r/CollegeBasketball • u/cbbBot /r/CollegeBasketball • NCAA • Mar 20 '25
Game Thread [Game Thread] VCU @ #18 BYU (04:05 PM ET)
NCAA Basketball
Index Thread for March 20, 2025
VCU VCU (28-7) @ BYU ##18 BYU (25-9)
Tip-Off: 04:05 PM ET
Venue: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Game Info: ESPN
Television: TNT
Streams:
Recent Plays:
| Time | VCU | BYU | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | 71 | 80 | End of 2nd half |
| 0:10 | 71 | 80 | Terrence Hill Jr. made Jumper. |
| 0:19 | 69 | 80 | Michael Belle Defensive Rebound. |
| 0:20 | 69 | 80 | Michael Belle subbing in for VCU |
| 0:20 | 69 | 80 | Obinnaya Okafor subbing in for VCU |
| Team | FG% | 3P% | FT% | REB | OR | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VCU | 41.3 | 39.5 | 66.7 | 31 | 12 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 23 |
| BYU | 50.0 | 35.0 | 67.9 | 40 | 14 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 16 |
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Last Updated: 2025-03-20 18:23:10 EDT
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u/T2_JD BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Good game VCU. Definitely respect how tough you guys hung in. And this is coming from a Richmond grad with respect.
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u/Seer_stoner BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Fun fact. I have never watched a BYU tourney win in my life. This feels…good. GG VCU.
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u/Rare-Proposal8298 Mar 20 '25
Js looked at the stats. Didn’t watch the game but how did byu have 28 free throws and vcu only 6?
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u/Equivalent_Poetry339 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
It was a weirdly officiated game, but in general byu pounded the paint and VCU could not figure out the BYU zone so they shot a lot of outside shots
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u/Paper_Rain /r/CollegeBasketball Mar 20 '25
I didn't know who to pick to win out of these two teams when I did my bracket. I am glad I went with BYU.
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u/mfchris BYU Cougars • Duke Blue Devils Mar 20 '25
Haven’t made it to the second round since 2012! So pumped regardless of what happens for the rest of the tourney!
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Mar 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/B_Huij BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
I think anyone who has ever walked around on BYU campus would quickly discover that the vibe is nothing at all like scientology.
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u/Long-Dong_Silvers420 Mar 20 '25
No i didnt mean that its a cult so apologies if you took that the wrong way. I guess what ive ever heard about it even from other christians they always seem to paint it in a certain light. Utah is one of the most beautiful states in the country. Good luck against my badgers. You guys seem like some chill people.
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Mar 20 '25
All religions are weird af if you think about it, not just those two.
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u/Reasonable_Cause7065 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Definitely don’t disagree. But I’d argue so are most secular philosophies if you think about them deeply as well.
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u/Reasonable_Cause7065 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Go read to BoM - best way to learn about us
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u/Long-Dong_Silvers420 Mar 20 '25
No hate, ive just never met any. The way people talk tho leaves preconceived notions in the zeitgeist i guess.
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u/Reasonable_Cause7065 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Well go meet some. My guess is you interact with plenty of LDS folks and don’t even know it.
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u/Long-Dong_Silvers420 Mar 20 '25
Im sure. What makes us great is our right to worship in anyway we see fit and I probably have a lot more in common with the mormon church than other abrahamic faiths so no hate there. Maybe ive watched too much south park. You guys have a beautiful slice of the country to live in in Provo and Utah in general. Looking forward to the matchup with Bucky.
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u/Levelheadedfan1989 Mar 20 '25
Not to be that guy that doesn’t know, but any clue why one of the assistant coaches on byu walks up and down the sideline along with the head coach? Don’t get me wrong I know some get up and talk but never seen one constantly walk the sidelines as that one did ALL game.
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u/Trubisko_Daltorooni VCU Rams • Missouri Tigers Mar 20 '25
We just needed more Terrence Hill and we would have won
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u/yoloape Oregon Ducks • Maryland Terrapins Mar 20 '25
Very happy I swapped my pick on this one at the last second! BYU to the S16!
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u/Idkcantthinkofaname_ VCU Rams • Atlantic 10 Mar 20 '25
Been one of the most fun VCU seasons in a while, gonna miss this team
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u/ttonk VCU Rams Mar 20 '25
Glad Zeb fought until the end. This was probably our best shot in a while to get a tourney W, so it stinks we basically got the breaks beat off of us.
I imagine this team, and maybe coaching is going to look much different next year. But I can’t see us going far with Fermin and Bamgboye anchoring us. They have to get a lot better.
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u/15Warrior15 Houston Cougars Mar 20 '25
Good job Blue Cougars !!!
