(03-09-2015 11:35 PM)nj alum Wrote:  Tribester and Rocco-

Beautiful drive home to the Jersey Shore tonight from Charm City, guided by a 3/4 moon rising over the ocean.

Tribester and Rocco, did you get to see the moon on your drives back from the game? What'd ya think? Moon not full .... too much cloud cover ... or did you appreciate what was before your eyes?

Forget about the moon. What'd ya think about tonight's crowd? Did you see the AD and President sitting / standing next to each other for the whole game? How about all of the generous boosters sitting / standing / cheering with them? Ever see Tribe crowds like tonight and last night on a neutral court? Ever think we would own the tournament venue?

Forget about that. How about the student turnout? Not talking about behind the basket. Talking about the whole sections .... well, you were there ... you saw them. And the women's team ... wasn't that awesome?

Forget about that. How about the generations of Tribe fans ... young ... old ... in between ...all there for one purpose. Where did you eat pre-game? Were you able to talk to young alumni and tell them what it was like when the Tribe took down UNC in 1976? Talk about Blow Gym with the young alumni?

Forget about that. How did you feel late in the second half ... sitting in that arena ... knowing the outcome ...knowing the boys were spent ...sad that they were down 22...and then....down by 6 ...where did that come from? How deep did they have to dig to do that? Just incredible.

I know what you two are saying ... I happen to agree with some of it ... but tonight is not the night to be a contrarian.

And if you were there last night and tonight, you would know why.

Congrats to NU! Congrats to the Tribe!

Looking forward to the restoration of health, and a deep NIT run.

Go Tribe ... very proud alum tonight!

Amen to this post, and glad to finally meet you.

One other memory to cherish was the Griffin punching the NU mascot in the chops several times after "Paws" came to our end and was taunting our students. The only blemish on NU's evening.

Greatest turnout of Tribe fans I've ever witnessed. Supportive to the end.

Despite heartbreak, watch Tony, Marcus and Daniel on the post-game interviews. No0 excuses,
just class all the way.

For those of you complaining about fans on this board just remember that it could be worse. I have a friend right now who is seriously saying we should fire Tony AFTER THE BEST SEASON IN SCHOOL HISTORY. The point is that I need new friends.

So proud of our team and our school. I hurt for these guys who while self-admittedly not playing their best, which is frustrating, never quit and left it out on the floor.

Congrats to NU on a deserved win as they were the better team last night.

Can you imagine thinking a decade ago that we would go to 4 CAA Tourney Championship games in 8 years? Yes, it sucks not winning any so far but we've gone from Cinderalla to a program that expects to be there and is consistantly competitive and I think we will stay there. Congrats to Coach Shaver on that.

Marcus raised us to a new level, and we have our whole team back outside of he and Tom. A team whose nucleus has been to back to back CAA title games and I think will be hungrier than ever. I wish, like we all do, that we could have seen MT in the Big Dance, if as much as anything, a tribute to him and for what he has done for the program. So thankful and proud of him. With TT's leadership and DD and OP on the wings, with David Cohn now eligible to play, we will be a good team next year. A hungry team. Yes, the league will be tough next year, but if anything this year has shown, we have a tough team, not a perfect one, as we have flaws, but we compete and often win.

Congrats to the Tribe on back to back 20 win years. Let's make it 3 years of 20+ wins next year and let's go make some noise in the NIT.

What a privilege it is for all of us to be a part of this special Tribe that is the William and Mary family!

#TribePride
#OneTribeOneFamily
#MarchonTribe

(03-09-2015 10:15 PM)Tribe4SF Wrote:  Rocco and Tribester.

Please apply for NCAA coaching positions. On the outside chance you get hired, we won't have to put up with you anymore.

I'd miss you guys far too much.

(03-09-2015 11:35 PM)nj alum Wrote:  lots of flowery, empty words snipped for space

1) My opinions are my own. Tribester's opinions are his own, and I'd prefer not to be lumped in with him. He's far harsher and critical of individual players. I don't recall ever calling an individual player a choker and for good reason. (Sean Sheldon is an easy target for many on this board yet that criticism always seems to go unnoticed.) That you see our opinions as one and the same speaks volumes. When all you have is a hammer etc.

