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O.D. Who?

03/09/2009
@The Richmond Coleseum

Eric Maynor scored 13 of his 23 points in the second half and top-seeded Rams advance to the championship game of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament with a 61-53 victory against Old Dominion on Sunday.

VCU will met George Mason in the final Monday night. The Rams beat the Patriots 76-71 in their only regular season meeting. Mason edged Towson 56-48 to advance to the title game.

Larry Sanders finished the game with a double double scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 boards. Junior TJ Gwynn played incredible in the post sparking the Rams early. He finished with 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 18 minutes of work.

Frank Hassell led ODU with 14 points and Keyon Carter added 12. The Monarchs were held to just 32 percent shooting from the field and were just 6 of 24 in the second half. The Rams held CAA First Team Selection Gerald Lee to just 5 points 4 rebounds. Lee finished the game on the bench doubtlessly wondering if his team will get a bid to the NIT.

Rams Advance to Face ODU

03/08/2009

The Richmond Coliseum

The Rams survived a lack luster first half to defeat Georgia State 61-52 for their third straight victory over the Panthers this season.  VCU was lead by 2009 conference player of the year Eric Maynor who scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half.   

Freshman Bradford Burgess scored 11 and Brandon Rozzell added 12 to help the top seeded Rams pull away in second half.  

Burgess, who did not attempt a basket in the first half, was 4-4 from the field including 3 three pointers in the second half.

The Rams would squander a 44-27 advantage during a crucial six minute stretch in the second half.   Led by Joe Dukes, 23 points, and Rashad Chase, 8 second half points, Georgia State would get the lead down to 7 with less then 6 minutes left in the game.  

It would be three's from Big Shot Burgess and Maynor that would hold the Panthers off and help the Ram's advance to Sunday's semifinal show down against conference rival Old Dominion. 

"I told the guys after the game, that we didn't play our best, but what we want to at the end of the day is win," VCU Head Coach Anthony Grant said after the game.  If the Rams want to see themselves in Monday's final and an NCAA Tournament Berth they will have to play much better against the Monarchs of ODU.

The Monarchs advanced past Hofstra behind a 30 point effort by Gerald Lee. 

Rams to face Georgia State in Quarterfinals

03/06/2009

Richmond, VA

Georgia State defeated Delaware 54-41 in the First Round of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament on Friday.  Joe Dukes scored 15 points, grabbed 12 boards and 5 assists for the Panthers who will advance to the quarterfinals to play top-seeded Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday at Noon.  

The Rams beat Georgia State 69-41 in the last game of the regular season.  VCU is 2-0 against the Panthers this season.  

Maynor Repeats as CAA Player of the Year

03/05/09
Richmond, VA

I have been trying to put Brett Blizzard behind me for years.  He was CAA Rookie of the Year, First-Team All-Conference, All-CAA Tournament and CAA Tournament MVP.  He was named a First Team All CAA selection all 4 years at UNCW.  No one has ever done that!

Oh yeah, he absolutely owned VCU too.  During his four years at UNCW, '99-'03, he averaged 19.9 ppg against the Mighty Rams.   He scored more then 20 points in a game 5 times against us.  He single handily murdered us in the '02 tournament final and he dropped 27 on us in his final game against the Rams at the Siegel.

Not to mention, he has his own School of Basketball Fundamentals, 1.18 million hits on Google and to top it all off he got Jerry Wainwright a job in the Big East.

Why is all this relevant?

Its relevant because Eric Maynor is the first repeat winner of the CAA Player of the Year award since Brett Blizzard did it in 2002 and 2003.

Its wasn't really a surprise that the senior guard was selected for the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball Player of the Year.  Maynor led the Rams to a 21-9 overall record and a third straight CAA regular season title.  He became just the second player in conference history to lead the league in scoring, 22.4 ppg, and assists, 6.2 apg, in the same season and he is one of only two players in Division I to be ranked in the top 20 nationally in scoring, 8th, and assists, 9th.

Maynor, who was also selected First Team All-CAA for the third consecutive year, became VCU’s all-time leading scorer in the Rams’ final home game against Georgia State.  He set the school’s assist record earlier on the season season.

Maynor was not the only Ram to be honored Thursday night.  Larry Sanders was named CAA Defensive Player of the Year. The Condor led the CAA in blocked shots for the second straight year with 77. He is also ranks third in the conference in rebounding with 8 boards per game. Sanders grabbed double digit rebounds 10 times and recorded eight double-doubles during the course of the season, queue the obligatory reference to Larry Sanders' ridiculous 7'7" wingspan.  He was also named to the Second Team All-CAA.

Freshman Bradford Burgess was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team. Burgess averaged 7.2 ppg and 3.7 rpg. He also started all 30 games for the Rams this season.

So once again I am forced to relive nightmares of Brett Blizzard knocking down threes from all points on the floor. Spurred on by throngs of crazed over tanned middle aged women shouting catchy slogans like "Feel the Teal" while waving Sea Hawk sock puppets high in the air. However this time it is different. This time its our guy. Now we are the number one seed with the number one player.


Suck it Blizzard!

VCU hs a bye on Firday's first round of the CAA Tournament. They will take on the winner of No. 8 Georgia State and No. 9 Delaware in the quarterfinals Saturday at noon.

Game 30 VCU 69 Georgia State 41

Witness
02/28/2009
@ The Siegel

The Rams closed the regular season in style with a 69-41 blow out victory over CAA rival Georgia State. With the victory VCU secured the top seed in this weekend's CAA Tournament and its third straight regular season title.

The win came on the heels of an emotional pregame ceremony honoring Eric Maynor. His number 3 jersey was retired to the rafters before a sold out crowd at the Siegel Center.

Maynor came into the game just one point shy of VCU's all-time leading scorer Kendrick Warren. The Senior would miss his first three attempts but with 11:21 to go in the first half, Maynor would hit an eight foot floater to solidify himself as VCU's most prolific scorer. Maynor would finish the game with nine points and nine assists.

Sophomore Larry Sanders scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots for the Rams, while team mates Brandon Rozzell and Joey Rodriguez added 13 and 10 points, respectively.

VCU forced 21 turnovers and held the Panthers to just 33 percent from the floor. Georgia State falls to 11-19 overall and 8-19 in the CAA

VCU improved to 21-9 and 14-4 in the CAA. The Rams are just the second team to win three straight titles outright.

VCU hs a bye on Firday's first round of the CAA Tournament. They will take on the winner of No. 8 Georgia State and No. 9 Delaware in the quarterfinals Saturday at noon. VCU swept Georgia State and split with Delaware during the regular season.

Behold the Greatest of All-Time

Jesse Dark, Please!