No home games this week but two great opportunities to pick up road wins while extending VCU’s winning streak to hopefully six games and an 11-5 record. It won’t be easy but the Rams appear to be trending in the direction needed to pick up those tough conference wins.
We’re about four hours until VCU v Saint Joseph’s, so while we wait, here’s some filler to help pass the time.
VIDEO: KOWALCZYK & BURGESS
KENPOM A-10 POWER RANKINGS
Power rankings are always fun but are typically just opinion. So with that, in Kenpom I trust. Here are the number guru’s Atlantic 10 rankings base on formula’s too complicated for me to explain. National ranking in parenthesis.
- Dayton (42)
2. VCU (46)
3. GW (63)
4. Saint Joseph’s (64)
5. Rhode Island (65)
6. Richmond (70)
7. St. Bonaventure (97)
8. Davidson (112)
9. Fordham (125)
10. Duquesne (148)
11. UMass (153)
12. George Mason (191)
13. SLU (254)
14. La Salle (271)
JENKINS TRENDING TOP-25
2016 De’Riante Jenkins has been on a bit of a tear. At No.59 in ESPN’s 2016 rankings Jenkins would already be the third highest rated player to ever make it to campus (behind 1990 McDonald’s All-American, Kendrick Warren, as well as recent transfer Terry Larrier, No.43 in the 2014 class) but by several accounts could be quite underrated at even that high.
So far this season Jenkins is averaging 25.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.3 steals in his 37 minutes per game as a senior at Hargrave. He’s shooting 47.5% from the field, a solid 36.4% from deep and an automatic 93.3% from the free throw stripe.
VCU CONSECUTIVE HOME SELLOUTS: 75
Just thought you should know…
NAMES TO KEEP AN EYE ON
2017 “sleeper” recruit Thomas Allen took a trip to Broad St. to take in VCU v Mason on an unofficial visit. Apparently he enjoyed it.
really enjoyed my visit at VCU , best school I’ve visited yet ???
— Thomas Allen (@TGABFY) January 3, 2016
A junior out point guard out of Garner, NC, Allen averaged 21 points while leading his Garner Trojans to a 4A state title last season and had increased that average to 25 this year. Those numbers along with a 40-point night in the OT Holiday Invitational have several schools interested including the black and gold of VCU.
Just some of the many other names you might want to watch:Jose Alvarado (PG, 2017), Baruma Sibide (C, 2016), Alpha Dialo (ESPN top-100 F, 2016), Brandon Randolph (G/F, 2017), Jaylen Sebree (F, 2017), Tony Jackson, D’Shawn Schwartz (G/F, 2017), Markell Johnson (ESPN top-100 PG, 2017), Chris Lykes (PG, 2017), Walter Wythe (G/F, 2017), Devonte Green (G, 2016)
WHENEVER WE CAN POST TREVEON GRAHAM HIGHLIGHTS…WE DO
Treveon Graham is averaging just over 13 points and 3.6 rebounds in his first year of NBA D-League play. Here are 19 of those points from a recent win over “The Jam” (great team name…”THAT’S MY JAM!”)
WEBER ON THREE TOUGHEST PLAYERS TO DEFEND
Briante Weber is arguably one of the best defensive guards, if not THE best defensive guard in NBA history (seriously, he’s got the numbers to prove it). So with that in mind I was curious who he thought were the three toughest players he ever had to guard. His top three (in no particular order).
Kendall Anthony (Richmond)
Chaz Williams (UMass)
Phil Pressey (Missouri)
Anthony dropped 22 points in his last game against Briante, coincidentally Weber’s final game due to a career-ending knee injury. The previous season he was held to just seven points in an A-10 tournament win for the Rams but had gone off for 20 and 31 points in his two previous game against the Rams. He had a 26-point game and an 11-point game against Weber while the two were sophomores.
Williams, another sub-5’9 point guard, scored 20 points in his last game against Weber. He posted 18 points in an A-10 tourney loss the previous season and was held to just six points against VCU in conference play.
Pressey faced Weber just once, scoring just 11 points but dishing eight assists in a three-point win over VCU during Briante’s sophomore season.
