ESPN analyst Jay Bilas isn’t backing down from his pre-tournament comments. He didn’t think Virginia Commonwealth deserved to be in the NCAA tournament ahead of a few other teams. And he’s clinging to that notion now, even as the Rams have become tournament darlings by reaching the Sweet 16 in convincing fashion.
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“Performance in the tournament is different from the selection,” Bilas said. “If one listened intently to what was said on Selection Sunday, the argument was that Colorado or Virginia Tech was worthy of getting in first, not that any one team didn’t belong at all.”
If you listened intently, there was no doubt Bilas didn’t think the committee knew what it was doing. Hence the comments about needing more basketball guys in the process. Oh, and there was the comment wondering whether they knew a basketball was round. But we digress.
Anyway, Bilas isn’t bothered by anyone taking shots at him now. Our view? He’s the best, and this is one of the reasons why.
“I don’t have any problem with anything being said,” Bilas said. “I get to say what I want, and everyone else gets to say what they want. I have zero problem with it. Those arguments were for Selection Sunday only. The fact that VCU has played well and won does not make my argument wrong.”
OK, now Bilas gets to say something nice about the Rams, who play Florida State on Friday.
“They shoot the ball extremely well, and they haven’t turned it over,” Bilas said. “They have great team speed, and most mid-major programs that advance do so because they have really good guards and can score and guard in the post. They can do that. They have guys that can spread the floor and are good in transition. They take early opportunities. They think they can get a good shot early as long as they take it off a good pass and are in rhythm. They’re really uptempo and have gotten teams out of their rhythm.”
And they’ve won.
“I applaud them for what they’ve done,” Bilas said.
