Men’s basketball notebook: 2nd-seeded VCU heads to Brooklyn

Jim Swing
Sports Editor

PHILADELPHIA – Fortunately for VCU, its 84-76 loss to Temple Sunday had no bearings on its No. 2 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament this weekend.

In their first year in the Atlantic 10, the Rams finished with a 12-4 record in the conference, second only to St. Louis.

“The only thing I can tell you is I’m proud of the fact that our guys put us in position coming into today to share first place if we’d of won today,” VCU head coach Shaka Smart said following the loss on Sunday. “If you look back at the history of college basketball, nobody really does that, nobody transitions from a smaller league to a bigger league and wins the league in the first year. … You’ve got to win games like today and we just didn’t do what it took to win.”

VCU (24-7, 12-4) will face the winner of No. 7 Xavier and No. 10 St. Joseph’s Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Brooklyn, N.Y.  The Rams beat both teams in the regular season.

TEMPLE AN NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAM?

In the weeks leading up to Sunday’s regular season finale, Temple has been considered one of the Atlantic 10 conference’s teams that could receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday.

The Owls won seven straight games to close out the regular season and possess five wins over teams in the top 60 of the RPI (Syracuse, St. Louis, VCU, La Salle and Villanova).

Asked if he thinks Temple deserves an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Owls’ senior guard Khalif Wyatt said, “It’s not up to us, but I would like to think so.”

VCU head coach Shaka Smart also had input on how many Atlantic 10 teams he thinks might get into the tournament.

“I haven’t taken the time to stop and look at everyone’s resume but I would say at least five,” Smart said

WYATT FAVORED TO WIN A-10 PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Temple guard Khalif Wyatt had 30 points, four assists and four steals to lead Temple in its win over VCU Sunday afternoon.

The senior has largely been considered the favorite to win the Atlantic 10’s Player of the Year award after leading the conference in scoring (19.9 ppg). Wyatt has led the Owls in scoring in 19 games this season and in 14 of their last 17 games.

“Even to be mentioned as a candidate for that is big for me,” Wyatt said.

Be sure to print off your Atlantic 10 Tournament bracket here