And as those hopes crested in Richmond at the CAA Tournament, an injury-hobbled Tribe team, with star players Jim Moran and Randy Bracy ailing, lost to seventh-seeded American University and their hot-shooting guard, Nathan Smith. Or, Nathan Fucking Smith, as he's known in W&M lore*.* possibly only to me
Eighteen years later, a W&M team in somewhat different circumstances, having made consecutive CAA Tournament finals and four in the last eight years, finds itself among the elite teams in the league. Tony Shaver's boys are 17-6, 9-3 in the league, and winners of four straight. W&M is currently ranked 37th in the RPI, and have a non-conference resume that matches up with any mid-major and a lot of power conference teams. People are talking about this squad, and not just us. John Feinstein wrote perhaps the longest non-GTB piece I've ever seen about the Wrens.
Tonight, the Green and Gold begin perhaps their toughest stretch of the season.
Hofstra, boosted by likely CAA Player of the Year Juan'ya Green and double-double machine Rokas Gustys, travels to Williamsburg tonight in a battle for second place. The Flying DutchPride hammered the Tribe by nearly 30 points in Hempstead late last month on the strength of an otherworldly offensive performance in the game's second half. Hofstra trails W&M by one game in the league after blowing a big lead and losing at JMU in overtime.
Two days from now, W&M travels to Towson, hoping to avenge their only home loss of the season. Like Hofstra, the Tigers are only a game behind the Tribe in the CAA standings.
And a week from tonight, league leaders UNCW come to the Tribedome hoping to sweep W&M. The first matchup between these two was a classic, the Seahawks topping the Wrens, 97-94, in overtime.
Omar Prewitt was just named CAA co-Player of the Week after a pair of 20+ point games. The Tribe is balanced, with six players averaging at least 8.0 points per game, and a seventh, sophomore Connor Burchfield, averaging 6.0 and leading the nation in three-point shooting percentage (.614). Sophomore point guard David Cohn is averaging 7.0 assists/game over the last seven games, with an assist/turnover ratio of 4.1:1 over that span. Over the team's four-game winning streak, the Tribe has averaged 1.24 points/possession while shooting 50.6% from the floor. (The NCAA leaders in offensive efficiency, Saint Mary's, average 1.19 ppp on the season. W&M is 37th at 1.09.) There is reason to believe this team is better than last year's.You can see where this is all going, can't you.
Three wins, and W&M is the odds-on favorite to win the regular season title. Three losses would suck, and burst the #1bid4wmtribe at-large bubble, but wouldn't really have a material impact on the Tribe's CAA tourney chances - W&M's probably already done enough to avoid having to compete in the tournament's play-in round. Neither of those outcomes is terribly likely, given the vicissitudes of this conference season.
At the end of the above-mentioned Feinstein piece, which chronicles the pain many of us have felt personally over the past several years, Shaver allows himself to dream just a little bit. Asked what he might do if W&M finally gets over the hump, he said, “I’m pretty sure I’ll hug my sons and [wife] Ann first. Long hugs. I know there will be tears.”
Dammit. The way this year is shaping up, there will be tears, alright. Just hard to tell which kind.
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39 comments:
Big night. A nice opportunity for the Dukes to get a share of 2nd.
tribe -3.5 against a team that just beat them by 30. vegas must think that first game was an aberration. there's reason to believe that - w&m drove up long island in a blizzard, never plays well in hempstead, had the game close at halftime and just got dumptrucked in the second.
Following up on TR's comment of The People vs OJ Simpson. I'm fully in. Watched the Bronco chase episode last night. Alternately extremely well done and over the top cheese dramatic. I love it.
Also, the actress playing Marcia Clark is fantastic.
Her name is Sarah Paulson. Her name is Sarah Paulson.
KQ and I were "in the closet" on a Golds Gym staff bonding beach week. We were staying in Fenwick Isle and ended up at Harpoon Hannahs for the end of "the chase." We were watching the white bronco ordeal as well.
Oh Mark...we here...
Nice. I'm working for another couple hours but will be in touch soon.
I was away at summer camp the entire week leading up to the Friday night Bronco chase. I had no idea about the murder. I came home that night intending to only watch the NBA Finals. To say the night played out differently than I anticipated would be a gross understatement.
The car chase is an epic 90s moment in time.
I was with some peeps from Les Bullets front office--we had tix to the Improv and were watching the Knicks game on the little TV sitting on the desk of the building security desk.....then the game + car chase. We stood there for awhile with that security guard.
Somebody made the point recently that the car chase and the subsequent trial were really the beginning of the reality TV phenomenon. I'd never thought about it but I think that's at least partially true.
i was at a party in richmond with whitney. i can say with certainty that he didn't do it.
Just made a last minute call to head to 930 this eve with some buddies and see Big Head Todd and Mike Doughty. Been trying to see Doughty for years. #stoked #blessed
Mr KQ, I hope Doughty has his guitar not a synth. His last two albums have really revisited the SC days but with a more electronic sound. His question jar shows are usually his best ones. Enjoy.
