Don't forget about Ro Lamb, Mike Schlegel, Michael Brown, and a few others . Randy Corker was something else, and Neil Wake and Robert Dickerson were a 2-headed monster at the P/F position. None quite had the star power of Duncan (#5), but Rolando Lamb was very close to being as highly rated, and regarded, as Duncan. Lamb, coming out of Portsmouth's Craddock H/S, was an amzing H/S plpayer, and extremely highly recruited, although it all boiled down to VCU, ODU, and Tech. Thank Goodness... he chose VCU.
Lamb was so gifted and develpoed in H/S, that he ran the P/G position, since that was where he would obviously excel in the collegiate ranks. But once he brought the ball up the court for Craddock, he then often slipped into the post, or the wing, where he also did a ton of damage. Lamb, extremely athletic, led Craddock as a JR & SR, in scoring, rebounding, and assists. He was a great player. And he was a solid starting P/G as a freshman at VCU- a role he unfortunately was forced into, since we did not have a P/G. Sherod had graduated, and monty Knight was as pure a 2G as you will ever see. So Duncan was fortunate enought to be able to come off the bench as a freshman- the only time that has probably ever happened in his career. And Lamb started as our P/G that first year- in 1981. The rest, as they say, is history. He toughened up each year under Barnett's tutiledge and iron fisted will. And he got better. And better. And better, until as a senior, he was absolutely fantastic. I think he was the best player on the 85' team, and the machine that really made us go. Lamb could shoot nets out, though he was a real "pure" point guard, and he had the quickest set of hands on defense that you could ever dream up. Excellent defender, and extremely athletic. Just a great player- and he came from a great family!
Mike Schlegel was another amazing player, that was forced into the role of a center, where he played very well- and excelled, even though he was usually in "over his head." Had we had a solid center that could have manned the 5, it is my opinion that Mike Schlegel could have been a dominating college P/F. Another excellent player in VCU RAMS basketball history. Add to that Michael Brown, who cam in the year after Lamb, Duncan and Schlegel, and who hails from Hopewell, and bingo- you have yourself one heck of a team. Brown was a strong, solid-framed pure shooter, who played descent D, and was a solid rebounding 3. But his game was the perimeter jumper. Excellent shooter, and just the perfect compliment to "The Big 3" that were a year in front of him. Add Neil Wake, who started as a JUCO transfer in those fabled 84' and 85' seasons, and Robert Dickerson (same), and that rounds it out. Wake was the starter those 2 years, and he was strictly a defneder / rebounder and shot blocker, while Dickerson came off the bench to provide instant offensive spark around the hoop. Both were wirey, and maye 6'7" types. Solid players.
What a team. We ruled the Sunbelt Conference, which was probably one of the 4 best basketball conferences in America during the 80's. Our guys never gave up, and they were mentally impossible to rattle. Warriors in every sense, and they took VCU basketball to a #11 National Ranking in the final poll of the 1985 season. And they earned a # 2 seed in the Big Dance. Unfortunately, a bad game, Derrick McKey of Alabama, and JD holding on too tightly to them, and flipping them out, ended us in the second round, with Bama. Otherwise, I thought we'd surely go to the Final 8 at least- that year in 1985.
And Brad is right on. Those guys moved on, and Pollio had a huge challenge, with a somewhat dry cupboard. He did have some solid tools, with Nicky Jones (fantastic player), Bruce Allen, and the gifted beyond belief Phil Stinnie. But he failed to connect with any real success, and he completely screwed the program up for a while. He was there from 85-89, and enter Sonnny Smith- fresh off of a Final 8 run with his boys at Auburn. Hey- when you have Chuck Person (The Rifleman), Chris Morris, Charles Barkley, and a fantastic P/G (forgetting his name.... Frank Something or other).... even Sonny could win with that.
But he never did at VCU. Even with Sherron Mills, Kendrick Warren, and Kenny Harris- the UNC transfer. He just couldn't get us over the hump in the Metro Conference. When we moved down, thanks to UNCC and Lousville, and into the CAA, he won huge his first year (96'), since the entire team was made up of Metro recruits. That was an OK Metro team, and an AWESOME CAA team. So we won that one year. That's all Smith ever did here. Enter Mac McCarthy in 99.' This is where I stop before I throw up in my mouth a little bit.
