VCU tops Vanderbilt with strong finish

Final score: VCU 70, Vanderbilt 65.

Location: Siegel Center in Richmond.

Current records: VCU 5-2. Vandy 3-4.

In a nutshell: This was a good victory for VCU against a decent power conference foe. After missing four games the Rams starting point guard, Ace Baldwin, returned from injury (right wrist) just in time. He scored a career-high 28 points in 33 minutes on the court. Baldwin also grabbed three rebounds and dished out four assists. He played dogged defense and got a pair of steals. It's hard to believe that VCU could have won this game without Ace's noteworthy contributions.  

NOTES

• Baldwin knocked down 7-of-14 from the floor and connected on 10-of-12 free throws in his first game back since suffering a right wrist injury on Nov. 12.
• Redshirt sophomore forward Jamir Watkins joined Baldwin Jr. in double figures with 13 points, just two off of his career-high 15. Watkins got a majority of his points via free throws, shooting 7-of-11 from the line.
• Freshman forward Tobi Lawal added a career-high four points and put in a solid defensive effort in 12 minutes of action for the Rams.
• Sophomore forward Jalen DeLoach led the Rams with six rebounds, while graduate student forward Brandon Johns Jr. added seven points and five rebounds.
• Vanderbilt saw three players score in double figures, led by Myle Stute’s 20 points, who hit 6-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc. Liam Robbins and Ezra Manjon added 14 and 12 points, respectively. 

• In a game that featured 15 ties and eight lead changes, Baldwin pushed the Rams in front for the final time with a pair of free throws with 3:14 remaining. Vanderbilt pulled within 66-64, but Baldwin answered again, driving left of the lane for bucket with 51 ticks on the clock. Watkins helped salt away the win with a fadeaway jumper to beat the shot clock with 16.8 second remaining
• Vanderbilt got within three at 54-51 before it was assessed three technical fouls, one to Robbins and two to Head Coach Jerry Stackhouse. Stackhouse was ejected, and Baldwin made 4-of-6 free throws to give VCU a 58-51 lead with 7:59 on the clock
• The Commodores later put together a 9-0 run to tie the game at 61 with 3:56 remaining. The Rams responded by outscoring Vanderbilt 9-4 the rest of the way to seal the victory
• VCU made 37 trips to the free throw line and connected on 25
• VCU went on a 6-0 run in the final 1:11 of the first half to open up a 35-28 halftime lead. They then built that lead up to 11 with 18:23 left, allowing them to play with the lead for most of the second half

 

Head Coach Mike Rhoades on Ace Baldwin: “He’s a competitive freak. And I say that with unbelievable respect. You got to kill him to beat him. He loves competition. He’s not afraid of the spotlight, he’s not afraid of pressure situations. He’s very hard on himself and even harder on his teammates but it's because he wants to win so bad and he gives other guys competitive confidence and he has always been like that, that’s why I liked him so much in high school. And he’s just tough, he’s just really tough. He made plays on both ends of the court and kept our guys calm.”  

BOX SCORE

UP NEXT

The Rams travel to Philadelphia, Pa. on Saturday, Dec. 3 to take on the Temple Owls out of the American Athletic Conference. Tip-off from the Liacouras Center is scheduled for 1 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

-- Info provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

VCU Rises From the Dead to Beat Kennesaw State

Final Score: VCU 64, Kennesaw St. 61. 

Location: Siegel Center in Richmond

Current Records: VCU 4-2. KS 4-3. 

In a Nutshell: For most of the game the energetic Kennesaw State squad seemed to have the Rams number. VCU's first lead over the visiting Owls came with two minutes left in the game. Led on offense by 24 points contributed by substitute point guard Jay Nunn (the regular point, Ace Baldwin, is recovering from a wrist injury and operation), the cold-shooting Rams -- 40.9 percent from the field -- found a way to win the game. This helped: VCU went 24-for-33 from the charity stripe; KS went 9-18.

NOTES

    

Nunn connected on 7-of-11 from the floor, including 4-of-5 in the second half, to spearhead the VCU comeback. He also connected on 8-of-12 free throws

After trailing for the entire first half, the Rams outscored the Owls 36-27 in the second half.

    

Junior guard Zeb Jackson supported the offense with nine points and four assists for the Rams. Jackson's four assists are a new career-high.

  

 VCU’s defense held firm against the Owls, forcing 16 turnovers, which led to 19 points.

