Richmond Basketball: Dunk You Very Much

Trip Recap #5, March 5th, 4th day of the trip. CAA Finals, the last full day in Richmond. George Mason set to take on Virginia Commonwealth in the final. At this point, ESPN had picked up on the potential return of Mason to the NCAA tournament. This was a fairly big story at the time, in part because there were only 3 tourney finals in the nation that day; and also because Mason's head coach Jim Larranaga had become a media darling during their Final Four run last season.

In any case, pretty cool to have the nation's attention focused on the game Pun City was going to be at. Also pretty cool was that these two schools had brought in the largest fan bases through the tournament, meaning that attendance would be great even though most tournaments have a dropoff from the semis to the final given that only 2 fan bases attend instead of 4.

After 10 games in 3 days, this blog also was happy that it would have the majority of the day to kill time around Richmond. A full slate of activities came to mind: Going to the University of Richmond to check out their campus, heading over to VCU's bookstore to turn in a 25% off coupon and get some Rams gear, grab some lunch, kill any remaining time, and head to the game.

This blog went to the University of Richmond first, and went to the bookstore, eventually getting a spider hat. It's a badass spider hat, with 8 legs protruding from the sides and a spider head in front. Probably the kind of hat gang members might wear. From there, got directions from the friendly bookstore staff and went to their basketball arena, the Robins Center. It's a pretty nice facility, housing most if not all of their sports offices. When this blog arrived, a basketball practice was in session, and there wasn't an easy way to get to "higher ground" without practically walking on the court. So this blog just searched in the concourses, which were really carpeted hallways housing the offices. Despite being seen by numerous employees, this blog didn't get stopped. That was cool.

Eventually this blog just decided to walk in on floor level to the court, practice be darned. It was decent timing though, as the practice was just concluding. At this point, hilarity ensued....

While the main practice had ended, there were a few players that were scheduled for a smaller workout session also being run by Coach Chris Mooney. During the time where the floor had to be cleared, the players waiting for the workout session had started up an impromptu dunk session. This was going a little long though, and Mooney said over to the group, "Alright, come on guys, let's go."

At this point, the ringleader of the dunking group, David Gonzalvez, spoke up: "Hold up coach, just one more here. I'm gonna rock the cradle, then reverse it for a backhand slam." Another player chimed in, "He's nice wit it coach."

Given that one dunk is pretty harmless and also not time-consuming, Mooney reluctantly "agreed" by rolling his eyes.

Gonzalvez readied himself, getting a grip on the ball and saying "Rock-a-bye baybee!" He then strided toward the basket, loading up for a rocking windup, and......

Stopped in mid-air. He had his steps wrong, no dunk was really even attempted. It all looked very silly. Mooney punctuated the moment by saying in a perfect deadpan "That's nice."

Of course, all of the players wanted another shot at it, and Mooney reluctantly agreed to Gonzalvez's plea of "Hold up coach, just one more!" At that point he dunked it as he had described, and it was a pretty cool jam.

After that, Pun City still had plenty of time to get to the bookstore since it was only around lunchtime, the game started at 6:00, and the bookstore was within walking distance of the Coliseum. Fortunately, this blog had seen a Fuddrucker's near the hotel this blog was staying at, so it went over there. Fuddrucker's always was one of this blog's favorites as a kid, but lately it comes across as sort of a ripoff. Good burgers, but expensive. This blog's table was near a man and woman that were talking about the ACC tournament, which was kind of a cool thing to see. This blog rarely if ever overhears college basketball conversations outside of arenas or sports bars, so it was cool to hear.

The main point of their conversation was that the ACC Tournament shouldn't be in Tampa, FL. The woman smartly brought up, well, where should it be? The male UNC fan eventually settled on the Dean Dome, but said "Well, that wouldn't be very fair to everyone else." (They had ruled out the Georgia Dome since the SEC had it, thought Greensboro Coliseum was too small, and didn't like the idea of it going to the MCI Center in Washington, DC again).

"Well, that wouldn't be very fair."

After lunch, caught a screening of "Reno 911" in a theatre, the movie was good, and about as you'd expect from that movie.

VCU's Bookstore was up next, and it was a pretty cool bookstore. A Quizno's and a Starbucks were inside, and it was a very large bookstore for this size of a school. This blog got a Virginia Commonwealth ringer t-shirt, with the 25% off it was only about 10 bucks.

Inside the Coliseum, this blog saw George Mason keep a lead on VCU for most of the game, including a slim lead with 2:00 remaining. From that point though, VCU point guard Eric Maynor took over the game, single-handedly willing the Rams to victory and an NCAA automatic bid (this blog thinks they were in anyway, but that's hard to say given they were an 11-seed with the win). A fond farewell to Richmond, this blog was headed to Duke, North Carolina, and Raleigh for some campus tours and the first round of the MEAC Tournament next.

VCU - Where Hunting Is A Major

Trip Recap #4 - March 4th, 3rd day of the trip. Looked up local malls online, determined that Charleston Towne Square Mall was probably the best bet. It was unique, easily the hugest Aeropostale and smallest Finish Line this blog has ever seen. Overpriced mall on the whole. This blog went to the food court, ideally would have gone to the Chick-Fil-A, but it was closed on a Sunday. Instead ended up getting way overpriced Burger King instead, as well as a cookie at some cookie place. Not a wasted trip, but certainly was hoping for more with the mall.

