Bad sports, good sports: VCU basketball team proves it belongs in the NCAA Tournament

Posted on March 28th, 2011 by Alan Spoll

Back on Selection Sunday, a wide array of basketball analysts and supposed experts argued the merits of the various teams that had been chosen for the NCAA tournament, and lamented the fate of the teams that were left out. The most common complaints seemed to center around large conference teams being overlooked in favor of smaller conference teams. In particular, I heard a lot of talk about the fact that Colorado, out of the Big 12, was not chosen, while Virginia Commonwealth, out of the CAA, was. VCU finished 4th in the CAA, and was the third team chosen from that conference this year, after George Mason and Old Dominion. Surely the Big 12 team was more deserving, right? Maybe not. With a ten-point victory over perennial powerhouse Kansas on Sunday, VCU made it to the Final Four for the first time in school history.

VCU’s run does so much to demonstrate the beauty of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Despite its modest roots, the VCU team has shown how wrong it is to assume that only teams from the power conferences can compete at this level. This should not be such a shock, as the Commodores’ conference-mate George Mason had a very similar run back in 2006, making it to the Final Four before losing to Florida, the eventual champion. VCU had an even tougher task to get to this point than did Mason, in my opinion, as the team had to play an extra play-in game against USC to make it into the regular tournament. A win over Georgetown followed, with wins over Purdue, Florida State, and Kansas after that. Those teams come from the Pac-10, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12, if you’re counting. Would Colorado have gotten this far? Does it even matter? The point is that VCU was given an opportunity, and it took advantage of that chance. There is a lesson there, not only for the so-called experts, but also for the idiots that run college football, who have built their entire system to effectively prevent this kind of thing from ever happening. It has been an absolute joy to watch this team, and I can only imagine that college football would benefit in the same kind of way, should a small-conference team get a chance to make a run through an actual playoff.

I have to hope that analysts like Jay Bilas, an ESPN guy who was particularly outraged by VCU’s inclusion over Colorado, see the reality that VCU’s run through the tournament demonstrates: that a bigger conference does not necessarily mean a better team. To be completely honest, I will be shocked if VCU goes on to win the whole thing. I still think the best teams from the big conferences are likely stronger in the long run than the best teams from the small conferences. I don’t believe at all, though, that the average teams from those big conferences are better than those top teams from the mid-majors. Basketball is more conducive to this kind of run than is football, based on the nature of the sport and the sizes of the rosters, but I would still love to see an NCAA Football Tournament where something like this could have the chance to happen. As if we needed it, VCU has given us another reason to hate the BCS.

Good sports, continued:

2) Former NBA player Alonzo Mourning literally stopped traffic on Friday. He went to the aid of a disabled person who was attempting to cross a busy highway in Miami, causing traffic to stop in both directions while the individual’s motorized wheelchair made its way across the road. Spectators cheered the former Heat star as he got back into his SUV.

3) Following the lead of several other professional athletes, Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka donated a million dollars to relief efforts in Japan.

4) Check out this save by Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. I guess the puck turned onto its side to cause the change of direction, but it almost looks like the laws of physics were temporarily lifted during this play.

Bad sports:

1) Former NFL coach Buddy Ryan, a one-time Eagles head coach and one of my all-time favorites, is battling cancer, according to his son Rex, head coach of the Jets. Here’s wishing him a quick recovery.

2) Dez Bryant, a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, was told to leave a shopping mall along with some of his friends for refusing to pull his pants up when told to by an off-duty police officer. Someday, someone needs to explain the whole pants-hanging-down thing to me. Wanting to emulate the belt-less attire of prisoners is not something that makes sense to me, especially when it produces such an idiotic look. The best part of this story, in my opinion, is that Bryant was supposedly being mentored by Deion Sanders, who has washed his hands of the whole situation. When Sanders is your mentor, it really says something.

3) Continuing the recent trend of arrogant football players being clueless, Eagles’ tackle Jason Peters was arrested in Louisiana for refusing to turn down the music in his car. Seems to me that professional athletes should be even less likely to behave this way than the average person, considering the likelihood that it will quickly become news when they fail to listen to law enforcement. Then again, there is no reason to assume that these guys are smart enough to think ahead that far.

4) Ryan Suter, a defenseman for the NHL’s Nashville Predators, was in some rarefied air on Thursday. He not only suffered the indignity of knocking in a goal against his own team, but he did it TWICE. The second one actually came on an attempt to kick the puck out of the air. Spectacular.

Bad sports, good sports appears every Monday.

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02