this morning saw the highlight of W&M knocking off VCU last night in the semi's of the CAA Tournament.

I have been going to W&M home games (and some away) for about 10 years. In that time we have one exactly ONE CAA Tourney game. In the 20+ years (I'm not sure exactly when we joined, around 1985) in the CAA we have one THREE tourney games.

This year we went in as the #5 seed. We were a last second 25 ft. 3-pointer away from being upset (again) by the #12 seed on Friday. Then we played the #4 (our heated rival ODU) on Saturday and hit a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left and win the game. We then played #1 VCU last night and hit a 2 with about .1 second left on the shot clock with 3 seconds on the game clock to win.

We've won three games by a total of 5 points.

It's incredible.

We now play tonight on ESPN at 7pm to get an auto-bid to the NCAA Tourney.

To put the importance in perspective - W&M is one of 5 teams (with Army, The Citadel, Northwestern, and St. Francis of New York) that have been in Div. I for 50+ years and never been in the NCAA Tourney.

I'm SO stoked. Everyone should watch us play George Mason tonight (yes, the team that made it to the final four in 2006) for a chance at history.

[MIJB#19]

I still think that 2-pointer with 3 seconds left in the game and 1 left on the shot clock was amazing.

[Subby]

Go Tribe Go Tribe Give 'em Hell Tribe!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

And here is a shameless gloating/excitement post.

Those of you who watched Sportscenter this morning saw the highlight of W&M knocking off VCU last night in the semi's of the CAA Tournament.

I have been going to W&M home games (and some away) for about 10 years. In that time we have one exactly ONE CAA Tourney game. In the 20+ years (I'm not sure exactly when we joined, around 1985) in the CAA we have one THREE tourney games.

This year we went in as the #5 seed. We were a last second 25 ft. 3-pointer away from being upset (again) by the #12 seed on Friday. Then we played the #4 (our heated rival ODU) on Saturday and hit a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left and win the game. We then played #1 VCU last night and hit a 2 with about .1 second left on the shot clock with 3 seconds on the game clock to win.

We've won three games by a total of 5 points.

It's incredible.

We now play tonight on ESPN at 7pm to get an auto-bid to the NCAA Tourney.

To put the importance in perspective - W&M is one of 5 teams (with Army, The Citadel, Northwestern, and St. Francis of New York) that have been in Div. I for 50+ years and never been in the NCAA Tourney.

I'm SO stoked. Everyone should watch us play George Mason tonight (yes, the team that made it to the final four in 2006) for a chance at history.

Hope your team wins. It's always tough to be a fan during the bumpy stretches, but it makes it all the more rewarding when something like this happens to your team. I'm hopeful that Mizzou can do something similar (4 wins in 4 days), because that's all we have to hope for this year. :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

Good luck to William & Mary. I hope they win for ya, Wade.

I had no idea that there were still schools that hadn't made it to the tournament in over 50 years of play. I especially would've just assumed that Army and Northwestern would've made it at least once. That's a pretty interesting fact there. Here's hoping that W&M gets out of that "exclusive" club.

[wade moore]

I still think that 2-pointer with 3 seconds left in the game and 1 left on the shot clock was amazing.Yeah - that's one of the plays on the Sportscenter clip.

You should have seen the 3-pointers from the other two games ;).

[sterlingice]

If I get a chance to watch them tonight, I'll definitely check it out. Good luck to W&M :)

SI

[Radii]

I had no idea that there were still schools that hadn't made it to the tournament in over 50 years of play. I especially would've just assumed that Army and Northwestern would've made it at least once. That's a pretty interesting fact there. Here's hoping that W&M gets out of that "exclusive" club.


Same here, I assumed that everyone had at some point by now.

Good luck Wade, I'll hopefully get a chance to watch!

[Subby]

I don't think I missed a game while I was there. The time we played Duke we just kept screaming HURLEY IS A VIRGIN and FUCK YOU LAETTNER YOU HOMO.

When Navy visited we screamed at the mascot FUCK YOU GOAT.

One of the few times our game was televised we made a sign that read NOBODY BEATS OUR SMALL, COX and PETERS.

Unbelievably creative we were. Good times!

[Pumpy Tudors]

On a somewhat related note, New Orleans lost to South Alabama in the Sun Belt quarterfinals yesterday. The only UNO men's game I attended was against South Alabama, probably back in 2001 or so. I just kept screaming FUCK SUBBY while I was there.

[QuikSand]

In that time we have one exactly ONE CAA Tourney game. In the 20+ years (I'm not sure exactly when we joined, around 1985) in the CAA we have one THREE tourney games.

If you win it all, an endowment to the English department is surely in order.

