It's awesome, baby!

So I've been on a little holiday hiatus, and I picked a bad time too, eh? Lots has happened in Appalachian sports. Well, not so much Appalachian sports as just Appalachian men's basketball, but let's be honest, do you really care to hear about any of the other ones now that football season is over (excluding you if you happen to be Whitney Tossie's mom or Maria Grimes' sister)? Nah, I didn't think so.

So let's backtrack a bit. Before Christmas, the App men's team won the San Juan Shootout, which was huge for them, b/c they beat Virginia (who then got beat by Utah, making the App win slightly less impressive), Central Fla. and Vanderbilt. The after dinner Minter had 27 points in the win over Vandy, making me realize I hadn't credited him enough previously. Despite his obvious lack of lung capacity (oftentimes being the last one down the court), he's making serious contributions for the team. Minter and DJ Thompson were co-MVP's of the tournament, and the en fuego Nathan Cranford made the all tournament team. All of this triggered Dick Vital naming App the Team of the Week, and the appearance of ASU on the Top-25 Mid-major team's list (as No. 24). All of this and a quarter will get you a pack of Winterfresh; but still, that's awesome, baby!

Tonight, they played at Virginia Commonwealth, and once again, I was forced to listen to Davy Crocket's broadcast of the game. This time I actually heard him call the "free-throw line" "the free-throw line"...so I wasn't so emphatically pissed of at him. VCU, going into the game was 16th on the afore mentioned Top-25 Mid Major list.

Thompson got in foul trouble early. Tell Houston we have a problem. Fancher was forced to put in Ryann Abraham in his place. Like I said before, Little DJ: still a good alternative to the original, but the dynamics of the team are inevitably altered when DJ isn't there to orchestrate them.

From what I heard about Sophomore Eric Maynor from VCU, his game is anything but sophomoric. He led all scorers with 27 points.
But it wasn't enough.

Donte escorted VCU into the 7th circle of his inferno, leading the Mountaineers back from a 17-point deficit (which was early in the 2nd half), for a 73-70 victory. That's bound to move them farther up in the Top 25 Mid-major rankings.

I didn't hear Bermudez's name at all during the broadcast, which surprised me because he's had some good games for App, and Cranford wasn't having a particularly stellar night (he finished 3/6 from the field, 2/5 from 3-point range, 8 pts. total). Upon further investigation of the box score, I confirmed that he did not play. I'm wondering if he might be hurt or if Fancher is really just walking the walk (he's been talking about "shortening his bench" lately, referring to the depth of the team and the fact that they're all worthy of playing time). I don't think that's the case, seeing as though Kellen Brand spent 16 minutes on the court tonight--a lot for him. I smell an injury. Making a note to myself to look into that.

I'm excited for them. I'll be interested to see how many Appalachian fans hop on the men's basketball bandwagon now that they've got some big wins on their belt. That should be evident by looking at attendance for the next home game, which will be against Elon on the 13th. They haven't had a home game since before the San Juan Shootout. Hopefully their big wins will spark some more fan support, because it's definitely lacking.

Just in case you are interested in other sports, girls' basketball just lost to College of Charleston on Friday in a close game 73-65. Before that, they beat VCU. Whitney Tossie, still a badass, dropped 30 and continues to have a paramount season since Maria Grimes assumes a lot of the point-guard work load and Tossie isn't forced to do it like last season.