2) This may have been the most Pip-Pip Cheerio post on this board ever, to borrow a phrase from Paul B. W&M was a #1 seed with the conference POY and someone on the short list of best Tribe players ever on their team. This wasn't a plucky overachieving team like 2008 or 2010, and it wasn't facing an opponent that was a horrible matchup like last year. This was their best shot to end the streak so we can finally watch a game without it being mentioned that they've never been to the tourney. They fall behind early, never lead, and lose by 12. No one however can be upset at all about the result.

I agree with recent folks on the board about the comments from disgruntled and perennial complainers like Rocco and Tribester.

Yes, they have the right to their opinions..but so do I and others.

The right to say that we feel the heartache of the loss last evening as much as anyone...heaven knows I've been around long enough to suffer many of these nine championship losses and this one is among the worst of the lot.

But this program is solid, the guys this year played some of the best--and most exciting--
basketball we've ever seen at W&M. We watched a truly great player and young man, Marcus Thornton, perform at a level never seen at W&M, and his teammates provide us with
countless exploits on the court.

The team and coaching staff tapped something some of us might have thought hardly existed
----a welling of support, excitement and pride unmatched in my memory. It united old
grads, young alums, students, and Tribe fans everywhere...from the president of the college
to the youngsters I saw running around Williamsburg with Tribe shirts and hats on.

Four championship games in eight years, two consecutive twenty-win seasons (first since the 1940s), an NIT bid, and a regular CAA Championship that Tony rightly said last night will see a banner raised in Kaplan.

And I can't wait until next season...with Terry, Daniel, and Omar coming back with Sheldon, Whitman, Burchfield, Malinowski, Rowley, Tot and Schlotman we'll see another very exciting, competitive and winning team in Kaplan Arena.

And it's not like the team gave up the ghost last night either; down more than twenty, they somehow got it down to six with a 16-0 run out of nowhere.

Sure I'm disappointed and upset. Put I'm proud of our young men, Tony and his coaching staff for providing us with another great year--plus the NIT.

(03-10-2015 07:33 AM)Rocco Wrote:  

(03-09-2015 11:35 PM)nj alum Wrote:  lots of flowery, empty words snipped for space

1) My opinions are my own. Tribester's opinions are his own, and I'd prefer not to be lumped in with him. He's far harsher and critical of individual players. I don't recall ever calling an individual player a choker and for good reason. (Sean Sheldon is an easy target for many on this board yet that criticism always seems to go unnoticed.) That you see our opinions as one and the same speaks volumes. When all you have is a hammer etc.

2) This may have been the most Pip-Pip Cheerio post on this board ever, to borrow a phrase from Paul B. W&M was a #1 seed with the conference POY and someone on the short list of best Tribe players ever on their team. This wasn't a plucky overachieving team like 2008 or 2010, and it wasn't facing an opponent that was a horrible matchup like last year. This was their best shot to end the streak so we can finally watch a game without it being mentioned that they've never been to the tourney. They fall behind early, never lead, and lose by 12. No one however can be upset at all about the result.

Are you sure you're a graduate of W&M?

I called you out, and Tribester out, on the timing of your posts, not the substance of them. Read it again. Good comedy is dictated by perfect timing, and your timing is off.

As for your second point, here it is in a nutshell:

Yes, this was an over-achieving team. It is a player short, and that affects everything. Marcus, no matter how great he is, doesn't make up for the fact that this team is a player short. Last year was the year, not this year. NU played great. Tribe was hurting. You can obsess about ending the streak ... I don't. Would I like it to end? Sure! But give me a consistent winner, and I'll take that too, even if it means the streak continues. This team achieved this year, maybe not as much as was wanted, but it did achieve, and that is a good thing.

BTW, still waiting to hear your in-person observations from both games.

(03-10-2015 07:34 AM)Big Tribe Wrote:  I agree with recent folks on the board about the comments from disgruntled and perennial complainers like Rocco and Tribester.

