VCU II
Posted by TTHS on March 1st, 2008
Similar to last season the Tribe is at home playing the best team in the league for their final game of the year, and a bye in the CAA Tournament is on the line.
The Rams, behind guards Eric Maynor and Jamal Shuler, have easily been the best team in the conference with a 14-3 record and 22-6 overall record. They are the only team in the CAA with a shot at an at-large bid as they are 45th in the country in RPI, and have big wins over Bradley, Maryland, Houston, and Akron. Pomeroy says they have an 82% chance of beating the Tribe tonight.
The combo of Junior PG Eric Maynor and Senior SG Jamal Shuler has been lethal this year, with them combining for 34 points a game, almost half of VCU’s total points. They also combine for about 9 rebounds a game. The incredible thing about Maynor is that he isn’t only scoring a lot(18 per), but he also has almost 150 assists to 80 turnovers. Shuler is more of the 3 point shooter, but he has diversified his game this year and will throw down if given the opportunity. VCU goes as these two go, and I’m sure Shaver will be thinking about that when he calls his defenses today.
VCU’s freshman class definitely proved they will be special this year. 5 of the six players they pulled in have contributed this year, with Ed Nixon, Lance Kearse, Joey Rodriguez, Larry Sander, and Kirill Pishchalnikov. Both Sanders and Rodriguez are starting, with and Rodriguez has held down the point with 76 assits and 48 turnovers to go along with a little under 6 points per game. Larry Sanders is scoring 4.5 points per, but more importantly is pulling down about 5 rebounds per game for the Rams. Kearse, Nixon, and Kirill are also getting PT every game have made solid contributions.
I would be much more confident in the Tribe if the game wasn’t so meaningful for VCU, but with that in the equation I don’t have much confident in the Green and Gold pulling it out. VCU pulls away late for an 8-point winner.
VCU-68
WM-60