PROVIDENCE, R.I. The Saint Mary’s Gaels did not come all the way from Moraga, Calif., to give a half-hearted effort or turn and run in fear from the NCAA history of the Richmond Spiders. The Gaels are taking their appearance in the NCAA tournament seriously. Saint Mary’s is here to win. Good for the Gaels. However, I must reluctantly be the bearer of this bit of bad news to the Saint Mary’s faithful.

The men’s NCAA basketball tournament selection process doesn’t make sense. Every year, teams that should get in are left out. And teams get in that should be left out. When we ask coaches for their solution, their answer invariably is, “Expand the field.“ The idea is gaining momentum. The field soon could grow to 96 teams.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. Coaches tend to remember losses far longer than they recall victories. Yesterday, University of Richmond coach Chris Mooney had the chance to capture the biggest victory in his five years with the Spiders. But Temple was better in the Atlantic 10 tournament championship game. Under normal circumstances, that loss might haunt Mooney for days or weeks.

Geriot and his University of Richmond teammates yesterday reached the Atlantic 10 championship game. The Spiders have not played in the final since the 2001-02 season, but that’s not the reason Geriot, David Gonzalvez and Ryan Butler attach such significance to this championship appearance. The first year that trio played together at Richmond, the Spiders finished 8-22. Things looked bleak. No one was talking about championships.

GREENSBORO, N.C. One team left town feeling it had given everything. The other left here wondering if the NCAA selection committee will give it good news tomorrow. The Virginia Cavaliers played hard, played tough but did not have enough talent on the court or gas in their tank to beat Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

GREENSBORO, N.C. Sylven who? The University of Virginia Cavaliers always can use the points Sylven Landesberg scores on the basketball court. But with Landesberg out for the rest of the season, the Cavaliers and coach Tony Bennett are out to prove two larger points. No. 1: Teamwork really can trump the performance of an individual, even in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett is asked about Sylven Landesberg—star player, suspended since March 3 for academic shortcomings—every day. Bennett is asked what has gone wrong with the season—5-11 in the ACC, 14-15 overall, nine straight losses—at every press conference. The short answer: What didn’t? The Cavaliers face the prospect of their final game today against Boston College in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

When it was over, the Old Dominion Monarchs had run the table. They were picked to be the regular-season champions of the Colonial Ath letic Association. And they were. They were picked to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. And they did. “It’s not easy being picked to win your league,“ said ODU coach Blaine Taylor. “You’ve got to be comfortable in your own skin. You’ve got to wear that badge, that bull’s-eye. These kids wanted that and the challenge of that.

RPI means different things to different people. And in this, the midst of March Madness, find out what those three letters mean to sports columnist Paul Woody.

Saturday night, Sean McCurdy, a senior guard for the William and Mary basketball team, missed all six of his shots. His struggles meant he had to go to the bench and give up significant playing time to freshman Matt Rum. Didn’t matter to McCurdy. Last night, David Schneider missed his first eight shots. One drew nothing but air.

The VCU Rams entered the Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament facing a mountain. To win the championship and advance to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year, VCU needed four victories in four days. That’s a steep climb for any team. The Rams are halfway to the top. But with each piton they drive into the rocks, the mountain gets steeper and the competition gets fiercer.

You can call it spin, but even spin can hold an element of truth. Yesterday’s game against Delaware might be just what the VCU Rams needed. “To me, to a lot of my teammates, it’s basketball,“ said VCU center Larry Sanders. “And we love playing basketball. “Coach asked us if we’d rather practice or play, and everybody said we’d rather play. We looked at it in a positive way. It gets us ready, it gets us in the mindset for tomorrow and the rest of the games.“

The bracketologists have it all figured. Old Dominion is the only CAA team worthy of an NCAA tournament at-large bid. Case closed. Except, ODU isn’t the only team that deserves to continue play.

With the Oscars around the corner, sports columnist Paul Woody hands out his own awards for best sports movies. Tune in for the guest stars and WOW winners.

Sometimes, when a basketball team gets this deep into the season and has no losses on its ledger, the players get tight. They try to hold on. They play not to lose instead of going all out to win. The Petersburg Crimson Wave entered the championship game of the Central Region boys basketball tournament undefeated. It played one of the few teams, Thomas Dale, with the talent, ability and depth to provide a challenge.