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2017-2018 VCU Rams

363K views 3K replies 161 participants last post by  JonBoy 
#1 · (Edited)
VCU to A-10 Billboard

 
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#775 ·
These are the kinds of things that make it easy for me to cheer for our guys on and off the court:



Shaka has really brought in some very good kids. It hasn't always been that way at VCU, but it sure is that way now.
 
#776 ·
http://www.nationofblue.com/cbs-sports-presents-new-series-ncaa-men-of-march/
CBS Sports is debuting an original series, NCAA MEN OF MARCH, featuring some of the most successful and influential college basketball coaches in today’s game. The series profiles top college coaches, including John Calipari (Kentucky), Billy Donovan (Florida), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Rick Pitino (Louisville), Shaka Smart (VCU) and Roy Williams (North Carolina).

CBS Sports’ lead college basketball analyst Greg Anthony sits down with Pitino and Calipari; lead studio analyst Clark Kellogg visits with Izzo and Smart; and CBS Sports’ Bill Raftery raps with Williams and Donovan. The six half-hour programs are a blend of all-access footage and at-home interviews, each one a unique showcase of the life, philosophy, and style behind some of the best coaches in college basketball.

The series debuts Saturday, Dec. 28 (1:00-1:30 PM, ET) with NCAA MEN OF MARCH: RICK PITINO and NCAA MEN OF MARCH: JOHN CALIPARI (1:30-2:00 PM, ET). The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, Feb. 8 (12:30-1:00 PM, ET) – NCAA MEN OF MARCH: TOM IZZO
Saturday, Feb. 15 (12:30-1:00 PM, ET) – NCAA MEN OF MARCH: ROY WILLIAMS
Saturday, March 1 (1:00-1:30 PM, ET) – NCAA MEN OF MARCH: SHAKA SMART
Saturday, March 1 (1:30-2:00 PM, ET) – NCAA MEN OF MARCH: BILLY DONOVAN
This is absolutely fantastic pub for VCU and Shaka Smart as well as the A-10 indirectly. To be featured with John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, and Billy Donovan is just tremendous for VCU and the league. Those are all legitimate coaching hall of famers.

Looking forward to catching this.
 
#785 ·
No doubt we laid a complete egg with the uni loss. They are not a good team. Expected spider fans to clap at that one even though our posters haven't reciprocated.
The propaganda machine as you call it got started when the national media came and witnessed the Butler game last year. To be honest, that win was as pivotal if not more so than the FF run. As DB said, we will reluctantly take the coverage. It cuts both ways. We were over-hyped early. Now, we will have to work pretty hard to get back to that level. We will have win a bunch in a row. Not sure we are currently ready for that. We are trying to figure it out like a lot of teams.
In the interim, we have a couple of more hype related items coming. Sorry if you're tired of it, but would you turn it away if it were your program?
 
#788 ·
My family is home for Christmas. One of my son-in-laws (not the one who married my Richmond daughter) is a VCU graduate. So, we had the game on as you might suspect yesterday. Apparently he really doesn't like VT. Don't know if that is common, but he has it out for them more so than UR, or anyone else.

So, with X's come from behind over Alabama, it was a great day here at home.
Time for Richmond to make it a three-peat for Christmas!
 
#789 ·
This is a Virginia thing in general. I hate VT because half my high school went there and never shut the f up about them. They have this weird inflated view of themselves. It's actually somewhat similar to VCU in my eyes (in that regard - VT is a much better academic school than VCU). I also hate VCU and ODU. Kind of impartial on UVA.
 
#790 ·
We hate Tech because their fans heads became the size of a hot air balloon after they blew it in the NC Game with Vick. They have a major elitist attitude for a team who other than winning 10 football games every year has done nothing. Oh they also never give their opponents any credit, they just loose because they played bad. Their fans for the most part are impossible to talk sports with.
 
#793 ·
Our wins are looking pretty suspect at this early point of the season right now which is unfortunate. Looking more and more like VCU will need a strong A-10 performance to dance. Just goes to show how unpredictable OOC scheduling can be.

UVA: best win is SMU, lost in their only road game at Green Bay, are currently being blown out by 26 at Tennessee.

Belmont: Beat UNC, but have lost 4 straight games including South Dakota St. and Denver.

VT: home losses to USC Upstate and UNC Greensboro.

Boston College: Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the country at 4-9 and having lost 5 of their last 6 games.
 
