Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The A-10 Tournament is taking place in Washington, DC, this weekend and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD covered all of the angles so we hope you enjoyed our cascade of coverage this week. Jon Teitel wraps it up with a recap of the Davidson-Richmond title game on Sunday.
After attending 8 CAA tourney games last weekend and another 13 A-10 Tourney games this week (for a total of 21 games in 9 days!) I am certainly running on fumes, but 1 final pregame meal helped me push through the pain: make your own cold cut sandwiches/chicken curry salad/regular salad/brownie! There was a sea of red in the lower bowl this afternoon as both Davidson and Richmond had great alumni/student support. As you can see there is a noticeable size differential between CBS broadcasters Ian Eagle (5’9″) and Jim Spanarkel (6’5″):
I did not get to ask Jamie Erdahl if she is in fact 5’7″:
Let’s tip it off:
The Spiders got out to an early 11-2 lead thanks to 1-9 FG shooting by the Wildcats, but the #1 seed fought all the way back to take a 26-25 lead at halftime. It turned into a 3-PT shooting contest in the 2nd half as both teams combined to make 5 threes in the 1st 5 minutes after halftime. It remained a close game the rest of the way that went right down to the wire. A layup/foul/&1 by SR Matt Grace gave Richmond a 63-62 lead with 19 seconds left. SR PG Jacob Gilyard (who finished with 26 PTS) was fouled with 2 seconds left, but the 86 FT% shooter this year only made 1 of 2 to keep it a 2-PT game.
Davidson coach Bob McKillop set up 1 final play but JR SG Michael Jones missed a shot at the buzzer and the Spiders were dancing! I was able to work my way down to the court to get some nice photos from the celebration:
The Richmond cheer coach crying tears of joy:
A player going into the crowd to share the moment with his loved ones:
The title trophy/all-tournament team awards being arranged for the champs to come claim:
The team holding assistant coach Maurice Joseph’s newborn child high in the air:
Coach Chris Mooney pumping his fist to the crowd and then looking up to see the final result on the scoreboard 1 more time:
The cheerleaders were feeling quite cheerful:
The mascot was covered in streamers:
The remnants of trampled chairs that barely survived the postgame celebration:
…and the confetti falling like the snowflakes we had the previous morning:
In the postgame press conference I asked Richmond SR Grant Golden whether he thought this day would arrive after he collapsed during a game as a freshman and had to miss the rest of the season with an irregular heartbeat. He explained that his collapse on national TV was only the start of a series of “heartbreaking” losses by his team during the past 5 years: blowing a 6-PT 2nd half lead in an OT loss to VCU in the 2017 A-10 tourney, going 24-7 in 2020 only to watch the postseason canceled due to COVID, having teammate Nick Sherod miss all of last season with his own injury, etc. He said that nobody understands what he and his teammates have been through during their college careers and that you cannot truly know what the emotion of finally making the NCAA tourney feels like:
I wondered if Spiders coach Chris Mooney learned anything from his prior run to the NCAA tourney in 2011, when he won 3 A-10 tourney games in 3 days before making the Sweet 16, that he could use this time around. He joked that Grant was only a sophomore back then! He just hoped that his team’s 1st game could be delayed until Friday (NOTE: his hopes were dashed a few hours later when the Selection Committee bracketed them to play Big 10 champ Iowa on Thursday afternoon in Buffalo), as dealing with the media can be a big distraction, so he just wants to get some rest and then celebrate tonight.
That is a wrap on a wild week of basketball in DC…but check back later this week as HoopsHD will be live in San Diego for the NCAA tourney!