Let me get this straight. vcu saw what Mason did in 2006 and did it better in 2011. Now we see what vcu has been doing (top 4 in A10, sellout crowds, waaaayy better practice facility, losing coaches but still manage tourney berths for last 7 years) .......and all WE can do is sit here like losers and make assumptions they will be in a down cycle soon, to say "oh we got them next year"??? Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how to get to the top of the mountain and stay there??? A bunch of loser talk.
vcu was a way better program before Mason's Final Four run (fan support, community support, athletic infrastructure, university support, history). Mason's Final Four run really had nothing to do with the quality of our program, only the quality of that particular team. Besides, vcu's post-Final Four run really began five years earlier with Eric Maynor in 2007 -- pretty much the same length of time it would have taken us to have built a sustainable program had TOC and Merten hadn't thrown Coach L and the basketball program under the bus.
So, our program took a detour. No big deal. We are getting our practice facility, our arena is bigger and better than Siegel Center (I don't care what anyone says, that place is a high school gym). $1.7 million in donations last year.
Focus on ourselves. No reason to get penis envy.
p.s. vcu is going to have to win the auto-bid this year to get into the tournament. Their numbers just aren't good enough to stand on their own.
