Monday, February 18, 2013

This Week in Wrenball: In Shaver We Trust

When we last got together in this space to celebrate futile superfandom and geek out on Tribe hoops, we told you that W&M's four-games-in-eight-days stretch would tell us a lot about whether Tony Shaver had a handle on his enigmatic squad. With one more game to go in that critical span (tonight, at home against Georgia State), it's hard to argue that he doesn't. As he said in Saturday's post-game presser, "Today I saw no doubt in my team's eyes. None."



Though the Wrens opened their run to March with a home loss to CAA front-runner Northeastern, the Tribe gave the Huskies all they wanted for the second time in 2013. W&M led by 7 with 6:14 to play, and Northeastern had to close on a 12-2 run to pull out the victory. Shaver's team followed the tough loss to the league leaders with arguably their best 29 minutes of the season against UNCW, running out to a 25-point second-half lead against the Seahawks. We'll ignore for the time being the 32-10 run that Wilmington ripped off over the next 10 minutes and focus on the positive - W&M pulled out a 92-86 victory, shooting 60.9% from the field in the process.

Eventually, this Tribe team will realize that the standard NCAA basketball game is played over 40 minutes. It's possible they grasped that fairly critical point on Saturday, never trailing against ODU in a 12-point win in Norfolk. Though they let the Monarchs get within 2 points at the U8 timeout, W&M gradually but inexorably pulled away behind Marcus Thornton's career-high 32 points and 7 three-pointers. The win gave the Tribe their first season sweep of ODU since most of the G:TB staff was still matriculating in Williamsburg (including your humble reporter, who was in grad school in 1998 - the last time it happened). Thornton went for 25 in the UNCW win - if he's not named the CAA Player of the Week today, we're sending Jerry to the league offices to argue our case.

More importantly, the win also marked the 114th in Tony Shaver's tenure as W&M head coach, making him the winningest coach in the school's 320-year history. Though Shaver's sub-.400 winning percentage isn't necessarily something to write home about, he's authored several of the program's greatest moments. The 2008 and 2010 runs to the CAA Tournament final, the 2010 wins over Wake Forest and Maryland, 19 wins and a near-miss against UNC in that year's NIT (and yes, we ruefully recognize what it says about the program that an NIT first-round near-miss counts as a highlight) all stand with W&M's best hoops memories.

You're Going to Disney World!
Beyond those results, though, the entertaining way in which Shaver's teams play, and the fact that Tribe fans have legitimate hope every time out mark him as a godsend to a fanbase that's wandered so long in the desert. We lost to Duke, 100-38, my freshman year. That team had no hope whatsoever. At least now we've got a puncher's chance against anyone.

It feels good to feel bad about losing to Purdue on the road. That's Tony Shaver's gift to W&M fans. We'll be pissed if the Tribe doesn't make the NCAA Tourney this year.

Thanks, Coach.

43 comments:

Danimal said...

the obama's took the wkd off fighting for the middle class - his family to colorado for a ski vacation and he to one of the most exclusive private clubs in the country to play a little gawf w/tiger and pals. back at it today i'm sure.

zman said...

Nice jinx rob.

zman said...

Unlike W, who never took vacation while fighting for the middle class.

Danimal said...

they both like(d) their vacations. if i were president and especially if i had made it to a 2nd term, i'd go on a 2:1 work schedule - 2 weeks on, 1 week off, with a shit ton of golf mixed in at the best places on the planet. obama could do this b/c he cannot be touched. it's something else. dubya would sit around his ranch and "clear brush" and get skewered. it's just nutty to me.

TR said...

Taking my 2 boys to a matinee Devils-Senators game today. I looked at the Senators roster and realized I had heard of 2 players. That's twice as many as I would've guessed.

I love the smell of Newark in the morning.

Danimal said...

just looked at the caa standings for first time in about 2 weeks. dukes could finish atop the league...go figure. only to lose in the 1st or 2nd round, tops, of caa tourney.

cold here in fla today. brrrr.

rob said...

wrens have played three of their best conference games of the season since the last twiw, marls. just trying to ride the wave.

Marls said...

Nice knee jerk reaction, jurk. That was zed-man.

I'm super positive over here.

rob said...

i blame teejay.

T.J. said...

jerk

Marls said...

About the Tribe, not HIV.

rob said...

i blame danimal for me blaming teejay.

also, jmu isn't going to finish first, but they sure might finish second, which lets them avoid the wrens in the first round of the caa tournament.

rob said...

go to the 2:04 mark of the video linked below to see how jmu beat delaware last night. awful coaching by the hens - the dukes have run this play multiple times this season in baseline inbounds situations.

http://misterirrelevant.com/index.php/2013/02/18/jmus-last-second-game-winning-lob-dunk-video/

T.J. said...

danimal for prez

zman said...

Eric B is president.

Dave said...

if you have time, head on over to sentence of dave today and leave the "correct" comment.

much appreciated -- it will save me a lot of time and energy . . .

zman said...

A Porkslap-based pot of chili is on zstove. Happy president's day.

Danimal said...

jmu is nice! that missed free throw by the henny's hurt the big russian heh rob?

you say they won't finish first with a great deal of confidence. is that b/c it's impossible from a #'s standpoint or is that just your opinion?

rob said...

both

Danimal said...

you are wrong sir. wrong!

TR said...

Devils come out to Tool. Impressive.

rob said...

northeastern leads jmu by 2 with 3 to play. wednesday's game in boston between the two teams is huge. if jmu wins, they might have a shot, though northeastern closes with odu. if jmu loses, northeastern clinches the top seed.

and jmu closes their caa schedule in williamsburg, which likely means a loss for the dukes.

Danimal said...

whatever russ

Greg said...

New job is the jersey sponsor for Man U. And they allow you to wear the Man U jersey in the office on Fridays. I won't be taking advantage of that but it's kinda cool.

rob said...

you'll make an excellent impression if you roll in wearing a liverpool jersey. and a codpiece.

rob said...

pour some out for jerry buss. does this mean phil jackson owns the lakers now?

rob said...

teej, i just walked in on my daughter wearing the squirrel mask and talking to herself in the bathroom mirror. best gift ever.

Greg said...

I was thinking Man City and my sparkly hot pants.

rob said...

thornton co-player of the week with uncw's rendleman. no need to send jerry to richmond, i guess.

Marls said...

What time is the David vs. Golaith hoops extravaganza starting? I'm guessing this is half court or the Teej's doctor would not have signed off.

T.J. said...

I am out for hoops tonight, because we just got word on the house...and it's ours, motherfuckers.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Greg said...

YEAH!!! that place is massive!

T.J. said...

GheorgheFest II will be the housewarming party.

Danimal said...

i like parties.

rob said...

you can't play basketball because you got clearance to enter into a financial commitment? this seems odd.

T.J. said...

i'm not playing hoops because the wife and i are going to celebrate...woooooooooooo

rob said...

awwww, yeah

Greg said...

Awwwww yeah....gonna celebrate like Lavon & Barry?

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/374918/240-worth-of-pudding.jhtml

rob said...

three in a row for the wrens, kids.

T.J. said...

I believe I read that Britt is 14 of 21 from three-point land in his last four games, and is averaging a hair under 20 ppg in those contests.

rob said...

it's 4 degrees in minneapolis this morning. but at least the wind is blowing 20 mph. how the fuck do people live here?

Danimal said...

it's gotta be the lakes.

Guy Fieri digs the place. check out the triple D venues there guy.

rob said...

been to several, danimal. it's a really great food town. in the summer.