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RICHMOND, Va. – Let’s take this opportunity to tip our cap to the Atlantic 10 Conference schedule-makers. Some might decry the short Thursday-Saturday turnaround, but this week the Rams will welcome the opportunity to get back to basketball.
In football, ESPN has an entire week to overanalyze why Tim Tebow didn’t run more than four snaps in the wildcat. There are six days between games to stew on a loss, eight if you live on Skip Bayless’ planet. Baseball players are pretty lucky in this respect. Whatever horror Tuesday wreaks, the sun will come up Wednesday and bring another ballgame with a chance for redemption.
That’s why VCU (16-4, 4-1 A-10) should be happy about Saturday’s game against La Salle at the Verizon Wireless Arena, which will tip less than 48 hours after the Rams heartbreaking 82-74 overtime loss to Richmond. That’s not a lot of opportunity to irrationally dissect the season. It’s human nature to act like this, but a quick turnaround affords a chance to turn the page. It’s a long season, and one loss is just that. So the Rams aren’t going to sweep the A-10 season. Other than that, what did we learn? That VCU is pretty unlucky when it comes to the opposition heaving desperation 28-foot 3-pointers with less than two seconds remaining on the road on weekdays against players whose names begin with a consonant? Terrific. Next!
“We’ve just got to move on quick and get ready for Saturday,” junior Rob Brandenberg said Thursday night. “We play in less than 48 hours. We’ll be able to do something about it then.”
In my seven previous seasons covering the Rams, six ended with some type of postseason, including four NCAA tournaments. All seven years included at least 19 wins; In essence, seven great seasons. In those seven years, I’ve seen the Rams lose at the buzzer at George Mason (on Valentine’s Day) and to a bad James Madison team (which led then-JMU Coach Dean Keener to commandeer the PA mic and blast some adrenaline-fueled plea for more fan support into the rafters — it didn’t work, by the way).
There have been head-scratching losses at Hampton, UNC Wilmington, William & Mary, East Carolina, Western Michigan and Towson. This year’s Richmond team is better than any from that quintet. Each loss caused us to obsess about basketball minutiae. We felt the same after each loss as do when we learn that Carson Daly still has a TV show: angry and disappointed, with an overriding desire to drive to Connecticut.
VCU Coach Shaka Smart says the Rams’ loss to Richmond will test his team’s maturity.
Look, by March, those games were long forgotten because the Rams picked themselves up and got back to work at Franklin Street Gym. They turned the page. Heck, in VCU’s Final Four season, the Rams lost at a sub-par South Florida team and were thumped at Richmond. It’s college basketball. It happens. Duke was absolutely pulverized by Miami (Fla.) the other night. And, as much as I enjoy piling on Duke (never gets old), the Blue Devils are still a very good basketball team; maybe the best team in the country. That doesn’t change.
La Salle, which just stunned ninth-ranked Butler Wednesday, doesn’t care what VCU did at Richmond Thursday, so the Rams shouldn’t either. They need to be ready to guard the peach baskets at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
The A-10 is an incredibly competitive league. The championship teams don’t always avoid a tough road loss – it happens to nearly every one – but they don’t let Wednesday’s (Thursday, in this case) loss beat them Saturday.
“We’re in good position,” VCU Coach Shaka Smart said. “We could’ve been in better position. It is what it is though. We’ve got to move on. I think emotionally, there are ups and downs, highs and lows to any season. We’ve had a lot of highs of late. The Saint Joe’s game we were on the flipside. We were down late and obviously we came back and forced overtime and won. So, it’s the maturity of the team and the guys on the team that’s going to dictate how you’re going to move on.”
Cue the Silver Bullet Band.
AROUND THE HORNS 
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:12:26
OK, we have a great coach, but he learned a lesson he’ll carry with him for the rest of his career. Up by 3 with 11 seconds. Havoc them out of 4 seconds, foul them. Get it inbounds, 6 seconds left…go to the line and hit one…up by 3 or 2 again with 6 seconds left. Then havoc them without a foul. Game over. No way you ever let a team that’s raining 3’s down on you let them have a shot at it. Now we roll. He did a great job of adjusting and going from the 3 to the inside and we had the game won. Yeah, Troy’s foul was bad, but that’s on the player. The end game was snot. Guarantee it won’t happen again under Shaka.
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:17:15
That was no desperation 3 pointer, it was a good shot by a good shooter off of a good screen. The shot should never have been allowed to be taken. Gillen even said before the play. Take 4 secs off and foul. If they hit 2 you got a TO left. Get it inbounds, get fouled and they have maybe 4 secs to get up the court against HAVOC. Easy call.
