And then there were eight: VCU advances to Elite Eight in dramatic fashion
A Bradford Burgess layup on an inbounds play with seven seconds to go extended Virginia Commonwealth’s Cinderella run as the Rams knocked off Florida State 72-71 in overtime in the Southwest Region semifinals Friday night.
The Rams (27-11) led by as many as nine points in the second half but went ice-cold in the final four minutes of regulation. A Chris Singleton three-pointer tied the game at 65 with 46 seconds to go and ultimately sent the game to overtime. Continue reading “And then there were eight: VCU advances to Elite Eight in dramatic fashion” »
Richmond falls to #1 seed Kansas in Sweet 16
Richmond fell to top-seeded Kansas, 77-57, in the NCAA Sweet 16 Friday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Senior Justin Harper led Richmond with 22 points.
The hot-shooting Kansas took the wind out of Richmond’s sails early, with a 14-2 run to take a 31-9 lead with 6:35 remaining in first frame. Richmond would get to within 37-22 after a Harper three but trailed at the break 41-22. Continue reading “Richmond falls to #1 seed Kansas in Sweet 16” »
The AFP on WREL: Sweet (16) Dreams
AFP editor Chris Graham talks Virginia sports on WREL-1450AM’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan.”
The segment begins with a look back and look ahead at VCU and Richmond and their runs in the NCAA Tournament. Can either of the two surprise Sweet 16 teams be Final Four-bound?
Chris and Jim then break down the rest of the Sweet 16. Who will make it to Houston?
Chris then reports on the exciting three-game college baseball series from the weekend pitting two top-five teams in UVa. and Florida State. Chris was there for all three one-run, extra-inning affairs, and thinks he might have seen two of the teams that will be playing in Omaha in June.
Sweet 16: Richmond 2, Big East 2
You read that right. Our state’s capital city has all of two NCAA teams, both of which made the NCAA Tournament field of 68, and both of which fought their way into the Sweet 16 with a combined record of 5-0.
Meanwhile, the entirety of the Big East, a 16-team superconference stretching from the Northeast practically into the Southern Hemisphere, which had a record 11 teams make the tourney field, will have, like the City of Richmond, two teams still alive in the Sweet 16 later this week.
(And those came from second-round matchups featuring a pair of Big East teams of which the winner had to be from the Big East. Otherwise …)
That it’s not out of the realm of the average basketball fan’s imagination that neither of the teams from Richmond – the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth – could have even been in the NCAAs to begin with is what makes March Madness so interesting.
UR, I thought, was a lock with its 24-win regular season in the respected Atlantic 10, but even after winning the A-10 conference tournament the Spiders earned just a #12 seed, an indication that the poo-bahs had Richmond pegged for another postseason destination without the automatic bid.
VCU, meanwhile, was not even part of the conversation heading into Selection Sunday. After limping down the stretch of the 2010-2011 season to a fourth-place finish in the CAA, the Rams seemed destined for the NIT before hearing their names called for the inaugural First Four, a set of play-in games featuring the final four at-large teams to get berths into the NCAA field.
VCU dominated Southern Cal from the Pac 10 in the first round, then beat Georgetown from the Big East on Friday night to earn a matchup with the Southwest Region’s third seed, Purdue of the Big 10. The Rams, the #11 seed, played like they were the big boys in a convincing 94-76 win that lands them in San Antonio for a 9:55 p.m. Friday tipoff.
Playing the game before them: Richmond, which upset fifth-seeded Vanderbilt on Thursday and then decimated Morehead State on Saturday.
VCU gets another Cinderella in its Sweet 16 matchup in the form of #10 seed Florida State of the ACC, which was slighted on Selection Sunday with just four bids, but has a tournament-high three teams left in the field after the first weekend.
Richmond’s test will be the toughest of the two teams from the capital city to date – top-seed Kansas.
Here’s to our Cinderellas not realizing it’s close to midnight a little while longer, and having the champion of the Southwest also be the city champs of Richmond for 2010-2011.
Rams paste Purdue, headed to Sweet 16
For the past week, all the talk has been about how the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball team was out to prove they belong in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
After three decisive and impressive victories, the statement is now, How far can the Black & Gold dance?
On Sunday evening, the 11th-seeded Rams etched their name in school history with the first-ever Sweet 16 berth after throttling third-seeded Purdue, 94-76, in front of over 18,000 people in the United Center. Continue reading “Rams paste Purdue, headed to Sweet 16” »
The AFP on WREL: Sweet (16) Dreams
Posted by afp on March 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment
The segment begins with a look back and look ahead at VCU and Richmond and their runs in the NCAA Tournament. Can either of the two surprise Sweet 16 teams be Final Four-bound? Continue reading “The AFP on WREL: Sweet (16) Dreams” »
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