[Pumpy Tudors]

lol fuckin kickstand

[wade moore]

I don't think I missed a game while I was there. The time we played Duke we just kept screaming HURLEY IS A VIRGIN and FUCK YOU LAETTNER YOU HOMO.

When Navy visited we screamed at the mascot FUCK YOU GOAT.

One of the few times our game was televised we made a sign that read NOBODY BEATS OUR SMALL, COX and PETERS.

Unbelievably creative we were. Good times!
I've been to every home game for the last 8 years and a few away games here and there. I've also been to every tourney game for the last 5 years.

Anyway. Just an incredible feeling right now that we even have the chance.

[wade moore]

lol fuckin kickstandI think he has an alert that comes up when I make a grammar mistake.

That thing must buzz constantly.

[wade moore]

Article in the Washington Post from Feinstein:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/09/AR2008030902027.html

It has been 25 years since Jim Valvano coined the phrase "survive and advance" during his North Carolina State team's miraculous journey to the national championship. These days, it has become a cliche that every coach in every sport uses after any kind of postseason victory.

Sunday, at creaky old Richmond Coliseum, the term was not only apt, it was the only way to explain the manner in which George Mason and William & Mary advanced to Monday's Colonial Athletic Association championship game.

The Patriots made four field goals in the second half -- four-- and still beat UNC Wilmington going away, 53-41, in about as ugly an offensive basketball game as you can possibly imagine. The fifth-seeded Tribe, which appeared on the verge of being blown out by top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth on a number of occasions, got two big-time shots from Laimis Kisielius in the final minute and stunned VCU and its raucous fans, 56-54, to advance to a conference final for the first time in 25 years.

"When you get to this stage in postseason play, you have to be prepared to get punched in the mouth and get up off the floor," said William & Mary Coach Tony Shaver, who has taken more than a few shots during his five seasons at the school. "I thought our guys responded well every time we had to today."

William & Mary is now in the same place where George Mason was a year ago -- except that the Tribe has never been to the NCAA tournament. It has won three games, each in the final seconds, to get to the final. The Patriots arrived here a year ago reeling from a 23-point drubbing at Northeastern that ended their regular season and promptly became Mason circa March 2006 for three nights, before coming up just shy in the final against VCU.

Entering this year's event, William & Mary had lost six of its last seven games and was lucky to escape Friday against 12th-seeded Georgia State.

"Postseason is like a fresh start," said Kisielius, a Lithuanian who played two years of prep ball in Charlottesville before traveling east to Williamsburg for college. "When you're a senior, you understand that every game can be your last game. You want to play as long as you can."

Mason's key seniors, Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell, will not end their careers here, regardless of Monday's outcome. But after starting on a Final Four team two years ago, neither of them wants to finish in the NIT. Sunday, Wilmington decided it wasn't going to let Thomas decide the game, double-teaming any time the ball got close to him in the low post.

That created space in the lane for Campbell, who took advantage of it in the second half, constantly drawing fouls as he drove to the basket -- he made 9 of 14 free throws in the last 20 minutes -- and scored 11 of his team's 22 points.

"My shot wasn't dropping, so I had to do something to try to score," he said. "If Will's man had come to help I'd have dropped it to him, but he never did."

Mason won this game at the defensive end of the floor. It had no choice because with Dre Smith on the bench because of a sore knee, John Vaughan's shooting touch absent, Thomas double-teamed and Campbell just 3 of 11 from the field himself, the only option was to stop the Seahawks.

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The Patriots did that because Coach Jim Larranaga decided to front wide-body center Vladimir Kuljanin because he had consistently hurt his team in Wilmington's two regular season wins both by scoring and passing the ball from the low post. Reserve Chris Fleming, who chipped in with some critical offense (3-of-3 shooting) helped admirably on Kuljanin, and the entire team did a good job of extending to Wilmington's perimeter shooters, the result being that the Seahawks, the best shooting team in the CAA during the regular season, made just 28 percent.

"They had a great defensive game plan," UNCW Coach Benny Moss said. "They fronted the post extremely well and attacked our shooters. Our effort was good enough to win, but our execution wasn't."

The best offensive execution in the building, by far, was that of William & Mary. The Tribe was a step slower than VCU at every position, and when the Rams came after them defensively, they struggled for long stretches.

"If we didn't have a couple of five- or six-minute stretches in a game where we didn't score, it wouldn't be us," said Shaver, who was 38-77 in his first four seasons but has patiently put together a solid basketball team. "We scored when we absolutely had to."

William & Mary's last drought lasted just less than six minutes and allowed VCU to turn a 51-43 deficit into a 51-51 tie. It seemed certain that Eric Maynor, who always seems to make plays when VCU most needs them, would make a play late and save his team again. Only it didn't happen that way. Kisielius drilled a three-pointer with 49 seconds left, only to watch Jamal Shuler answer it 11 seconds later with a falling down fadeaway that somehow found the net.

