Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The VCU Rams have come a long way ever since being a Cinderella team in college basketball. This team is legit and a No. 5 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament was evident of that. However, is it possible that next year’s team will be the best VCU team yet?
Let’s just put it this way, ESPN has them ranked No. 13 in the Top 25 for next season. That is one heck of a feat, considering that this team was not the biggest name by any means in college basketball just a couple of seasons ago.
The Rams will be losing a couple players from this year’s team, but they will be getting back Treveon Graham, Juvonte Reddic and Rob Brandenberg.
Graham and Reddic were one and two on the team when it came to points scored per game. Brandenberg was not too far behind, though, being the fourth leading scorer on the team.
The Rams may have had an early exit in this year’s tourney, but they did play the Michigan Wolverines, who made the national championship game.
VCU scored 78 points per game on the season, which was good enough for 11th in the country. Although Troy Daniels–will no longer be on the team–added 12.3 points per game to that total and was one of the best three-point shooters in college basketball, there is still plenty of fire power left on this team.
When the Rams were knocking down threes and scoring points at will, they were nearly impossible to beat, but that was not always the case. Against Michigan in the round of 32, VCU was only able to score 53 points, despite scoring 88 in its first game of the dance.
Whether the case, there is a lot of key pieces coming back to the team and this very well could be one of the best VCU teams ever. That is saying a lot, since head coach Shaka Smart has done wonders for this team.
If you’re a tweeter, feel free to follow me @TheTrevorLowry.
