I didn't want to make any comments on this thread because I was upset at how we were playing. I missed attending the game because of a late-evolving conflict (got home when it was 9-5 Dayton).
I felt from the very beginning (or at least when they announced that St. Mary's Institute on would be one of our home-home partners) that the two games against Saint Mary's were probably losses, but they would be the best learning experiences as to what the tension levels would be in this league. Unhappily, I underestimated how high the floor is on boorishness, trash-talking, and rudeness by visiting fans is. The ceiling (Dayton, formerly St. Mary's Institute) was a known.
I was surprised how obnoxious VCU fans and players were. I wanted to like VCU, because my brother went there and I thought I understood where their student body came from.
George Washington, our first A-10 opponent, gave us a tutorial in on-court trash-talking. I wish the students were in attendance when they were in town, because I think it would have been different.
I never want to lose to St. Joe's again. We need to make it a mission to beat St. Joe's EVERY DAMN TIME. We have no business losing to them, and after they poured it on against us I want to get even badly, relentlessly, and forever. Beat St. Joe's, and beat them bad. Don't pull the starters. Bludgeon them.
Richmond seems like a pretty good group of fans and players. I didn't have a problem with St. Louis the first time around. I thought George Mason would be horrible, but they weren't. It was hard to tell how Duquesne and UMass were by one time on the road.
I don't want to be a fan of a team that trash talks its opponents. I want to support and follow a team that wins, and when they get smack talk from the other side, I want them to win by 25-40 points and walk off the court without comment.
I also think there is room for a team in the A-10 that focuses primarily on defense, but in a different way than VCU. I am intrigued by the fact that A-10 teams perform at a high level in the regular season and non-con, but don't do all that well in NCAA Tournament play. This year, the A-10 was TERRIBLE in almost all of their MTE games, where they had the chance to boost the conference. I think there is a path to build teams that succeed both in the A-10 and deeper into postseason-- it can't be as narrowly cobbled as it is now. Need athletic players that will play defense, team-focused, no egos, semi-defined roles, and specialists on the bench for three-point shooting, driving to the basket to get freebies, blocks, and rebounds.
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