From scrutinized to on their way to Houston, the VCU Rams have been quite a story. But we don’t owe them an apology

JOSH MASER

Alright, so let’s get this out of the way.  Nobody, not even the most die-hard VCU fan, could have seriously considered the Rams as a Final Four team.  It is one of the most unprecedented final four teams in history.  It even trumps George Mason in 2006, because that Patriots team did not have to play in an opening round game (First Four, whatever you want to call it) and then play in the opening round of the tournament less than two days later.

What makes this even more unprecedented is the scrutiny that came from the Rams even being in the tournament to begin with. VCU did not win the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament (losing out to George Mason: read into that all you want) and many thought that this would be the end of the line for the Rams and that a NIT berth would be coming soon. But selection Sunday came, and Virginia Commonwealth was slotted to play against Southern Cal in a First Four Matchup.

What followed could generously be described as hysteria from the basketball community.  People were outraged at the very thought that VCU was even considered over teams like Colorado, Virginia Tech, or even Harvard.  People said they were unworthy, and that the Selection Committee was out of its mind.

Well now, these “experts” and even the causal sports fans are giving all the credit in the world to the Rams; apologizing left and right, some even picking them to win it all.

My question is, why? Or more specifically, why them? They didn’t even give themselves a chance to get into the tournament.  They were not even gathered on selection
Sunday to see if they made it into the field as an at-large team.

That is how convinced they were that they didn’t make it.  If they didn’t think they deserved it, why should anybody else?

These apologies should be going to the NCAA selection committee for selecting a Final Four team with one of the marginal at large bids they had to offer.

The selection process may not be perfect, and they
may make mistakes with one or two teams every year, but they normally get it right, and they got this one right.

On selection Sunday the head of the committee was asked why VCU was selected, and he said simply that “they’re a good ball club.” Now this might have not been sufficient enough an explanation for those who obsessed over RPI, strength of schedule, wins vs. the RPI top 100 etc, but none of those
talking heads have sat in on a selection meeting (for the most part).

The bottom line is that the selection committee knows what they are talking about and can decide which teams truly are the best in the available field (Virginia tech and Harvard didn’t even make it out of the NIT second round).  I think that we owe them an apology.

Photo: AP

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