A-10 Tourney predictions

[The Wiz]

GM over Ford by 1 1/2......In the battle of cars, GM drives by

St. J and St. B.... even......In this case, all Saints are equal.

LaS over UMass by 1.......Might be decided in the last Minute, man.

[MusicCityBilliken]

GM over Ford by 1 1/2......In the battle of cars, GM drives by

St. J and St. B.... even......In this case, all Saints are equal.

LaS over UMass by 1.......Might be decided in the last Minute, man.

Looking at this years teams, this has to be the worst year for the A10 in years. Its a shame the projected 2 front runners back in October (VCU & SVU) were hit with serious blows of key player injuries and suspensions.

[Bay Area Billiken]

GM over Ford by 1 1/2......In the battle of cars, GM drives by

St. J and St. B.... even......In this case, all Saints are equal.

LaS over UMass by 1.......Might be decided in the last Minute, man.

I think Fordham will beat George Mason, primarily because the game is in Brooklyn, easily accessible by the Subway or train for Fordham students, alumni, and fans. Fordham is 4-0 all-time against Mason, although that could mean Mason is due to win one. Fordham's star freshman, Eric Paschall, has missed the last 2 games after turning an ankle but is expected to play Wed. night. Coach Pecora needs that 10th win.

This year's A10 Tournament is wide open with the injuries at VCU and the bannings and resultant short bench at Dayton.

Last year the SLU and VCU Bands and students appeared on the Today Show outside 30 Rock on Friday. I wonder if any schools have been invited this year, and if so which schools, which tells the A10 Office's thinking. VCU had that infamous double decker bus parked at 30 Rock, with its Band members on the upper deck. That VCU Bus road around Manhattan, quite a spectacle.

But the line of the weekend was the GW student seated near us at the VCU-GW semi-final game. GW hung with Havoc for 3/4 of that game. When things were going south in the de facto 4th Quarter, the GW student stood up and yelled, "At least we go to a real college."

Any of a group of Davidson, Dayton, Rhode Island (Hurley, no), Richmond, GW, UMass (Kellogg, more no), or even LaSalle, could win this thing. Frankly, I don't see Davidson winning it. The old mantra is if you live by the 3, you die by the 3. The Dean of A10 Coaches is Phil Martelli, whose 4th seeded Hawks rose up and won it last year.

Davidson is quite a study, a team of players recruited to play in the mid-major at best, low con at worst Southern Conference, picked to finish well out of the running in the A10, won the Regular Season. But I don't see that sustaining in Brooklyn. We'll see.

[Deutschkind]

I think Fordham will beat George Mason, primarily because the game is in Brooklyn, easily accessible by the Subway or train for Fordham students, alumni, and fans. Fordham is 4-0 all-time against Mason, although that could mean Mason is due to win one. Fordham's star freshman, Eric Paschall, has missed the last 2 games after turning an ankle but is expected to play Wed. night. Coach Pecora needs that 10th win.

This year's A10 Tournament is wide open with the injuries at VCU and the bannings and resultant short bench at Dayton.

Last year the SLU and VCU Bands and students appeared on the Today Show outside 30 Rock on Friday. I wonder if any schools have been invited this year, and if so which schools, which tells the A10 Office's thinking. VCU had that infamous double decker bus parked at 30 Rock, with its Band members on the upper deck. That VCU Bus road around Manhattan, quite a spectacle.

But the line of the weekend was the GW student seated near us at the VCU-GW semi-final game. GW hung with Havoc for 3/4 of that game. When things were going south in the de facto 4th Quarter, the GW student stood up and yelled, "At least we go to a real college."

Any of a group of Davidson, Dayton, Rhode Island (Hurley, no), Richmond, GW, UMass (Kellogg, more no), or even LaSalle, could win this thing. Frankly, I don't see Davidson winning it. The old mantra is if you live by the 3, you die by the 3. The Dean of A10 Coaches is Phil Martelli, whose 4th seeded Hawks rose up and won it last year.

Davidson is quite a study, a team of players recruited to play in the mid-major at best, low con at worst Southern Conference, picked to finish well out of the running in the A10, won the Regular Season. But I don't see that sustaining in Brooklyn. We'll see.

I don't know if you could even say if VCU was invited last year. Watching on TV it seemed more like they crashed SLU's party. Hey, at least they're 0 for 5 in A10 championships so far.

Side note: I don't know any specific plans, but the band will be in Brooklyn once again. Since they are flying commercial, they will be there through the championship no matter what. Interesting to see if another school has them play again like has happened often in the past once SLU is eliminated. It happened last year and the final year of AC (both times I think Bona needed a band).

[hsmith19]

Even in a down year, four NCAA teams is very realistic, and five is an outside possibility. A couple of wins should put Richmond in regardless of who wins the finals.

[Bay Area Billiken]

Even in a down year, four NCAA teams is very realistic, and five is an outside possibility. A couple of wins should put Richmond in regardless of who wins the finals.

The A10 likely gets 3 if one of VCU, Dayton or Davidson win the A10 Tournament, possibly and perhaps as many as 4 if someone else wins it.

I also would not be surprised at all to see someone other than those 3 mentioned win it, for reasons stated above.

Watch out for that VCU Bus, as it spreads the word and plays that hideous song, "You don't want to go to war, with the Rams." Mercy, that song rang in my head way, way too long, like "It's a Small World" being played over and over at Disneyland.