Bronco chase -- was bartending in Williamsburg, whole bar/restaurant watched on the TVs for hours...
This week has SUCKED!!! Son has poison ivy on his face (who the hell gets poison ivy in February?!), car blinker/electric stuff breaks - costs nearly $400 to fix, battery dies - costs $140 (since when do batteries costs $140?!!), and the biggie: our house in WV had a pipe freeze over a week ago and burst - yes, now the insurance company is debating whether to pay because uncertain heat was on. Though we're trying to show them the proof that it was. HOLY FUCK!!! Say a prayer for us. Or something. Too bad we don't make any money like you rich folks!!!
my brother and i were at a party at my future wife's apartment for the chase-- instead of watching, we elected to go into an empty room and listen to the knicks-rockets game on the radio . . . walt "clyde" frazier used a myriad of lexical prestidigitations in his fantabulous narration.
"a myriad of lexical prestidigitations in his fantabulous narration"
i wrote that! i could be walt "clyde" frazier
found a list of his best rhymes
Bounding and Astounding
Dancing and Prancing
Dishing and Swishing
Huffing and Stuffing
Hustling and Bustling
Loosey Goosey
Movin’ and Grovin’!
Out-muscling and Out-hustling
Posting and Toasting
Shaking and Baking
Slicing and Dicing
Spinning and Winning
Stumbling and Bumbling
Styling and Profiling
Swooping and Hooping
Wheeling and Dealing
someone made a walt "clyde" frazier dictionary! here's "p"
P
penchant – a strong inclination – The Knicks have a penchant for turning the ball over late in the game.
percolate- active, lively, spirited
precocious – characterized by early maturity - The precocious rookie is playing well tonight.
prodigious – impressively great in size, force or extent – Amar’e is off to a prodigious start.
prolific – producing abundant works or results - Melo is off to a prolific start in the second half
prudent – wise in handling practical matters - The Knicks are doing the prudent thing featuring Randolph in the early going
he must have crushed the SAT
donna, sorry to hear that news-- onerous and ponderous
Thanks Squeaky, def hoping for guitar as well. Currently cramming on Spotify to catch up on new stuff. My death metal co-worker is not amused.
I was with my lady friend, Amy S. We had just had a meal and a couple of cold chilly pops somewhere in Incester. We were about to make some noise when we turned on the tube. I remember either Al Michaels or Bob Costas being brought into the NBA telecast during halftime or a break of some kind while showing the bronco chase.
I mentioned that we watched the Secret Tapes of OJ the other night. It too was pretty good, full with info not previously privy to.
I was at a sports bar (which also had an adjacent bikini bar, natch) in Palisades Park, making the most of my fake ID with the great Keith D, FO several Gheoghies and general drunken menace. We were captivated to say the least.
That was last night. Was there for the OJ chase too.
Donna, didn't you get poison ivy in February one time at W&M? Maybe that was someone else...
As a diehard Knicks fan as a kid, everything about the OJ interruption killed me. I watched Game 7 alone at a party at a buddy's house.
I have a bit of a crush on Sarah Paulson. Less so when she played a chick w/ two heads on that Horror Story show. And even less so w/ that perm.
The Syracuse "Pearl" jersey I must have. Pretty cool of the 'Cuse.
Backstory: Pearl Washington, great from the late 80's, with brain tumor.
Wasn't February, Whitney, as I recall. Newport News public schools just notified that schools are dismissing early tomorrow because of possible bad weather. 40ish% chance of snow after 2 p.m. Good grief!!
"Trump: The Art of the Deal, The Movie" is a Funny or Die movie worth seeing. Johnny Depp as Trump.
Anybody else following the Adnan Syed news? Crazy to think we may get a new trial. And the real-time updates for the Serial and Undisclosed podcasters are both entertaining and a cool example of how quickly folks can report on an evolving story.
tribe can't stop hofstra. towson game looms large.
I can't remember where I was when the 'chase' went down. I can barely remember what I did on Monday at this point. I blame all those concussions.
The new DIIV album is decent. Same vibe as Odin but I don't think they made any effort to expand their sound. Would imagine it would be good for those nights where you want to partake of some weed and chill out. They were a shit show live. Repeatedly stopped mid song because someone was off beat. Yeah, drugs!
tribe fought back from 11 down with six to play to get within two, but couldn't get over the hump.
i said 'hump'.
First of many meals and drinks with the family Teej in the books. Thanks to the two of them for inspiring the wife and I to take tomorrow off and make it a three day weekend. Drinks at lunch are on the docket tomorrow.
Always a fantastically fun time when we are down here. There will be much boozing and eating over the next three days.
just got retweeted by hunter seacat's(!) dad.
Nothing sucks harder than having an aging parent in a nursing rehab hospital. The amount of red tape and crap you have wade through, not literally, is ridiculous. Someone could make a fortune streamlining the process.
hello gheorghies!
i'm so over serial season one. i couldn't give a shit what happens to adnan! but serial season two, that's the stuff . . .
Sup gheorghies. I've never listened to a single episode of serial, but there's a lot of loser moves I have yet to make. Yet to.
Big win for the Dukes last night.
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