VCU to A-10 Billboard
The expectations swirling around the 2012-13 VCU Basketball season are higher than probably any point during the last 25 years. This week alone, The Sporting News, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated all tabbed the Rams a preseason top 25 team. Although none of those entities are responsible for either of the “official” polls, it’s notable because VCU hasn’t been ranked during the regular season since 1985.
Despite the potential for unwanted scrutiny, senior Darius Theus says the Rams aren’t running from the attention.
“I think that the same expectations they have, we have for ourselves,” said Theus, who averaged 8.5 points and 4.7 assists per game last season. “We’re going to try our best to meet them all. But Coach [Shaka Smart] wants us to stay humble, stay level-headed. Whatever we can control on the court is what we can control. But we’re setting high expectations for ourselves.”
Theus’ conclusion? The sky is the limit.
“We can be real good if everybody is bought into the plan that Coach Smart is trying to get us to do,” Theus said. “We can do some great things this season. It’s about everybody just being 100 percent about VCU Basketball. If we can have that, then however many goals we set, we can reach them.”
Theus believes Johnson and Tuoyo can integrate with an already experienced VCU roster that returns starters Troy Daniels (10.0 ppg), D.J. Haley (3.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg) and Juvonte Reddic (10.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg), as well as notable bench contributors Rob Brandenberg (9.0 ppg), Treveon Graham (7.0 ppg) and Briante Weber (4.9 ppg, 2.1 spg).
“We’ve got some real good guys on the team,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons. I just feel like our depth this year is very, very good. We could have maybe a nine-man rotation.”
VCU heads into its first practice today with all of its top players back from a 29-7 team except guard/forward Bradford Burgess, who started an NCAA record 146 consecutive games and finished his career as one of three Rams to score 1,600 points, grab 700 rebounds and register 200 assists.
Replacing his multiple roles and positions would be a major concern without Graham, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound sophomore wing who showed promise as a scorer and rebounder last season. He averaged 7 points (with a high of 18) and 3.2 rebounds in 16.8 minutes.
"The guy can really, really score," VCU coach Shaka Smart said. "I'm as excited about him as I am about anybody. He's got a lot to work on . . . and he's got to get better. But he's made major progress, and I'm excited about what he's going to be able to do."
While Burgess impacted a lot of areas, Smart says Graham can score "in just as many ways" and is better at drawing fouls. He can absorb contact around the rim and finish, has a nose for scoring off rebounds and has 3-point range, although it was inconsistent (31.3 percent).
Graham was 3 for 23 from the floor in VCU's first eight games last season, which he attributed to nerves. By the end, he was an integral part of the rotation as VCU beat Wichita State in the NCAA tournament before losing to Indiana 63-61 in the round of 32.
"I'm not trying to take the spot of Brad," he said. "I'm just trying to come in and kind of do what I can do as a scorer. I'm trying to work more on my defensive game and just different aspects of the game that will make the team better.
"I want to be one of the key players on the team. I'll have a little more responsibility than I had last year. I want to try to do whatever I can to get my team wins this year. I'm trying to get back to the tournament and do the best we can in the tournament."
NOTE: Smart said last week that freshman guard Melvin Johnson has been hampered by a hip flexor injury, which he came in with during the summer. "If we can get him healthy and continue to get him understanding what we do defensively, he can really make shots," Smart said. "Right now, he's the second-best shooter on the team behind Troy (Daniels)."
The competition just got tougher…for VCU and the Atlantic 10. The Rams left the CAA and will join Butler as the newest members of the A-10. That turns an already underappreciated conference into one that will be right in the mix with the Big Six when it comes to the RPI. Despite all the scorers, it is point guard Darius Theus who is the extension of Coach Shaka Smart on the floor. Theus can score when he needs to, but it is his job to orchestrate the Rams offense and spearhead the havoc on the defensive end of the floor. Theus dished out 4.7 assists last year and tallied 2.0 steals per game. His senior year should be even better. Briante Weber is another pesky defender who creates plenty of fast break opportunities for the Rams. Weber is also the backup point guard, but do not be surprised to see Theus and Weber on the floor at the same time more in 2012-2013.
