There is no sugarcoating it; the Virginia Cavaliers looked absolutely awful in their 67-42 First Four loss to the Colorado State Rams Tuesday night. The Hoos seemed they didn’t belong in March Madness. Virginia’s loss also led to college basketball fans calling out the NCAA for leaving Cream Abdul-Jabbar and the Indiana State Sycamores off the field during Selection Sunday.
Virginia Cavaliers’ Debacle In First Round Of March Madness Got ‘Cream Abdul-Jabbar’ Trending On X

Of course, Cream Abdul-Jabbar is the internet’s way of referring to Sycamores star Robbie Avila.
“14 first half points for Virginia. 14!!!!! You know who would have scored 14 points by himself? “Cream Abdul-Jabbar” “Larry Nerd” “Steph Blurry” I hope Robbie Avila and all of Terre Haute Indiana didn’t watch that first half in Dayton,” posted @NYeoman.
They took Cream Abdul Jabbar away from us for this. pic.twitter.com/sWrEXAZnCW
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) March 20, 2024
“We didn’t get Cream Abdul-Jabbar so “name brand” Virginia could get an at-large. If only we didn’t all see this performance coming from UVA,” said @GregVorse.
We could have had Cream Abdul-Jabbar and instead we got whatever that was from Virginia https://t.co/G5cv27lugu
— Chris Basnett (@ChrisBasnettLJS) March 20, 2024

The exclusion of Avila and the Sycamores from the March Madness field continues to perplex fans. Indiana State had a 28th NET ranking on Selection Sunday but did not get the thumbs up from the Selection committee. This would have not been a problem for Indiana State had it taken care of business in the MVC Championship Game where the Sycamores lost to the Drake Bulldogs, 84-80.
In any case, what Virginia showed against the Rams was embarrassing.
Via OptaSTATS:
Final numbers for Virginia tonight:
28.2% shooting on 2-pointers
17.6% shooting on 3-pointers
64.7% shooting on free throws
24 rebounds
4 steals
1 blockNo other D-I team in last 25 years has had those stats or worse in a game.

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