Richmond coach campaigns for expanded NCAA field in light of loss
St. Joe’s plays VCU in semifinals after slaying top seed.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The Saint Joseph’s Hawk mascot has a new look this season. He no longer wears a costume that sheds feathers with every step. He looks better but also less like himself.
No matter what he wears, though, the Hawk sticks to his script: always flapping and never dying.
The Saint Joseph’s basketball team avoided death Thursday as well, beating No. 1 seed Richmond 66-61 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at the Barclays Center. Erik Reynolds led the Hawks (2112) with 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting.
After the game, Saint Joseph’s coach Billy Lange made a pitch for Richmond to make the NCAA tournament..
“That’s a great team,” Lange said. “That’s an NCAA tournament team. So the world has to get it right. We just keep projecting who fits into the NCAA tournament. I’ve been in that position before. You have an amazing season and then you’ve got one game to try to prove your worth and value — and it’s not right. Their whole season shouldn’t be judged by that.”
Richmond (23-9) shared the A-10 regular-season championship with Loyola Chicago but squandered any NCAA tournament at-large hopes with five non-conference losses. Saint Joseph’s has to win the A-10 tournament to play in the NCAA tournament. Every team entering the tournament, except Dayton, was in the same position.
Richmond coach Chris Mooney made his case for expanding the NCAA tournament from 68 teams. That’s been a topic of discussion for years.
“Every postseason has expanded,” Mooney said. “The NFL, the Olympics, the World Cup, college, women’s basketball. I think we have over 360 teams now (in Division I). Scheduling is really difficult since the Power Five conferences went to 20 conference games. And there’s no one directing anyone to schedule. You just find out your schedule is not good enough in March. So it’s a pretty impossible situation. I feel bad for our guys because they’re here at this time. A team of this caliber in the A-10 historically is an NCAA team.”
Semifinal matchup: Saint Joseph’s plays No. 5 seed Virginia Commonwealth (21-12) in the first semifinal at 1 p.m. Saturday. VCU beat No. 4 Massachusetts 73-59 one day after a 69-62 victory against No. 12 Fordham in the second round.
Joe Bamisile had 18 points for VCU. Zeb Jackson scored 17.
VCU improved its A-10 tournament record to 18-7 in 11 appearances. That .720 winning percentage is the best of any current A-10 program.
Coaching change: Saint Louis announced the firing of coach Travis Ford on Wednesday after the No. 14 seed Billikens lost 83-73 to No. 6 Duquesne in the second round. Ford, 54, was 146-109 in eight seasons with one A-10 tournament championship and NCAA tournament berth in 2019.
“For eight years, Travis led our men’s basketball program with passion and dignity,” SLU Director of Athletics Chris May said in a press release. “This decision was not made lightly. It is our expectation to regularly compete for conference championships and play in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, we have not met these expectations the last several years. We thank Travis for his dedication to SLU and wish him the best in the future.”
Ford appeared at a postgame press conference after reports broke about him losing his job but before it was official.
Asked if he would comment on the reports, Ford said, “I’m not gonna get into that right now, but I will say I have loved my time in St. Louis. I absolutely loved it. My kids would call it home. It’s maybe where I call home. The fans have been tremendous. I love the fan base, absolutely just love the fan base. And obviously the critics are always the loudest. I’ve been doing this a long time. When you play at Kentucky and you’ve been through the career I’ve had for 27 years, you kind of get that and understand it a little bit.”*