March Madness can be so cruel.  The VCU Rams went 16-2 in conference and 25-6 in the season to earn the conference regular season championship and #1 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament.  They had won 12 games straight games since a road loss to Rhode Island back in January.

So, who ends up being the 8 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament – the Rhode Island Rams, one of the two teams in conference to have beaten VCU.   And unfortunately for the local team, Rhode Island apparently had the recipe for beating VCU – since they did it against today 71-65.  So, Rhode Island end up being the Rams that move on in the tournament, and VCU sadly has to go home and see if their great season is enough to win an At-Large bid.

VCU has a pretty solid profile for a small conference team – not only have they won their conference, they have victories over fellow bubble teams Temple and Texas (who they beat on the road).  They also only loss by 1 on the road to St. John’s and by 8 on the road to Virginia (who is likely a #1 seed).  They also have a good NET rating of 31 as of yesterday.  They should be in the NCAA Tournament – but being a small conference team, this loss sadly puts them squarely on the bubble.

This upset means two things – while Dayton and Davidson have NET rankings in the 60s, the reality is that VCU was probably the only realistic at-large team from the Atlantic 10.  So, a bid has been stolen – even if we do not know who will be the team that steals that bid.    It also means it is going to be a very long two days in Richmond for VCU and their fans as they hope the Selection Committee invites them to the dance.