VCU beats Dayton 68-56 to win A-10 championship, NCAA bid

VCU heads back to New York, only this time it will be to the state capital of Albany rather than to Brooklyn.

Coach Mike Rhoades’ Rams earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by easily winning the Atlantic 10 tourney at Barclays Center (home of New York Nets).

This Friday, No. 12 seed VCU (27-7 with nine straight wins) will play St. Mary’s College of California in the first round of the West Region. The No. 5 seed Gaels are 26-7 after losing to Gonzaga in the finals of the West Coast Conference.

St. Mary’s, under direction of 22nd year Coach Randy Bennett, is led by guards Logan Johnson and Aidan Mahaney, each averaging about 15 points.

The team showcases four players from Australia and relies on the three-pointer, with 256 connections on the season.

This is the second time the Rams and Gaels have been matched up in the NCAAs. In 2017, St. Mary’s defeated VCU in a first round contest.

VCU was at its best in Brooklyn, defeating Davidson 7153, St. Louis 90-78 and Dayton 68-56 in the finals. Brandon Johns had a team-high 15 points against Dayton.

Ace Baldwin had 12 points and seven assists, Jalen Deloach added eight points and 10 rebounds and Jamir Watkins chipped in with 13 points with three treys.

Defensively, VCU’s attacking, shark-bite style of defense held the Flyers to just 32 percent shooting.

This will be VCU’s 19th trip to the NCAAs, dating to 1980. The triumph in Brooklyn marked the Rams’ first A10 tournament crown since 2015.

VCU was the lone A-10 school to earn a bid to this year’s NCAA 68-team event that will conclude in Houston April 1-3.

Rochelle, N.Y., is a smooth 6-foot-6 forward who has made recruiting visits to the likes of Vanderbilt, Florida Atlantic and San Diego.

Thompson and Bailey, the dynamic backcourt, will return to continue the North Side’s dominance. Both are mid-major Division I prospects, at least.

There remains a possibility JM has more games to play, which would be a first for any public school in the state.

Dancin’

VCU’s

Kenny Brooks is Virginia Tech’s first Black coach to win women’s ACC crown

If the NCAA Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year was announced today, Kenny Brooks might be a leading contender.

He would certainly be the No. 1 choice in Blacksburg.

The 54-year-old Virginia Tech coach recently became the first Black coach to direct his team to the ACC tournament title. It also marked Tech’s first women’s ACC crown.

Coach Brooks guided his Lady Hokies to a 27-4 mark that included a 75-67 win over Louisville in the ACC finals in Greensboro. His Lady Hokies were to continue play this week in the NCAA Regionals on their home court, Cassell Coliseum.

Coach Brooks’ success is nothing new. A native of Waynesboro, he has a combined 478-189 record at his alma mater, James Madison, 2002-2016, and at Tech since 2016.

Coach Brooks played three seasons under Coach Lefty Driesell at JMU, and is the cousin of another Waynesboro hoops

VUU succumbs to third-ranked IUP 60-45

The curtain fell on Virginia Union University’s outstanding basketball season late Sunday night in Indiana, Pa.

In one of the most difficult matchups possible, the Panthers fell to host Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 60-45, in the semifinals of the NCAA Atlantic Regional.

IUP led by just 30-27 at halftime. Then a 23-0 run by the host Crimson Hawks early in the second half spelled the end for the visitors.

IUP, ranked third nationally, improved to 32-1 and 16-0 on its home court. Coach Jay Butler’s cold-shooting Panthers (25 percent) finished 24-8.

The night before, VUU defeated

Fairmont State, W.Va., 66-64, for its first NCAA win since 2007, when Coach Dave Robbins’ teams defeated Lander, S.C., and Clayton State, Ga.

The Panthers suffered their worst shooting night of the season vs. IUP.

CIAA Player of Year Robert Osborne was 3-for-17 from the floor and managed just seven points. By contrast “The Wizard of Os” hit 51 percent on the season and averaged 20.2 points.

In two powerful seasons as a Panther, Osborne tallied 1,046 points and will be greatly missed.

Nothing was falling at IUP. Standout guard Keleaf Tate was 1-for-13. Tahj Harding led VUU with 10 points.

IUP was to play West Liberty, W.Va., Tuesday night for the Region crown and the right to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight.

The 2023-24 VUU lineup will look much different from this year’s unit. Coach Butler and his veteran staff will be hot on the recruiting trail.

