Brad, I really dont know how the naysayers didnt see exactly what you mentioned.We started the year with just one seasoned starter in Ace. All the other players were limited role bench players. Plus three of the potential starters were just coming off a freshman bench role campaign. Even the transfers were all role players (or taking a large step up in competition).
Over the course of the season, the team did exactly what you would expect a very good team would do......it got better every single month of the season, peaking with a long winning run to finish out the season. If you actually watched, you would have seen all the individual players move from being role players to high level starters over the course of the year. You could see them grow and develop into a very strong and talented cohesive team. I would loved to have seen that team stay together and bring all the development and skill to the new season. I think that team would have done a lot of damage in the upcoming preseason tournament. But it was not to be. Still, seeing that team group over the season was wonderful.
Where we the Broad Street bullies out of the gate? No, but at the end we were every bit a VCU team. Those guys gave all they had when it mattered. More importantly they learned how to when, and they never, ever gave up.