Patriots take down Rams

The Patriots season has been one full of spurts, some really impressive victories and some very questionable losses. Last night in front of a packed house at the Patriot Center, and quite possibly one of the loudest crowds I've ever experienced there, they were able to take down their CAA nemesis VCU. The victory brings them one game behind the Rams for first place in the standings but more importantly they were able to avenge last year's loss in the CAA finals. Fanhouse says we have "built a better bubble". Larranaga used an interesting four guard lineup midway through the second half after Birdsong picked up his fourth foul and it ended up sparking a 20-4 run. Our friend Michael Litos has a great breakdown of this on his blog. Who needs another forward in there when Will Thomas is dominating the glass? Thomas had 15 rebounds and 21 points and basically stole the show late in the 2nd half when he was needed most. See what happens when you get him going early? Folarin Campbell has a very impressive shooting night and helped to keep the turnovers down. Interesting how Campbell was able to go 3 for 6 from three-point land against the team that defends the best in the country. You just never know which Campbell is going to show up. John Vaughan and Dre Smith played great defense all night guarding Ram's star Eric Maynor, who was held to only 3 points in the 2nd half. Jamal Shuler had a big night but couldn't get his teammates involved late, which hurt the Rams. With this victory Mason is 10-0 at home this season, but they will need to do some work on the road in the conference and in their bracketbuster game to keep their slim at-large hopes alive. This game could very well have been a preview of the CAA tournament finals coming in March.

Sidenote: You don't rush the court when you beat a conference opponent in January, only securing 2nd place in the conference, and your team was FAVORED to win. I hope Doug Gottlieb didn't rip us too bad for that. Oh wait I care about what he thinks almost as much as I would listening to Paris Hilton's view on our foreign policy.