Part of why the trip was not wasted was that this blog stumbled upon the University of Richmond while heading over to the mall, which was very cool since this blog now knew how to get there for tomorrow, so more on that with the next recap, since this blog was planning on heading to Virginia Commonwealth's bookstore too.

Getting back to downtown Richmond, this blog entered the Coliseum to find that they had moved the "Ring of Champions" up a deck. This ring was kind of cool. Every year's tournament champion was listed on a banner showing the year. After the 2006 banner, instead of ending it, they had one up that said only "Who Will Be Next??"

So this was cool. Based on fairly small crowds the first two nights, they had them hanging from the 2nd deck. Well this night, they were hanging from the 3rd deck, which really was unexpected. This was because the "3rd Deck" was really just a few sections worth of extra seats situated above the 2nd deck in each end zone. This meant the signs really had to get crammed together to fit, since they had previously spanned a much larger pair of arcs on the 2nd deck.

Drexel faced off against Virginia Commonwealth in the early game. Some great signs from Drexel's student section, both aimed at VCU's students:

"VCU = UVA Rejects"

"Shouldn't you be watchin' Nascar?"

"VCU - Where hunting is a major."

VCU responded with a sign saying "Your Signs Suck"

At the half, there was a Special Olympics athlete that was delivering a speech to the crowd. It was a very touching speech, but funny in parts. This blog is paraphrasing and hopes it doesn't butcher his message, but he began his speech with (approximately):

"Before you start to get concerned, don't worry. I promise you this speech won't last any longer....than Britney Spears in rehab."

Totally brought down the house. Especially topical at the time, too. The part of the message this blog took home is that it hurts developmentally disabled people when you use the term "retard" derisively. This blog has tried to make it a point to avoid this phrase and believes it has been successful for the most part.

The hometown Rams beat up on Drexel after the half, so Drexel's NCAA tournament hopes, at least as far as their fans were concerned, had ended. (As it turned out, they probably should have made it over Arkansas or Stanford in hindsight).

In the nightcap, George Mason broke out the gold jerseys and upset favored Old Dominion, prompting George Mason's student section to chant "Lady Monarchs" at ODU, which this blog found funny. ODU's women's basketball program is a powerhouse, but Pun City is sure their men's program doesn't like to hear that.

The crowd of 11,200 was the first sellout in CAA Tournament history, so that was pretty awesome to be a part of. This blog had now been part of record crowds at the Colonial and Missouri Valley tournaments. A cool day, setting up a final between George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth tomorrow.

Trip Wire

Good day, sorry for the long break and relative lack of Pun City updates during the trip, hopefully the majority of the audience was among those e-mailed from the road.

Fantastic trip in general, most likely the next few posts will include some road trip recaps.

The initial photo is this blog's view of Virginia Commonwealth's supporters rushing the floor after their CAA championship victory over George Mason. The Colonial Athletic Association, along with Richmond Coliseum staff, had a very cool policy on the floor rushing. Both before the game and during the 4-minute timeout in the 2nd half, an announcement was made stating (roughly): "We understand that the winning team's fans will want to join their team in celebrating on the floor. The CAA encourages fans to do so, but we ask that you please proceed to the floor in an orderly fashion and follow instructions from arena personnel."

Aside from the fairly polite message, the Coliseum staff removed temporary barriers in front of both student sections (as it was a close game) prior to the game ending. Fans rushed the floor and the images of this celebration were appropriately showcased on ESPN's SportsCenter and other media outlets. This is in stark contrast to the SEC's weak stance of fining schools when fans rush the floor. Basketball has not had any major floor-rushing injuries reported, and given that basketball arenas a) Are much smaller than football stadiums, meaning fewer people are logistically capable of rushing the floor; b) Many college arenas do not serve or restrict the sale of alcohol, leading to a more civil crowd than would otherwise be expected, and c) Basketball arenas rarely if ever have permanent barriers erected near the floor, which would seriously injure would-be floor rushers, this blog thinks that any anti-floor-rushing stance is overly cautious and ill-informed.

Picture two is the home of VCU's eventual first-round victim in the NCAA tournament, Duke University's Cameron Indoor Stadium. This blog got a chance to stop in while en route to the MEAC tournament in Raleigh, NC. Let this blog tell you, this place is a shrine. The building's exterior is fairly non-descript, no bigger than most of the classroom and dorm buildings around it, the inside is what counts. This blog, (in the interest of full disclosure a Duke fan since the early 1990s), was generally in awe the entire visit. The concourse, while small, is a great throwback to old bandbox-style gyms, but has been fantastically maintained, including detailed mosaics at every section entrance showing the Duke logo. Probably the biggest highlight for this blog (since it didn't really get to go into the seating bowl given that Howard University was having a closed practice) was the Duke Hall of Fame, which housed National Championship trophies, honored past greats, and displayed some great memorabilia, including Bobby Hurley's jersey and shoes. The Hall was within Cameron Indoor, so if you head down there it's a convenient combination. The last stop on this blog's trip was Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, where the Atlantic 10 was playing their tournament. The building is on the National Historic Register, and has been renovated recently. The venue is typically used for theatre or concerts, so the giant stage provides a very cool looking backdrop when a basketball court is set up. This last shot was taken between games, and this blog would occasionally glance over at the huge screen during breaks in the action.

The trip was phenomenal, this blog assures you that more pictures are to follow, as well as day-by-day recaps and maybe a review here and there.

Also congratulations to Ohio State, which appears to be the only one of the teams this blog saw live (this season) to have advanced to the Sweet 16.