The VCU Rams are one of the newest members to the Atlantic 10, helping the conference to replace the Temple Owls and the Charlotte 49ers. Head coach Shaka Smart brings back a veteran squad, and has also brought in a talented freshman class. Smart and his Rams will need to cause “Havoc” in the A-10 this season.
“Havoc” is the high-octane pace that the coach has installed at VCU. Smart’s teams apply full-court pressure on their opponents and look to score in transition. This style of play has been effective for the Rams, helping amass a .750 win percentage for their head coach. The team’s frenetic defense last season held opponents to 59.8 points per game.
While the Rams defense was strong their offense was lacking. VCU scored 68.4 points per game, which was good enough169th in the NCAA. Smart’s team will need to improve offensively if they plan to repeat as champions of the A-10. To do that they will need to replace last season’s leading scorer Bradford Burgess. The player to watch to fill the void left by Burgess is Juvonte Reddic. As a sophomore last season, Reddic was the team’s second leading scorer averaging 10.3 points per game. Junior guard Rob Bradenberg will also look to help Reddic handle the scoring load.
There are still some programs that operate the old school way, using the first practice as, you know, a first practice, and would it surprise you in any way to find out that VCU is one of the teams that doesn't have Midnight Madness? For the Rams, it's all business, all the time.
"That's who we are. That's what we do," said senior point guard Darius Theus. "We're going to bring our style of play into the A-10."
That style of play is called 'Havoc', because, as head coach Shaka Smart likes to say, they try to wreak havoc for 40 minutes. More specifically, what VCU does is pressure full court, looking to force turnovers by getting their opponents out of a comfort zone, and use those turnovers to get easy shots in transition. While the style is much different from that of a team coached by Bo Ryan or John Beilein, the bottom line is that Smart is a system coach. And, like those two, he recruits players to the strengths of his system. His roster is loaded with quick, athletic guards -- Darius Theus, Rob Brandenberg, Briante Weber, Melvin Johnson, Teddy Okereafor -- that love defending in the full-court and playing at the top of VCU's pressure. With Troy Daniels and Treveon Graham out there to shoot the ball and Juvonte Reddic and D.J. Haley protecting the rim, Smart has an ideal roster for a team that wants to spend 40 minutes causing havoc.
From a purely basketball perspective, VCU expects Treveon Graham to fill the void left by Burgess. Graham, who stands 6-5, showed the ability to score in bursts as a freshman, averaging 7.3 points in just under 17 minutes last season. He also proved himself as a capable rebounder and defender. Graham only shot 31.3 percent from beyond the arc as a freshman, but Smart is hoping that with a larger role and more playing time comes more consistency.
"[Treveon] will benefit from Brad moving on, and I'm really excited about him. The thing I'm most looking forward to about him is he's going to have more opportunity," Smart said at Atlantic 10 media day earlier this month. "Last year he was at times stuck behind Brad. He played with him at times, but now it's his deal and he knows that."
"You're talking about a kid who's very young for his grade, he's still 18 years old and he's a sophomore in college. He's still shooting the ball well and he's extremely strong so we're excited about him."
Smart isn't the only person excited about Graham's potential; Luke Winn listed him as one of the sophomores he predicts will have a breakout sophomore campaign.
VCU is no longer a member of the CAA, but that doesn't mean that the Rams aren't going to be expected to compete for a conference title. They were predicted to finish third in the Atlantic 10, earning three first-place votes in the poll. They'll likely find a place is every preseason top 25 poll that is released. This may be a new conference, but this is the same VCU team. Expect to see them have the same level of success.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/10/18/rothstein-files-this-and-that-around-college-basketball-22/- Word out of Richmond is that VCU power forward Juvonte Reddic has been a monster early in practice for the Rams — and that’s a great sign considering this program’s decision to join the Atlantic-10. If Reddic can take his game to the next level, it will greatly enhance VCU’s chances of finishing in the top quarter of their conference and making the NCAA Tournament. Last year as a sophomore, Reddic averaged 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a conference race that will be more entertaining to follow than the Atlantic 10.