VCU has Gimmick, and VCU has tubas.

[Bay Area Billiken]

I don't know if you could even say if VCU was invited last year. Watching on TV it seemed more like they crashed SLU's party. Hey, at least they're 0 for 5 in A10 championships so far.

Side note: I don't know any specific plans, but the band will be in Brooklyn once again. Since they are flying commercial, they will be there through the championship no matter what. Interesting to see if another school has them play again like has happened often in the past once SLU is eliminated. It happened last year and the final year of AC (both times I think Bona needed a band).

I was there, had just flown into Newark from SFO very late the night before, arrived at 30 Rock just about 8 a.m. Eastern only to be greeted by that VCU Bus and Band, which were strategically parked at the North end of the 30 Rock outdoor rectangle. The SLU Band was perpendicular to VCU's, situated to the left of the East doorway coming out of 30 Rock, the one that Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Tamron Hall, and Carson Daly exited to come outside. Lauer went over and acknowledged VCU on the air first. I thought what's going on here, SLU is the Regular Season Champion. It was Carson Daly that came over to SLU, yelling to a big roar: "And here we have the Billikens."

There were a bunch of Creighton interlopers in the crowd, some Dayton folks too.

[Zink]

I was there, had just flown into Newark from SFO very late the night before, arrived at 30 Rock just about 8 a.m. Eastern only to be greeted by that VCU Bus and Band, which were strategically parked at the North end of the 30 Rock outdoor rectangle. The SLU Band was perpendicular to VCU's, situated to the left of the East doorway coming out of 30 Rock, the one that Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Tamron Hall, and Carson Daly exited to come outside. Lauer went over and acknowledged VCU on the air first. I thought what's going on here, SLU is the Regular Season Champion. It was Carson Daly that came over to SLU, yelling to a big roar: "And here we have the Billikens."

There were a bunch of Creighton interlopers in the crowd, some Dayton folks too.

That morning was a borderline fiasco. One of the PR people failed to inform NBC that we (the band) were showing up. So we got in line with everyone else, and waited for them to open the gates. Fortunately Austin and some of the AD folks there that morning got to talk with the NBC staff and they let us in early to set-up purely out of generosity, and even fenced off an area for us to stand in and put our cases. After we got set-up and received instructions on when to play and when to keep quiet, right as the show was starting the VCU bus pulled right up to the curb and started playing. This pissed all of the NBC folks off, but the 'talent' handled it as well as they could. The head of the production team (she was a real pro) came out and started b****ing about the VCU bus with us, and went over to tell them to stfu while the show was on air. VCU's band failed to listen and started blaring right as the show came back on air, which prompted the producer/newest Billiken fan to tell them to leave, as their bus was blocking traffic and threatened to get the NYPD involved. The bus drove away and all was right in the world.

[Dwayne's_World]

Maybe the bus will get a flat a flat tire this year, and all will be right in the world.

[BigMouthBilliken]

That morning was a borderline fiasco. One of the PR people failed to inform NBC that we (the band) were showing up. So we got in line with everyone else, and waited for them to open the gates. Fortunately Austin and some of the AD folks there that morning got to talk with the NBC staff and they let us in early to set-up purely out of generosity, and even fenced off an area for us to stand in and put our cases. After we got set-up and received instructions on when to play and when to keep quiet, right as the show was starting the VCU bus pulled right up to the curb and started playing. This pissed all of the NBC folks off, but the 'talent' handled it as well as they could. The head of the production team (she was a real pro) came out and started b****ing about the VCU bus with us, and went over to tell them to stfu while the show was on air. VCU's band failed to listen and started blaring right as the show came back on air, which prompted the producer/newest Billiken fan to tell them to leave, as their bus was blocking traffic and threatened to get the NYPD involved. The bus drove away and all was right in the world.

This was last year correct? I got a selfie with Matt lauer

[Bay Area Billiken]

Maybe the bus will get a flat a flat tire this year, and all will be right in the world.

That bus was annoying, Look at Me stuff all the way, typical VCWho Gimmick.

VCU has won nothing since joining the A10.

While VCU did parlay that NCAA Final 4 (after receiving a gift NCAA At Large bid coming out of the mid-major CAA) into the A10 invite, what has VCU really done since, except make a lot of noise?

[JMM28]

That bus was annoying, Look at Me stuff all the way, typical VCWho Gimmick.

VCU has won nothing since joining the A10.

While VCU did parlay that NCAA Final 4 (after receiving a gift NCAA At Large bid coming out of the mid-major CAA) into the A10 invite, what has VCU really done since, except make a lot of noise?

Since the Final 4, they've basically been a slight notch below SLU when factoring in rankings, tournament wins, record, and conference championships. Then this year happened.

[Zink]

This was last year correct? I got a selfie with Matt lauer

Wait, me too! Mellophones ftw. Nice to know you're on the board.

[bonwich]

While VCU did parlay that NCAA Final 4 (after receiving a gift NCAA At Large bid coming out of the mid-major CAA) into the A10 invite, what has VCU really done since, except make a lot of noise?

Its U.S. News ranking rocketed, the quality of its applicants went way up, its endowment well outpaced the national average and its overall national profile was significantly raised. Great basketball performance is the key to raising your national profile.

(/sarcasm)