Hoop Dreams In Richmond

I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with my Master's degree in December 1995. I did not plan on attending VCU initially when I was looking to attend a college in 1989. The son of a family friend had attended James Madison University and loved it there. He gave me a tour and a loved the campus. The problem? My grades. I was holding a 3.1 GPA at my high school when JMU wanted a 3.6. My SAT scores were average. In the end, I was not a solid enough student to make it onto JMU's campus. I chose VCU after a number of ill fated trips to other campuses. I went to Salem, Virginia to see Roanoke College. Too small. Too expensive. I went to West Virginia University for a visit. Too far away. Too dreary of a trip in a rain storm. WVU was the second choice. I ended up at VCU in Richmond, Virginia with plans to stay a year and transfer to JMU. Richmond was a far cry from Front Royal, Virginia in terms of size (much bigger) and dangerousness (much higher). Richmond was a city, not a small college town. The campus was a mile from downtown. I fell in love with the city and the university. I stayed for seven years and two degree programs.

VCU does not have a football team. There are T-shirts and sweatshirts you can buy that say "VCU Football: Still Undefeated." VCU was and always has been (and always will be) a basketball school. I went to many games at the old Richmond Coliseum during a dry period in the basketball program. The team remained mediocre throughout my time as a student with no trips to the Big Dance or even the NIT. In 1996, VCU entered the Colonial Athletic Association for the first time and promptly romped through the schedule and won the conference tournament. The CAA is a mid-major conference and only gets one bid to the Dance via the tournament winner. No at-large bids are given to CAA teams who fail in the tournament. The tournament incidentally has been played in Richmond since as far back as I can remember. VCU went to the NCAAs in 1996 and team showed some moderate improvement under Jeff Capel. Coach Capel was the most successful coach at VCU since the early 80's. VCU remained very competitive in the conference and began to recruit good mid-major quality players. As it alwyas happens with good mid-major coaches, Capel was lured to a big conference school when he ended up at troubled Oklahoma. I became worried that we could not get a good coach as good as Capel. I was wrong. VCU tapped Anthony Grant who had been an assistant at Florida under Billy Donovon. Florida had just won the national championship when Grant landed in Richmond. In year one, VCU won a school record 28 games and won the CAA tournament in dramatic fashion (riding top under-rated guard Eric Maynor to victory over previous NCAA Final Four glass slipper wearer George Mason). VCU knocked off Duke in the first round of the NCAAs and almost knocked off Pittsburgh to land in the Sweet Sixteen. Word immediately flew around Richmond that we were not going to be able to keep young Grant for very long. Coach Grant became the hottest mid-major coaching commodity in the country. Who can blame a major school from looking at him. He is young, intelligent, passionate, and a big time motivator. His teams rely on solid guard play and a huge choking defense. In his first season, Grant utilized a full court pressure defense to stunning success. His teams outworked their opponents and easily forced them into mistakes. He may not have had the most talented team on the floor, but they were in better shape and worked harder than anyone else. Things got dicey when Billy Donovan signed a contract to coach the Orlando Magic. Rumor had it that the University of Florida had a private jet sent to Richmond to pick up Coach Grant and take him to Gainesville to hand him the reigns of the now two-time NCAA champions. I did not believe that Grant had proven himself as a head coach long enough to warrant a shot at Florida, but those emotions came out of fear that VCU was going to lose yet another great coach. Whatever happened in Gainesville to cause Donovan to change his mind and stay at Florida is beyond me, but Grant never got on that plane (though he was on his way to the airport). Grant stayed at VCU for this season. Richmond collectively had a sigh of relief (at least for one more season). This season Grant utilized a half-court pressure defense and continued to ride the talent of Eric Maynor in key game situations. VCU was not picked this year to win the CAA. George Mason was named as a pre-season pick with VCU second. VCU began with shaky inconsistent games to start the season. They played a weak schedule and played with limited chemistry as they tried with difficulty to buy into the new defense. VCU initially gave up the ball too much on offense which led to opponents being able to break the half court pressure in transition. As a result VCU lost games they should have won. Coach Grant never wavered and pushed his team harder. The push paid off and VCU dominated CAA conference play all the way to a regular season title. I watched a shaky game VCU played in Richmond against bitter rival Old Dominion. VCU had the game in hand and was controlling the score, the clock, and the tempo. However, uncharacteristically they fell apart when it mattered most and Old Dominion gave VCU's only home loss. Poor shooting from the floor and the foul line killed them in the end. I tried not to worry about this as VCU concluded regular season play with five straight victories. Eric Maynor continued to shine as a solid play-maker when the game was on the line. He continues to have the ability to know when to take over his team and the game. When the switch is flipped Maynor is hard to stop down the stretch.

I had to turn on my computer to watch ESPN360.com for coverage of the Rams first CAA conference tournament match-up with 9th seeded Towson this afternoon. VCU won the regular season CAA title by a solid three games over George Mason. VCU led the country in defensive three point percentage and was ranked in the top ten in defensive field goal percentage. All of this stemming from a choking half-court press defense that pushes opponents to take bad shots and turn over the ball in mid-court. Today against Towson, VCU's defense did not fail. VCU repeatedly forced Towson into horrible contested shots from all over the court. Towson shot 29% for the game. They shot 38% from the foul line. Unfortunately, what I worried about after the ODU game came back to haunt me in this game. Up 11 mid way through the second half, VCU began to turn over the ball with regularity, take insane shots mostly from the three point line (Shuler, normally a solid shooting guard shot 2 for 13 from the field), and miss their foul shots. What should have been a blow-up by over twenty points turned into a four point game late in the game. Then CAA MVP Maynor flipped the switch and took over the game. He took full control of the offense and repeatedly worked his speed to his advantage which led to easy lay-ups. His facial expression did not change. He remained calm, in control, and determined. He was not going to let VCU fall apart as they did against ODU. VCU eventually won by 11. However, Coach Grant should have made his team drive back to their gym after the game for shooting drills. VCU shot 37% from the field and 57% from the line. This will not get it done in this tournament no matter how good their defense is. They will not be able to get away with this against George Mason or even their next opponent William and Mary in the CAA semis. VCU is considered a dark horse bubble team for the NCAAs. Let's be serious for a second. Everyone knows that if VCU loses in the tournament it will be considered an disastrous upset and will send them to the NIT. Let's hope that Grant can put aside dreams of going to major conference school for a few more weeks and work his magic on his team so that they will play closer to their potential and win a conference tournament that they are favored to win. Anything else may derail not only VCU's Big Dance hopes but Coach Grant's as well.