Two-year VCU Rams head coach Mike Rhoades has been tasked with following in the footsteps of Shaka Smart and Will Wade, both of whom won 25 games every year with the Rams and leveraged their success into Power Five jobs. He’s passed with flying colors, as VCU is coming off of a season in which they won 25 games, including a 16-2 record in conference, and made the NCAA tournament as an eight seed.
This coming season, the Rams will return nearly every contributor to last year’s squad and add a highly-touted recruit to the mix. This makes them an easy bet to be one of the 25 best teams in the country and make it back to the NCAA tournament.
Key Returners
- Marcus Evans
- De’Riante Jenkins
- Issac Vann
- Marcus Santos-Silva
- Vince Williams
VCU returns all four players who averaged at least 20 minutes and 10 points per game last season, including star player Marcus Evans, who landed on Def Pen’s top-10 mid-major players list. His backcourt mate, De’Riante Jenkins, was a top-50 recruit in 2016, while Issac Vann and Marcus Santos-Silva are very valuable role players. Vince Williams had a stellar freshman year and is a long-term NBA prospect.
Key Losses
- Sean Mobley
The Rams’ only major loss will be Sean Mobley, a 6’8 forward who started 23 games last season. However, he was relatively inefficient and didn’t put up big numbers, so his production shouldn’t prove too difficult to replace.
Key Newcomers
- Nah’shon Hyland
While he may not get much playing time given all of the production that VCU is returning, Nah’shon Hyland is a high-level recruit who will likely play in the NBA at some point. He’s a quick guard who will fit right into coach Rhoades’ full-court press system and could carve out an energy scoring role during his freshman season.
"I'll take that, THANK YOU."
Marcus Evans is off to the races for @VCU_Hoops. pic.twitter.com/BU1Q8ozmiQ
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) March 2, 2019
Projected Starting Five
- Marcus Evans
- De’Riante Jenkins
- Issac Vann
- Marcus Santos-Silva
- Corey Douglas
The Rams’ projected starting lineup is an experienced group, featuring only juniors and seniors. Evans, Jenkins, Vann, and Santos-Silva were starters last year and will see the same role this coming season. Corey Douglas started 10 games last year and had by far the highest block rate on the team, so the JUCO product should be more than formidable holding down the paint as a starter.
Season Outlook
Given the success that they experienced last season and all of the returning production, this season is expected to be a huge one for VCU.
The Rams have a legitimate nine-man rotation that is filled with both talent and experience. They had the seventh-best defense in the nation last year according to KenPom; it was their 177th-ranked offense that held them back, and with every major contributor returning, it’s reasonable to expect that the offense will operate more efficiently during this coming season.
Starting point guard Marcus Evans, though he didn’t put up huge statistical numbers, is one of the best players in the conference. He shot 56% from the field last year, and when you consider that he averaged 20.1 points per game over two seasons at Rice before transferring to VCU, he is likely capable of averaging at least 15 points per game for the Rams.
Record Prediction: 27-4 (16-2)
Coach Rhoades put together a fairly tough schedule for his team, as they play LSU, Purdue, Wichita State, Missouri State, and either Florida State or Tennessee during non-conference play. I’m projecting that they’ll lose two of those games.
In conference play, the Rams face Dayton, Davidson, and Rhode Island twice each, each of whom is likely a top-five team in the conference. I think that they’ll end up dropping two of these games as well, giving them the same conference record as last season. Overall, I see them improving on their record from last season, when they went 25-8.
