VCU Men's Basketball Banquet

[districtballer]

http://vcuathletics.com/sports/mbkb/201 ... 04251nofhf

The Jefferson Hotel has served as the host for a long list of celebrities and plenty of historic events.

On Monday night, it added another event to that list as the VCU men's basketball team held its sixth annual end of the year banquet at the historic venue. The sold-out event commemorated an unforgettable season that saw the Black & Gold reach the school's first-ever Final Four.

"This was a night for everyone involved with our program to truly celebrate the accomplishments of this team," Head Coach Shaka Smart said. "It was a tremendous event that really allowed all of us from the players to the coaches to the fans to the support staff to try and reflect what took place over the past six or seven months."

Hosted by ESPN Radio 950's Greg Burton and sponsored by Verizon Wireless, the night started with remarks from VCU President Dr. Michael Rao, as well as Director of Athletics Norwood Teague.

After dinner, Smart took over the microphone and thanked all the past greats at VCU for what they did to allow the Rams to accomplish what they did this year. He continued with some historic records and statistical figures that the Black & Gold reached before diving into the team awards.

With help from his coaching staff, Smart then handed out the team awards with the winners being:

Most Improved – Bradford Burgess

Most Assists – Joey Rodriguez

Leading Rebounder – Jamie Skeen

Ram Strength Award – Brandon Rozzell

Defensive Player of the Year – Ed Nixon

Appreciation Award – Troy Daniels

Havoc Award – Brandon Rozzell

Academic Excellence Award – Juvonte Reddic

Leadership Award – Joey Rodriguez

Most Valuable Player – Jamie Skeen

The evening was wrapped up with a year-end video before pictures, autographs and handshakes were exchanged with everybody in the room.

"It's just one way to thank the best fans in the country for their support all year long," Smart said.

 

[VCU Finance 2008]

Those all seemed like the obvious choices. Congrats to the award winners. Hope everyone had a great night.

 

[vcubob]

Thanks for the report. They need a bigger venue next time.

 

[MarcusNation]

Proud of every single one of those guys, but super impressed with Juvonte Reddic!

 

[VCURamFan32]

Proud of every single one of those guys, but super impressed with Juvonte Reddic!

That's what I'm saying! I think at first there was speculation the Juvonte was getting benched because of trouble with academics, and whether or not that's the case. That is always good to see a freshmen other than DJ Haley (no knock on him, we all know DJ isn't just working hard on the court).

 

[vcu_dan]

just out of curiosity how much did you have to donate to get invited to this?

 

[Mercury]

Didn't feel like making a new thread and this seems like a good one

14. St. Louis Rams. Shaka Smart, basketball coach: It's great that Smart turned down big bucks at Missouri to remain with underdog Virginia Commonwealth. VCU men's basketball has a strong graduation rate for African-American players, at 54 percent -- the Rams are a rare NCAA "revenue sport" program that is projecting a positive message regarding education. Fun fact: Smart holds a master's degree from one of TMQ's favorite obscure colleges, California of Pennsylvania.

UConn, which won the men's tourney, has a dismal graduation rate for African-American basketball players, just 18 percent. Jim Calhoun is facing a financial penalty because his program's academic performance is so poor. If all NCAA Division I football and men's basketball coaches faced money penalties over players' academics, the situation might change. No problems at VCU, where Smart benches anyone who skips class.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ortCat=nfl

 

[xjohnx]

just out of curiosity how much did you have to donate to get invited to this?

They sent out an email to what looks like every season ticket holder in late March. The original date had to be rescheduled because of the Final Four run.

 

[GboroRam]

Didn't feel like making a new thread and this seems like a good one

14. St. Louis Rams. Shaka Smart, basketball coach: It's great that Smart turned down big bucks at Missouri to remain with underdog Virginia Commonwealth. VCU men's basketball has a strong graduation rate for African-American players, at 54 percent -- the Rams are a rare NCAA "revenue sport" program that is projecting a positive message regarding education. Fun fact: Smart holds a master's degree from one of TMQ's favorite obscure colleges, California of Pennsylvania.

UConn, which won the men's tourney, has a dismal graduation rate for African-American basketball players, just 18 percent. Jim Calhoun is facing a financial penalty because his program's academic performance is so poor. If all NCAA Division I football and men's basketball coaches faced money penalties over players' academics, the situation might change. No problems at VCU, where Smart benches anyone who skips class.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ortCat=nfl

Thats the stuff i like to read. Good work by the whole Ath Dept to make that happen.

 

[Natty]

VCU men's basketball has a strong graduation rate for African-American players, at 54 percent -- the Rams are a rare NCAA "revenue sport" program that is projecting a positive message regarding education.

Wait, what!? 54% graduation rate is strong? If I'm not mistaken, haven't we only sent 1 underclassman to the draft early? Wow, there are some serious low standards in college basketball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?

 

[xjohnx]

VCU men's basketball has a strong graduation rate for African-American players, at 54 percent -- the Rams are a rare NCAA "revenue sport" program that is projecting a positive message regarding education.

Wait, what!? 54% graduation rate is strong? If I'm not mistaken, haven't we only sent 1 underclassman to the draft early? Wow, there are some serious low standards in college basketball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?

Graduation rates are weird. I seem to recall that players who transfer to another institution has a negative impact on our graduation rate.

 

[Ghost of Morrisar]

^ What he said. Don't put much weight into the actual numbers, look at where we are in comparison to others to determine success I guess....

 

[vcu_dan]

Didn't feel like making a new thread and this seems like a good one

14. St. Louis Rams. Shaka Smart, basketball coach: It's great that Smart turned down big bucks at Missouri to remain with underdog Virginia Commonwealth. VCU men's basketball has a strong graduation rate for African-American players, at 54 percent -- the Rams are a rare NCAA "revenue sport" program that is projecting a positive message regarding education. Fun fact: Smart holds a master's degree from one of TMQ's favorite obscure colleges, California of Pennsylvania.

UConn, which won the men's tourney, has a dismal graduation rate for African-American basketball players, just 18 percent. Jim Calhoun is facing a financial penalty because his program's academic performance is so poor. If all NCAA Division I football and men's basketball coaches faced money penalties over players' academics, the situation might change. No problems at VCU, where Smart benches anyone who skips class.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ortCat=nfl

there are so many inaccuracies in this I don't even know where to start...

 

[vcu_dan]

just out of curiosity how much did you have to donate to get invited to this?

They sent out an email to what looks like every season ticket holder in late March. The original date had to be rescheduled because of the Final Four run.

really? Dang that stinks I would of loved to go.

 

[Mistachill]

Only negative If they don't graduate. For example, if Jay Gavin graduates from Bowie I believe he counts positively towards our grad rate. And Jamie Skeen counts towards Wake's grad rate.

Kinda stupid if you ask me, we're held responsible for kids no longer under our supervision and not given credit for players who finish up and graduate here.

VCU men's basketball has a strong graduation rate for African-American players, at 54 percent -- the Rams are a rare NCAA "revenue sport" program that is projecting a positive message regarding education.

Wait, what!? 54% graduation rate is strong? If I'm not mistaken, haven't we only sent 1 underclassman to the draft early? Wow, there are some serious low standards in college basketball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?

Graduation rates are weird. I seem to recall that players who transfer to another institution has a negative impact on our graduation rate.