Shaka Smart’s VCU team was the darling of last season’s NCAA Tournament with a magical run to the Final Four. But the Rams are very much on the bubble right now to return to the Big Dance – their resume would improve with a win Friday night in an ESPN BracketBuster game against a solid Northern Iowa team. Place your NASCAR bets at WagerWeb.com.

VCU had been rolling, winner of 11 in a row. But that came to an end Tuesday in a potentially crushing 62-61 loss to George Mason, which won on a 30-foot shot by Sherrod Wright at the buzzer.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow. I don’t quite know what to say about the end of the game,” Smart said. “I give a lot of credit to George Mason for sticking around and making tough shots when they needed them. They’re a good team with a lot of good players, Sherrod Wright being one of them. I give him a ton of credit for stepping up and hitting a tough, tough shot.”

The Black & Gold held the CAA’s most prolific and potent offense to just 62 points and 40.7% from the field, while forcing 16 turnovers on the night. VCU pushed their country-leading steal total to 288 on the year. But now VCU trails George Mason and Drexel in the Colonial standings. Certainly that league isn’t going to get three teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Northern Iowa (17-11, 7-9 MVC)  is not going to get back to the NCAA Tournament unless the Panthers win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. NIU enters off a 63-62 loss at Evansville on Wednesday. Ironically, the Panthers also lost on a last second shot as Evansville’s Denver Holmes banked in a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left. The Panthers got 16 points from Seth Tuttle, 13 from Anthony James and 10 from Chip Rank. Northern Iowa, which has reached 20 wins in each of the past three seasons, had rallied from a 49-39 second-half deficit with a 13-0 run to take a 52-49 lead with 8:12 left in the game.

NIU has played another CAA member this season, beating Old Dominion 63-46 on Nov. 12. VCU is 2-0 against ODU this season, winning 61-48 back in January and 68-64 last Saturday.

ESPN’s BracketBusters matches mid-major schools with teams high in Ratings Percentage Index getting the opportunity to improve their credentials for at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament.

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