Yes, they have the right to their opinions..but so do I and others.

The right to say that we feel the heartache of the loss last evening as much as anyone...heaven knows I've been around long enough to suffer many of these nine championship losses and this one is among the worst of the lot.

But this program is solid, the guys this year played some of the best--and most exciting--
basketball we've ever seen at W&M. We watched a truly great player and young man, Marcus Thornton, perform at a level never seen at W&M, and his teammates provide us with
countless exploits on the court.

The team and coaching staff tapped something some of us might have thought hardly existed
----a welling of support, excitement and pride unmatched in my memory. It united old
grads, young alums, students, and Tribe fans everywhere...from the president of the college
to the youngsters I saw running around Williamsburg with Tribe shirts and hats on.

Four championship games in eight years, two consecutive twenty-win seasons (first since the 1940s), an NIT bid, and a regular CAA Championship that Tony rightly said last night will see a banner raised in Kaplan.

And I can't wait until next season...with Terry, Daniel, and Omar coming back with Sheldon, Whitman, Burchfield, Malinowski, Rowley, Tot and Schlotman we'll see another very exciting, competitive and winning team in Kaplan Arena.

And it's not like the team gave up the ghost last night either; down more than twenty, they somehow got it down to six with a 16-0 run out of nowhere.

Sure I'm disappointed and upset. Put I'm proud of our young men, Tony and his coaching staff for providing us with another great year--plus the NIT.

Right on! Last night hurt like he!! for us fans. Can you imagine how it felt for the team and coaches?
They represented W&M very well in the tournament and through out the year. They lost 6 players from last year and still had achievements not seen at W&M in 60+ years.

I'm hoping they tear up the NIT, like VCU did a few years back. Sure I want to lose the label we all detest, and am disappointed once again that we did not, but look how far we've come.

These guys didn't quit despite the fatigue and injuries. They didn't quit despite being down 22, late in the game. They just didn't have enough left in the tank to get over the hill. Beating Hofstra, who was favored was epic, but took a toll.

Yes I'm disappointed and frustrated, but I'm also proud of the team, the coaches and the fans. GO TRIBE!

Last year was 1000 times worse...we were 80 seconds from dancing and you could taste it...this year we never led once, fell behind by 22, and despite the crazy comeback never really had a chance. Double OT the day before, combined with injuries and Northeastern shooting lights out did not help. Royal Farms is a dump, but it is better than the Coliseum, that's for sure. Crowd support was amazing, shows we all are hungry for the streak to end. A 20 win season is nothing to sneeze at, but it could easily have been a 25+ win season. When you have three of the best 15 players in the league, including POY and DPOY, in a watered down league and still can't get over the hump, you start to wonder if we truly are jinxed. Even Tony knows in his post game comments that the streak is like a millstone around all of their necks, and until Sisyphus finally gets the Boulder to the top of the hill, it will continue to be so. Like it or not, the NCAA tournament IS college basketball, and until we get there someday we are all missing out. The program is in a FAR better place than it was when I was in school with Swenson obviously. That doesn't mean we have to be satisfied with going to the NIT occasionally either. Hopefully we get a ESPN NIT game in prime time so the nation can finally see what Marcus Thornton can do. So sad that he never got a chance to dance :(

(03-10-2015 08:28 AM)Tribester Wrote:  Last year was 1000 times worse...we were 80 seconds from dancing and you could taste it...this year we never led once, fell behind by 22, and despite the crazy comeback never really had a chance.

I completely agree with our friend Tribester here (shocker). Don't get me wrong, I'm devastated at the loss last night, but last year's final 80 second meltdown was by far the lowest I've ever been as a Tribe fan.

It was an absolute pleasure to spend the last 3 days in Baltimore with all of my fellow Tribe fans. I have never, and I mean never, seen home crowds at Kaplan any louder and more engaged than the crowds that I witnessed Sunday and Monday. While I have wondered over the past 4 decades of my fandom if I would live long enough to see us in the Big Dance, I never fathomed that I would see the kind of crowds that I witnessed in Baltimore this weekend. I am exhausted and sad as I sit at my desk this morning. But I am still very proud of our program, our players, our coaches, and our fans.