   

 Sophomore forward Jalen DeLoach supplied a strong second half and finished with six points, seven rebounds the three blocks for the Rams.

 

Junior guard Josh Banks gave the Rams vital minutes off the bench with seven points. He was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.  

 

Demond Robinson led the Owls with 15 points and ten rebounds. 

 

VCU closed the game on a 14-4 run. Nunn kicked off VCU’s final push with a 3-pointer with 5:13 left that pulled the Rams within 57-53. 

 

 After strong defense from both sides, Banks made both ends of a one-and-one opportunity at the free throw line with 3:24 left and cut the lead to 57-55. With 2:33 remaining, DeLoach stuck back an offensive rebound with 2:26 on the clock to tie the game at 59-all, the first tie of the game.

 

After the Owls tied the game with two free throws, VCU grabbed a one-point lead from sophomore guard Nick Kern’s free throw with 16.1 seconds remaining. VCU forced a miss on the ensuing possession, and Jackson hit a pair of free throws with 1.7 left for the final margin. In the final ten minutes, VCU outscored Kennesaw St. 23-13.

 

This was the first time these two schools have played one another.

*

VCU Head Coach Mike Rhoades: "They stuck together. I thought that we had some bad body language in the first half, but they came together and said that we need to figure this out. In the second half we took it one possession at a time and even when they scored, we stayed level, we just battled the entire half. I said to the guys that we showed grit in the second half. For some teams, games like this they come in and try to stay close and see what happens, but Kennesaw State came in here and tried to win the game. And we found a way to win it, and we have to take a big step now.”

Zeb Jackson: “I have never experienced anything like what the fans brought tonight. When I was at Michigan, because the fans weren’t all the way back because of the COVID years, I never felt that. The fans gave me a whole bunch of energy that I did not even know that I had. They definitely helped us pour out the effort at the end of the game, and I think it affected Kennesaw State as well. I felt great listening the fans.” 

BOX SCORE.

 

NEXT UP

 

VCU takes on SEC opponent Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Siegel Center. The game will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network.

-- Info provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

 

Daniel Patrick Moynihan: 'We’ll never be young again.'

Camelot at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave lasted 1,036 days. In particular, for the children in school on Nov. 22, 1963, the murder of President John F. Kennedy was stunning in a way nothing has been since.

Two days later, on Nov. 24, 1963, a live national television audience witnessed the murder of the assassination’s prime suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald. Consequently, there was no doubt that Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub operator, was the trigger-man. What made him do it is still being questioned.

Shortly after JFK’s death, columnist Mary McGrory expressed her dark feelings to Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “We’ll never laugh again.”

Moynihan, who was an Assistant Secretary of Labor then, replied, “Heavens, Mary, we’ll laugh again. It’s just that we’ll never be young again.”

The cynicism spawned by the cloaked-in-secrecy aftermath of the JFK assassination has tinted everything the aforementioned children have seen since those dark days. Especially, everything to do with political investigations.

However, I’m not at all convinced there must have been a far-flung and complicated conspiracy to kill the president and cover up the tracks. Furthermore, after he was dead, just because some people deliberately obscured related information, we don't necessarily know why they did it. In some cases it was probably people trying to cover asses for a myriad of reasons. 

 

So, for now, let's skip past the argument over whether, or not, Oswald acted alone. For the moment, let's not speculate about whether Oswald was a dupe, or one of the greatest marksmen who ever lived. The point of this piece is to recognize that the secrecy that rushed in obscured the truth about what happened in November of 1963 and poisoned the American culture in a way that is still being felt. 

The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known as the Warren Commission, published its report on Sept. 24, 1964: Essentially, Oswald was found to have been a lone wolf assassin. Which immediately unleashed the questioning of the Commission’s findings.

Perhaps its famous “single bullet theory,” which had one projectile traveling circuitously through two victims, was great sleuthing. Or maybe it was just an unbelievable reach.

*

In 1965 unknown gunmen murdered Malcolm X in an auditorium in Manhattan. I say "unknown" because the two men convicted of that assassination were exonerated last year. So Muhammad A. Aziz, 84, and the late Khalil Islam have had their names cleared. Too bad about all the time they served in prison.

 

Three years after the murder of Malcolm X, Rev. Martin Luther King was killed on a motel balcony in Memphis by a sniper. Only two months later, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's presidential run ended when he was shot to death in a Los Angeles hotel. It was a shock, but in the crazy year of violence 1968 was, it was not such a surprise.

