DistrictBaller

VCU won the Colonial Tournament in 2012. Shaka still hasn't won a regular season title as a head coach though.

Yea I think I saw us both in the mix for Tevin Glass and Therence Mayimba, but that's all I remember. VCU's got a complete 4-man class for 2014 so I don't see them being in the mix for anymore recruits. Apparently George Mason is very interested in Mayimba though, so there's that.

Yes. X is one over the limit. So is VCU for that matter, so you can take both of them off of players SLU is looking at.

Gregg Marshall is making almost 1.5 million per year at Wichita State. I'm not sure Saint Louis is willing to pay the kind of money it would take to get him and he's already turned down a couple of BCS jobs like NC State and Nebraska that I know of.

If so, that's a huge loss for not just SLU, but the A-10, and all of college basketball. He's one of the best there is as an in-game tactician. I share your fan base's wishes for him to be able to live a long and happy life. Really unfortunate news, and right when he really had the Billikens rolling too. Fortunately, he has left Crews with a stacked team that should win plenty of games and hopefully keep the momentum going at Saint Louis.

I read it just fine. I still found it highly amusing. Stevens has a 12 year contract and Smart is in the 2nd year of an 8-year contract and they are coaching for teams that play in your conference. Sorry if that bothers you to the point of cursing. As you said, they are obviously pipe dreams for any non-power 6 schools and the majority of the power 6 schools as well as Illinois found out this spring. That said, with Chaifetz Arena being a top of the line arena, playing in the A-10, and having a pretty strong program recently, there will be plenty of very good candidates who I am sure would be interested. An established head coach may hold out for a BCS job, but you never know who may be interested. I'm sure elite assistants all over the country would give SLU a very strong look. -I like what Tim Cluess has done at Iona, although he is extremely unconventional in his recruiting approach and his teams haven't played defense. -Steve Masiello at Manhattan is a rising star who was an assistant at Louisville before leading Manhattan to 21 wins in his first season. Manhattan went 6-25 the season before. -Russ Springmann at Texas is a good assistant coach and a great recruiter who got Kevin Durant to play for the Longhorns. -Jeff Boals at Ohio State is another coach who knows the midwest extremely well having worked at Akron and OSU and is known as a very good recruiter. -Matthew Graves at Butler is a popular pick and being at a system school like Butler under Brad Stevens, it's not hard to see why he's in demand. -Chris Collins came up for the Illinois State job and he's worked under Coach K as a player and assistant for a number of years. There are a number of excellent candidates out there, but hopefully this conversation is moot and Rick Majerus is able to get back to full health and help lead the Billikens. There are few coaches in the country that can match him when it comes to coaching the game.

LOL at guys name-dropping Shaka and Brad Stevens. If those guys turned down 2.5+ dollar contract offers at Illinois, there is no way they come to SLU. I know Shaka is making 1.3+ million per year at VCU, which is at the very least at the same level of a job as SLU. Stevens is over a million as well and at a superior program in Butler as well. Blaine Taylor has a very low listed salary but earns more than $700,000/year at ODU with supplementation from the Big Blue Club, which is a private booster organization at ODU. They also aren't staying in the CAA as they are moving to C-USA in 2013. He's a very good coach, but I doubt he would go to SLU. The best bet is to go for a star assistant coach at a major school or a BCS retread like Capel. He was solid at VCU in the early 2000's and as a VCU fan, it would be nice to see him get back into head coaching. Tim Cluess actually is a great suggestion too. He has recruited like crazy at Iona and just got a commitment from a 2012 top-50 recruit in Norvelle Pelle...at IONA. He's been pretty successful at Iona so far, but it remains to be seen if he can sustain it with the constant influx of JUCO's and transfers that he has been stocking and re-stocking his roster with.

So the game got leaked and Belmont is coming to the Siegel Center this December 1st. They went 27-8 and lost to Georgetown in the first round of the NCAAs last year. VCU will return the trip to Nashville next season. With OOC home games against Wichita State, Alabama, Lehigh, Western Kentucky, and Belmont who all went to the NCAA tournament, we have a pretty nice OOC schedule along with the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. We drew Memphis (I'm sure you guys are fond of them, right?) in the first round and will play the winner/loser of Duke/Minnesota depending on how we fare against Memphis.

I think you are confusing VCU with Butler. Butler plays Xavier in an already scheduled OOC home game in addition to facing them on the road in conference. lol @ NextYearBill, whatever SLU gets will be well-earned. Everyone in the A-10 will be gunning for the Billikens. It's also been revealed that we face Memphis in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis. Should be a great match-up. Pastner wanted the VCU job pretty badly when the job opened up before we hired Shaka Smart. He obviously ended up doing fine for himself when Cal left and Memphis dropped in his lap.