Congratulations to Northeastern on a well earned victory. When they play like they did last night, they are indeed the best team in the conference this year. I chatted briefly yesterday afternoon with the Northeastern assistant coach who I was told yesterday was the current coach's college coach. I mentioned to him that I always enjoyed watching Northeastern play against the Tribe and that if we had to lose last night that I was glad that it would be to them. He echoed my sentiments and as I shook his hand and turned to leave he said, "We both do things the right way". I will always take pride in that.

(03-10-2015 08:01 AM)nj alum Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 07:33 AM)Rocco Wrote:  

(03-09-2015 11:35 PM)nj alum Wrote:  lots of flowery, empty words snipped for space

1) My opinions are my own. Tribester's opinions are his own, and I'd prefer not to be lumped in with him. He's far harsher and critical of individual players. I don't recall ever calling an individual player a choker and for good reason. (Sean Sheldon is an easy target for many on this board yet that criticism always seems to go unnoticed.) That you see our opinions as one and the same speaks volumes. When all you have is a hammer etc.

2) This may have been the most Pip-Pip Cheerio post on this board ever, to borrow a phrase from Paul B. W&M was a #1 seed with the conference POY and someone on the short list of best Tribe players ever on their team. This wasn't a plucky overachieving team like 2008 or 2010, and it wasn't facing an opponent that was a horrible matchup like last year. This was their best shot to end the streak so we can finally watch a game without it being mentioned that they've never been to the tourney. They fall behind early, never lead, and lose by 12. No one however can be upset at all about the result.

Are you sure you're a graduate of W&M?

I called you out, and Tribester out, on the timing of your posts, not the substance of them. Read it again. Good comedy is dictated by perfect timing, and your timing is off.

As for your second point, here it is in a nutshell:

Yes, this was an over-achieving team. It is a player short, and that affects everything. Marcus, no matter how great he is, doesn't make up for the fact that this team is a player short. Last year was the year, not this year. NU played great. Tribe was hurting. You can obsess about ending the streak ... I don't. Would I like it to end? Sure! But give me a consistent winner, and I'll take that too, even if it means the streak continues. This team achieved this year, maybe not as much as was wanted, but it did achieve, and that is a good thing.

BTW, still waiting to hear your in-person observations from both games.

I'm pretty sure my diploma says I am. I'll find it and double-check.

Didn't go. My job got in the way. Went to the 2008/10 title games, and kept March 19/20 free just in case they made it to the tourney so I could go to wherever they ended up. Moving the games to Baltimore sucks for me. Not sure why exactly that matters unless you're going for the backdoor worn-out "you're a bad fan" trope that gets played.

This team overachieved? Really? They had the best player in the conference. They had two other top-20 CAA scorers. They were expected in the preseason to be one of the top two teams in the conference. There's no need to continue to make excuses for them when they had a really good season. No mid-major team is going to be perfect. They're always going to be missing someone or something. This team was better than last year's team both by RPI, BPI, KenPom, and the eyeball test. Last year's team had to get through a Delaware team who'd beaten them twice and had a guy W&M couldn't stop without a steel chair. NU 2014-15 was an inferior team to Delaware 2013-14 and roughly equivalent to this year's W&M depending on which metric you prefer. You're entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts. Pip pip, Cheerio.

Funny now there's never an appropriate time to be something other than 100% effusive. I thought you all were growing this year- people were criticizing Shaver in threads and it wasn't being met with full-throated shouts about how that was inappropriate and it wasn't the right time to criticize him. I thought the success thickened everyone's skin. The team has a painful loss and the response is to call me out. Some things never change.

(03-10-2015 09:04 AM)Rocco Wrote:  Some things never change.

Truer words were never spoken.

(03-10-2015 09:04 AM)Rocco Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 08:01 AM)nj alum Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 07:33 AM)Rocco Wrote:  

(03-09-2015 11:35 PM)nj alum Wrote:  lots of flowery, empty words snipped for space

1) My opinions are my own. Tribester's opinions are his own, and I'd prefer not to be lumped in with him. He's far harsher and critical of individual players. I don't recall ever calling an individual player a choker and for good reason. (Sean Sheldon is an easy target for many on this board yet that criticism always seems to go unnoticed.) That you see our opinions as one and the same speaks volumes. When all you have is a hammer etc.

