Treveon Graham Leads VCU to Atlantic 10 Title; All Conference Champions Crowned, It's Time to Choose At-Large Teams

Conference Champions and College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, March 15, 2015

SEC
Kentucky 78 Arkansas 63 - Kentucky completed its mission, as promised, to enter the NCAA tournament undefeated, their 34-0 record a gauntlet thrown down to 67 other teams. The Wildcats led right from the opening tip, starting with an 8-0 run to put the Razorbacks on their heels, and were never threatened. A 41-25 lead at the half as cut to nine by the Razorbacks but the Wildcats expanded it to as many as 21 points as Kentucky simply outplayed the hopelessly-overmatched Arkansas squad.

Atlantic 10
VCU 71 Dayton 65 - VCU got hot nearing the end of the first half and finished with a 9-2 run for a 33-26 lead at the break. Dayton battled back to tie the game at numerous points in the second half but could never wrest the lead away from the Rams, who engineered a four-point lead with under a minute to play and then proceeded to make eight straight free throws to secure the championship, their first, after reaching the final in each of the past two seasons.

Treveon Graham led all scorers with 20 points and ripped down a game-high 13 boards. Graham, who was 3-for-8 on three-pointers, also contributed four assists and a steal.

Sun Belt
Georgia State 38 Georgia Southern 36 - In the lowest-scoring championship game this season, the Panthers outlasted the Eagles thanks to 18 points from Kevin Ware. Georgia State shot just 33% from the field, but it was enough to win, as Georgia Southern hit at merely a 23% rate (11-47).

Big Ten
Wisconsin 80 Michigan State 69 OT - With an automatic bid on the line and a possible #1 seed for Wisconsin at stake, the Spartans took the Badgers into overtime, but eventually came up short as Wisconsin fulfilled their season-long destiny of being the best team to come out of the Big Ten and shut out the Spartans in overtime, 11-0. Nigel Hayes had a huge game, leading all scorers with 25 points, including a perfect, 12-for-12 from the foul line.

American
SMU 62 Connecticut 54 - Rodney Purvis kept the Huskies alive with a game-high 29 points, but eventually, basketball is a team game and the balanced scoring of the Mustangs brought home the American Athletic conference title. Coach Larry Brown has yet another team in the NCAA tournament.

That's a wrap for now. On to the selection process, seedings and bracket madness. Full report later tonight and/or early Monday AM.

Conference Championship Scoreboard

Date/Conf. Champ.	Champion (record, defeated, final score)
March 7
Ohio Valley	Belmont (22-10, Murray State, 88-87)
March 8
Big South	Coastal Carolina (24-9, Winthop, 81-70)
Missouri Valley	Northern Iowa (29-3, Illinois, St., 69-60)
Atlantic Sun	North Florida (23-11, USC Upstate, 63-57)
March 9
Colonial	Northeastern (23-11, William & Mary, 73-61)
Metro Atlantic	Manhattan (19-13, Iona, 79-69)
Southern	Wofford (28-6, Furman, 67-64)
March 10
Horizon	Valparaiso (28-5, Green Bay, 54-44)
Northeast	Robert Morris (19-14, St. Francis BRK, 66-63)
Summit League	N. Dakota St. (23-9, S. Dakota St., 57-56)
West Coast	Gonzaga (33-2, BYU, 91-75)
March 11
Patriot League	Lafayette (20-9, American, 65-63)
March 14
America East	Albany (24-8, Stony Brook, 51-50)
Conference USA	UAB (19-15, Middle Tenn., 73-60)
Ivy*	Harvard (22-7, Yale, 53-51)
Mid-Eastern	Hampton (16-17, Delaware St., 82-61)
Big 12	Iowa State (25-8, Kansas, 70-66)
Mountain West	Wyoming (25-9, San Diego St., 45-43)
Mid-American	Buffalo (23-9, Cent. Michigan, 89-84)
Southwest Athletic	Texas Southern (22-12, Southern U., 62-58)
Big East	Villanova (31-2, Xavier, 61-43)
ACC	Notre Dame (29-5, N. Carolina, 90-82)
Big Sky	E. Washington (26-8, Montana, 69-65)
Big West	UC Irvine (21-12, Hawaii, 67-58)
Southland	Stephen F. Austin (25-8, Sam Houston, 83-70)
PAC-12	Arizona (31-3, Oregon, 80-52)
Western Athletic	New Mexico St. (23-10, Seattle U., 80-61)
March 15
SEC	Kentucky (34-0, Arkansas, 78-63)
Atlantic 10	VCU (26-9, Dayton, 71-65)
Sun Belt	Georgia State (24-9, Georgia Southern, 38-36)
Big Ten	Wisconsin (31-3, Michigan State, 80-69)
American	SMU (27-6, Connecticut, 62-54)

