Friday, March 08, 2013

This Week in Wrenball: Holding Out for An Asshole

Tomorrow begins one of the most unusual CAA Tournaments in conference history. As a result of defections and academic struggles, four of the league's 11 teams didn't make the trip to Richmond (ODU, Georgia State, Towson, and UNCW), leaving a somewhat-less-than-magnificent-seven to vie for the NCAA Tournament autobid.

Sage observers in the Community of Gheorghe have long held that abbreviated tournament offers our Tribe their best chance in years to break the Curse of Bill Chambers and advance to dance, if only based on the odds. And while W&M's 7-11 CAA record (13-16 overall) doesn't necessarily presage a championship run, some of the underlying fundamentals indicate that it's at least a possibility.

The Wrens enter the tournament winners of 4 of their last 6 games, and boast the CAA's best shooting percentage (.467), second-best three-point shooting percentage (.374), and have made more three-pointers than any team in the tournament. W&M also has a positive rebounding margin for the first time in years, and leads the CAA in assists/game - they've shared the ball extremely well over the season's last third. Combined, these stats tell the story of a team that's capable of getting hot for three nights and shooting their way to Dayton.

But, and it's a capital BUT, for that to happen, the Tribe must find a way to mask their single biggest flaw. Invariably, and almost predictably (seriously, go look on Twitter - I totally predicted the last time this happened), this W&M team has inexplicable stretches of somnambulant play. They go from crisp, attacking basketball to head-scratchingly passive effort. Since February 11 alone, the Tribe blew a 10-point second-half lead to lose at home to Northeastern, let a 25-point lead dwindle to three before beating UNCW at home, let George Mason go on a 19-1 run to erase a 13-point deficit and win in Fairfax, allowed a 15-0 run to end the first half at UNCW before regrouping to win, and gacked a 16-point halftime edge to drop the season finale at home against JMU. It's not at all unreasonable to suggest that this team should be headed to Richmond on a seven-game winning streak. Because they should.

After they blew the JMU game, Tony Shaver hit on the season's key, saying "We’ve got to have somebody take charge — somebody slap the floor, slap each other." In other words, this Tribe team needs some redass. They've got a bunch of great kids - players who we should all be proud to have represent our alma mater - but they don't have any assholes.

Holding out for an asshole doesn't make for a great lyric, but unless one shows up against JMU in Richmond tomorrow at 8:30 pm, it may well be 'wait til' next year' time again in Williamsburg.

53 comments:

T.J. said...

PantslessGriffin gonna get it done.

Marls said...

Are any of the G:TB family making the trip to the Confederacy Colliseum?

Mark said...

If you go to Richmond, make sure you stop by the statue of my ancestor Jefferson Davis. And then spit on that shit.

Jerry said...

We're going to have to score the basketball and make the other team work to get good shots.

zman said...

The team that scores the most points WILL win this game.

Mark said...

Also, the Tribe will need to get stops on defense. Can't just let your opponent score.

Marls said...

You play to win the game.

Clarence said...

My team's on the floor.

rob said...

i would like to hear tom brennan or bill raftery expound at length on the missing asshole theory of hoops success.

Mark said...

I enjoy that Clarence quoted Norman Dale. I'd have cast him in the Shooter role.

Clarence said...

It applies to football, too, or at least it did in the 1988 lost classic The Best of Times.

Kurt Russell's character is a nice guy for most of the film, but at halftime of the big game, he reverts back to his high school prick self, and as Robin Williams' Jack Dundee muses, "When he was a prick, Reno Hightower was the greatest quarterback in the history of south Kern county."

There's a larger arc that suggest that to be truly great at something like sports, you have to have an element of arrogant dickishness that propels you to greatness. My guess is that the arrogance at W&M will always be confined to the Physics lab and other academic arenas.

Jerry said...

and unit M

Clarence said...

Thanks, Mark. Now don't get caught watchin' the paint dry.

T.J. said...

This weekend for the Tribe it's fourth and fifteen and they're looking at a full-court press.

