The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day Eight

On the eighth day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me:

Eight Tribey Moments
Seven books for reading
6.9 Non Sequiturs
Six All-Star Nods
Five podcasts for listening
Four posts zman meant to write but never did
Three French Hens
Two in-state rivalries
And a dork with a split personality

We make no apologies for our love of all things William & Mary, (And Florida. We love the Gators.) so it's only fitting that we celebrate the Tribe as part of this year-end GTB tradition. Given that we love Tribe basketball more than most things William & Mary, you won't be surprised to learn that Tony Shaver's team gets fully half the airtime, and that W&M sports nabs all but one of the spots in this list.

Pleasantries concluded, here are eight great moments from the year in William & Mary:

The Yule Log Continues

I daresay that none of the assembled Gheorghies ever took part in W&M's annual Yule Log ceremony. We weren't big on ceremony, frankly, and we weren't big on mixing with the 'normal' members of the W&M student body. But it is a noteworthy W&M tradition, even if it paints our school even dorkier than it actually is. That right there is saying something.



Deandre Houston-Carson Rising

Senior free safety Deandre Houston Carson was a consensus FCS All-American after leading the Tribe to its first NCAA Tournament since 2012, intercepting four passes and blocking two punts. Houston-Carson shared co-CAA Defensive Player of the Year honors with Stony Brook's Victor Ochi. Widely expected to be selected in next year's NFL Draft, Houston-Carson has been tabbed to play in the Senior Bowl, the first W&M player to do so since B.W. Webb in 2013.

Suck it, Danimal

Running Men (and Women)

W&M's men's cross country team won their 16th consecutive CAA championship, the fifth-longest such streak in NCAA history. Meanwhile senior Emily Stites shared CAA athlete of the year honors with sophomore Regan Rome. Stites won the conference cross country title and finished third in the nation in the 10000m, earning a school-record 7th All-American nod, while Rome finished 25th in nation in cross country.



Booter Ellis!

Just today, we learned that W&M has a sophomore field hockey player named Booter Ellis. I hope she's friends with Hunter Seacat(!).

Tribe Hoops Opens Strong

W&M traveled to Raleigh to take on North Carolina State in the 2015-15 season opener. The Tribe got out to a 23-5 lead, and were never threatened as they coasted to an 85-67 win over the Wolfpack. Hopes, already sprung eternal, were raised.



Daniel Dixon, Part Deux

Junior guard Daniel Dixon burnished his reputation as a purveyor of daggers, draining a long three with four seconds left in overtime to lead the Tribe to a 78-75 win over High Point. Dixon's averaging 15 points a game on 45.2% three-point shooting, while Omar Prewitt leads W&M with 17.4 points per game, and Terry Tarpey continues to stuff stat sheets for the 7-3 Tribe.

Daniel Dixon (@mr_heatcheck) delivers a nice Christmas present for the Tribe on Tuesday night: 3 for the win in OT, take it home Jay Colley. #RisingTribe #CAAHoops

A video posted by William & Mary Tribe Athletics (@tribeathletics) on Dec 21, 2015 at 8:37pm PST

Daniel Dixon, the First

Dixon's corner triple at the double overtime buzzer sent W&M to its second consecutive CAA Tournament final. 

Marcus Thornton Drafted by the Celtics

And the greatest moment of the year, W&M edition, was the announcement that the Boston Celtics selected Marcus Thornton, guard, College of William & Mary with the 45th pick of the 2015 NBA Draft. I yelled aloud from a hotel room in Minneapolis, then watched my Twitter timeline blow up.

Thornton closed his collegiate career as W&M's all-time leading scorer, and is undoubtedly the best player to ever wear the green and gold. After a couple of decent outings in NBA Summer League action, he's averaging 15.3 points per game for the Sydney Kings while he learns his craft. He needs to work on distributing the ball, and he's not shooting a high enough percentage, but nobody can take back that draft selection.

And if he hears the phrase, 'Ewing Theory', tossed about in this space, we'll be glad to let him know that he'll always be our favorite.