#794 ·
Final was a 35 point beating. UVA needs to win some road games in ACC play to regain respect and credibility as a strong win. They will have plenty of chances.

Looks like no real strong wins heading into league schedule for VCU and St Louis. Their games at UMass will be big, and there is a good chance one or both go to Brooklyn with a little work to do. Amazing.
 
#795 ·
Hard to disagree. Disappointing given all the preseason hype, but that's been a recurring feeling for a while now.

Can't really control how the OOC teams fare, but I don't think any of us expected BC and UVA to be quite as bad as they have been.

Have to hope UVA turns it around and that EKU, Stony Brook, and Belmont end up being at the top of their leagues. Even then all of our heavy lifting will have to be done in A-10 play.
 
#796 ·
I think VCU put together a good schedule for the team they expected to have. But you are right, absolutely nothing you can do about teams disappointing. Compounding that uncontrollable issue are a couple of somewhat questionable losses. Mathematically, the best team VCU has played is Florida St, and it wasn't competitive. Fairly or unfairly, that doesn't look good when combined with a lack of quality wins.

But I think we all fully expect them to make noise in the Atlantic 10. At this point, SLU and VCU should agree to split their games - both losing at home - , giving each other the best win on their schedule. Then both beat UMass in Amherst, and everyone is happy. Except maybe UMass.
 
#797 ·
I think the big hindrance for VCU realizing its preseason hype is the shooting. It's been pretty poor and should improve, but to this point, it's the reason we're 11-3 and not 13-1 (I don't think Florida State would have made much difference, they killed us from the tip).

VCU's 42.4% overall FG mark is 11th of 13 A-10 teams. That number must improve if we want to be the type of team we were touted to be.

VCU's adjusted defensive efficiency up to 12th nationally which makes us a nationally elite defensive team again this year. We also continue to lead the country in turnover percentage (28.5%) and steal percentage (18%). So far, so good. Our offense? 86th which is still good but much more average.

VCU has to get shots falling to be the A-10 favorite they were touted as to begin the year. Is that a matter of repetition and getting better at it as the year goes on? Or is what you see what you get with VCU on offense? We'll see, but it will be the difference between VCU sneaking into the NCAAs or being a national factor in March.

Should be interesting to watch. 11-3 (and likely 12-3 to close OOC play) is a fine record, but we'll need to be better than we've been to live up to expectations. Significantly so on offense.
 
#799 ·
Agreed. He's been on and off. Consistent motor has been an issue with him. He tends to let bad possessions get him down. Basketball is a game of mistakes, you have to wipe the slate clean and move on from each possession, but Ju tends to dwell on mistakes. It comes from a good place, he's a perfectionist, but it's bad for his play. He gets down on himself, lowers his head, stops talking, and it hurts him and the team.

Shaka and the staff have been working on him, but frankly this issue is why he was at VCU to begin with and not at a major conference school. If he puts it together there really isn't anyone in the A-10 who can deal with him save new and improved Cady Lalanne at UMass.

It remains to be seen if he'll be able to step up in A-10 play, but if he does, it bodes well for VCU. If he doesn't, we're that much more inconsistent and unpredictable.

His energy has been better the last few games, but I'd like to see more consistency from him before making any grand proclamations. His play has to do the talking, not my defense of him. He was picked as an A-10 first-teamer and Wooden Award candidate for a reason, it's up to him to play like it.

It's been frustrating because this team is extremely talented, but hasn't played up to it so far. We'll see if they can put it all together. Could still be a very special season, the OOC hasn't inspired that much confidence however. Still lots of time though.
 
#801 ·
Here's some stat analysis for those who are curious about the new rules affecting Havoc's potency:

Through the 1st 14 games of '12-'13, VCU out-fouled opponents by a +10 margin (258 VCU fouls to 248 fouls for the opposition). In the 1st 14 games this year VCU's opponents have out-fouled VCU by a +15 margin (272 fouls for VCU to 287 fouls for the opposition).

While VCU is fouling at a higher rate through the 1st 14 games (19.4 PFs/game) compared to last year's 1st 14 (18.4 PFs/game), opponents are fouling way more (20.5 PFs/game from 17.7 PFs/game in '12-'13). So while the new rules have caused about 1 more foul being called per game on VCU, it's resulted in almost 3 more fouls/game on the opposition.

