Strange but True: How Some Atlantic 10 Basketball Teams Receive National Attention
Anyone ever notice that some of the basketball teams (particularly bad ones) in the Atlantic 10 only get recognized for weird and idiotic news? Let me list some of the stories that I am referring to so you can follow my line of thinking:
1. The Duquesne Dukes were stranded on the highway in snow for more than 30 hours from January 23, 2016 to January 24, 2016 after an 86-75 victory at George Mason. The win was the Dukes' head coach, Jim Ferry's 300th career victory. What a way to celebrate a milestone win, huh?
2. After an internal investigation, the George Washington Colonials fired head coach Mike Lonergan after discovering that he verbally and emotionally abused players, including players form other A10 teams. This must be great news following your team winning the NIT.
3. On February 4, 2017, VCU won a game in Olean, NY in which the Saint Bonaventure Bonnies' Matt Mobley hit a go-ahead 3 with 0.4 seconds left in the contest to make it 65-64. Thanks to an ill-advised court storming by the Bona faithful and students, VCU's JeQuan Lewis hit a technical free throw to send the game to overtime, where VCU ended up winning 83-77. There was a good mix of idiocy and luck in this situation.
4. On February 8, 2017, in Olean, New York, the woeful Saint Louis Billikens took a hard 70-55 loss to the Bonnies. Shortly thereafter, they were stranded by their 56-year old drunken bus driver who left without them. In reports that have now surfaced, the Gasport, New York native had a blood alcohol content of 0.22 percent, more than five times the legal limit for commercial drivers (0.04 percent).
5. Also, on February 8, 2017, VCU found all of their lucky charms once more. After George Washington's Yuta Watanabe hit a go-ahead 3 with 0.4 seconds left to go up 53-52, VCU's head coach, Will Wade called a timeout to try to draw a miraculous play for the win. Well, as luck would have it, VCU won 54-53 thanks to JeQuan Lewis drawing a charge on GW's Colin Goss (after he was just brought into the game to defend the inbounds and full court heave) and hitting both free throws.
I will say this much, in all seriousness, I am DELIGHTED that URI does not get recognized on national media outlets for the idiotic stories, in particular.