We actually had a tentative agreement with Murray State to start on the road this season prior to moving to the A-10. That got derailed after we made the move though. It would have been a great game. The team is similar to Murray State (racked up a lot of wins and went to the NCAA tourney) but not as high-profile. They have a shot at a top 50 RPI but I think their conference might hold them back a bit. It is a pretty strong schedule especially if we can draw and beat Duke, Louisville, and Memphis in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Getting Alabama, Wichita State, Lehigh with CJ McCollum and the unnamed mid-major team gives us chances at some nice top 100/possible top 50 wins at home. We also get UMass, St. Joe's, Butler, Dayton, LaSalle, and Richmond at home in the conference schedule who should all be top-100 teams this season. Hopefully it will give us a good profile come March. The only worry is only playing 3 road games in the OOC. Hopefully we won't be on the bubble, but I could see that being an issue with the Selection Committee if we are. With as loaded as the A-10 is, we shouldn't have to worry about that if we take care of our business and finish in the top 4.

I'd say that I'd be disappointed if we're not top 4 next year with the team we have and what we return from a pretty good team last year that's adding 2 top-100 kids. I do expect a NCAA tournament bid however. I will be very disappointed if we don't. I've said that before when we initially joined the league. I fully recognize that we could fall short of that but I have high expectations of my team. As for non-conference games, I know all of them, but VCU hasn't released the schedule yet and I'm not going to leak the games that aren't out already as per their request. All but 2 games are now out, of those 2 one is a non-descript low-major game and the other is against a pretty strong mid-major program that was in the NCAA tournament last year. Both home games. Here is our OOC schedule with last year's postseason and RPI in parentheses: Nov. 9th: non-descript team (have to play them before the Battle 4 Atlantis) Nov. 13th:Wichita State (NCAA- 18) Nov. 17th: @ Winthrop (272) H&H play at VCU next year Nov. 22nd-24th: Battle 4 Atlantis, play 3 out of: (Duke (NCAA-7), Louisville (NCAA- 10), Missouri (NCAA-12), Memphis (NCAA-20), Minnesota (NIT- 63), Stanford (NIT- 69), Northern Iowa (NIT-72) Nov. 28th: Stetson (263)- buy game Dec. 1st: Strong mid-major who played in NCAA's last year. Pretty good RPI last year. Dec. 7th: @ ODU (CIT- 102) H&H play at VCU next year Dec. 15th: Alabama (NCAA- 40) Dec. 18th: Western Kentucky (NCAA- 171) Dec. 21st: Longwood (333)- buy game Dec 29th: Fairleigh Dickinson (330)- buy game Jan. 2nd: @ ETSU (172) H&H play at VCU next year Jan. 5th: Lehigh (NCAA- 88)- buy game We have a ton of home games in the OOC and some good teams coming in. We have the 11th highest home winning percentage in the country at home at 85.79% since our building opened in 1999 so it's built to get us wins and a strong RPI. We'll see how it goes but hopefully we can get some nice OOC scalps for the conference in the Battle 4 Atlantis as well as at home.

That's certainly a valid argument. We've certainly played in very good conferences before the CAA that are comparable to the A-10, but that has nothing to do with the current make-up of our squad. We have certainly shown we can play and beat A-10 caliber teams as I believe we are 16-4 against the A-10 over the last 10 years. We have also shown we can beat similar or higher-level competition in the NCAA tournament as well. A lot of that has to deal with our style of play which is very problematic for most teams in a tournament setting. We didn't even really dominate the CAA under Shaka Smart so a lot of what you say does ring true, he's just an extremely good postseason coach. At the same time the CAA was a 3-bid league just a year ago so we weren't exactly playing table-scraps either. I don't disagree with anything you've said, and I do think the A-10 is a significant jump up, especially now that both us and Butler are in the league. It's just one sub-plot in a league full of them this season. It will be very interesting to watch it all pan out. I tend to think we'll be fine, but I'm also a biased fan.

Yeah I remember when Majerus and Shaka matched up in the CBI finals in 2010. That was Shaka's first year at VCU. Kwamain Mitchell and Willie Reed were both nice-looking players as sophomores. I remember Cody Ellis and Remekun were on that squad as well although I think they were more role-players then. Thanks for the welcome and I think the SLU/VCU game will be a great battle. I think SLU is favored on a neutral court and should definitely be at home so I have no qualms with those who say you'll likely beat us this year since we play at Chaifetz. I really think it comes down the contenders holding serve at home and stealing a couple on the road. I think that getting Butler, Dayton, UMass, St. Joe's, La Salle, and Richmond at home is good for us, I even count Fordham at home to be a blessing since they've been known to pull big upsets at their place. SLU is obviously a very tough road game, but if there was any year to want to play X and Temple on the road, I'd think this would be it. Even so it will be a tall order to go into those places and pull out a win. @St. Bonaventure scares me since the O'Reilly Center can be really tough from what I hear. Either way the conference schedule is going to be absurdly entertaining and fraught with drama and upsets. There are no off-nights in the A-10 this year. I'm looking forward to getting to know the conference and hopefully VCU competing in and helping the A-10 get a record number of NCAA bids this season.

