The Official Beat the Kennesaw State Owls at the Stu Thread

[Violet Ram]

I don't want to jump into the debate, but totally agree. Our style of play has become very bland. Foul or be fouled. I have been a season ticket holder for at least 5 re-seatings and am not sure if I will make it to the next. Graduated from VCU, love the program, and will always be a big fan, but as I get older and think about it, for the money I pay for donations, tickets and such, is it still worth it when I can just watch games on TV for $1000s less?

My youngest will be a junior at Tech next year, and it comes down to, VCU basketball, or switch it up and get season tickets for Tech football. I can't afford both.

Either way. I will be in attendance tonight.

Go Rams!

Eh, VTech football isnt a great value prospect. A third as many home games and wins as VCU basketball in a down year.

 

[rammad90]

Courtesy of the Rhode Island Rams coached by Danny Hurley. They did it on purpose.

I remember. I think losing Tre had a larger impact on that losing streak than losing Bri. Yes Bri was a catalyst. However, a health Tre with the guys we had could have pushed through.

Evans and Ace played/play different more critical roles for their teams.

 

[Mr X]

Eh, VTech football isnt a great value prospect. A third as many home games and wins as VCU basketball in a down year.

Yeah, I get it. I can always hold out and see where my older daughter is working next year as well. However, football Saturdays are pretty sweet.

I am afraid that in order to maintain my currents seats, I will probably need to double my donation moving forward, and I am all for helping out the program when I can. So far, although it is early in the season, I am struggling with motivation to attend the games and I must admit, the OOC schedule at home, is really nothing to write home about.

PS

Pry will get them going next year............

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

Nunn had a few NBA draft writers mention him as a potential 2023 second rounder. Is it a crime to share what a college basketball writer says about a VCU player? I don’t recall a single poster on here saying Nunn or any other player would leave every for the NBA.

You need to go back and read the recruiting boards. Lots of comments regarding Nunn possibly leaving early and how VCU needed to find another guard. Once the Kool-Aide is poured in the glass around here, posters drink it like crazy. There has also been talk about Ace leaving early, and possibly Watkins.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

For what it’s worth, the NCAA has only invited teams to the tournament in 2 of his 4 seasons 😉

Correction - Rhoades is in his 6th season, and there is no way VCU would have received a bid in 2020 with an 8th place A-10 team.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

All of this talk about removing Coach Rhoades is crazy at this point. I've said it before and I will say it again. This is year six with Byers coaching the offense, and the offense has been, and currently is, one big train wreck. Coach Rhoades needs to make a change in his assistant coaching ranks and bring in someone that knows how to effectively coach offense. If Coach Rhoades chooses not to do that, then he needs to answer/be held accountable personally for VCU's failures on offense and the fact that the needle is not moving forward.

 

[HBK]

You need to go back and read the recruiting boards. Lots of comments regarding Nunn possibly leaving early and how VCU needed to find another guard. Once the Kool-Aide is poured in the glass around here, posters drink it like crazy. There has also been talk about Ace leaving early, and possibly Watkins.

We have posters who always think we've got NBA players. The reality is that VCU players leaving early (like Bones) or even staying four years and being drafted (like Vince) is a major exception. We don't often get NBA players to come to VCU. That's not a slight, it's just fact. At any given moment, there are about 400 players in the NBA , give or take. To think that we would get just one every 5-10 years would be a great achievement.

Some people see the high school highlight reel or how high a kid can jump and think he's NBA material. So much more to it than whether a kid can jump high, dunk, or even score at the college level.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

We have posters who always think we've got NBA players. The reality is that VCU players leaving early (like Bones) or even staying four years and being drafted (like Vince) is a major exception. We don't often get NBA players to come to VCU. That's not a slight, it's just fact. At any given moment, there are about 400 players in the NBA , give or take. To think that we would get just one every 5-10 years would be a great achievement.

Some people see the high school highlight reel or how high a kid can jump and think he's NBA material. So much more to it than whether a kid can jump high, dunk, or even score at the college level.

And that's my point. Some posters on these boards drink the Kool-Aide like its 80 proof bourbon.

 

[theyaintwantit]

Correction - Rhoades is in his 6th season, and there is no way VCU would have received a bid in 2020 with an 8th place A-10 team.

The comment I responded to said "Primarily that reason has been our team not being good enough to get invited 3 of his 5 seasons here".

NCAA only sent out invitations to the NCAA Tournament in 4 of his 5 complete seasons here and 2 of those 4 seasons we were invited. I was clearly being a smart a$$, but I wasn't wrong.

 

[mrgeode]

We have posters who always think we've got NBA players. The reality is that VCU players leaving early (like Bones) or even staying four years and being drafted (like Vince) is a major exception. We don't often get NBA players to come to VCU. That's not a slight, it's just fact. At any given moment, there are about 400 players in the NBA , give or take. To think that we would get just one every 5-10 years would be a great achievement.

Some people see the high school highlight reel or how high a kid can jump and think he's NBA material. So much more to it than whether a kid can jump high, dunk, or even score at the college level.

I watch a lot of NBA basketball and follow the league pretty closely. I think Jayden and Ace both have NBA upside. I would've said Jamir did too before he got hurt (and maybe he will again at some point). I don't think Ace leaves early, not sure about Jayden. Whether they end up in the league or not they all have a lot of VCU basketball ahead of them.

 

[RowdyPkunk]

We have posters who always think we've got NBA players. The reality is that VCU players leaving early (like Bones) or even staying four years and being drafted (like Vince) is a major exception. We don't often get NBA players to come to VCU. That's not a slight, it's just fact. At any given moment, there are about 400 players in the NBA , give or take. To think that we would get just one every 5-10 years would be a great achievement.

Some people see the high school highlight reel or how high a kid can jump and think he's NBA material. So much more to it than whether a kid can jump high, dunk, or even score at the college level.

Not only that but we've only had 4 players drafted.... the last 20 years. Maynor, Larry, Bones & Vince.

Bri, Tre & Troy all had to go the D/G-League route & work their @$$es off to get there..... and Justin while he's been called up to the Hawks Roster, I can't remember if he's officially played in a game yet.

There's been a lot of talk about other players being NBA players... but most dont wanna go the G-League route to get there... & just go over seas (which there's nothing wrong with either). But I think the NBA talk on a lot of players so early on in their careers needs to chill a little.

 

[HBK]

And that's my point. Some posters on these boards drink the Kool-Aide like its 80 proof bourbon.

Hey now, I like 80-proof bourbon, and even higher proof, too.

 

[Mistachill]

If I said that UCF was a bad match-up for us, given that we liked to play through MSS some and UCF was giant, then that would be an excuse. We did play like crap. UCF had something to do with it, because (news flash) they were a good team playing at full strength. As a reminder, they lost to Zion and #1 seed Duke 77-76 the next game. So, let's give them some credit. The other teams have coaches and players who want to win, too.

I'm so glad you mentioned our "2nd highest-rated recruit ever". It just goes to show why I take recruiting rankings with a huge grain of salt. Recruiting rankings and five dollars will buy you a Happy Meal. (At least, I think you can still get a Happy Meal for five bucks, but with inflation, I can't be sure. ) We all love to see highly-rated recruits come to our program, but those rankings are NOT guarantees of success, no matter the coach. Sports is as much mental as physical. DJ is a great kid, but somehow he couldn't thrive under the same coaching style and system in which both Bones and Vince thrived and ended up becoming NBA draft picks, in spite of the fact that they were lower rated recruits than DJ. Coaches coach and players play.

Specifically about that UCF game, all I'm saying is the major reason we lost is that Evans wasn't at full strength. Another big reason is because UCF was a darn good team. I wasn't at the practices between the Rhody A10 Quarterfinal and the UCF game, so I don't know specifically what the team worked on, but I am 100% certain that the staff did NOT say to our team that they should take bad shots, make sloppy passes, lose your man on defense, don't block out, and foul guys as they are shooting. Again, losing the engine of a team can be overcome, but it takes time and experience, not just a week of practice.

Glad we found some common ground. I'm with you regarding recruiting ratings but I know how polarizing that conversation can be so I've stayed clear in recent years.

But lets not exaggerate UCF to make them seem like some juggernaut squad. They finished 3rd in the AAC and lost in the 1st round of their conference tournament. Their were an 9th seed and we were a 8th (and the seeding takes the health of your team into consideration). Unless you pulled off a major upset in a conference tournament or got an automatic bid from a horrible conference, everybody in the dance is a good team. There was nothing special about UCF. Yes, give them credit. But again, I'm not using Evans being compromised as the reason the whole team to played like crap. Evans wasn't even that type of point guard. He was basically an undersized shooting guard playing the point due to his size.

You can get yourself buried going down this rabbit hole if you decided to apply this line of thinking across the board. How many bad games have players had due to injuries or illnesses we don't know about because it wasn't made public? There is usually a "reason" for every shortcoming. If that's the reason for retaining a coach nobody should ever be replaced unless they had a chance to coach under perfect conditions.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

Speaking of player injuries, I will never forget VCU playing Georgetown in March 1978 in the ECAC South Championship game played at the GW Smith Center. Georgetown was ranked with a young John Thompson as their coach. Danny Kottak sprained his ankle in the game prior and was on crutches when he got off of the bus at the Smith Center. VCU taped his ankle up and he not only played in the game, but absolutely torched Georgetown and VCU won. After the game, he got back on the bus on crutches. Talk about playing with grit and heart!!!

 

[mike7842]

All of this talk about removing Coach Rhoades is crazy at this point. I've said it before and I will say it again. This is year six with Byers coaching the offense, and the offense has been, and currently is, one big train wreck. Coach Rhoades needs to make a change in his assistant coaching ranks and bring in someone that knows how to effectively coach offense. If Coach Rhoades chooses not to do that, then he needs to answer/be held accountable personally for VCU's failures on offense and the fact that the needle is not moving forward.

I have said this before. The head coach at Randolf Macon as our assistant . All he ever does win with great offence.