2) This may have been the most Pip-Pip Cheerio post on this board ever, to borrow a phrase from Paul B. W&M was a #1 seed with the conference POY and someone on the short list of best Tribe players ever on their team. This wasn't a plucky overachieving team like 2008 or 2010, and it wasn't facing an opponent that was a horrible matchup like last year. This was their best shot to end the streak so we can finally watch a game without it being mentioned that they've never been to the tourney. They fall behind early, never lead, and lose by 12. No one however can be upset at all about the result.

Are you sure you're a graduate of W&M?

I called you out, and Tribester out, on the timing of your posts, not the substance of them. Read it again. Good comedy is dictated by perfect timing, and your timing is off.

As for your second point, here it is in a nutshell:

Yes, this was an over-achieving team. It is a player short, and that affects everything. Marcus, no matter how great he is, doesn't make up for the fact that this team is a player short. Last year was the year, not this year. NU played great. Tribe was hurting. You can obsess about ending the streak ... I don't. Would I like it to end? Sure! But give me a consistent winner, and I'll take that too, even if it means the streak continues. This team achieved this year, maybe not as much as was wanted, but it did achieve, and that is a good thing.

BTW, still waiting to hear your in-person observations from both games.

I'm pretty sure my diploma says I am. I'll find it and double-check.

Didn't go. My job got in the way. Went to the 2008/10 title games, and kept March 19/20 free just in case they made it to the tourney so I could go to wherever they ended up. Moving the games to Baltimore sucks for me. Not sure why exactly that matters unless you're going for the backdoor worn-out "you're a bad fan" trope that gets played.

This team overachieved? Really? They had the best player in the conference. They had two other top-20 CAA scorers. They were expected in the preseason to be one of the top two teams in the conference. There's no need to continue to make excuses for them when they had a really good season. No mid-major team is going to be perfect. They're always going to be missing someone or something. This team was better than last year's team both by RPI, BPI, KenPom, and the eyeball test. Last year's team had to get through a Delaware team who'd beaten them twice and had a guy W&M couldn't stop without a steel chair. NU 2014-15 was an inferior team to Delaware 2013-14 and roughly equivalent to this year's W&M depending on which metric you prefer. You're entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts. Pip pip, Cheerio.

Funny now there's never an appropriate time to be something other than 100% effusive. I thought you all were growing this year- people were criticizing Shaver in threads and it wasn't being met with full-throated shouts about how that was inappropriate and it wasn't the right time to criticize him. I thought the success thickened everyone's skin. The team has a painful loss and the response is to call me out. Some things never change.

Poor Rocco, always a martyr to his "truth".

(03-10-2015 08:01 AM)nj alum Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 07:33 AM)Rocco Wrote:  

(03-09-2015 11:35 PM)nj alum Wrote:  lots of flowery, empty words snipped for space

1) My opinions are my own. Tribester's opinions are his own, and I'd prefer not to be lumped in with him. He's far harsher and critical of individual players. I don't recall ever calling an individual player a choker and for good reason. (Sean Sheldon is an easy target for many on this board yet that criticism always seems to go unnoticed.) That you see our opinions as one and the same speaks volumes. When all you have is a hammer etc.

2) This may have been the most Pip-Pip Cheerio post on this board ever, to borrow a phrase from Paul B. W&M was a #1 seed with the conference POY and someone on the short list of best Tribe players ever on their team. This wasn't a plucky overachieving team like 2008 or 2010, and it wasn't facing an opponent that was a horrible matchup like last year. This was their best shot to end the streak so we can finally watch a game without it being mentioned that they've never been to the tourney. They fall behind early, never lead, and lose by 12. No one however can be upset at all about the result.

Are you sure you're a graduate of W&M?

I called you out, and Tribester out, on the timing of your posts, not the substance of them. Read it again. Good comedy is dictated by perfect timing, and your timing is off.