Unfortunately, at the time the official stories on those three shootings were widely doubted, even disbelieved. In the ‘60s more public scrutiny of how those assassination probes were conducted might have led to different conclusions. More importantly, even if more sunlight into those investigations failed to produce different outcomes, at least Americans might have felt better about the good faith of the processes.

Instead, it seemed then the authorities generally believed the American people didn't really have a right to see the whole truth and nothing-but. Too often it seems to have been decided on high that the public was better off not knowing some things, as if we were all children.

Of course, secrecy of that sort can hide everyday malfeasance, as well. Shielding the citizenry from such information is the sort of thinking that went during world wars, with spies lucking about. In the 1960s, perhaps as part of the Cold War, the public more or less expected its government to routinely withhold all sorts of secrets.

That, whether the public likes it, or not. Eventually, it took a series of brutal revelations to snap many Americans out of blithely tolerating an over-abundance of secrecy:

• The My Lai Massacre horrors.

• The publishing of the Pentagon Papers.

• The Watergate Scandal hearings.

• The Iran-Contra Scandal hearings.

• The bogus justification for invading Iraq. 

As those events paraded by, America steadily morphed into a nation of cynics. Now, those of us who recognize the damage that's been done by official lies know better. We were wrong to ever have accepted such skullduggery in the name of keeping America safe.

*

In 1997 Sen. Moynihan’s book, “Secrecy: The American Experience,” was published. In the opening chapter he wrote:

In the United States, secrecy is an institution of the administrative state that developed during the great conflicts of the twentieth century. It is distinctive primarily in that it is all but unexamined. There is a formidable literature on regulation of the public mode, virtually none on secrecy. Rather, there is a considerable literature, but it is mostly secret. Indeed, the modes of secrecy remain for the most part -- well, secret.

On inquiry there are regularities: patterns that fit well enough with what we have learned about other forms of regulation. But there has been so little inquiry that the actors involved seem hardly to know the set roles they play. Most important, they seem never to know the damage they can do. This is something more than inconveniencing to the citizen. At times, in the name of national security, secrecy has put that very security in harm's way.

Fifty-nine years after the murder of JFK, it’s high time to stop tolerating unnecessary secrecy in government at all levels. After all, secrets that invite speculation and provoke conspiracy theories serve a nefarious agenda just as well as a lie. 

Justice Louis D. Brandeis famously wrote: 

Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.

Today, to trust official conclusions, we need plenty of Brandeis' sunlight. We not only need investigations, we need to be able to see into the investigations. So, as we saw in  the recent January 6th Committee hearings in the House of Representatives, televised testimony at Congressional hearings is a good thing.

Lastly, for democracy to have a chance of working properly and delivering good government, we the voters need to know whose money is behind every politician's ploy. Knowing who paid for what always helps. Brandeis was spot on about the power of sunlight. 

Taking it home: Single bullet theory, you say?

In Richmond, that was a great name for a punk era band.

 

-- 30 --

The Head-on-a-Pole Solution

Note: The first version of this piece was written several years ago. That was well before a certain bully began his first campaign to become president. So, originally this whimsical piece was never about one particular American plutocrat. 

Now it's being dusted off for the 2022 holiday season.

*

If I could show you, in just a couple of minutes, how to solve a good many of the most daunting problems we face today -- without costing the taxpayers a fortune -- wouldn't you be interested in hearing about it?

Of course you would. Read on.

My plan calls for just one public execution a year. Its purpose would be to fund cures for diseases, to fund free educations for everyone, to even prevent wars, all the while also erasing America's daunting red ink problem. 

To accomplish all that just one person would be put to death by the federal government each year. Although I'm ordinarily opposed to capital punishment, there are sometimes possible exceptions to the rule. Here's how this one would work: 

First we would make a list of all the American billionaires (This would have to include those living in and doing business in the USA). Each of their names would be put on a ballot. Each American citizen, 18-or-older, would get to vote -- free of charge -- for the person they see as the absolute worst citizen-billionaire in the USA. The ballots and ballot boxes would be put in convenience stores all over the country. 

The same ballots would be available online, as would virtual ballot boxes. Maybe we should make available to citizens 16-or-older.

All year long, we the people would all be eligible to vote once a month -- 12 votes per year. The billionaire who gets the most votes for being the most despised billionaire of the lot would be arrested wherever he or she is hiding by a SWAT team. Upon the last second of December 31st, America's biggest billionaire loser of that year would be executed by guillotine, somewhat as pictured above.