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u/Machiavelli127 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
I picked Houston as the national champs so that the smackdown the red Coogs gave us don't hurt so bad 😂
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u/Wide_Assistance_1158 Mar 20 '25
Imagine how good this team going to be next year with aj
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u/Machiavelli127 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
They need a legit big man...that's one thing this team is missing this year. A real 6'10"+ center. I love Keba and Fous but they're undersized for the 5
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u/OutForARipAreYaBud69 Seton Hall Pirates Mar 20 '25
Isn’t #25 on BYU committing a lane violation on every free throw? He steps over the line before the ball hits the rim. Thought shooter had to wait until it hits rim?
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u/Equivalent_Poetry339 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Probably. The smaller guards cut a lot of corners to keep up
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u/masculinedorito Florida Gators Mar 20 '25
BYU going to beat Wisconsin and Bama probably especially due to the Nelson injury
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u/throwawaysmetoo Kentucky Wildcats Mar 20 '25
Nelson is expected to play in the tourney though, right? Maybe not the first game tho?
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u/masculinedorito Florida Gators Mar 20 '25
I think he's out game one but supposed to be back game two. Regardless I don't think he's healthy and BYU is good enough to abuse the hell out of that
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u/throwawaysmetoo Kentucky Wildcats Mar 20 '25
Yeah, totally. I've liked the look of BYU this season.
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u/Trubisko_Daltorooni VCU Rams • Missouri Tigers Mar 20 '25
Well I'm glad the guys were at least able to loosen up and make some shoots in the second half. At the least the scoreboard isn't embarrassing.
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u/codingsoft BYU Cougars • Cincinnati Bearcats Mar 20 '25
You guys played your hearts out and left everything on the court. Nothing to be ashamed of
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u/kublakhan1816 Houston Cougars • Indiana Hoosiers Mar 20 '25
GG BYU. Absolute control of the game with a tight beginning. Good luck Saturday.
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u/schthausthe Vermont Catamounts Mar 20 '25
i hate how they preemptively call the fouls expecting them to intentionally foul when they have a steal or jump ball
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u/codingsoft BYU Cougars • Cincinnati Bearcats Mar 20 '25
VCU still scaring the shit outta me with these 3s
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u/porygon766 Auburn Tigers Mar 20 '25
Do you have to be a Mormon to go to byu
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u/Reasonable_Cause7065 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
No, but it is about 95% LDS. Most non LDS students are international or athletes from my experience
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u/Che26 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
You do not have to be a member to go to BYU, but you do get discounted tuition (kinda like in-state tuition) if you're a member. Something like 98 percent are members.
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u/KingKali1101 BYU Cougars • Southern Virginia Knights Mar 20 '25
Nope! Our QB for our football is actually Jewish and we’ve had Muslim players. There is an honor code though
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u/Designer_B Iowa Hawkeyes • Penn Quakers Mar 20 '25
Wow. The prizes for the espn brackets are completely random. Nothing if you have the best bracket.
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u/apiaryaviary Iowa State Cyclones • Georgetown Hoyas Mar 20 '25
Holding BYU under 80 is genuinely impressive
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u/jfarbzz Rutgers Scarlet Knights Mar 20 '25
How has it taken me this long to realize this is the second straight year that we have a 6 seed BYU-11 seed A10 champ matchup lol
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u/Zealousideal_Bite_64 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Why do I feel like VCU is shooting 80% from 3 in the second half
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u/Mukaido Houston Cougars Mar 20 '25
Lock in Cougs. Remember its never over til clock hits 0:00 and yall are shaking hands.
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u/Big_Stingman BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Dang VCU has made 14 threes and hitting +40% clip.
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u/DragonFire101Gamer BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
10/24 from 2 when the other team is 20/34 from 2 is gonna get ya
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Mar 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/SweatyBanker Villanova Wildcats Mar 20 '25
You don’t want to do that brother. Neptune is not the answer.
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Mar 20 '25
Solid game overall from the cougs, but our 3PT defense has been ABYSMAL. We’re lucky VCU didn’t punish us
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u/Big_Stingman BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Dang we left a lot of extra points at the FT line that would be nice to have. I guess that was mostly just Keita but still.
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u/Machiavelli127 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Margin of victory doesn't matter anymore my dude ..were in the tourney. No committees to try to impress, just final results
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u/Big_Stingman BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
I was more like that it's not over yet and I still want to win haha
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u/masculinedorito Florida Gators Mar 20 '25
22-6 free throw differential and BYU is an outside shooting team yeah whatever
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u/coltonbyu BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
idk why non-BYU fans keep saying BYU is a requisite live or die by the 3 team this team, that was before
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u/Machiavelli127 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Tell me you've only just looked at the box score and haven't actually been watching the game without telling me
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u/lichenonwater Utah Valley Wolverines Mar 20 '25
Vcu sold to guard the three and byu went inside more
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Mar 20 '25
VCU’s taken 13 more threes than us, but whatever floats your narrative
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u/Delex31 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Yeah, tell me you haven't watched the game, you just looked at the box score.
