#3bids4caa, Day 4

I got it dead right. Told you we'd see an upset yesterday that would keep #3bids4caa alive for one more day. (Fingers crossed that nobody will read yesterday's post to cross-check me.) VCU played as complete a game as we're likely to see this month, thoroughly outclassing a very, very good George Mason team, 79-63, to advance to the CAA Finals. The Rams forced 14 Mason turnovers, withstood a brief Patriot run to open the second half, and breezed in front of a partisan Richmond Coliseum crowd. Jamie Skeen hit a career-high 4 threes on his way to a game-high 21 points, while Bradford Burgess went for 16 points and 13 boards for VCU.

The loss snapped Mason's 16-game winning streak, but Jim Larranaga's team is still going dancing in a few weeks. Those with an appreciation of history will remember that the 2006 Cinderella Patriots fell in the conference semis before embarking on their mythical run. Selection Sunday will lack the same drama this year, and there were no groin-shots today, but the symmetry hasn't gone unnoticed in Fairfax.

Hofstra had an opportunity to send us all to bed happy last night; a win for the Dutchpride would've clinched the CAA's third entry into the NCAA Tournament. Alas, a combination of superior athleticism, terrific defense, inspired point guard play, and somewhat questionable officiating doomed Charles Jenkins and his mates, who fell to a hard-nosed ODU squad by a 77-69 count. Senior point guard Darius James, who averaged 7.1 ppg this season, dropped 16 for the Big Blue Beast to complement Frank Hassell's efficient 22. Keyon Carter came off the bench to give Blaine Taylor's team 10 and 8. Jenkins found it much harder to get points on the drive against ODU than he did last night against our Wrens, going 6 of 16 with 16 points and 6 dimes. Our new twitter friend Jerry Beach (@defiantlydutch) noted with both bias and some legitimate beef that Jenkins took 11 shots from inside the arc without drawing a single shooting foul.

It will come as no surprise that I'm picking VCU tonight. I really wish it were Hofstra taking their shot, but beggars can't be choosers. With every major chronicler of the bracket telling us that Mason and ODU have already punched tickets (Joe Lunardi had them as 7 and 9 seeds, respectively, as of Friday - hardly bubble teams), Shaka Smart's squad holds the fate of our silly little hashtag in its hands.

I once again watched CAA tourney action on a small corner of my laptop screen, toggling between the ESPN3 telecast and a lively community tweeting #caahoops and our homegrown #3bids4caa hashtags. (The CAA's decidedly bush league TV package is a source of a future post.) I was getting ready to shut down my computer and have my daughter kick my ass at SuperMarioKart when a final tweet caught my eye.

@midmajority: I missed it on purpose. I live in reality. RT @burythemfast @midmajority Somehow you must've missed the #3bids4caa hashtag making the rounds

Careful G:TB readers (and I think all of our 27 strong readership qualifies) remember our early season run-in with @midmajority, defender of the mid-major faith, obsessive hoops connoisseur, apparently touchy rule-keeper. My tongue was firmly in cheek back then when I lamented my loss of status among the chosen.

Today, though, I wonder with some reason whether the alleged keeper of the flame has forgotten the sublime magic of the possible. Truly, it's the arrogance that irritates more than the actual words. Has this eloquent chronicler of the quixotic quest of the littles become such a big in his universe that he can't bear a storyline that punctures his prefigured narrative? If #3bids4caa becomes a reality, could it mean that things are changing in a way that threatens the mid-majority ethos? (Well, no, it would just mean that this year's senior-laden and well-coached CAA teams had a really fucking good year, nearly all the way through the conference.) Why not revel in the silly, goofy hope, though?

The same guy that wrote, "It always ends in a loss. But this moment, right now, is a new beginning. It is the renewal of hope that things will finally change," is now dealing in reality? The talented dreamer that said, "Those of us who keep going, keep doing and keep traveling are fools in the throes of unrequited passion. There are thousands of us, everywhere, content to find and share the company of other perpetually jilted lovers, inspired and pushed forward by those fleeting and fading glimpses of beauty," now throws cold water on the hopeful giddiness of those who would seem to be fellow travelers?

Maybe he's forgotten.

Or maybe he's just a dick.