Shaver ordered a clear-out for Kisielius, and he dribbled the clock down against Michael Anderson before calmly hitting a short bank shot with three seconds to go for the game winner.

"It was just my turn," Kisielius said with a smile, referencing the fact that teammates David Schneider and Nathan Mann had hit winners the first two nights. "Coach called the play for me. I can't give you details though; we may need to use it again."

They very well might. Anyone who thinks George Mason is now a lock to win the championship is mistaken. A team on a roll such as William & Mary, a team that knows no one expects it to win, is a dangerous team.

Ask Michigan State, North Carolina or Connecticut what it was like facing Mason two years ago in March.

That said, Mason is where it wants to be. The seniors on this team have been to the Final Four, but they have never won a CAA title. They are also keenly aware that the only way they'll get into the 65-team field next Sunday is to win Monday night.

"Every team starts every season with one goal: to get to the Big Dance," Larranaga said. "We know now we're one game away from that."

It wasn't pretty, but no one from Mason cared about aesthetics.

"How many [field goals] did we have?" Larranaga asked when his team's second half offense came up. "Four? Really?"

Yes, four. But statistics simply don't matter at this time of year. All that matters is winning.

The Patriots need to survive one more night to advance to Selection Sunday with their dance ticket punched. It wasn't easy Sunday night. It won't be easy Monday night. Then again, when you get to March, it isn't supposed to be easy.

[King of New York]

I honestly never thought I'd see the day when W&M would make the NCAA tournament. We seemed to be 8-20 each and every year.

It would be great if we made it to the tourney. After the insanity of President Gene Nichol's abrupt resignation, the school really could use something to cheer for.

[wade moore]

I honestly never thought I'd see the day when W&M would make the NCAA tournament. We seemed to be 8-20 each and every year.

It would be great if we made it to the tourney. After the insanity of President Gene Nichol's abrupt resignation, the school really could use something to cheer for.


Totally agreed. Sounds like there is finally a buzz on campus - are you seeing that? Apparently they bought 500 student tickets and they went on sale this morning and sold out.

That may not seem like a big deal to many, but on a normal game at HOME I think we have maybe 200 students there.

[King of New York]

Yes, there's some buzz building now. The VCU win has really gotten people's attention. I was at a kids' birthday party yesterday--one of the parents was keeping track of the game score for the rest of us on his cell phone.

[wade moore]

Yes, there's some buzz building now. The VCU win has really gotten people's attention. I was at a kids' birthday party yesterday--one of the parents was keeping track of the game score for the rest of us on his cell phone.


Good to hear. Apparently the best team we've had in the last 15-20 years was during my freshman year (97-98) and I knew absolutely NOTHING about it - and I'm a sports nut.

[korme]

Im watching, Radii should run this team

[Lathum]

is Wade at the game?

[Eaglesfan27]

is Wade at the game?

Yes. He's been at all of their games during the CAA tourney (as well as all of their regular season home games, I believe.)


It's been an entertaining game to watch so far, I was worried about the team early, but they have responded well.

[korme]

Assuming, he said he's been to every tourney game for the past 5 years

[Karlifornia]

William & Mary has always served as one of the butts of my jokes when discussing college hoops.

"Yeah, but who'd they beat?"

"They beat William & Mary, and William didn't play."

[Young Drachma]

Seems their Final Four run didn't really help Mason recruit? It'd be good to see William & Mary get through, even if it's fun to watch...it sure devalues the regular season. But I'm most being facetious since I don't care about that.

[molson]

One of the fun things about FOFC - this little thread gave me a reason to watch the second half and have some kind of rooting interest.

[Karlifornia]

Well, they're down 8. Mason ball, under 8 timeout. Gotta keep on fighting. Mason is starting to cool off, though.

[Lathum]

Love to see if they have a run in them.

I hope they make the tourny just so we can watch wade all week.

[Lathum]

brutal turnover there

[Subby]

We had no answer for their 6'7" inside force. You know you're in trouble when that's the case.

[wade moore]

We had no answer for their 6'7" inside force. You know you're in trouble when that's the case.

Yup.

The one guy we had that could defend Will Thomas got into foul trouble and played very limited minutes.

Thanks for rooting us on guys. Wish you could have seen a better version of this team, but we rely on our 3's quite a bit and our best 3-point shooter (Nathn Mann - #11) suddenly forgout how to shoot in the last 3 weeks.

It was a great run and this team should be proud - hopefully it is a good sign for our future.


Oh and yes, I was at the game - not in the student section though so you wouldn't have seen me on TV.

[wade moore]

Seems their Final Four run didn't really help Mason recruit? It'd be good to see William & Mary get through, even if it's fun to watch...it sure devalues the regular season. But I'm most being facetious since I don't care about that.