For starters, there are now 16 teams in this conference, which, with a 16 game league schedule, means that each team will only be playing one conference opponent in a home-and-home. You need to make up a game or two in the standings? Don’t count on winning head-to-head. You’ll have to hope someone slips up on the road. That, in all likelihood, will happen quite often, however, because of the 16 A-10 teams, six — six!!! — received a first-place vote in the preseason poll. Those six teams didn’t include Xavier, Dayton or Richmond, who are three of the best programs in the league.
I hope they already have clearly defined end-of-the-year tie-breakers.
Predicted Finish
1. VCU: I believe in ‘Havoc’. VCU is really good at running their system, forcing turnovers and getting their opponents to play out of control. And the talent on the roster is good enough to succeed at this level.
If the ACC is basketball's biggest conference realignment winner because of the additions of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, then the revamped Atlantic 10 certainly isn't too far behind.
This season, the league welcomes newcomers VCU and Butler, two of the nation's glamor mid-major programs the past few years. Add those two to an already improving league that won't lose Temple to the Big East for one more season, and the result is a particularly formidable Atlantic 10 that lacks a truly elite team but appears to have at least a half dozen NCAA tournament contenders
Trying to pick a preseason Atlantic 10 favorite is a fool's errand this year because any of consensus the top six teams could make a legitimate case.
New Virginia Commonwealth athletics director Ed McLaughlin says the school is "in a really good place with a lead gift and in a really good place with a second lead gift" to help build a new basketball practice facility.
McLaughlin declined to name the potential donors at this point but said the privately funded facility is in the design stage. It was approved by the board of visitors in August of 2011 as part of the university's six-year capital plan.
The estimated cost then was $9-10 million, but McLaughlin said it could be more. He's not sure about a target date to begin construction, but is shooting for 2013, after this season ends.
A-10 teams' unfamiliarity with VCU's pressing, fast-paced Havoc style may create an advantage for VCU. Of course, the disadvantage for the Rams is they are unfamiliar with A-10 teams.
"I kind of like it that we're playing a bunch of new teams because they haven't played against our style," Smart said.
He noted that any time you play new teams, "there are just certain things you don't know. For instance, any team that comes into the Siegel Center that hasn't been here before, they don't have that experience. I'm sure they've played in tough arenas in front of hostile crowds, but there's just no substitute for having been there before.
"We will be in that situation when we go on the road. ... It's going to be really important for us, particularly in those road games, to take on that mentality of we're willing to go into the unknown and do everything it takes to succeed."
Greetings from the Siegel Center. Here at VCU for for the day.
Strong buzz here around the VCU campus. Home games for the Rams feel like an NFL experience.
Treveon Graham is like a volcano --- he's just waiting to erupt. Would be shocked if he doesn't lead VCU in scoring.
Briante Weber will be one of the better defensive guards + 6th men in the country. An absolute menace on the ball.
So much Preston Knowles in Briante Weber...
Juvonte Reddic has the body of a BCS level big --- now can he play like one consistently? HUGE piece for VCU. Should avg 13 and 8.
So much Tyler Smith (Tennessee) in Juvonte Reddic.
VCU's perimeter depth is their greatest strength. Six or seven really good players. Versatile.
Small ball will still be a way of life for VCU. Going to the Atlantic 10 won't make the Rams play more traditonal. Plenty of 4G sets.
Before the Atlantic 10, VCU will play in the Battle for Atlantis and host Wichita State, Alabama, Belmont, + Lehigh. Arduous task.
Would expect Troy Daniels to slide down and play some undersized PF as well for VCU. Lethal shooter. Deep range.
Jared Guest has a chance. Really impressed with his energy --- especially on the offensive glass. Could be VCU's first big off the bench.
Early prediction on VCU starting five --- Darius Theus, Treveon Graham, Troy Daniels, Juvonte Reddic, D.J. Haley.....
Would put Troy Daniels up against most shooters in America. Dude doesn't even ripple the cords when he cracks his wrist.
Melvin Johnson has stiff competition for PT as a freshman but he's going to have a great career at VCU. Tailor made for the Rams.