Treveon Graham Powers VCU to Double OT Win over La Salle

College Hoops Player of the Day for Saturday, January 25, 2014

Loaded with quality teams, the Atlantic-10 conference may not be getting its fair share of respect from the poll voters. Only the Massachusetts Minutemen (16-2, 3-1) and the St. Louis Bilikens (18-2, 5-0) are currently represented, at #13, and #19, respectively.

Missing is VCU (16-4, 4-1), but the Rams made their case Saturday on the road, with a double overtime win at La Salle, as Treveon Graham scored a career-high 34 points in the 97-89 victory.

Graham not only performed at a high level, but without his effort, the Rams would likely not be tied for second place in the conference, along with Richmond and George Washington. Graham scored nine of the last ten points for the Rams in regulation, including the final six, to tie the contest at 73-all, and threw down six of VCU's seven points in the first overtime, again scoring the final six, though he missed a free throw that would have given the Rams the win with six seconds left in the first extra session.

Though Graham did not score in the second overtime, he did have an assist and a rebound, as his teammates finished off the Explorers. Rob Brandenburg buried a pair of three pointers, Juvante Reddick had a pair of buckets and and Briante Weber sealed the win, nailing seven of eight free throws in the final 1:19.

Graham, who played 44 minutes, was 11-for-23 from the field with two three-pointers and was 10-for-16 from the foul line with 12 rebounds and a pair of assists. Reddic complemented with 27 points and 15 boards, his sixth double-double of the season.

A prolific scorer, Graham has tallied in double figures in all but one game this season and leads the Rams at 16.1 points per game.

VCU has won eight of their last nine and three in a row. They next host Fordham, this Wednesday night, January 29.

Darius Theus, Treveon Graham, Juvonte Reddic Lead VCU to 10th Straight Win

College Hoops Player of the Day for Thursday, January 17, 2013

Don't look now, but after a 3-3 start to their season, the VCU Rams have reeled off 12 straight wins including their 92-86 win in OT against the visiting St. Joseph's Hawks.

Point guard Darius Theus was distributing the ball to teammates, with 10 assists, and when he wasn't passing off, he scored 22 points on 9-for-17 shooting.

Sophomore Treveon Graham led all scorers with 25 points, hitting 10 of 17 shots, including four of seven from 3-point range. He also chipped in with seven boards, three off the offensive glass.

The most dominant player on the court was Juvonte Reddic. The 6'9" junior forward scored 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and ripped down 17 rebounds, a career high.

The Rams are undefeated in Atlantic 10 play, but they have plenty of company. Xavier, Butler and Charlotte are each tied for the lead with VCU, at 3-0. Look for the A-10 to send three, if not four, teams to the NCAA tournament in March. VCU almost certainly will be one of them.

NOTABLE: #5 Michigan may have missed their opportunity to be ranked number one when they lost at Ohio State, 56-53, on Sunday, but they were having no part of losing a second consecutive game, despite being on the road again, at #8 Minnesota. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 21 points to lead the Wolverines to the 83-75 win. Michigan broke the game open early in the second half and led by as many as 19 points.

VCU Backcourt of Troy Daniels and Treveon Graham Dominate ODU

College Hoops Player of the Day for Friday, December 7, 2012

An extremely light slate of games graced Friday night, with just 11 contests taking place. After all it is college, and December, so all of those stdents and student athletes were out partying, er... studying for finals, no doubt.

Down at Old Dominion, the Monarchs weren't exactly rulers of their home court, as visiting VCU handed them their seventh straight loss, downing them by an 83-70 final tally.

The Ram back court of senior Troy Daniels and sophomore Treveon Graham teamed for 24 ad 23 points, respectively, with Daniels setting a career high on 8-for-16 shooting, all of his field goals coming from the beyond the three-point line, from where he was 8-for-13.

Graham, who is quickly turning into a big-time scoring threat, having scored in double figures in seven of nine VCU games this season, was 7-for-13 from the field, 8-for-12 from the charity stripe and came up just short of a double-double, with nine boards.

VCU is 6-3, with losses to some solid programs, Duke, Missouri and Wichita State. ODU dropped to 1-8.