Category Archives: Men’s Basketball
The men’s side of the ball…
The A-10′s Next Step
Bryan Albin
Associate Sports Director
With the announcement of VCU’s move to the A-10 earlier this week, one thing became clear: football is not the only driving force in conference realignment. Universities that play basketball as their primary sport are starting to make moves to better prepare themselves for life in Division I basketball with super-conferences patrolling the top.
With Temple and Charlotte on the way out, but Butler, and now VCU, on the way in, the A-10 has positioned itself to be considered the premier “Mid-Major” basketball conference in the country. However, VCU joined because the conference is now in a position to be nothing less than major. It has been speculated that one of the primary reasons VCU left the Colonial Athletic Association to go to the A-10 was because of the ability to secure at-large bids into the NCAA basketball tournament, whereas CAA teams rarely secured such bids. In last year’s tournament alone, the A-10 had four teams in the tournament, while the CAA had only its conference champion, VCU, in the tournament, while Drexel, a team that won 19 straight games before losing to VCU in the conference championship game, was left home.
So now that the A-10 has cemented its status as a basketball conference, what is the next step to insure that the A-10 remains a league with the ability to secure three to five bids in the NCAA tournament each year? The answer is it’s time to go to an 18 game conference schedule. Whether or not the A-10 decides to continue its expansion to 16 teams will not have any effect on this year. Changing the conference schedule from 16 games to 18 this year is something that will improve the conference’s chances of getting more at-large bids immediately.
This is how to do it. Divide the league into three divisions of five teams. The divisions would be as follows:
A-10 West: Charlotte, Dayton, Duquesne, St. Louis, Xavier
A-10 North: Fordham, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, Temple, Umass
A-10 South: George Washington, La Salle, Richmond, St. Joe’s, VCU
So, for example, GW would play each team in the South division home and away, making eight games within the division. Then, GW would play the other 10 teams in the conference once, with five home games and five road games.
The ways in which the conference would benefit are huge. First and foremost, when you take away two non-conference games, which for some teams in the league are likely to be cupcakes, and replace them with two games against competitive teams in conference, it immediately make every team in the conference’s strength of schedule and RPI better. Secondly, each team gets more opportunities for quality wins, which is a key factor in the selection committees eyes. Third, the groundwork would be set for the future of the A-10, whether it consists of 14 or 16 teams, to have divisions that feature more home and away series among teams, which creates more rivalries and likely results in less travel for the athletes themselves.
The top three conferences in the RPI at the end of the year, the Big XII, Big 10 and Big East, all played 18 game conference schedules. To be a major conference in college basketball these days, 18 games is the way to go. Each of those conferences had at least half of its members qualify for the NCAA tournament at the year’s end. Major conferences that don’t include the SEC and ACC. When competing against major conference teams from the SEC and ACC, teams that have an easy time attracting high profile non-conference games, mid-majors need to look for every opportunity possible to get a leg up and boost their RPI’s. Adding two conference games is the easiest way to offer tougher games to every team’s schedules.
Let’s face it, at the end of the day, the public perception of the A-10 will be solely dependent on its performance in the NCAA tournament each year. Therefore, the conference has to put itself in position to earn as many bid into the NCAA tournament as possible. That’s why Butler is coming, it’s why VCU is coming, and it is exactly why the A-10 will likely pull in another two teams in the near future who want to be part of an elite, basketball-first conference. The A-10 has shown great vision throughout the realignment process, so one has to think it’s ready to take this next step. Besides, what GW fan wouldn’t like to see Shaka Smart, Chris Mooney and Phil Martelli in the Smith Center each year?
Gipson and Samuels Snap Colonials’ Streak at Kansas State
The Colonials’ three-game winning streak came to an end Thursday night as they fell to the Kansas State Wildcats (4-0), 69-56 in Manhattan, KS. With the loss George Washington is now 0-2 against opponents from BCS conferences.
The Colonials (4-2) started strong in the first half getting off to an early 19-17 lead with help from a trio of three-pointers by sophomore forward Nemanja Mikic. Despite starting off the game with nine points in the first eight minutes, he would be held scoreless for the rest of the game. After a back and forth first half, the Colonial entered halftime only down three points, 32-29.
A dominant start to the second half, including a 15-1 run by the Wildcats, fueled by several second chance opportunities, got them out to a 19-point lead, 63-44. Kansas State guard Will Spradling led the run putting up nine straight points. In a heated moment in the second half, during the Wildcats 15-1 run, Coach Mike Lonergan was issued a technical foul for arguing a questionable charging foul called against Kromah. The Colonials would continue to play aggressively despite the deficit and would cut the lead to 14 points by the end of the game.
Leading the way for the Wildcats was freshman forward Thomas Gipson, who put up a double-double with 17 points and 13 assists. DC product senior forward Jamar Samuels also put up a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Spradling netted 14 points and forward Jordan Henriquez would grab 11 boards off the bench.
For the Colonials, senior guard Tony Taylor was able to rebound from a cold start to finish with 14 points and four assists. Junior guards Bryan Bynes and Lasan Kromah scored nine points each and graduate forward Jabari Edwards grabbed eight rebounds (including five on the offensive, end) and blocked five shots.
George Washington will try to bounce back on Sunday against the Rams of Virginia Commonwealth University at the Verizon Center in the BB&T Classic. If you can not make it to the game, tune into WRGW’s coverage beginning at 2 o’clock with tip-off at 2:15. Jeff Pawling and Doug Brem will be on the call.
Colonials Edge Austin Peay
Haley Milon
Sophomore Correspondent
With less than 20 seconds left in the game, only one entity stood between the CBE Classic subregional game between the George Washington Colonials and the Austin Peay Governors heading to overtime – senior guard Tony Taylor.
Taylor’s steal during an Austin Peay fast-break spearheaded by Anthony Campbell prevented the game-tying layup, leading to the Colonials’ 54-52 hard-fought win over the over the Austin Peay State Governors. The thriller on Tuesday boosted their record to 3-1.
The score remained close for the entire game with seven lead changes and six ties. A transition layup by Taylor, who finished with 11 points, coupled with a free-throw made the score 47-42 with 7:17 left in the second half. GW held no less than a two-possesion lead until Governors guard Josh Terry scored on a layup to bring the game to 54-52 with under two minutes to go.
Senior swingman Aaron Ware led the team with a team high 12 points off the bench. Sophomore forward Nemanja Mikic netted nine points with his three three-pointers, and graduate student Jabari Edwards matched his career high of eight points, pulled down six rebounds and had one block.
Junior guard Bryan Bynes chipped in five points and led the Colonials with seven rebounds, helping GW out rebound the Governors 40-34.
The Colonials’ sloppy ball-handling led 16 turnovers and gave the Governors nine steals. Under the pressure of Austin Peay’s man-on-man coverage, they shot 28% in the first half. But emphasis on scoring in the paint nearly doubled their field goal percentage, improving it to 39% by game’s end.
The Colonials look to complete a three game sweep in the CBE Classic Bowling Green Subregional with a win against the host Falcons on Wednesday at 7:30 pm. Jeff Pawling and Haley Milon have the call.
Programming Note: Due to programming conflicts with the women’s game against Auburn, the game will be streaming live exclusively from the blog.
