Players Michael Belle is a VCU Ram!

SteveMM said:
I seriously think everyone here was mentally preparing themselves for the team to have a down year. If the prices can come together, that may not even be close to what happens.
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Yeah, it still has to happen on the court but I think we'll have a competitive team. Whether it's a tournament team, we'll have to see. But considering we pretty much had to build from scratch, I'm tempering my expectations.
 
You put this on his commit announce tweet?
How far do some take their fanhood, and why?
:cry:
To the contrary, I'm betting you will be wishing he committed to Dayton once conference time comes. I have little doubt he saw having been thrown under the Daynot bus by some of the "fans" just like this one before he ever committed to anyone. I didn't see that out of this fanbase and if we did, you'd have seen the masses denouncing such pettiness. And I'm sure there'll be no shortage of screenshotted reminders pinned up in the locker space come DaytonVSVCU gametime.

 
MobileMunchies said:
You put this on his commit announce tweet?
How far do some take their fanhood, and why?
:cry:
To the contrary, I'm betting you will be wishing he committed to Dayton once conference time comes. I have little doubt he saw having been thrown under the Daynot bus by some of the "fans" just like this one before he ever committed to anyone. I didn't see that out of this fanbase and if we did, you'd have seen the masses denouncing such pettiness. And I'm sure there'll be no shortage of screenshotted reminders pinned up in the locker space come DaytonVSVCU gametime.

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The guys handle is karlmalonestan he is just a troll.
 
MobileMunchies said:
You put this on his commit announce tweet?
How far do some take their fanhood, and why?
:cry:
To the contrary, I'm betting you will be wishing he committed to Dayton once conference time comes. I have little doubt he saw having been thrown under the Daynot bus by some of the "fans" just like this one before he ever committed to anyone. I didn't see that out of this fanbase and if we did, you'd have seen the masses denouncing such pettiness. And I'm sure there'll be no shortage of screenshotted reminders pinned up in the locker space come DaytonVSVCU gametime.

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To the stuff we saw from twitterers these last few days, I'll bring back a bit of research I did on British Hoops a year and 6 days ago when Tobi committed here. Now that we have two of these dedicated but challenged GBR players, it would do us all some good to understand the challenges of being a hooper from GBR. It's better to be informed about things rather than be apt to misunderstand a situation. Please feel free at your earliest convenience to read the following and attached links, there are a few of them embedded in the text as well, but they'll be very eye-opening and have a direct relation to our own, Teddy O. I'm gonna copy/paste what I post a year ago, again, here.---->

He's been in the USA for less than one calendar year. His story will emerge sooner or later.
But we cannot begin to approach his flying under the radar til we learn about the underfunding and low hope of meaningful emergence, of relevance in GBR of basketball as a sport. It cannot go without a mention, here.
Published less than a month ago:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...d-unfulfilled-potential-of-british-basketball
Just one clip, but this article is worth a few mins to read through, detailing its struggle with too much to mention in one sentence.

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1999 was a LONG time ago.

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The article goes on to detail a lack of funding in relation to kids playing the sport, depite it being popular. I'd imagine things like AAU teams go hand in hand with this lack of investment/return.
I'm not daying this IS the reason he could fly under the radar in such a way, but I'd imagine it has a wee bit to do with it:

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Between 2013 and 2017 Sport England gave basketball just £9.25 per participant. In contrast, cricket received £70.72 per participant and rugby union almost £60, despite both having fewer participants among young people.
So, he's been here for less than a calendar year.
Visibility perhaps takes longer than that:
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I'd imagine this all perhaps explains a bit of why/how being a visible British hooper is a reality, as only 67 of 5,000 NCAA D1 hoopers are out there are British. Just one theory, but it's a relevant point.

Of note: quote in this from Teddy's brother Anthony Okereafor, about the cuts in youth funding.
Teddy has a lot of Lawal's same background, but a longer time playing the sport, and since 2012-13 when TO came here, basketball has seen a ton of cuts. In fact, 2013, is when it was gutted, leaving many in dismay as to "why".
FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann has called UK Sport’s decision to cut British Basketball’s funding to zero “incomprehensible”.
Despite the record funding for Olympic and Paralympic athletes that was announced on December 18th in the run up to 2016, British Basketball was left in the dark, seeing their funding cut to zero, in comparison to the more than £8million they received for the previous Olympic cycle.

WHY would be a good question to ask, and I'm not pulling the race card, but the author of this article clearly did.
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AlienAiden said:
NICE! I was excited to see this now that I have cell service 😀 Caught a couple rainbow trout and hiked the White Oak Canyon Trail and now a commitment from Belle. Fun Sunday. Now time for a Mother's Day cookout. Let's Go!
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Ooh, I love that trail! And a perfect day to hike it too ; )
 
RAMBALLFAN said:
I think we lost a team level coach and gained a program level coach. Thank you PSU for enabling VCU to make a change we would have never made on our own. Transformational!!!!!
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I think we lost a D2 coach and got a D1 up and comer.
 
RAMBALLFAN said:
I expected it to be an off season similar to when Frank left. Ed will hire a good X’s and O’s guy who will pull the best players he can entice from the portal and if we’re lucky, we may get a few 3 star kids, or if the heavens align, we maybe even a 4 star kid who just didn’t fit his program but would also be bringing along baggage. If Coach O can coach as good as he recruits, this is gonna be a really fun year!
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First 16 seed to take out a #1. I think you can assume he can coach.
 
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