Naturally, America's cities would bid to stage the execution, like the Olympics. The mammoth Payback Party that would surround the event would mean big budget commercials would run in the live telecasts of the whole shebang -- cha-ching!

Most of that money would go directly into the Social Security trust fund. Thus, the monthly payments to retirees could be increased.

The rest of the money generated by the event would go into a special fund to buy a six-pack of beer for the holiday season -- via downloadable coupon -- for everyone who participated in the voting process in December. As the blade falls, at midnight, millions of those free beers could be opened simultaneously to celebrate our ability to solve problems using democracy. 

Afterward, the richly deserving billionaire's head will be put on top of a tall brass pole -- the Peoples' Payback Pole -- for all to see, where it would stay for one year. Then, for the next new year the new head would go up in a different selected city.

Out of respect for the old head, it would be turned over to the billionaire's family, once its required year on the pole is done. Meanwhile, the rest of the billionaires, everywhere, would feel more than a little inspired to solve their own dilemma. Accordingly, they would have a couple of easy-to-understand choices to prevent their own head from being picked to be the next.

• Turn enough money over to the federal government or legit non-profits, to simply escape the list of eligible billionaires. The money given to the government could go toward building a fast-train national railway system.

• If they choose to remain a billionaire, then they need to use their money to do lots of good works to curry favor with voters. 

So, if you are a billionaire, let’s say you’ve got a cool $50 billion. Then you could choose to give away $49.1 billion to get off the hook. Or, you could take a chance on targeting a few billion to curing cancer. Or, you could throw money at feeding orphans, or on bringing peace to the Mideast. Maybe you’d pick all the musicians in a state and pay their rent for one whole year.

Smart billionaires would naturally buy lots of ads in magazines and newspapers, to tout what good deeds they’re doing, in order to increase their chances of keeping their own heads attached to their respective bodies. So, this deal could save our favorite inky wretches from extinction, too.

Accordingly, crime rates would plunge. The research for new green-friendly technologies would be fully funded. Better recreational drugs with no hangovers ought to be developed. Every kid who wants a new puppy would get one. And, last but not least, publishers would have plenty of money to pay freelance writers and artists decent fees for their work.

To sum up: Each old year would end with the execution of just one person selected fairly as the most deserving of that fate. Each new year would start out with a visible symbol atop that People' Payback Pole, showing everyone -- including billionaires, for a change -- why we should all be good to one another. 

Happy holidays!

-- 30 --

Memphis dominates VCU: Tigers 62, Rams 47

Final Score: Memphis 62, VCU 47

Location: FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tenn. 

Current Records: VCU 3-2, Memphis 2-1

 

In a nutshell: Memphis guard Kendric Davis had quite a day: 26 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals. And, VCU simply had no answer for him. On top of that, the Rams offense was missing in action: They shot 29% from the field; they had only 7 assists. For whatever reason VCU played with no confidence.  

NOTES

·     VCU's Jamir Watkins scored 14 points, connecting on 5-of-11 attempts from the field, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range. He added four steals and three assists to his second career double-double

·      Graduate forward Brandon Johns Jr. narrowly missed a double-double for the second straight game for VCU and finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. He also blocked two shots

·      Sophomore guard Jayden Nunn added 10 points for the Black and Gold  

·      VCU shot just 29 percent (16-of-55) from the field in the game, including 25 percent (6-of-24) from 3-point range. The Rams were held to 23-percent (6-of-26) shooting and just 16 points in the first half

·      The Rams also committed 18 turnovers, which Memphis turned into 26 points. Thirteen of VCU’s turnovers came in the first half alone     

·      Memphis outscored VCU 36-18 in the paint, and the Tigers outrebounded the Rams 40-35     

NEXT UP

VCU will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 26 when it hosts Kennesaw State at the Stuart C. Siegel Center at 4 p.m. That contest with air on MASN and ESPN+. 

-- Info provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D. 

VCU finishes off Pitt: Rams 71, Panthers 67

Final Score: VCU 71, Pitt 67

Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Current Records: VCU 3-1, Pitt 1-3

 

In a Nutshell: VCU's two Michigan transfers, Brandon Johns Jr. and Zeb Jackson, combined for 34 points as the Rams came from behind to repel a second-half surge from the Panthers. That strong finish enabled VCU to win the "third-place" game of the Legends Classic.