Danimal said...

kenny chesney playing an impromptu concert a block down from my office this eve in a place that holds 800...a coworker was able to purchase 15 tix at $15. of course he didn't tell anyone 'til after the fact. not into kenny but the wife likes him. i am however into making easy money. that would have been pretty easy.

rob said...

w&m's got a scrappy, white, pass-first point guard coming in next year. runs the offense for the #1 high school team in indiana. really hoping he's a wojo-type cocksucker.

cocksucker, in this case, is a term of endearment.

Mark said...

For your sake,I hope he's more skilled offensively than Wojo. That fucker couldn't shoot for shit.

Clarence said...

But man, oh man, could he suck cock.

Marls said...

AWL

T.J. said...

Audible Wrenball Laughter

rob said...

we don't need him to shoot, we need him to find shots for thornton, rusthoven, britt, and gaillard. in fact, if he shoots, we're making him run gassers.

T.J. said...

and suck less cock than Woj. i think we've established his role, rob

Jerry said...

Mo Chi
Mo Chi
Takes it up the ass, yeah

Mark said...

You're missing the point, Rob. I didn't say you wanted him to shoot, but you do need him to have the ability to knock down open shots to keep the defense honest and open up lanes for the other guys. If he's self check from anywhere outside the lane then the effectiveness of his passing and floor generalship is dramatically reduced.

Jerry said...

This is awesome - discussing the offensive approach that a HS kid should have a year from now when he suits up for a terrible college basketball team that nobody cares about via the avatar of a famous college player from 10 years ago.

Mark said...

Its pretty much what the internet was created for, Jerry.

Mark said...

And it's more like 15 years ago. Because we're really old.

Clarence said...

"a terrible college basketball team that nobody cares about"????

I think we've demonstrated here that there is a strong (or at least flimsy) contingent of diehard (or at least casually interested), rabid (or at least drooling) fans that cares deeply (or at least until something better comes along).

You got the terrible part right, though.

rob said...

noted and agreed, mark. but he'd still better not shoot.

jerry, you shut up.

rob said...

tribe baseball beat rutgers, 4-3, to move to 9-4 on the season. how you like that, jerry?

rob said...

tribe gets two players on the all-caa three-deep: thornton second team, rusthoven third team. last time we had two was...fuck if i know.

rob said...

8 tribe players made caa all-academic teams, out of 19 total selections. fuck, yeah, smart kids. 4th time in the history of the conference we've had two all-caa selections.

Mark said...

Unless his a twitter account has been hacked, we've all learned tonight that Peter Vecsey loves Biggie.

zman said...

Honestly though, who doesn't?

rob said...

tupac?

rob said...

okay, just read vecsey's feed. did not see that coming.

Mark said...

Pretty awesome though, right?

rob said...

hoyas defense that good, or cuse offense play poorly?

Mark said...

I've never seen a good team that is worse offensively late in close games than this year's Florida squad. Just awful all year long. Went scoreless for the last 8 minutes of today's loss at Kentucky.

rob said...

worse, you let kentucky into the dance. jerks.

Mark said...

No. What's worse is we're going to lose early in the tournament because our this inability to close late.

Mark said...

Calling my shot now. Florida loses early in the SEC tournament. Drops to a 4 seed and gets bounced during the tournament's first weekend.

Mark said...

There are some terrible hair style decisions on display in this St. Louis-LaSalle game.

zman said...

Biggie died 16 years ago today so I guess Vecsey is showing some love.

Danimal said...

Rob....nervous?

Danimal said...

Jmu -3
Is this game on e Telly?

Jerry said...

Did the Tribe change up their jerseys for Noche Latina?

rob said...

danimal, yes. you? game is on some comcast channel, but not one that i get. super.

rob said...

guillermo y maria

Danimal said...

Nervous, no. Actually I put a small wager on the dorks. So a 1 or 2 point victory by the purple rockers would be choice. Good luck.

rob said...

well, that...feels normal.

T.J. said...

some day, before we all die... those assholes will make a NCAA tourney...

Jerry said...

The only way to bounce back is to get a CAA fantasy baseball league going.