MEN’S BASKETBALL: Sitting, waiting, wishing

UNC Wilmington is off to the big dance after winning the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. There is buzz around conference big wigs about George Mason and Hofstra’s hopes of madness in March. But what about VCU?

After back-to-back postseason bids to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament and National Invitation Tournament in the past two seasons, the men’s basketball finds itself in a state of limbo.

The Rams have no choice but to sit and wait to hear about their postseason future. With the NCAA Tournament all but out of the picture, the Rams are on the bubble for a chance at NIT glory.

“Last year when we lost the championship we knew we were going to the NIT,” coach Jeff Capel said after the CAA Tournament loss to Hofstra March 4. “This year, it’s a little bit different. We don’t know. We’ll be sitting, anticipating and hoping. We’ll see what happens.”

For the first time since 1986 when Richmond won an at-large bid and Navy was conference champion, the conference is likely to have at least two bids to the NCAA Tournament, which ultimately decides the national champion. In previous seasons, the only way for a CAA team to get to the tourney was to win the conference championship, as VCU did in 2004.

The other way to make it in is for the NCAA to decide if a team is worthy of an at-large bid, which enters a team that hasn’t won their conference championship but is considered eligible based on their record, Ratings Percentage Index, strength of schedule and other factors. The NIT, which the Rams hope to enter, is a consolation bracket for those who didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.

When asked if he had a guess at the team’s possibilities for a postseason bid to the NIT, Capel said he hopes the CAA’s success this season would boost their chances.

“Who knows,” he said. “If you look at it there has been a lot of talk about our league this year and how good our league is, and it’s not just talk, it’s true… I think we definitely have two teams into the NCAA tournament this year, and hopefully we’re able to get four teams into the NIT, and hopefully we’re one of those teams.”

The Rams finished the regular season with a 19-10 overall record and sixth in the CAA behind Old Dominion and Northeastern with an 11-7 conference record. George Mason and Hofstra’s chances at at-large bids to the big dance look relatively strong with RPI’s of 29 and 30 respectively. With VCU’s RPI at 76 as of March 7, Capel said they are in the typical range of NIT selections in past seasons.

“If you look historically, teams that are around there usually get a bid,” he said.

If the Rams does not make a bid however, Capel said he wants to see some extra effort from certain players to improve their game.

“If our season is over with, he said, “there are a lot of guys who have a lot of work to do to become better basketball players… It’s going to be an interesting thing to see who really is committed to doing that.”