As for your second point, here it is in a nutshell:

Yes, this was an over-achieving team. It is a player short, and that affects everything. Marcus, no matter how great he is, doesn't make up for the fact that this team is a player short. Last year was the year, not this year. NU played great. Tribe was hurting. You can obsess about ending the streak ... I don't. Would I like it to end? Sure! But give me a consistent winner, and I'll take that too, even if it means the streak continues. This team achieved this year, maybe not as much as was wanted, but it did achieve, and that is a good thing.

BTW, still waiting to hear your in-person observations from both games.

If only this team had Rusthoven this year... Teams couldn't cheat off our post player because Rusthoven was a competent scorer and when other teams doubled Marcus, either Dixon or Prewitt would be open in the corner or we could get it to Tarpey and let him attack the rim. The Tribe just don't have that in Sheldon and Schalk this year, although I loved the hustle and 50/50 plays Tom made this year.

I think after last year, this loss really didn't hurt anywhere near as bad. Like others have said, we were never really in this game and I didn't have the emotion invested like I did at the game last year. The thing that hurts most is Marcus won't get another chance for an NCAA tourney birth. I so badly wanted him to be the one to get W&M over the hump.

(03-10-2015 03:07 PM)WMtribe17 Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 08:01 AM)nj alum Wrote:  

(03-10-2015 07:33 AM)Rocco Wrote:  

(03-09-2015 11:35 PM)nj alum Wrote:  lots of flowery, empty words snipped for space

1) My opinions are my own. Tribester's opinions are his own, and I'd prefer not to be lumped in with him. He's far harsher and critical of individual players. I don't recall ever calling an individual player a choker and for good reason. (Sean Sheldon is an easy target for many on this board yet that criticism always seems to go unnoticed.) That you see our opinions as one and the same speaks volumes. When all you have is a hammer etc.

2) This may have been the most Pip-Pip Cheerio post on this board ever, to borrow a phrase from Paul B. W&M was a #1 seed with the conference POY and someone on the short list of best Tribe players ever on their team. This wasn't a plucky overachieving team like 2008 or 2010, and it wasn't facing an opponent that was a horrible matchup like last year. This was their best shot to end the streak so we can finally watch a game without it being mentioned that they've never been to the tourney. They fall behind early, never lead, and lose by 12. No one however can be upset at all about the result.

Are you sure you're a graduate of W&M?

I called you out, and Tribester out, on the timing of your posts, not the substance of them. Read it again. Good comedy is dictated by perfect timing, and your timing is off.

As for your second point, here it is in a nutshell:

Yes, this was an over-achieving team. It is a player short, and that affects everything. Marcus, no matter how great he is, doesn't make up for the fact that this team is a player short. Last year was the year, not this year. NU played great. Tribe was hurting. You can obsess about ending the streak ... I don't. Would I like it to end? Sure! But give me a consistent winner, and I'll take that too, even if it means the streak continues. This team achieved this year, maybe not as much as was wanted, but it did achieve, and that is a good thing.

BTW, still waiting to hear your in-person observations from both games.

If only this team had Rusthoven this year... Teams couldn't cheat off our post player because Rusthoven was a competent scorer and when other teams doubled Marcus, either Dixon or Prewitt would be open in the corner or we could get it to Tarpey and let him attack the rim. The Tribe just don't have that in Sheldon and Schalk this year, although I loved the hustle and 50/50 plays Tom made this year.

I think after last year, this loss really didn't hurt anywhere near as bad. Like others have said, we were never really in this game and I didn't have the emotion invested like I did at the game last year. The thing that hurts most is Marcus won't get another chance for an NCAA tourney birth. I so badly wanted him to be the one to get W&M over the hump.

