VCU to A-10 Billboard
Smart says he is happy in Richmond and with the way VCU treats his program. Most important, his family is happy here. Smart and his wife, Maya, have a 14-month-old daughter.
"I really enjoy being around our players and our coaching staff," Smart says. "You're coming to work every day to hopefully enjoy what you do. Learn, be better and be challenged.
"I have that opportunity here. There were some great opportunities that were out there, but this was really less about those opportunities and more about my desire to be here."
The move to the A-10 helps. Smart loves the heightened level of competition and how playing in a deep conference will hopefully prepare his team for March. A league-record eight A-10 teams made the postseason last season — four NCAA and four National Invitation Tournament. In each of the last five years, at least three A-10 teams have made the NCAAs with at least one reaching the Sweet 16.
VCU was picked third in the preseason conference poll behind Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis.
"There are really good teams that are picked ninth, 10th, 11th in the league," Smart says. "In the CAA, we didn't have that type of depth. Anytime you're in a conversation with high-level programs, it helps your program."
Says Theus: "Coach has been telling us since we made the change, 'Every team in the A-10 is real good.' That will help us for the tournament, too, playing against good teams every night."
3. The Catholic 7, or the Sacramental Seven, or the Big Priest, or whatever they want to call themselves, will pull in five more teams for the opening season of their new league: Xavier, Butler, Dayton, Creighton and St. Louis. And given the likelihood that their TV deal will be far more lucrative than the Atlantic 10's, any of the remaining A-10 teams (particularly VCU) will leap at future offers to join. Further expansion talks could also include Gonzaga and St. Mary's, but it doesn't make enough logistical sense, travel-wise, to take this league West of Omaha.
5. VCU, no matter what its realignment fate is, will break back through to the Elite Eight (and maybe even farther). This is coach Shaka Smart's best team yet -- better by leaps and bounds than the one that made the 2011 Final Four -- and it's creating turnovers at an incredible rate. The Rams are deep, balanced, have plenty of NCAA tournament experience, and they play a chaotic style that's perfect for pulling off upsets. Don't sleep on them just because they're absent from the current AP poll.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab...ler-enter-debut-seasons-163403550--ncaab.html7. A Howland firing would create a job opening that both VCU's Shaka Smart and Butler's Brad Stevens, who've turned down numerous, mildly attractive offers over the past few seasons, would have to seriously consider. Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky aren't coming open anytime soon, and unless they're waiting for a shot at Duke or North Carolina, this is the best opportunity either mid-major star is going to get to take over an elite program. (I don't think Wake Forest -- which is even more likely than UCLA to be coach-searching this offseason -- has the kind of pull to lure a Smart or Stevens. The Demon Deacons will have to choose from next-tier candidates.)
Preseason predictions I still feel good about:Projecting VCU to win the league with Saint Louis and Temple finishing second and third. Butler will probably break up that trio, but VCU has played as well as any Atlantic 10 team in December and Temple and Saint Louis appear to be viable contenders.
Conference favorite: In a wide-open league featuring a handful of teams capable of finishing atop the standings, VCU deserves the title of favorite. Thanks to their frenetic defense and the scoring of Treveon Graham andJuvonte Reddic, the Rams (9-3) have reeled off six straight wins since narrow losses to top 10 Duke and Missouri. Furthermore, they'll have an advantage in their debut Atlantic 10 season because most league foes will be seeing their trademark pressure for the first time.
Three fearless predictions:
• VCU will win an NCAA tournament game for the third straight season and advance to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years. What's more, the Rams won't need to pull any major upsets to do it. Expect VCU to receive a No. 4 0r 5 seed if it can win the Atlantic 10 outright.
• Four or five Atlantic 10 teams will land NCAA bids, with VCU and Butler standing on the most solid ground entering league play and Temple in pretty good shape since its win over Syracuse should carry a lot of clout in March. Of the rest of the league, gun-to-head, I'd give Saint Louis and Dayton the best shot. The Billikens have a bland resume right now but they'll get a much-needed boost from the return of Kwamain Mitchell, while Dayton already boasts quality wins over Murray State and Alabama.
• If voters choose to ignore positions, the Atlantic 10's first-team all-conference team will feature a minimum of four guards. Thirteen of the league's 14 leading scorers are guards, with 6-foot-6 Richmond forward Darien Brothers as the lone exception. The most deserving true big man is forward Juvonte Reddic from VCU, though George Washington's Isaiah Armwood, St. Bonaventure's Demitrius Conger and Saint Joseph's C.J. Aiken have been solid too.