Dayton-VCU Recap

A10 CHAMPS BABY!

With Kyle Davis headed to the line shooting one-and-one with a 2 point lead I was mostly freaking out. We had nearly lost a 13 point lead and escaped a potential game winner from JeQuan Lewis moments earlier. But then I just looked at Kyle, walking to the line with the confident swagger he’s had since the first game he played at UD Arena and a certain calm came over me. You may not remember, but he was the one that got the winning steal and assist on Jordan Sibert’s three to win the game against IUPUI. In between then and now, he had come through in big moments his entire entire career. Hell, just last game he hit a clutch three against Davidson. On Scoochie Smith, Kendall Pollard, Charles Cooke, and Kyle Davis’s own Senior night at UD Arena, was there ever any doubt that those two were going in?

Well I guess there was some doubt. He’s only a 68% free throw shooter after all. That clutch gene came through though, as after hitting nearly every part of the rim, Kyle’s first free throw dropped. The second swished, and in a game where Kendall Pollard played only 17 minutes due to foul trouble UD had triumphed. When I was in college I only dreamed of winning a conference championship. Brian Gregory teams consistently got trounced in A10 play due to his predictable offense and penchant for not playing his best players enough minutes. It was a battle to even go .500. Now there’s a real chance to go 16–2, which would be the best A10 record since 2011. UD has just won it’s first outright conference title ever, clinched it’s fourth straight NCAA tournament birth, and won back-to-back conference titles, all in the face of tragedy. This is truly a golden era of UD basketball.

Game Notes

Rebounding…Not Debilitating? The game started with VCU grabbing offensive rebounds that were eerily similar to the first game. The ball bounced off of three or four people and somehow ended up in a VCU player’s hands. I said it was near impossible for VCU to rebound 53% of their misses again, but while at the game it seemed like the Rams weren’t far off. At the end of the day they ended with “just” 37%, which goes to show how crazy that first game was. Cunningham being around helped, but the guards crashing in made the biggest difference: Cooke, Scoochie, and Kyle combined for 14 of our 27 defensive rebounds, with Kyle accounting for half of them himself.

SCOOOOOCHIE. Scoochie was unstoppable in the first half. He broke down VCU seemingly every play and either finished or found the right guy to the tune of 11 points, 3 assists, and 0 turnovers. Whether it was zone or man didn’t matter. This continued in the beginning of the 2nd half, so much so that VCU had to completely change their defense to account for it. He ended the game with 20 points, 6 assists, and 1 turnover. Against a strong defensive team like VCU that is outstanding. I honestly have no idea where offense is going to come from next year without him. When Crosby came into the game every single pass became an adventure, and it gave me a major appreciation for how difficult Scoochie’s job is. I’m going to do some analysis on A10 POY later but at this point I’d be a little pissed if he didn’t win.

VCU’s Defensive Change. Speaking of the defensive change Will Wade made, there were two main things that allowed it to work. First was VCU’s insistence on keeping the ball out of Scoochie’s hands. Anytime he got it in the backcourt they trapped to force him to give it up. It then took awhile for him to get it back in the front court and suddenly there were only 20 seconds on the shot clock and we hadn’t even started our offense. Once in the frontcourt he was surrounded by JeQuan Lewis and Brooks, VCU’s best defenders, as the Rams had dropped into a matchup zone. This made any pick and roll useless, and so much of what was successful in the first half dried up. The second was the fact that Kendall Pollard was on the bench. He crushed that zone last game with his ability to either postup or catch the ball at the foul line and drive to the hoop. His absence was crucial to the VCU comeback.

Backup Bigs Come up Big. I was terrified when Kendall went out with over 15 minutes left and four fouls. The amount of time we spent with a Miller/Mikesell front line was, shall we say, not ideal. Cunningham was tired for seemingly the entire 2nd half because of Kendall and Xeyrius’s foul trouble and because he hasn’t played enough to be in real game shape. Nobody could guard Mo Alie-Cox (please graduate finally), but those three held onto the lead long enough for Kendall to come back and clinch the win. Cunningham in particular was huge with an and-one and that ridiculous late jumper as the shot clock expired. If he can get into better shape before the NCAA Tournament it could be a game changer.

Sing More, Be Patriotic. That was by far the best national anthem experience I’ve had at UD Arena. The performer was great, but that’s not really what I’m talking about. I’m extremely pro-singing the national anthem (unless Willie’s playing sax), but for whatever reason most of UD’s crowd usually doesn’t do it. Last night, everybody brought it. I got chills listening. We should do that every game.

Doug Brooks is a Flopper. The first foul of the game was a Doug Brooks flop while Kendall was running through his screen. He tried to draw another one on Xeyrius near half court later in the half when he fell like a sack of bricks and then popped right back up. Kyle picked up a foul in the 2nd half with the shot clock dwindling down on another screening Brooks flop. That guy sucks. The worst part is he’s a phenomenal defender who doesn’t need to do that crap. His ability to shut down Cooke one-on-one was instrumental to VCU’s comeback late. I’m happy to see him graduate.

Before I get to the officiating a few quick things:

• Darrell and Crosby couldn’t withstand VCU’s defensive pressure. It could be a struggle next year unless a freshman or three step up. The frontcourt should be phenomenal at least.
• Mikesell frustrated me. After he had just made a three he got it at the top of the key wide open. Instead of shooting, he pump faked, drove to the rim, and got stuffed by Alie-Cox. Shoot it man.
• We gave VCU two free points at the end of the half for no reason. We had the ball with 15 seconds left coming out of a timeout and shot it with 7 seconds left. VCU got the rebound, drove down, and scored. That is inexcusable. First time I was mad about something in awhile.
• I can’t think of a better way for Kyle Davis to end his career than by knocking down two clutch foul shots and then forcing two air balls from the other team’s best player to clinch an A10 title. I will never forget him.

Officials. There were some interesting calls throughout the game but one sequence in particular really captured the essence of the incompetence we were all unfortunate enough to witness last night. With a little under 2 minutes left Scoochie grabbed a defensive rebound. Somebody tried to steal it from behind and might’ve fouled him, but there was no call. Scoochie then drove down the floor into the paint, got hit by two guys on a textbook blocking call, and missed a shot. Again there was no call. I don’t particularly mind either of these no calls with less than 2 minutes left in a one-score game, but you had better be swallowing your whistles for the rest of the game unless something egregious happens. On the very next possession, Lewis comes off a pick and runs into Cunningham outside the three point line, foul. This play happened the entire game and was hardly ever called a foul. This is some bullshit. It had no effect on the play. Have some consistency.

KenPom has a relatively new thing where he ranks officials based on how “good” the games they are assigned are; the theory being that refs who grade out well by league heads of officiating will be assigned more important games. For the A10s biggest game of the year we got the refs ranked #14 (good), #78 (not great but fine), and #105 (ARE YOU IDIOTS OUT OF YOUR MIND). For comparison, the UD-Davidson game had refs #23, #33, and #60. That’s how you get a game where both teams spend 9+ minutes of the first half in the bonus. That’s how you get a game where Dayton starts the 2nd half with 5 fouls in less than 5 minutes while VCU has none. FIND BETTER REFS YOU JABRONIS.