This Day in Wrenball Pigskin Special

I've been in Pittsburgh since Wednesday, ostensibly celebrating Thanksgiving by overeating, drinking tons of wine, and studiously ignoring both my in-laws and the cacophonous screeching of my kids and their cousins.

All that revelry is just a cover, though. I'm really here to scout the Duquesne Dukes, first-round FCS Tournament opponents of your William & Mary Tribe.

W&M returns to the postseason for the first time in four years, having tied Richmond and James Madison for the CAA title. Both of their co-winners received first-round tournament byes, despite the fact that the Tribe beat JMU head to head. Duquesne, champions of the Northeast Conference (which may or may not be a real league), makes their first-ever postseason tournament appearance this afternoon at 3:30 in Williamsburg.

Tribe senior defensive tackle Tyler Claytor previews the Dukes about as effectively as we could, so we'll let him tell you. "We don’t know much about them, they don’t really know much about us. That’s the beauty of the playoffs. It’s definitely something new, something different. It’s really enjoyable just having, hey, there’s a new team, new school, new group of guys we’re going to face. … There’s a little bit of mystery. It’s challenging. It’s intriguing.”

Based on my time spent on the ground behind enemy lines, I can also tell you that Duquesne is in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh, and has a pretty cool old church right in the middle of campus. Norm Nixon went there, as did former head of the CIA Michael Hayden, who's kind of a loudmouth jerk. Reason enough to get fired up to play these Dukes, as far as I can tell.

The Green and Gold, and in particular quarterback Steve Cluley, will need to bounce back from a dismal performance against Richmond in the regular season's final game. Cluley's three picks were a big factor in the Spiders' 20-9 win, and kept W&M from a conference title and sure first-round tournament bye.

In what passes as small consolation, the tournament draw gives W&M an opportunity to get revenge on their arch rivals from Richmond in short order. The winner of today's game takes on U of R next weekend in the tournament's second round.

W&M's favored by 22 1/2. And after spending some time around the Duquesne program (I played golf within 20 miles of their campus yesterday, for example), I feel pretty good about our chances.

Bring on Spidey.

Evolution of a Mascot [Subtitle: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET THE THING SOME PANTS]

I found this infographic in the latest issue of the William and Mary Alumni Magazine. Thought folks might be interested to see the mascot progression from bad ass ballboy to pantsless eunuch mythical creature...

Thoughts:
- I would have no problem with a return to the Oliver Twist-esque ballboy, though I could do without the drab Cleveland Browns color scheme.
- We seriously had a dog mascot named "Dammit"? Like, this was a thing?
- Wampo was Gumby's horse buddy, no?
- Cal the alligator/bottle opener makes almost as little sense for W&M as a pantsless griffin, so good to know the school has backed asinine mascot choices for over a century.
- Wampo II: Electric Horsealoo
- We know make it to the Dan Snyder-sponsored portion of our program. I would think the headdress might slow down a running back, but what do I know. Also, the school should demand royalties from cult classic The Warriors as they obviously stole the name and baseball bat concept from our mascot. Come out to play, indeed.
- Oh, hey, Wami. [No one share this infographic with Mike Wise, please.]
- Amazingly, Col. Ebirt is not the worst mascot in this picture.
- And of course, the coup de grâce, our current mascot, a legendary Greek creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle's talons as its front feet. AND NO PANTS. Makes total sense.

Gheorghe: The Roadtrip

In what would actually be the makings of a mediocre buddy comedy, the Teej and Rob are braving a snowy I-95 to take in the Tribe's afternoon tilt against the Drexel Dragons in the City of Brotherly Love. Apparently, "City of Douchebags With Inferiority Complexes" was already taken. 

Our intrepid correspondents will be venturing into the hallowed confines of the Drexel Athletic Center whose denizens refer to themselves as the "DAC Pack". 

As you can see from the photo, this is not a cool bunch. Any interfan violence will clearly be nerd on nerd crime. 

Drexel is a 4.5 point favorite. I would take the Tribe in this one, but as always wait for Rob to make his pick and then "Costanza" it.