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:22:19
The play started with 12 seconds left. Foul four seconds in and there are eight seconds left. Wouldn’t take Richmond four seconds to foul. I’m not giving Richmond the ball back with 6-7 seconds left and a chance to win.
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:38:16
Never ever let the other team have a shot at a 3 to tie when you can put them at the line with 2 at best and then you get to shoot and leave them maybe 5 seconds against a good defense. Any coach on the planet makes that call. If you’re gonna play em straight up and not foul, at least put some Havoc on them so they have to take a desperation shot rather than a shot out of their normal half court offense. This is not a love in. This is the place to call it like it is. Richmond is barely a top 100 RPI team and we gave them a game when we were 7 up with 42 seconds. We should be on a 14 game roll.
I’m a Rams crazy for the last 25 years. I’m not bashing. I’m just sayin what the deal was last night. We’d better hammer LaSalle tomorrow. We can’t rely on the 3 to live in the tourney. The 3 needs to come from good inside play and the fast break.
Now if we foul with 8 seconds left and they hit 2, we get it in and we shoot. If we get the ball in the right guy’s hands, we’re up by 3 again and they have to get thru us in 6 seconds…no time to get into their O or set a screen. If they hit the desperation 3 with someone in their face, they do. We’re way better when we take it to them and we sat back and let them run their O. Not the way VCU wins.
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:40:06
And Rich was so hot from the 3 line in the 2nd half, you can’t give them the opportunity in that situation.
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:48:11
And don’t talk about luck. That was a 23 footer by a great shooter (as good as Troy) out of a set offense off a good screen. Not a desperation 28 footer as said above. It was a great play that we allowed to happen. I’d take that play with TD to tie or win the game every time. Just can’t let em have the play.
I love the Rams, I repeat, but I know this game inside and out and when both coaches doing the game call who have had immense success say foul them, you gotta do it. We just sat back and didn’t even take time off the clock making them go through our press to get into their O. At least if you’re not gonna foul, HAVOC them to death to make them get their shot. Don’t lay back and depend on a D that couldn’t stop the 3 for the entire 2nd half against the 2nd best 3 shooting team in the A-10.
Jan 25, 2013 @ 21:59:50
Marty, you appear to be bucking for a guest blogger position.
Jan 26, 2013 @ 19:55:21
I’d gladly accept. I say it the way I see it. LETS STOMP LASALLE TONITE AND STAY IN THE TOP 20!
Jan 26, 2013 @ 07:28:06
How do I watch the VCUbasketball games online or TV? games Wishing you a blessed day. You are a blessing. Jo Alice
Jan 26, 2013 @ 08:43:38
If you go to the men’s basketball schedule page, TV listings are available for each game. We are no longer allowed to live stream nationally televised games, per our A-10 TV contract. You can catch tonight’s game with La Salle on CBS Sports Network.
Jan 26, 2013 @ 10:31:43
Thank you so much for this post, it really lifted my spirit after that horrible game between my 2 Alma Maters! Keep up the great work.
Jan 26, 2013 @ 17:54:15
This loss stings…primarily because it’s UR; don’t expect to win them all, but we were up 7 w/37 seconds. It’s already been said that we didn’t take care of the perimeter when that was all they had left; but we always play to their style…pretty much every time we play UR we allow them to dictate the style of play. More bothersome is how ineffective our Havoc was against them. In particular their guards were strong and able to make our press useless. Any team w/strong guard play will be a big challenge for us. And while Darius & Melvin have really had a couple good offensive games of late, generally speaking our guards aren’t much of a scoring threat,nespecially when the 3 isn’t falling for Troy. Finally, UR got too many 2nd and 3rd chances w/offensive boards. We must do a better job w/defensive boards, because the other team usually capitalizes w/a strong dunk or open 3.
Love my Rams. We need more support from Guest and DJ w/boards & points. Next time @ the Stu we need to establish the style and defend the guards & perimeter much better. Go Rams!
Jan 26, 2013 @ 19:57:05
Watching St Joes vs Xavier in prep…snooze.
Jan 27, 2013 @ 12:13:18
Man, we just got beat by a better team last night. Every time we play a team with good experienced guards, it’s gonna be tough. LaSalle’s game plan was perfect and they executed in every way. We need to adjust to that kind of game. It was a repeat of the Wichita State game. I’m not upset this time. I just saw a very good team that will be in the tourney in LaSalle. What great guards. I’m impressed. Now, back to business. We get two easy ones then all the tough ones. Time to hone the offense now.