Seniors included Osborne, Tate, Devon Sims, Khalil Diggins-Williams and Raemaad Wright.

From Suffolk, Wright’s rebounding has been essential to VUU going 47-15 the past two seasons.

Wright had 12 rebounds in the loss to IUP and 16 against Fairmont. He was a two-time CIAA rebounding leader.

With details uncertain, the Justices may be playing in The Throne National Tournament at Morehouse College in Atlanta March 29 through April 1.

It is a 16-team, single elimination event co-sponsored by the NBA Players Association and Gold Level Entertainment. That could mean more showtime.

“We started the season want- legend, Cory Alexander, who played in NBA. ing to be No. 1 in Virginia,” said Coach White. “Now we want to be No. 1 in the nation.”

Coach Brooks’ two elder daughters, Kendyl and Chloe, played for him at Tech and the youngest, Gabby, was a senior this season for the Blacksburg high team.

JM’s road to title

Region 2A

JM 124, Prince Edward 41

JM 104, Thomas Jefferson 47

JM 113, Brunswick 51 State Class 2

JM 98, Strasburg 27

JM 112, Brunswick 45

JM 91, Radford 34

You don’t have to play basketball at a large high school to become a college star.

James Patterson is proof of that.

Hailing from Church Hill Academy (enrollment 36 for grades 9-12), Patterson has enjoyed a stellar freshman season for St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkhill, N.Y.

The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 15 points and seven rebounds for the Spartans, who went 26-4 in winning the NCAA Division II East Coast Conference crown. Patterson had 19 points and nine rebounds in the championship game against Daemen, N.Y. The Spartans were to continue playing in the Division II East Region in Manchester, N.H. Individually, the native Richmonder was named to the All-ECC first team and selected ECC Rookie of the Year. Patterson is joined on the team by his brother, Javion, who played locally at Meadowbrook High.

Howard wins MEAC title 65-64 over NSU

For the first time in three seasons, Norfolk State’s Spartans won’t be kicking up their heels at the NCAA Big Dance. But for the first time since 1992, Howard’s Bison will.

In a thrilling finish at Scope Arena, Howard edged NSU, 65-64, to capture the MEAC title and the NCAA bid that goes with it. The Bison will play powerful Kansas on Thursday in Des Moines, Ia.

NSU, closing at 22-1 under Coach Robert Jones, had won the previous two MEAC crowns at Scope.

Jelani Williams, a senior transfer from University of Pennsylvania, had 20 points for the Bison including the deciding bucket in the final seconds.

As usual, the leading light for NSU was fifth-year senior guard Joe Bryant, who had 18 points—all in the second half. Bryant, the MEAC regular season Player of Year the past two seasons, finishes his brilliant career with 1,747 points, 540 rebounds, 318 assists and 191 steals. He hit 389 of 349 free throws (87 percent) to rank with the NCAA’s all-time greats.

In 1992, Howard was seeded last in the NCAA Mideast Region and fell to top-seed Kansas, 100-67.

Despite a few years of unexpected turbulence, Alma W. Hughes has led and sustained a Richmond-based musical group while forging deep connections among its members and the community.

For almost seven years, Ms. Hughes has served as the board president for the One Voice Chorus, which provides concerts featuring 90 to 120 singers throughout Richmond. She has guided One Voice since Lynn Atkins, its former artistic director, left in 2019 due to personal reasons.

Ms. Hughes’ work in this position, which focuses on using guest conductors to lead the chorus’ typical three concerts a year schedule, was disrupted by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Yet, such changes failed to halt Ms. Hughes’efforts to keep OVC active.

“It was a position that needed to be filled and I love this organization,” says Ms. Hughes, when asked why she accepted the role in August 2016.

“We have a board of very capable people, so my job is to ensure they can contribute and serve where they will be their best. I can readily recognize these gifts in people, and I am good at getting out of their way!”

As a founding member of the chorus and a singer in the soprano section, Ms. Hughes has played a vital role in OVC since its founding in 2002 and since its nonprofit status was established in 2004.

At the onset of the pandemic, Ms. Hughes and the OVC board continued operating by switching to virtual meetings and shifting their focus from planning concerts to staying connected and overcoming the sudden changes.

One strategy that kept the OVC active was a weekly newsletter Ms. Hughes created to stay in touch with members, while also allowing them to share stories and videos, and plan virtual events such as book club meetings. More importantly, the newsletter was a