By the time you read this lede, the calendar on your wall, or your phone, or your desk, will have flipped to March.
Apart from showing warm weather on the horizon, the flip means even more to college basketball fans – the start of the most consequential stretch of games on the college basketball calendar, culminating with the NCAA Tournament in just over two weeks.
The first conference tournament of the season began on Feb. 28, with the opening round of the Northeast Conference Tournament tipping off on Monday night.
While the Atlantic 10 Tournament doesn’t open until next Wednesday, the tournament really begins on March 1 for the VCU Rams (20-7, 13-3 A-10).
Having avoided all the major low Quadrant 3 and Quadrant 4 “land mines” in the A-10, VCU now sets its sights on the final two games of the regular season, which see the Rams take on two of the top teams in the conference. In all likelihood, the Rams must walk away with wins in both contests to keep their at-large hopes…