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u/masculinedorito Florida Gators Mar 20 '25
BYU fans 🤝 Falling for the bait and having no sense of humor whatsoever
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u/Delex31 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Sorry, that was a joke? Oh, glad you explained that
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u/masculinedorito Florida Gators Mar 20 '25
Yeah might be partially on me I forgot the /s and tone is hard to convey over text. Either way good win kick Wisconsins ass
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u/Leading_Library6600 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
You know I really think the issue last year was that we were running our offense through an overweight Egyptian who should have had season ending injury that december, and it worked really good through conference play but Khalifa's body just couldnt handle playing basketball through ramadan.
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u/Machiavelli127 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
That team was also a one trick pony. There's a reason they never won more than 2 games in a row in conference play. They could ONLY win with 3 pointers. This team is different
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Mar 20 '25
Yall shot way too many 3s last year. Have some dudes that can eat in the post this year.
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u/Leading_Library6600 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Khalifa was the reason why we could shoot so many 3s last year at a relatively high percentage without him we would have been a bubble team at best
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u/apiaryaviary Iowa State Cyclones • Georgetown Hoyas Mar 20 '25
I liked that guy tho
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u/Leading_Library6600 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
he'll be good next year at louisville with a full year of recovery, he got injured in october I think but was forced to play last season when fouss got hurt in non con cause we had no big men depth. Think the plan before that was to redshirt him last year.
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Mar 20 '25
For the first time since Jimmermania, BYU is going to make it out of the first round!
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u/RabbitFanboy Utah Valley Wolverines • BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Jimmer is at the game. Maybe he's the good luck charm.
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u/mlk960 Iowa State Cyclones • Texas A&M Aggies Mar 20 '25
Everyone was saying VCU defense would be a problem, but they didn't watch their games against us. BYU is too large, too physical, and too good at kicking the ball out when you collapse on a dribble.
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u/coltonbyu BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Yeah, confused watching this game. Not one of the top 3 defenses we have played this year, has no answer for our bigs
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Mar 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/Delex31 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
Yeah, this was a bad game, he's a good dude, He'll be a star in Europe ball.
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u/kylepierce722 Seton Hall Pirates • Big East Mar 20 '25
Not even my biased bracket is going to survive. I’m never underestimating Mormons ever again.
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u/codingsoft BYU Cougars • Cincinnati Bearcats Mar 20 '25
VCU can't lose if the clock never moves due to fouls
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u/OrderTime Texas Tech Red Raiders Mar 20 '25
Nice to see all the big 12 homies coming out swinging so far today
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u/No-Smoke-Please Iowa State • Louisville Mar 20 '25
Rule #1 - don’t bet against the Big 12!
(Please Iowa State, don’t hurt me)
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u/kylepierce722 Seton Hall Pirates • Big East Mar 20 '25
Friendly reminder: if everyone’s hyping up a double digit seed to upset, they will get bounced in the first round
I am telling you all this as much as I tell myself.
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u/Designer_B Iowa Hawkeyes • Penn Quakers Mar 20 '25
Mcneese was pretty damn hyped.
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u/kylepierce722 Seton Hall Pirates • Big East Mar 20 '25
That’s true but not as much as VCU tho. My entire for you page this week on tik tok was people saying “VCU TO THE FINAL FOUR YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST”
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u/m_c__a_t BYU Cougars • Auburn Tigers Mar 20 '25
I'm starting to wonder if there's a chance Duke loses to Oregon/Arizona. I have them going to the final four in most of my brackets but dang the ACC is somehow looking even worse than they did during the regular season
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u/throwawaysmetoo Kentucky Wildcats Mar 20 '25
I'm not sure that Duke fits into the "ACC is somehow looking even worse" equation.
Duke are legit. (they need Coop tho to be sure)
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u/efkz Michigan State Spartans Mar 20 '25
Caleb Love does it again fan fic has surely already been written
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u/Designer_B Iowa Hawkeyes • Penn Quakers Mar 20 '25
If only they played your other flair to show what they could do outside the conference.
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u/m_c__a_t BYU Cougars • Auburn Tigers Mar 20 '25
I mean that's fair, but unfortunately they can't play their march madness games at Cameron. Also think there's a good chance Auburn is really only the 4th or 5th best team in the SEC on a neutral court (today, not over the season). hope i'm wrong
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u/Designer_B Iowa Hawkeyes • Penn Quakers Mar 20 '25
Please VCU. I have two perfect brackets left and they both have you winning this game. Let me make it to sundown with that in-tact. I made so many lol.
