DESPITE HEARTBREAK, RAMS LEAVE NORFOLK HOPEFUL
By Chris Kowalczyk
2-27-10

On a lonely basket on one end of the Ted Constant Center, two small children squared off to shoot hoops. Using a miniature Old Dominion basketball, one you’d probably find in any team shop, they fired short jumpers wildly into the air as arena workers hummed past them.

Seated just behind the goal was the VCU Men’s Basketball team, watching quietly as the tiny ball clanged off the netless rim. It was the final act of a raucous Old Dominion celebration, one the Rams knew they could’ve prevented.

The 2009-10 regular season has been an education in triumph and heartbreak for VCU players, coaches and fans. If you’re categorizing this stuff, Saturday’s 73-70 loss to Old Dominion was one of the toughest the Rams have had to endure.

When Brandon Rozzell’s 3-pointer from the corner crashed off the side of the rim as time expired, VCU Coach Shaka Smart could only shake his head and grin as he walked off the floor.

“You think about what could’ve been, what might’ve been,” Smart said. “So many missed opportunities and I certainly give all the credit in the world to ODU with the way they battled and made some huge shots down the stretch, but as a coach you think about, if we’d just made this play or just gotten this rebound or been able to corral that ball, the result might’ve been different. That was going through my mind.”

Despite ODU’s 22-game home winning streak, the third-longest in the nation, VCU went blow-for-blow with the eventual CAA regular season champions. The Rams led, 68-64 with 4:51 left, but were outscored, 9-2 down the stretch.

VCU had a chance to tie the game on each of their final two possessions, including Rozzell’s shot in the closing seconds. It was the fourth time VCU has had a chance to tie or win a road game in their final possession of regulation, only to fall short.

You’d think the cumulative effect of these close road losses, a one-point defeat to William & Mary, a three-point downer at Drexel, a killer overtime loss at George Mason, would bear an unbearable weight. However, in postgame interviews, VCU guard Joey Rodriguez didn’t sound like a beaten man.

“I think overall at the end of the year we started playing really good, especially this last game,” Rodriguez said. “Our defense was good, it was just our offensive rebounding. If we can come back and correct that, I think we’re hitting the CAA Tournament with a lot of momentum. We’ve just got to get over this loss.”

It won’t be easy. Not only did Saturday’s loss end a three-game winning streak for the Rams, but it may have cost VCU the No. 4 seed in the CAA Tournament and the first-round bye it provides. No team has ever won four CAA Tournament games in four days.

“I think if any team can win four games in four days, it’s this team,” Rodriguez said. “I thought today for the first time, as a team, on the road we stayed together more than ever. That’s a good sign for us. We talk about that every time. Just little things like that, I thought we did really well tonight.”

Strangely, the Rams bugaboo on Saturday was rebounding, an area of strength most of the season. Although Old Dominion is statistically the best rebounding team in the CAA, VCU controlled the glass by a 39-37 margin in a 70-58 win in Richmond on Feb. 6. That was not the case on Saturday, when ODU turned a 34-22 advantage on the boards into 19 second-chance points.

VCU will have a week to correct its technical issues, but the mental scars of Saturday’s loss are already fading away.

“I thought some of our key players didn’t play that well tonight and we were still in the game here, where they’re undefeated, and we were in the game the whole time, so I’m happy with where we are as a team,” Rodriguez said. “The loss hurts, but you get a whole week of practice. We’ll get over it.”

That’s one area in which the Rams seem to excel. After losing to William & Mary on Dec. 5 in Williamsburg, Va., VCU went on a four-game winning streak. When Drexel stunned the Rams in Philadelphia on Jan. 6, VCU went on a four-game winning streak. When the Black and Gold fell at Northeastern on Jan. 23, VCU went on a four-game winning streak. After this heart-wrenching loss at Old Dominion? Another four-game winning streak would look pretty good right here, don’t you think?

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