If you happen to see SLU's Isaiah Swope while he's in DC, be sure to thank him. Gibson Jimerson too.
The last A10 game played on Saturday featured Duquesne going up against St. Louis. The Bills were already eliminated from double bye consideration and had little to play for aside from winning on Senior Night (not to belittle this) and moving up from the 6 seed to the 5 (which I would contend may not have been in their best interests). This game had quite a bit of meaning to GW. A Duquesne loss meant the 7 seed and an opening game against probably URI but perhaps Fordham. A win by the Dukes meant an 8/9 matchup with St. Bonaventure. We can debate the more favorable matchup for GW who has beaten the Bonnies three straight times as opposed to URI who routed GW in the Smith Center in between two GW victories in Kingston. Personally, I am very happy to avoid a Mark Schmidt coached team who just seems to be due for a win against GW and who finished two games ahead of URI in the conference standings. If we then dare to look ahead, a win gives us a 3rd chance at George Mason who we've lost in double overtime to as well as by 3 with a shot to tie that game at the buzzer. Mason has also looked wobbly of late though one could argue that this is how they've looked all season. Unsure as to the extent of the Haynes injury but suffice it to say that the Patriots would look like a very different team without him. The alternative of course would have been a VCU team who I believe anyone in the A10 would want to delay playing for as long as possible. This is one of those times where the 7 seed holds a big advantage over the 8.
As for Swope and Jimerson, I hope you got to see it. The Dukes were up 6 with 35 seconds left in regulation. Swope had played an awful game by his standards though he made a big bucket with 1:45 left that clearly gave him some confidence. He then hit a 3 with 34 seconds left to cut the lead in half. Then, SLU trapped in the backcourt and forced a jump ball (alternative possession: SLU). Then, Swope again takes and makes a step back 3 pointer from the corner to tie the game with 27 seconds left. That's right, Swope erased a 6 point lead in 7 seconds. He then scores 5 of the team's 10 points in overtime to help seal the deal. By the way, Swope had ben 0-7 from 3 before his heroics. As for Jimerson, he was not a late game hero but without his career high 35 points, this would never have been a game. His line for the game was 14-20 from the floor, 4-8 from 3, an uncharacteristic 3-5 from the line, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.
So a big shout-out to SLU. Thanks for that effort on Saturday night.
BGF wrote: