In one of the most bizarre games you'll ever see, Radford defeated VMI today in the Big South chamionship to lock up the second Tourney auto bid. This thing was even more of a statistical freak show than we expected. To wit:
- Each team had approximately 95 freaking possession per game. NINETY-FIVE. That's insane. It's more than in any of VMI's Division I games this year, and remember, VMI leads all of Division I in possessions per game. In fact, 95 possessions is about 30 possessions more than the Division I average.
- VMI attempted 50 three-point shots. FIFTY. This is even more insane. Fully 2/3 of VMI's shot attempts were from behind the arc (they made 32% of them). By contrast, Radford attempted 8 3-pointers. If anyone knows what the NCAA record for 3-point attempts in a game is, please let me know.
- Led by 18 boards from the Belarussian giant, Artiomis "Art" Parakhouski (pictured here), Radford pulled down 32 more rebounds than VMI. THIRTY-TWO. If you watched the game, then you know that the reason Radford won is because they offset their turnovers and VMI's 3-pointers by completely dominatng the undersized Keydets on the offensive glass. One of the announcers suggested that Radford's strategy was to just throw the ball off the glass, rebound it and lay it in. This was not really an exaggeration.
Despite the car wreck appeal of the game, neither of these teams looked like very good basketball teams. I hope the Highlanders and their fans enjoy their trip to the Dance, but I suspect it will be short-lived.
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