GMU Coach Takes a Jab at MVC

[Ace Dad]

The GMU coach writes a column each week. Personally, I like the guy. Has done a great job at GMU. However, check out the last paragraph:

LARRANAGA: The time to shine

By Jim Larranaga
Examiner Columnist
Feel the beat of your heart, feel the wind in your face. It’s more than a contest, it’s more than a race ...”

- From the NCAA Tournament theme song “One Shining Moment” sung by Teddy Pendergrass

The NCAA Tournament is the ultimate goal for every college basketball player. It is every coach and player’s dream to be the team cutting down the net as CBS plays “One Shining Moment.”

For Colonial Athletic Association teams, that one shining moment could come this weekend. The CAA Tournament begins Friday in Richmond. It is the climax of the season, with 12 teams battling for one crown. Only one team will cut down the net and be assured an NCAA Tournament berth. The regular season is over and the fun really begins. As the saying goes, no one remembers what you did in January and February. Everyone remembers what you did in March.

The CAA has had a super season, arguably the best in the conference history. Our recent selection to the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 is a major statement for both George Mason and the conference since it hasn’t been accomplished in nearly 20 years.

The best teams in our league earn respect the old fashion way ... they win games and lots of them. Four teams from the CAA — George Mason, North Carolina-Wilmington, Hofstra and Old Dominion — have 21 wins or more. We are the only conference with as many as four teams with 21 wins as of Monday. Three CAA teams are in the top 40 in the most recent RPI: George Mason (23), UNCW (37), Hofstra (38) and ODU (55). This should be a big factor when the selection committee announces the field of 65. This should be the year the CAA gets multiple bids.

George Mason earned a share of the CAA regular season championship and No. 2 tournament seed with our win over James Madison on Saturday. UNCW became co-champions with its win over Georgia State later that same day and will be the top seed. Hofstra will be seeded third and defending champ ODU fourth. All four teams get a first-round bye. When the quarterfinals begin on Saturday, the atmosphere in the Richmond Coliseum will be electric.

Eight teams, one goal.

Our victory over Madison gave us a school record 15 conference wins with just three losses. Our 22 wins were also the best regular season mark in the school history. Jai Lewis, Lamar Butler and Tony Skinn have each scored more than 1,000 career points to become only the second Mason senior class with three players to reach that milestone.

Conferences are marketing their teams in hopes of getting noticed. The Missouri Valley Conference, for example, has been blowing its own horn all season long. They are talking four or five bids. If the MVC deserves multiple bids, so does the CAA. We went to Wichita State, the MVC regular season champ, and won. In fact, the CAA went 6-2 in the ESPN BracketBuster with the top four teams beating top teams from other conferences. The MVC was 5-5 and several of their teams lost at home.
Enough said. February is over. Let March Madness begin.

“And all the years, no one knows just how hard you worked but now it shows ... one shining moment, it’s all on the line, one shining moment ...”

George Mason men’s basketball head coach Jim Larranaga writes a column each week during the season for The Examiner.

[MikeKennedyRulz]

I like Larranaga and I think he is just trying to tout his conference over another conference they are competing with for spots. Which I would expect any coach to do. It was like Penders at Houston saying a couple of weeks ago that C-USA deserved as many bids as the MVC. The reality is, top-to-bottom the CAA is no where near the caliber of the MVC. Also, since when did it become a bad thing to market your conference to get as much attention as possible? It seems to be working if you ask me. Also, you noticed he left out the fact that his team was trounced by CU, who finished third in the MVC. The argument goes both ways.

[DUShock]

Agreed, he's a dutiful soldier carrying water for the CAA. A good troop Sir!

Go Valley!!

Go Shocks!!!!

[DoubleJayAlum]

Maybe someone should ask him about the 20 point drubbing a certain MVC school gave his team :)

[Aargh]

Larranaga (sp?) has obviously mastered the fine art of picking and choosing "facts and stats" to "prove a point". He would make an excellent addition to ValleyTalk.

Non-Con:

MVC - 66-27 with a 9 SoS for the OOC games.
CAA - 67-49 with a 23 SoS for the OOC games.

I don't doubt that the CAA deserves multiple bids - maybe 3. The CAA's OOC scheduling is a perfect example of how to NOT get multiple bids for a conference.

[gosmsgo]

actually makes sense to me.

If we went to duke and won I can guarantee you we would be saying..."see, the mvc and the acc are'nt that far apart."

[txsaluki05]

actually makes sense to me.

If we went to duke and won I can guarantee you we would be saying..."see, the mvc and the acc are'nt that far apart."

I completely agree with you, for once. :D

[Myopicraiderfan]

I don't blame him. He is promoting his conference. Every mid does that. If we were hoping for 2-3 bids this year and the WAC or MWC conference was looking at 4-5 bids we would be highlighting the positives as well.

[RoyalShock]

I take issue with his premise that the MVC has been blowing it's own horn all year long. The MVC only jumped on it's own bandwagon in the last month or so after the media had been doing for a good part of the year.

Maybe he misinterpreted CU's drubbing of them at their place as "blowing".

I also have to laugh at his "the CAA went 6-2 in the ESPN BracketBuster with the top four teams beating top teams from other conferences."

Besides WSU, their "top" teams (UNC-Wilmington didn't participate) had wins over Siena, Marist, Rider and Albany, with RPIs of 118, 105, 233, and 135, respectively. Wow, I'm impressed.

The MVC's top opponents, sans GMU were Bucknell (RPI 42), Wisc-Mil (55), Louisiana Tech (70), Fresno St (128), and Tenn Tech (129). The competition was not comparable.

In understand what he's doing, but the basis for his argument is, at best, weak.

[Myopicraiderfan]

Highlighting the positives. We would do the same, but yes weak.

[ceaser150]

UNI won at WSU. I guess that means we're off the bubble:) . If he is going to take jabs at someone, he might be better served by jabbing at the BCS conferences. I think both the MVC and CAA are in the same boat of wanting more respect and less for the BCS.

[Little Eddie]

6 teams in the Valley have a stronger SOS than their single best SOS (Mason) which was 71. Hofstra's SOS is like 130 or so...que horrible...UNCW is like 90.