Agreed- this was a big issue for our Defensive "shortcomings" every time the ball went down low, we collapsed too much and with a capable center making the pass out, and extra passes following, we got killed by open 3s. Full disclaimer "we all love sean and tom" as I do, while they may not be post offensive players, they are more than capable of defending CAA big men without everyone collapsing around them.
It was great to be in baltimore , despite the dumpy arena. the tribe crowd was awesome..clearly the envy of all schools there.. it certainly has been a rough 2 title games, but we have the athletes to compete even without MT..he left it all on the court, and has so much to be proud of..that comeback at the end was a great thing to watch, as the boys went down swinging, despite this not being their night.
Malinowski will be a huge part of this team next year, and I have much optimism.
Shalk- what a year to remember. started out thinking he would drift into graduation, and becomes an everyday solid contributor. Those are the positives I try to take away from this year. great job.

I think given the events of the last 10 days that NJ alum was more on the right side of our banner than I was. It was totally evident last night how much a CAA tournament title and trip to the NCAA's would mean to the players, the staff and the fans. NJ indicated that the NCAA's or bust mentality was for the birds. I still am eager to see us climb that mountain, but he was correct. So, if the media and many of us are going to focus on it, perhaps we can use it to our advantage this offseason and next year. We can't really get away from it anyway.

So, perhaps we can do the following(after we enjoy a well earned trip to the NIT):
1) Tell all potential recruits that they are the difference maker to lead the quest to be first. Again, we cannot deny it, so we should use it. We can even use other sport example of the place some athletes have to be the first. Hey it worked with Curt Schilling in baseball.
2) Schedule an ambitious OOS. We already did some of this(Florida, Wofford, UNC, ODU), but eliminate Washington College or Bluefield. We need at least 13 games before the end of December with only 1 against a true cupcake. Getting into a preseason or holiday tourney would really, really help and be a potential reward for the team as a trip. We were close to an at large bid in 2010 through December. Unfortuantely, we slipped a little in regular conference play that year.
3) Use motivational events with the students such as bonfire to emphasize reversing the curse. I can see the counter argument, but again, you might as well spend all year preparing to slay that pressure because our opponents and the media will bring it up anyway. The students already were really invested, but perhaps each home game can build something. It definitely can be used as a marketing tool for donations to the program.
4) Hope that the team we play in the title game plays a little tight or shoots a lower percentage. To my recollection, we have unfortunately trailed by a significant margin early in 3 of the 4 title games. The weight of the pressure is great(see Red Sox 2003 game 7). They finally won in 2004 because the pressure was off(down 0-3) and they got a huge lead quickly in Game 7. Our best evidence of that was last year in the Delaware game 15-16 minutes to go. Our guys were down significantly and just relaxed and went for it. We played probably the best 13-14 minutes we have played at any point in the last 5 years against a team that owned us. See this year's UNC early 2nd half as another example and last nights 3 minute stretch near the end. Whatever flips that switch we need to bottle and reproduce it.

The best part is the whole Tribe family(except for some morons in Sec 205 last night) wants to be a part of it. It should help continue to build the program. I would have bet you whatever amount you wanted 20 years ago that we would NEVER win 20 games in back to back seasons, but this team did it. So, while continuing the efforts, we might pick up another 20 win season, a big win or two on the road in November and December, a preseason tourney win or two, and maybe another regular season title.(All of which do mean a hell of a lot as someone else said) They can finish the work Marcus, Tim, Brandon, Kyle, Tom and others began. Perhaps even this year's NIT is vital to that effort.

Game replay just started on CSN at 8pm, for any other gluttons out there.

I know this is a week late, but the admin/mod just approved my account over the weekend.

I am currently attending Mason, and have supporting their program for close to 20 years, but I promised a friend that lives in Baltimore if W&M made the tourney final, I would be there because I wanted to witness potential history.

I think if y'all hadn't played double OT the day before, y'all would have won. I was surprised that Northeastern was able to keep shooting the percentage they did throughout, but I think y'all just ran out of gas and made it interesting in the final few minutes.

I told my friend that Thornton is legit as he scored at will against Mason more times than I could count. It was great to see thousands of Tribe fans in arena. Since Mason was able to do a home and home with ODU, which is now completed, and we are starting a home and home with JMU next season, I hope y'all get thrown into the schedule as well. I have been to your arena several times, and your fan base is very respectable.

Good luck in the NIT.