CBI Finals: Saint Louis vs. Virginia Commonwealth
March 31, 2010
The College Basketball Invitational is almost an afterthought this time of year due to the drama and excitement of the NCAA tournament. However, two teams are extremely interested in this years CBI tourney. The Saint Louis Billikens and the Virginia Commonwealth Rams will battle Wednesday night in what may be the last game of the tournament. The format is different as the final 2 teams play a best of three series to determine the CBI winner. With VCU taking the first game by a score of 68-56, they will only need a win Wednesday to take the CBI Championship.
Offensively, the Rams are far superior to the Billikens as they average almost 13 more points per game. VCU is led by junior forward Larry Sanders on offense. Sanders is having his best year by far as he’s averaging almost 15 points and over 9 rebounds per contest. Starting point guard Joey Rodriguez contributes 13 points, 2.7 rebounds and leads the team in assists with 6 per game.
The Rams are a guard driven team as 4 of their 5 top scorers play the guard position. Bradford Burgess, Brandon Rozzell and Ed Nixon round out the starting line-up for this VCU club. The most important part to the Rams success this season has been the play off the bench. Ed Nixon, Jamie Skeen, Jay Gavin and T.J. Gwynn contribute an additional 26 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists per game for the Rams which allows them to maintain control of the game when their starters are resting. This was evident Monday night when the Rams were able to hold down the Billikens late in the second half despite many of the starters being on the bench.
St. Louis has had a tremendous season in what has become a tough Atlantic 10 conference. The top 3 teams from the A-10 made it to the NCAA tournament which is incredible due to the fact that this conference is a mid-major. Rhode Island and Dayton are currently in the semi-finals of the NIT tournament, and the Billikens have made it to the finals of the CBI. Parody in college basketball is here!
An 11-5 record in this conference is nothing to be upset about. The Billikens took down several big opponents throughout the course of the season including Nebraska and Dayton twice. Kwamain Mitchell leads the Billikens in scoring with a 16.1 average. However, Willie Reed is the diffense maker on both sides of the ball. He’s a force inside on both offense and defense. His 12.3 points and 8 rebounds per game have helped St. Louis to many close wins during the season. In order to stretch this series to 3 games, Reed will need to do more on the boards to keep the Rams from getting second chance scoring opportunities.
This should be a much closer game than game 1. Expect another low scoring affair that is decided in the final minutes.
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- Virginia Commonweath vs. Richmond Friday Night
- Virginia Tech Takes on Rhode Island in NIT Quarterfinals
- 2010 NFL Predictions: St. Louis Rams
- NIT 2nd Rd Showdown: Connecticut v. Virginia Tech
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Virginia Commonwealth v. St Louis in CBI Finals…
VCU took game one rather easily, but St Louis has the kind of defense that can get any team out of rythym. This should be another low scoring affair. I anticipate a much closer score with most likely the same outcome….