It's hard to say on Mason's recruiting. The recruits that really would have come in based off of that would be Freshmen now. They have some promising freshmen, but freshmen rarely make a serious impact in mid-major conferences.

I don't think it really devalues the regular season THAT much. W&M has a history of being very, very bad - but they were 5th place in the conference and only 2 or 3 games behind GMU in the standings. #2-5 was a very tight race down the stretch.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I got home too late to watch the game, but congrats to the Tribe on a good run. Maybe they'll make their first appearance in the big tournament next year.

[Young Drachma]

It's hard to say on Mason's recruiting. The recruits that really would have come in based off of that would be Freshmen now. They have some promising freshmen, but freshmen rarely make a serious impact in mid-major conferences.

I don't think it really devalues the regular season THAT much. W&M has a history of being very, very bad - but they were 5th place in the conference and only 2 or 3 games behind GMU in the standings. #2-5 was a very tight race down the stretch.

I was joking about the devaluing the regular season thing. I'll mock football fans who say that college basketball's regular season means nothing because teams are ::gasp:: allowed to lose and that the selection committee does things like actually consider the resumes of teams that aren't part of the SEC.

I think it's a great story and kudos to them for making such a run. Hopefully it's the sign of things to come for them and congrats to the Mason seniors for not letting their careers end in the NIT, because that's where they were headed and they showed a lot of poise down the stretch to win that ballgame. I guess it helps when you've been Cinderella to know how to slay the wench when she shows up ready to crash your ball.

And I was just curious about Mason recruiting, had no idea who they had. I just thought with such a neat story and all, that it should've helped them. But I didn't think about the fact that they would've just be RS freshman this year. That gives context to whether they yielded a bounty or not. But the fact that they're going back proves they're no flash in the pan or one-hit wonder, since kids are still around from those years...and that makes me happy.

[MIJB#19]

:( Bummer, Wade. What are the odds on an at-large big fot the NCAA bracket? one in a million?

[Eaglesfan27]

:( Bummer, Wade. What are the odds on an at-large big fot the NCAA bracket? one in a million?

W&M has no chance at an at large bid. Virginia Commonwealth, the regular season conference champ and a team with a 24-7 record has a fair chance at being one of the few CAA teams in the last few decades to get an at-large bid.

[korme]

DC, they wouldn't even be RS freshman, just reg. freshman. By the time March Madness has rolled around, most recruits for that season have signed - the next year (last) is when they'd have a chance to promote the "Come to GM! Final Four '06!"

[wade moore]

W&M has no chance at an at large bid. Virginia Commonwealth, the regular season conference champ and a team with a 24-7 record has a fair chance at being one of the few CAA teams in the last few decades to get an at-large bid.

EF27 surprising me with his CAA knowledge! Yeah - EF27 has it right. VCU is the only one with a snowball's chance in hell of getting into the NCAA Tourney as an at-large and at this point that chance is looking smaller and smaller.

I suppose the chances of maybe ODU getting invited to the NIT or CBI are decent, especially if VCU gets the at-large bid - but that's probably about it.


DC, they wouldn't even be RS freshman, just reg. freshman. By the time March Madness has rolled around, most recruits for that season have signed - the next year (last) is when they'd have a chance to promote the "Come to GM! Final Four '06!"

Yeah - that's what I was trying to say and didn't say very well. The Final Four run was 2006. Recruiting is basically done when that's over. So in 2006-2007 High School season is when Mason could start saying "Did you see us kickin' ass on ESPN?!". Then those kids would be Freshmen now. But even on top of that, often a lot of the recruiting is done when the kids are Juniors - so you may be too late and really latching on to kids that will enter college this fall.

[Eaglesfan27]

EF27 surprising me with his CAA knowledge! Yeah - EF27 has it right. VCU is the only one with a snowball's chance in hell of getting into the NCAA Tourney as an at-large and at this point that chance is looking smaller and smaller.




Blame or credit goes to College Hoops 2k7. My dynasty in that game included a few years of success with Drexel which got me interested in the conference and I've followed it a bit this year as a result.

[wade moore]

Blame or credit goes to College Hoops 2k7. My dynasty in that game included a few years of success with Drexel which got me interested in the conference and I've followed it a bit this year as a result.

It's a fun league to follow imo - of course having a 2.5 mile drive to home games along with 3 other schools being in the same state helps.

[Young Drachma]

DC, they wouldn't even be RS freshman, just reg. freshman. By the time March Madness has rolled around, most recruits for that season have signed - the next year (last) is when they'd have a chance to promote the "Come to GM! Final Four '06!"

Makes sense. I didn't do the math on that that it would take a year to pimp the Final Four.