 

NOTES

 

·      Johns scored a game-high 18 points for the Rams, including 11 in the second half, and tied a career-high with nine rebounds. He connected on 9-of-11 free throws.

·      Jackson poured in a career-high 16 points, including 11 after the break. Jackson converted 4-of-8 from the field and 7-of-8 at the charity stripe. He added three steals, three assists and three rebounds.

·      Josh Banks gave the Rams a lift coming off the bench with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, while Jamir Watkins and Jayden Nunn added eight points each.

·      Blake Hinson led Pitt's scoring with 18 points.

 

·      Johns scored seven straight VCU points, including a traditional three-point play in traffic, to give VCU a 61-60 lead with 1:35 remaining. VCU hit 8-of-10 free throws in the final 90 seconds to keep the Panthers at bay.

·      VCU used an 11-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by senior forward David Shriver and a driving layup by Jackson to erase a six-point Panthers lead and push the Rams in front 46-41 with 10:47 left. A short time later, Hinson buried a 3-pointer from the wing to cap a 16-6 Pitt run and give the Panthers a 57-51 advantage.

·      VCU held Pitt to 42 percent (24-of-57) shooting in the contest, including 5-of-22 from beyond the 3-point arc.

·      VCU forced 18 Pitt turnovers and converted those miscues into 23 points.

 

·      VCU was playing in the Legends Classic for the third time. The Rams have split a pair of games in each trip.

·      The Rams lead the all-time series with Pitt, 4-2. Thursday’s game was the first between the two schools since an 84-79 Pitt overtime victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. on March 18, 2007.

·      The game was Pitt Coach Jeff Capel’s third against the Rams since departing VCU in 2006. VCU is 2-1 in those games. As head coach (2002-06) Capel led the Rams to 79 wins and a 2004 NCAA Tournament appearance.

 

BOX SCORE

 

NEXT UP

 

            ·      VCU will hit the road on Sunday, Nov. 20, to take on Memphis at 5 p.m. EST. The game will air on ESPN+. 

-- Info provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.

Late surge lifts ASU over VCU

Final Score: Arizona State 63, VCU 59

Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Legends Classic)

Current Records: VCU 2-1, Arizona State 3-1

 

In a nutshell: For three-fourths of the fast-paced game VCU led and seemed to have the upper hand. With Jayden Nunn playing the point the Rams appeared to be managing to do without their star point guard, Ace Baldwin (broken bone in his right wrist). VCU led for 32:54 of the 40 minutes. 

Late in the game, Arizona State's guard, Frankie Collins, took over and the Rams had no answer. The Sun Devils closed out the contest on a 15-3 run to snatch victory away from the Rams. VCU connected on just 4-of-23 field goals in the second half. 

 

NOTES

·      In 36 minutes on the floor sophomore guard Jayden Nunn provided 13 points and five assists for VCU. Nunn connected on 5-of-10 and added four rebounds and a pair of steals.

·      In all, three Rams reached double figures, including redshirt sophomore guard Jamir Watkins and graduate forward Brandon Johns Jr., who supplied 10 each. Johns also corralled six rebounds.

·      Sophomore forward Jalen DeLoach also recorded nine points, eight rebounds and a block for VCU.

·     Arizona State's Frankie Collins led all players with 15 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and three steals.

·      The Sun Devils’ Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit a go-ahead floater in the lane with 1:08 left to give ASU a 61-59 lead. VCU got two looks at the basket on the ensuing possession, but missed on a 3-pointer and a floater. A pair of Horne free throws with 21 seconds left accounted the final margin.

·      The Rams shot 50 percent (14-of-28) in the first half and 17 percent in the second.

·      The Rams took a 52-41 lead with 8:58 remaining on a 3-pointer by senior forward David Shriver, but watched as Arizona State put together a 15-4 burst, punctuated by back-to-back 3-pointers by D.J. Horne and Austin Nunez, to tie the game at 56-all with 5:08 left.

·      Arizona State held a 28-22 advantage in points in the paint and a 10-5 edge in second-chance points.·      

·     On the upside, VCU connected on 17-of-18 free throws. On the downside, technical fouls on Watkins and DeLouche didn't help the Rams' cause. 

 

BOX SCORE

NEXT UP

VCU will face Pitt in the Legends Classic consolation round on Thursday (today) at 7 p.m. at the Barclays Center. That game will air nationally on ESPN2. 

-- Info provided by Chris Kowalczyk, VCU Assistant A.D.