Thoughts (and numbers) on Virginia’s five NCAA bound teams

Some crazy surprises / disappointments last night during Selection Sunday. VT is out, VCU is in. Five teams from Virginia are in, including two from Richmond. That makes us pretty awesome.

March 14, 2011; 6:00 AM • by Ross Catrow

Whoa. Some crazy surprises / disappointments last night during Selection Sunday. My poor, poor Hokies were left out AGAIN. But, seemingly against all odds, the Rams are in?! UP IS DOWN LEFT IS RIGHT. But, overall, good news for college sports in our fair Commonwealth.

Virginia is sending five teams to the NCAA tournament: George Mason, Old Dominion, Richmond, Hampton, and VCU. No other state (or commonwealth!) could top our total, although two did tie: California* and Pennsylvania**. Solid work Commonwealth.

As I was pulling this list, I wondered how many cities could boast two NCAA bound teams? It turns out four — with an asterisk (well two asterisks):

• Los Angeles: 7 UCLA • 11 USC
• Philadelphia: 7 Temple • 9 Villanova
• Nashville: 5 Vanderbilt • 13 Belmont
• Richmond: 11 VCU • 12 Richmond

Here’s the asterisk. Do we consider the 757 and NOVA “cities?” If so we add two to the list:

• 757: 9 Old Dominion • 16 Hamption
• NOVA: 6 Georgetown • 8 George Mason

Notice that a full fifty percent of the cities sending multiple teams to the tournament are in Virginia (let’s just call DC part of Virginia to make things easier)! Of these cities Richmond is the smallest***. Which, I think, easily makes us the most kickass basketball town per capita in the United States. Think about it.

Another interesting question that came up on twitter last night: of these twelve teams which were at-large bids vs. automatic bids? How does that break down by city? Actually, the three largest cities — L.A., NOVA, and Philly — all had two at-large teams. While, the three smallest cities — the 757, Nashville, and Richmond — all had one at-large and one automatic team. INTERESTING.

Now that we’ve gotten all those numbers behind us, here’s the schedule (game times have yet to be announced — we’ll update this when they are) for all five teams in Virginia. You won’t have to wait too long for the action since VCU plays in one of the “First Four” games on Wednesday.

VCU! Go Rams Go!

11 VCU v. 11 USC

• Dayton
• 3/16, Wednesday • 9pm • truTV

9 Old Dominon v. 8 Butler

• Washington, DC
• 3/17, Thursday • 12.40pm • truTV

12 Richmond v. 5 Vanderbilt

• Denver
• 3/17, Thursday • 4.10pm • TBS

8 George Mason v. 9 Villanova

• Cleveland
• 3/18, Friday • 2.10pm • TNT

16 Hampton v. 1 Duke

• Charlotte
• 3/18, Friday • 3.10pm • truTV

* USC, San Diego State, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara

** Villanova, Temple, Bucknell, Penn State, Pittsburg

*** Los Angeles: 15.3M, Philadelphia: 5.8M, NOVA/Washington DC: 5.4M, Nashivllle: 1.7M, 757: 1.7M, Richmond: 1.2M. The numbers for NOVA and the 757 are best guess, because, honestly, no one knows where they begin or end. They’re like a terrifying MIASMA.

March 14, 2011 6:00 AM 8