What negates that advantage somewhat is that our team FT shooting is down from 70.1% last year to 66.2% so far this year.

Still not a huge sample size, but enough to indicate that the new rules actually hurt opponents playing VCU's style more than it hurts VCU playing that style.
 
#802 ·
Are you trying to make the point that the stats indicate that VCU wasn't "getting away with murder" in the past, evidenced by the lack of increase in fouls even with the new focus on those rules? If so, could that be because they just aren't fouling as much?

From what I've seen of VCU, they aren't playing quite as physically, theoretically because they are aware of the new rules. So they have adjusted their style of play. There were instances last year, in home games, where I couldn't believe what they got away with. Mostly when they were on a run, the crowd was going nuts, and the opponent was panicking. I haven't seen the blatant grabbing and bumping in the games I've seen.

That said, if you want to make an argument for the rules not affecting their style, I'd point to their still-stellar turnover numbers. I also think their turnover on the roster may have something to do with maintaining those defensive numbers even with the rules focus. Seems like some of the guys getting minutes this year can really defend.
 
#803 ·
All good points. The point I was trying to make is that VCU's Havoc isn't affected as much by the new rules at all as far as the end goal. We've certainly adjusted but it hasn't affected our potency. We are still playing our style and getting the same or better numbers defensively. We are actually a better AdjD team this year(#12 up from #45 nationally last year). I do think we're being less physical, but still very effective as evidenced by the steal and turnover percentages. I think VCU still does 'push the envelope' early to see how the game is being called, but obviously we are playing more contained defense overall while not compromising the potency of its effect. I agree that some of the younger guys are better fundamental defenders with lateral quickness and overall speed. That helps our guys play defense more with their feet than with their hands which has been a problem in the past.

There's also evidence even within the admittedly small 14 game sample size that either VCU has superbly adjusted early this year, or the refs have laid off calling ticky-tack fouls:

In the first 7 games of the year, VCU averaged 22.6 PFs/game. In the last 7 games VCU has averaged 16.3 PFs/game. Either refs have backed off, or VCU has adjusted. It could be a combination of both. Either way, it's a good thing for VCU.

In those last 7 contests, the only game VCU had more than 20 PFs was on the road in a loss at Northern Iowa (25), VCU had 20 or more personal fouls in 6 of the first 7 games of the season.
 
#806 ·
There are a couple of VCU connections with Friday's game. Stony Brook RS-Freshman Ryan Burnett is a Richmond native. He played with VCU's Jordan Burgess @ Benedictine. Anthony Jackson was also a H.S. teammate of Rob Brandenberg at Gahanna Lincoln.

Ken Pomeroy predicts an 86% chance of a VCU (#30 KenPom) victory tomorrow against Stony Brook (#106 KenPom) with a 12-pt. spread and a score of 78-66.

Stony Brook has won 3-straight (New Hampshire, Loyola, and Cornell) and 4 of their last 5 games. They are 9-4 and have beaten the teams they should have. Stony Brook hasn't upset anyone however. Still a solid mid-major team, but it should absolutely be a VCU win, especially at home.

Stony Brook's wins aren't eye-popping at all: Marist, D3 Haverford, Northeastern, FAU, Detroit in 3OT, Fairleigh Dickinson, New Hampshire, Loyola MD, and Cornell.

Stony Brook has not beaten a D1 team with a .500 record to this point. All 8 D1 wins are versus sub-.100 teams. 5 of Stony Brook's 8 D1 wins are against teams that already have 10 or more losses (3-10 Northeastern, 4-10 Florida Atlantic, 3-10 Fairleigh Dickinson, 2-10 New Hampshire, and 0-12 Cornell). They have been feasting on D1 bottom-feeders to this point.

Stony Brook has competed with, but not beaten a good team yet. Combined record of D1 opponents they've beaten: 27-75 (.265). Gross.

Combined record of the 4 D1 teams Stony Brook has lost to: 37-16 (.698). Among those losses is 6-6 A-10 member La Salle.
 
#815 ·


VCU tops Jeff Goodman's list of most disappointing teams nationally so far this season at halftime of VT-Syracuse. Actually mentioned Notre Dame as most disappointing, and VCU 2nd.

Stated that we've had a slower transition than expected with Briante Weber at PG and relative to our top 15 preseason ranking, we've been disappointing. Hard to argue when put against the standard we were hyped to.
 
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