03-17-2011, 08:52 PM
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1st Four to Final Four
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Basketball Capital of the World
Posts: 13,149
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A coupla articles. First is from our blog, the Ram Nation:
Quote:
The Rams didn’t need any additional motivation once they found out they were in the NCAA Tournament but they got it after hearing their name dragged through the mud by ESPN’s Jay Bilas, Hubert Davis, Dick Vitale and a slew of other “basketball people”. They would prove everybody wrong.
The Rams defeated the University of Southern California last night in Dayton, OH, 59-46 as the final games of the new First Four, the opening round of this year’s NCAA tournament.
Senior Jamie Skeen would be the only Ram that scored in doubled digits with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Junior Bradford Burgess also contributed 9 points on the night and 10 rebounds.
The Rams were led by “The General” Joey Rodriguez and the USC Trojans were stifled by stellar defense by senior Ed Nixon.
USC had two of its starters (Fontan, Simmons) foul out towards the end of the second half which didn’t work out well for a team that only plays about 7-8 players.
After the win the Rams caught a 2am flight to Chicago where they will take on Georgetown, Friday night at 9:40pm.
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Other is an exerpt from FoxNews:
Quote:
Virginia Commonwealth sure proved it could handle it.
After hearing almost every basketball expert question whether they had any business being in the field of 68, the Rams went out and made their case on the court.
"You guys think Jay Bilas watched that game?" VCU coach Shaka Smart said with a wide grin, referring to the ESPN analyst, after the Rams beat fellow 11-seed Southern California 59-46 in a bruising, physical, foul-plagued nightcap.
Jamie Skeen scored 16 points and VCU more than held its own inside against the bigger and stronger Trojans.
"It feels really good because a lot of people were doubting us," Skeen said. "We were able to come out and prove some people wrong. Instead of just talking about it, we just came out here and played."
The Rams (24-11) pulled away down the stretch to set up a game against sixth-seeded Georgetown (21-10) on Friday in Chicago.
Joey Rodriguez had eight points and five assists for VCU, but was one of many standouts for the Rams.
Even though the Trojans started two 6-foot-10 wide bodies inside, the Rams held a 40-31 edge in rebounding.
"We really followed the game plan in terms of what we were trying to do to stop USC," said Smart, the second-youngest coach in the NCAA field at 33. "They obviously have a lot of weapons. Our guys did a really good job for 40 minutes on the defensive end. This is as good as we've played defensively. Early on offensively we were a little jittery. But our guys really settled down and we made more than enough shots as the game wore on."
Jio Fontan had 14 points and Nikola Vucevic 11 for USC (19-15), which had just one field goal over the final 9 minutes.
After trailing by as many as five points in the first half, the Rams broke free in the second half with their 3-point shooting, building an eight-point lead
Skeen hit a 3 to open the second-half scoring and Rodriguez -- scoreless to that point -- hit two 3s for a 28-24 lead. After Maurice Jones countered by hitting USC's first 3 of the game, VCU's Brandon Rozzell hit another shot behind the arc on the left wing to push the lead to 34-27 at the 14:25 mark.
The Rams did not give up the lead.
USC pulled as close as 44-43, but then VCU pulled away again.
With the shot clock running down, Rodriguez passed up a shot and flipped the ball to Ed Nixon, who hit the 3 from the left wing -- his only field goal of the game. The Rams then added two foul shots by Bradford Burgess and a shot off glass in traffic by Rodriguez for a 51-43 lead.
Fontan, the linchpin of the USC offense, then fouled out on a drive with 3:54 left, crippling the Trojans' attack.
The Rams padded their lead the rest of the way.
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& they were upset about refs & some other stuff, but I just told 'em "All we need to do is start making our shots." Our speed had them so worried, they stopped attempting to get rebounds on foul shots, they wanted to be back in defense so bad! We were 2/9 from 3 in the 1st, I knew that once we hit our rhythm, we'd run away with it! 
), but after that performance you can't argue that "they don't belong".
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