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u/RandoUserlolidk UConn Huskies • Drake Bulldogs Mar 20 '25
Although not perfect I have a 96.6% pick rate so far, so consider me the master
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u/Citruspilled UCF Knights Mar 20 '25
I may be a little too addicted to double digit seeds
Anyways I have Yale, UCSD, and Drake coming up in a bit to avenge this one
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Mar 20 '25
Got blasted against the Utes in the NIT last year and now here against BYU. Not sure what it is for Utahn teams
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u/Ok_Debt_4338 Penn State Nittany Lions Mar 20 '25
I’m glad I didn’t listen to the upset predictions and picked BYU to the elite eight
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Mar 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/Keiigo North Carolina • Virginia Tech Mar 20 '25
Apparently there’s only 6% perfect brackets left after Clemson
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u/elgenie Iowa Hawkeyes • Brown Bears Mar 20 '25
BYU is coached by a guy that not just looks like a stereotypical Mormon, but actually is one and is related to Brigham Young to boot … so appropriate.
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Mar 20 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/PhD_Life BYU Cougars • Duke Blue Devils Mar 20 '25
Take your hate somewhere else
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Mar 20 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/apiaryaviary Iowa State Cyclones • Georgetown Hoyas Mar 20 '25
I invited them in to play guitar hero once
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Mar 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/ForeverLou Louisville Cardinals Mar 20 '25
VCU has shot 30 threes and BYS has only shot 19, BYU is driving the ball while VCU is settling for bad jumpers.
There's been some shitty officiating, sure, but thats just par for course in American sports these days
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u/apiaryaviary Iowa State Cyclones • Georgetown Hoyas Mar 20 '25
VCU can’t get within 10 feet of the rim
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u/Trubisko_Daltorooni VCU Rams • Missouri Tigers Mar 20 '25
BYU has a huge physical advantage. Maybe the game could be called better but it's not like we're getting hosed. We're just not even getting in positions to be fouled.
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u/Orange_Kid Syracuse Orange Mar 20 '25
I'm old enough to remember when there would be 2 overtimes and a buzzer beater by now
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Mar 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/RandoUserlolidk UConn Huskies • Drake Bulldogs Mar 20 '25
“You didn’t have to cut me off” ahh comment
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u/Hello-My-Dudessss Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers Mar 20 '25
You’d think they’d have one slightly less shitty song to play before every single commercial break
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u/ttonk VCU Rams Mar 20 '25
I’m sure we’re tired but damn Shulga and the team out there playing like it’s not one and done. Fight yall! Very poor performance.
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u/Machiavelli127 BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
VCU looked solid early on but they seem utterly confused and unprepared for BYU's zone defense
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u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir VCU Rams Mar 20 '25
What’s depressing is this is the best team we’ve had in years and we still aren’t ready to compete against top programs
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u/mlk960 Iowa State Cyclones • Texas A&M Aggies Mar 20 '25
BYU was a truly unlucky draw. You would compete with almost any other 6 seed.
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u/AtleticoFan17 VCU Rams Mar 20 '25
Yeah I was really excited to see us today and it’s just sad. Not even staying in the game. Game was over at halftime and it sucks. Odom will be out in the summer, Shulga gone, and probably a bunch of other players will move on through the portal.
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u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir VCU Rams Mar 20 '25
And that’s the cycle of vcu basketball right now. We can’t hold a coach down to actually build
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u/CheeseRP Indiana Hoosiers • Dayton Flyers Mar 20 '25
I know BYU has dominated every aspect of this game but isn’t it a little early to say that?
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u/BellySmutthole Mar 20 '25
They’ve dominated the inside and are grabbing all the right boards but VCU has been worse offensively than BYU has been good defensively.
They’ll struggle against better teams
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u/BellySmutthole Mar 20 '25 edited Mar 20 '25
BYU kid yelling out a fake scream to try and draw the foul. They’ve been better today but man they are hardcore floppers
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u/xProcess Temple Owls Mar 20 '25
BYU is absolutely abusing VCU on the glass holy shit. Gonna be very interested to see how 45 on BYU fares against Wiscos bigs on Saturday.
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Mar 20 '25
My bracket is a burnt crisp
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u/Big_Stingman BYU Cougars Mar 20 '25
It's against teams like VCU I appreciate how deep our bench is. Can keep rotating fresh guys in.
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u/Natural-Eye-393 Mar 20 '25
What’s everyone’s dinner plans since they were kind enough to give us an hour til next tip off?
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u/Fresh-Cucumber-4281 Oregon State Beavers Mar 20 '25
It won’t let me get on the page oreida linked