How are you feeling right now about the team and program?

anyway, back on topic. :lol:

I’m not a fan of the direction college sports is headed.
May as well travel the country with bags of cash to Jr HS & AAU games and hope for the next Kobe. Get a nice RV and hit the road Jack. It’s an open free-for-all.

Screw the education, even though 99%+ will need it. And the vast majority of those are in the non-revenue sports.
Call me old fashion, but, that free education ride has helped millions of young adults thru the years. I’m going to miss those days.
 
now with the latest signees we are at a decent juncture to assess the state of this team. though it seems likely we will sign another big in the future (hopefully sooner than later)

our two portal guys fill immediate needs with 5th year players (yeah still debate I read about how many years Russell has)

Russell (though it seems Odom's 3rd choice at PG in the portal) is smallish but has nice credentials as a scorer at multiple levels - also passes to open teammates (hint Bam you need to watch him and learn) - whether he is better than Brickus and Thomas only time will tell and I hope he is as I am sure my fellow posters do too - looks best from deep as a catch and shoot guy which fits well with Zeb - Have no idea about his D

Clark clearly fits a need of a big that can play Defense something woefully missing with KK and Tobi last season - played at a higher level for 3 years so should be ready to plug and play - supposedly likes to shoot from deep but %s nothing that sings he is a deadeye - appears to me to be a big you want on the court in the last 5 minutes of a close game

Freshman recruits are just that - I hope they get 10-15 minutes of run in Novemeber and December to learn what they will have to do in the offseason to be starters - who really knows how ready they are for this A10 level

Odom and staff will have to earn their stripes this season getting the new portal travelers to fit quickly into his offensive and defensive schemes- hopefully they are high IQ basketball guys and learn quickly and we don't have to wait until January and Feb for the pieces to come together - BUT the challenge he faces in doing this are similar to the challenges 50% of teams (at least the better ones at P5 and mid majors) now face with the portal movement

Right now the grade is a C and can go in both directions based upon new signees and how quickly the new guys get up to Odom speed

Bottom line I feel pretty good that we are heading toward another top 4 finish in the a10 but no idea if this is a NCAA tourney team

go Rams and coach Odom
 
share the ball said:
now with the latest signees we are at a decent juncture to assess the state of this team. though it seems likely we will sign another big in the future (hopefully sooner than later)

our two portal guys fill immediate needs with 5th year players (yeah still debate I read about how many years Russell has)

Russell (though it seems Odom's 3rd choice at PG in the portal) is smallish but has nice credentials as a scorer at multiple levels - also passes to open teammates (hint Bam you need to watch him and learn) - whether he is better than Brickus and Thomas only time will tell and I hope he is as I am sure my fellow posters do too - looks best from deep as a catch and shoot guy which fits well with Zeb - Have no idea about his D

Clark clearly fits a need of a big that can play Defense something woefully missing with KK and Tobi last season - played at a higher level for 3 years so should be ready to plug and play - supposedly likes to shoot from deep but %s nothing that sings he is a deadeye - appears to me to be a big you want on the court in the last 5 minutes of a close game

Freshman recruits are just that - I hope they get 10-15 minutes of run in Novemeber and December to learn what they will have to do in the offseason to be starters - who really knows how ready they are for this A10 level

Odom and staff will have to earn their stripes this season getting the new portal travelers to fit quickly into his offensive and defensive schemes- hopefully they are high IQ basketball guys and learn quickly and we don't have to wait until January and Feb for the pieces to come together - BUT the challenge he faces in doing this are similar to the challenges 50% of teams (at least the better ones at P5 and mid majors) now face with the portal movement

Right now the grade is a C and can go in both directions based upon new signees and how quickly the new guys get up to Odom speed

Bottom line I feel pretty good that we are heading toward another top 4 finish in the a10 but no idea if this is a NCAA tourney team

go Rams and coach Odom
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A grade of C would make them average but you think top 4? It will be a rough league next year. One good thing is VCU is typically not average.
 
Ululating Daddy said:
Where we're headed, I think, is a fundamental decision that every school will need to make. Either drastically alter the relationship between athlete and university in service to the commercial relationship between university and sports consumers, or try to keep the student in "student-athlete" while accepting the limits that places on the commercial prospects. Universities that are part of the P4 choose the first option. Schools in DII and DIII choose the second. VCU is in the no-mans land in between the two right now. I don't think that's sustainable. But it's the inevitable schism.
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Ululating Daddy said:
There are 30 MLB teams, 30 AAA farm teams, and 90 lower-level minor league teams. There are 30 NBA teams, 31 G-League teams, and 358 D1 men's basketball teams. Under a fully professional model, 358 is a completely unsustainable number. A lot of schools are going to have the decision made for them.
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Well that’s pretty thoughtful. But is collage basketball sustainable period. It works for football-a half dozen big parties for students and alumni. The rest doesn’t matter. The charm and money for bball is the tournament. Is that as interesting to the casual fan in this environment?
 
AlienAiden said:
A grade of C would make them average but you think top 4? It will be a rough league next year. One good thing is VCU is typically not average.
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Top 4 in today's A10( one bid league) is relatively average for college basketball
 
Ramdog said:
Top 4 in today's A10( one bid league) is relatively average for college basketball
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Top 4 in conferences that have 13-16 teams (if not more)? I’m not a math guy, but that seems above average to me. Also, the A10 wasn’t a one bid league last year … so there’s that.
 
SteveMM said:
Top 4 in conferences that have 13-16 teams (if not more)? I’m not a math guy, but that seems above average to me. Also, the A10 wasn’t a one bid league last year … so there’s that.
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There is more to grading than assigning a grade which where you fall on a Bell Curve amongst a group of lackluster A10 programs. Most of the schools in the A10 aren't our peers in money, size, or program success.
When I grade our program I consider its peers to be the institutions that place the same emphasis on the program. I consider the budget and size of the university. We outspend every mid major except a handful. We are among the largest Universities (size wise) of the mid majors, pay higher salaries and offer better facilities than most mid majors resources. When you consider all of that we are no higher than a C with this recruiting effort. In fact, this is shaping up to be the most lackluster level of incoming talent I have seen in over a decade at VCU. Its worse than Odom's first year so far. However there is still time left and spaces to fill. I do not blame this all on Odom bc the NIL and transferring rules have impacted us greatly.
 
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Ramaholic said:
There is more to grading than assigning a grade which where you fall on a Bell Curve amongst a group on lackluster A10 programs. Most of the schools in the A10 aren't our peers in money, size, or program success.
When I grade our program I consider its peers to be the institutions that place the same emphasis on the program. I consider the budget and size of the university. We outspend every mid major except a handful. We are among the largest Universities (size wise) of the mid majors, pay higher salaries and offer better facilities than most mid majors resources. When you consider all of that we are no higher than a C with this recruiting effort. In fact, this is shaping up to be the most lackluster level of incoming talent I have seen in over a decade at VCU. Its worse than Odom's first year so far. However there is still time left and spaces to fill. I do not blame this all on Odom bc the NIL and transferring rules have impacted us greatly.
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Hmm.- 2 freshmen 3 or 4 star guards. A starter for a p6 on an elite 8 team, and the 6th man award winner from a conference.

I say better than a C
 
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