Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, parents, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The A-10 Tournament is taking place this week in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access today. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from DC with a recap of the title game on Sunday.
After 3 straight days of chicken tenders/fries it was nice to finally mix things up with a birria bowl/chicken tinga street taco. They brought out a full-court-size American flag for the anthem, and GMU SR F Jalen Haynes sure looked locked in:
The fans for both teams showed up in full force (reminiscent of their 3 CAA tourney title game battles during a 6-year span from 2004-2009), and the mascots were ready to rock:
The 2 coaches were squarely on the bubble and did not want to let the decision of whether this is a 2-bid league come down to the Selection Committee that evening:
Let’s tip it off to see who takes home the trophy, with Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner on the call for the CBS national broadcast:
GEORGE MASON-VCU
Haynes started strong with a layup and a 3 from the top of the key, while his teammate Brayden O’Connor made a 3 and a pull-up J…which is about what I would expect from a guy named O’Connor who is wearing a green jersey on the day before St. Patrick’s Day:
VCU SR F Jack Clark was the best player on the court during the 1st 20 minutes with 13 PTS on a pair of threes, an old-fashioned 3-PT play, and 5-5 FT shooting:
His teammate Phillip Russell was unimpressed with a boring old 3-PT play so he decided to make a super-fancy 4-PT play instead:
SR G Max Shulga scored 22 PTS/4-7 3PM in the Rams’ 70-54 win over GMU 3 weeks ago in Richmond. He did not repeat his 3-PT performance (0-2 in the 1st half), but he did have a huge momentum play after a teammate tipped a REB to him and he was able to make a layup to beat the halftime buzzer and give VCU a 36-28 halftime lead:
I did not have many celebrity sightings at the CAA tourney last weekend, but during halftime I spotted Indianapolis Colts TE Mo-Alie Cox sitting behind the Rams bench. Saturday was the 10-year anniversary of his 13-PT/6-6 FG performance in a 6-PT win over Dayton in the 2015 A-10 tourney title game…but I still think he made the correct career choice:
The tide started to turn in the 2nd half as VCU started turning the ball over and Zach Anderson/Darius Maddox made multiple shots from behind the arc for the Patriots:
However, VCU G Joe Bamisile helped save the day with back-to-back 3-PT plays and finished with 17 PTS in 28 minutes:
Shulga made a couple of threes in the 2nd stanza, Anderson missed a 3-PT shot with 4 seconds left, and that was all she wrote as the Rams hung on for a 68-63 win and an auto-bid to the NCAA tourney. Anderson collapsed to the court right in front of me after the buzzer, but his teammates hustled right over to literally give him the support he needed and show everyone that they had his back:
No postgame press conference but check back tomorrow for my best photos from the postgame celebration…and see below for a sneak preview:
