The Season

[Celticguy]

That’s exactly how I feel too. Total bummer. We didn’t dominate UConn by any means, but we controlled that game and had a chance to ice it.

Hopefully our guys learn from this.

chances of the W went out the window with Levi fouling out. like Mo before him, he was a real difference maker this week.
we have to have the other big take some of those fouls.

 

[BradRamFan]

While we didn't come out of the tournament like we wanted and there are no moral victories, anyone who still thinks the sky is falling around this team is a complete moron. The team learned a heck of a lot from this tournament.
1. Beat Cuse.
2. Took the defending national champs and #4 team in the country down to the wire, separate by only 4 points with 15 seconds to go
3. In our third game in three days after probably working harder than any team in the tournament due to our defensive pressure, we took UConn into overtime.
4. The team learned that Levi can work and score in the post when trusted
5. Ward, while not scoring a ton played hard nosed defense and even showed, that like a timex watch, he can bounce off the hardwood several times from 5-6 feet in the air, get up and still played hard nosed defense.
6. Freshmen can play. These three very difficult games put pressure on our freshman to really perform.....and that they did. Kern began looking more comfortable on both ends of the floor. Deloach really began showing his defensive skills. And Jayden Nunn really began showing his offensive skill set.
7. Tsohonis has begun to shot off his offensive skillset and will continue to be an asset at the 2 spot when Baldwin returns
8. MBJ began to really step up his defensive game and showed some on offense too
9. And as much as people jump on him, Curry is contributing on both offense and defense. Needs to learn a bit more control and let the game come to him.

I think, going into this tournament, no one....not even the team, really understood where they stood in the scheme of things considering the losses to Wagner and UT-Chattanooga. But after, I think the team understands, their defense is tops in the country and that we have a number of players who can be trusted by the team to contribute on the offensive end...just need more consistency. And that if the team comes together, focuses and plays tough D, we can hang with just about any team in the country. Step up our offense just a bit more and we can beat any team in the country. That is what this team learned from this tournament....and what they needed to learn going into conference play in Jan. Now they have a month of work to do step up their offense a bit more.

 

[MobileMunchies]

GREAT insight from The Chef... I'm putting this here despite being directed at the Syracuse game, it goes well beyond that game. Great stuff, plus some good (potential) hints about Ace. Watch/listen...

 

[rammad90]

While we didn't come out of the tournament like we wanted and there are no moral victories, anyone who still thinks the sky is falling around this team is a complete moron. The team learned a heck of a lot from this tournament.
1. Beat Cuse.
2. Took the defending national champs and #4 team in the country down to the wire, separate by only 4 points with 15 seconds to go
3. In our third game in three days after probably working harder than any team in the tournament due to our defensive pressure, we took UConn into overtime.
4. The team learned that Levi can work and score in the post when trusted
5. Ward, while not scoring a ton played hard nosed defense and even showed, that like a timex watch, he can bounce off the hardwood several times from 5-6 feet in the air, get up and still played hard nosed defense.
6. Freshmen can play. These three very difficult games put pressure on our freshman to really perform.....and that they did. Kern began looking more comfortable on both ends of the floor. Deloach really began showing his defensive skills. And Jayden Nunn really began showing his offensive skill set.
7. Tsohonis has begun to shot off his offensive skillset and will continue to be an asset at the 2 spot when Baldwin returns
8. MBJ began to really step up his defensive game and showed some on offense too
9. And as much as people jump on him, Curry is contributing on both offense and defense. Needs to learn a bit more control and let the game come to him.

I think, going into this tournament, no one....not even the team, really understood where they stood in the scheme of things considering the losses to Wagner and UT-Chattanooga. But after, I think the team understands, their defense is tops in the country and that we have a number of players who can be trusted by the team to contribute on the offensive end...just need more consistency. And that if the team comes together, focuses and plays tough D, we can hang with just about any team in the country. Step up our offense just a bit more and we can beat any team in the country. That is what this team learned from this tournament....and what they needed to learn going into conference play in Jan. Now they have a month of work to do step up their offense a bit more.

I actually think we came out the tournament like we wanted. We one a game against an ailing P5 the will get it together and earn an NCAA bid. We played a top ten team close. We should have beaten a top 20 team.

Our D is Waaaay ahead of schedule. We keep up the intensity only good things will happen.

Our O is improving as we are getting the post players (mainly Levi) involved.

This week had to be a big confidence boost for the guys, they know if they play D they can win any game.

IMO this was a great week.

 

[AlienAiden]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1464623430112886787

 

[theyaintwantit]

I speak for all VCU fans, it’s going to be a LONG 7 days until we play again.

 

[MobileMunchies]

I speak for all VCU fans, it’s going to be a LONG 7 days until we play again.

Ughhh.... 7 DAYS, :-(

 

[RamBamBiggalow]

The intriguing thing for me is that our defense over the years seems to really get better over the season. How tough will this team be in Feb??

I'm on a few other cbb forums, and over the years I have seen VCU catch a lot of heat being called gimmicky, overrated, etc. The tone and attitudes of posts over this tourney were vastly different than years past. I saw most of the cbb fandom in awe of our defense and how hard we played. I saw Baylor and UConn fans say we are without a doubt elite defensively. That they don't wanna see us again this year. I saw some say with slightly better offense we are a top 10 team.

We need to run through the rest of OOC and everybody get better. Don't take this wrong, but it may actually have benefited us in some way for Ace to be out, because it's forced everyone else to be slightly ahead of schedule.

Hoping Syracuse overperforms rest of the way. Bonnie's game is huge now. This defense with Ace's return, if he adds a net + of 10 ppg probably makes us a tournament team, and probably a very dangerous one.

 

[IstanbulRam]

This year kind of reminds me of the 2018-19 season (Mike's COY season). That year we lost to St Johns, ODU, UVA, and Charleston in the non-conference stretch. Conference play started with an early demoralizing loss to Davidson. Then we went on a streak where we won 13 of the next 14 games to finish the season as the Regular Season A10 champs.

We still have a long way to go before we can expect to be close to even sniffing the tournament but it still is not time to count the Rams out. Lets see if we can have another magical turnaround like 18-19.

 

[KentuckyRam]

I think I caught Syracuse game announcers (I believe) saying they saw Ace practicing pre-game and he looked really good and healthy.

The Chef said to keep an eye out for him.

 

[DisplacedRam]

maaaaaybe??
Campbell and Jacksonville St should be Home W's
@odu??? My heart says one thing and my brain and eyes say another 50/50
FAU and New Hampshire Home W's
PSU at home????? same as odu....50/50

7-6 would be a real kick to the groin at this point.....

9-4 is literally best case scenario and my positivity is waning...

This is everyone's weekly reminder to buy your fODU tickets now!!!

 

[BaNgMyPrOgRaM]

Beating Fodu is very important I agree.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1466452103027515393

 

[VCU74]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1466452103027515393

Go Mean Green!
/ somebody was gonna, may as well be me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[mrgeode]

Totally unsurprised to see two of our opponents here. We'll be propping up their numbers all year.