What’s YOUR expectation for the season?

[enonram]

We lost our go to guy. Ace will be back by A10 regular season, but he's going to have to knock the rust off, get timing back with old teammates and develop it with new guys, plus all our opponents will be ahead of us in getting the klunkiness out of their systems. I think we have better talent than almost all. How soon will it jel is the major question to be answered.

 

[share the ball]

Did I dream the final four or did that really happen

No or else I got to get rid of lots of shirts - but
that year we did not win either the conference regular season(12-6) or CAA tourney (loss to ODU by double digits in final)
but yeah I understand your initial reaction

 

[share the ball]

We lost our go to guy. Ace will be back by A10 regular season, but he's going to have to knock the rust off, get timing back with old teammates and develop it with new guys, plus all our opponents will be ahead of us in getting the klunkiness out of their systems. I think we have better talent than almost all. How soon will it jel is the major question to be answered.

sometimes experience is a two way street (MR's worst season was his third with all those returning players that won the conference the prior year and that did not turn out very well)
Experience only matters if players are constantly trying to learn and get better each day (at least at the A10 level) - give me a hungry group of athletes with competition each day at the BDC and I am a happy fan

 

[BaNgMyPrOgRaM]

I think we are going to be pretty good this year. I'm more optimistic than usual, so sue me. If we stay away from the injury bug and get Ace back in January as scheduled, we should do very fine. Everyone knows the coach is going nowhere so everyone is willi chilli.

 

[mrgeode]

I expect us to put ourselves in a position to win championships. That's the goal every year, and putting ourselves in a position to win them should be the expectation every year. Consistently getting as many bites at the apple as possible every year is how you create a culture of winning and a great program.

 

[Ramlove81]

I think we will be first of all fun to watch and underdogs in a lot of the games we play. I expect a disappointing out of conference because of the loss of experience at the 1 and 2 guard spots. We will develop as the season progresses and will be better by the time A10 play starts...that's what Mike does. Assuming Ace is able to give us a solid 15 minutes a game in January and beyond, we should be pretty food headed into postseason. If Ace struggles to get back to form, this may be a 15-15 kind of year.

I would love to be proven wrong!

If Ace doesn't come back at all, we are still better than 15-15, a lot better.

 

[RowdyPkunk]

Honestly.... I'm not putting any expectations on this season... Other than for our guys to get out there, have fun, be a good teammate & stay safe Health wise.

Sure we got a lot of key guys back from last years run (Vince, Curry, Ward, Watkins, Banks, MBJ & Stockard).... plus we got McAllister coming back from injury, will be interesting to see his role.

Ace is gonna be out for the first half of the season it seems. And who knows how rusty he will be when he gets back.

We lost Bones, Corey & of course Clark who left mid season last year, and we got a lot of new guys coming in.

So the beginning of the year will certainly be a test for this team. Plus Covid is still very much a thing out there. So who knows how that will play into things.

 

[VCU Finance 2008]

Did I dream the final four or did that really happen

No complaints about that season but we didn't win the conference that year so a conference championship and sweet 16 season has still not happened.

 

[ISwamRam]

It will come down to one thing: team chemistry. We're loaded w/ talent so the question will be, will everyone buy into their role? If we gel, the winning will be easy.

 

[ashlandram]

This team is talented and deep. Mike has done a good job in the past with half court offense. Ace was a big part of that last year(as well as Bones of course), and we will probably miss that early on, but I think we have ways to score. Where I think this team will be strong right from the get go is defense. IMO we should be as good defensively as any team we've put on the floor. We are long, quick and have depth. Our defense should keep us in any game, and our rebounding could possibly be better than ever.

 

[BGDragoon80]

My expectation is simply that the players get to play home games where the atmosphere is crazy, loud and rowdy.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

My expectation is simply that the players get to play home games where the atmosphere is crazy, loud and rowdy.

I think that is more of a hope for me than an expectation.

 

[BGDragoon80]

I think that is more of a hope for me than an expectation.

Unfortunately, you are probably right.

 

[VCU Heel]

You left NBA Finals champions and Olympic gold medalists off your options.

 

[Valley drop step]

This team is talented and deep. Mike has done a good job in the past with half court offense. Ace was a big part of that last year(as well as Bones of course), and we will probably miss that early on, but I think we have ways to score. Where I think this team will be strong right from the get go is defense. IMO we should be as good defensively as any team we've put on the floor. We are long, quick and have depth. Our defense should keep us in any game, and our rebounding could possibly be better than ever.

Other than MRs first year(they were OK), the offense hasn’t been very good. The Defense has been quite good that run. They have some length and athleticism for sure, and probably the most physical group MR has had. If they commit to being a good rebounding team, they have the roster to do it I think. If the offense isn’t Lakers-Celtics, it shouldn’t matter. They should be able to run or push most of the A10 out of the gym. That big guy at UMASS was probably the only individual player we wouldn’t have an answer for and he transferred to Texas. Outside shooting may surprise across the the board.

I think the will be in tight race for the league title.