Lol. Nice. I think SLU is the A-10's best team next year, baiting comment aside. It should be fun to watch the season pan out. I just wanted to clarify that VCU brings a whole lot back and there is a reason we're in the conversation to compete for the title, since there seem to be some misconceptions about what we're bringing back and how much we lost. FWIW, we led the country in both steal percentage (16.2% of opposition possessions) and turnover percentage (27.4%) last year. Our D is not quite as good as the Billikens, but we do what we do very well. We return 5 guys who averaged at least 1.2 steals per game last year. Our MO is very different from most of the A-10 with the exception of UMass who modeled their style after VCU's following our Final Four year. It should definitely be interesting to see how the styles clash. There are excellent teams in the A-10 next year and the fact that SLU is the favorite speaks volumes about how good you guys should be.

If VCU has to replace a lot offensively, then so does Saint Louis since you guys lose Conklin. We lose our leading scorer (14 ppg) and return everyone else from a 29-7 team that went to the NCAA 3rd round and took Indiana to the wire. We have 2 consensus 4-star ESPN/Scout/Rivals recruits in the 2012 class joining the team this year as well. Melvin Johnson (#85 overall): http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/126605/melvin-johnson Jordan Burgess (#96 overall): http://espn.go.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/player/_/id/72599/jordan-burgess I think Saint Louis is rightfully the favorite, but VCU will be competing for sure.

You don't have to tell me man. VCU fans absolutely love Eric Maynor and he's a big part of our success over the last decade. The Thunder have to keep Harden around too...he's going to be in huge demand. Winning the NBA championship would be big for keeping them all together.

As a VCU fan I'm really hoping the Thunder win too. Eric Maynor (VCU '09) is usually the back-up to Russell Westbrook but unfortunately tore his ACL earlier this season. Even if he isn't able to play I'd love for him to be able to get his first NBA championship ring!

VCU has to play St. Louis, Xavier, St. Bonaventure and Temple on the road this year. On the other hand we get Butler, Dayton, UMass, and St. Joe's at home. Playing at SLU is absolutely a tough game, but I can't help but think that if there was any year we'd want to play at X or Temple, this would be it with as much as they are having to replace. We may well still lose those games, but we probably have as good a chance as we'll ever at those places with as many pieces as those squads are having to replace. Just looking at the schedule it's ridiculous how stacked the league is going to be. From a VCU perspective that VCU-Butler game is made for ESPN. Shaka Smart vs. Brad Stevens (the 2 hottest young coaches in the country) in a rematch of the 2011 Final Four. The Siegel Center is going to be rocking that night.

Wow. That's a very favorable schedule for next year. That should put St. Louis in great position to win the regular season if the schedule indeed pans out that way.

Haha, no problem with you saying you could/will beat us. I totally respect that opinion. That's your right as a fan and even besides that St. Louis is a team that can absolutely beat VCU. You guys are going to be damn good next year and I bet a lot of people will pick you guys to win the conference. It's another thing entirely to say that we'll be mid-pack with the team we have coming in, one that's being touted as a possible top 25 team going into the season. LOL, I actually completely agree with the less-talented Memphis description. We just don't have a chump like Pastner coaching us. Memphis might be one of the most underachieving programs in the country under Pastner. They absolutely should have been a top 5 to 10 team last year with the guys on that squad. Cowboy we're actually 2-0 against GW. We beat them at the Smith Center in 2010 in the opening round of the CBI and beat them last season in the BB&T classic at the Verizon Center in a de facto home game for GW. They rode the metro to the game.

Agreed. Let's not pretend the A10 was some monster league all of a sudden. Or that the CAA was some completely awful low-major league either. VCU actually had a better RPI than the A10 with 6 top-100 RPI teams just a year ago in 2011. In addition to VCU getting in as an 11-seed as one of the last 4 in, ODU was a 9 seed with the auto-bid and George Mason got an at-large 8 seed after having lost in the conference semi-finals that year. Both were top 30 RPI teams. There was some good basketball being played in that league. I will absolutely concede that the CAA dregs were awful and that the league was top-heavy...but the teams at the top of that league could play ball at a very high level. VCU would not be 16-4 against the league over the last 10 years if it was that much of a step-up in competition. There is no doubt that there will be an adjustment, but to act like teams that have won against superior competition from BCS conferences in the NCAA tournament will be mid-pack A10 squads is probably not accurate. This team lost 1 player from a squad that won a school-record 29 games and went to the round of 32 after losing 4 of its top 5 leading scorers from the Final Four team in 2011. It beat Richmond by 22 and George Washington by 15 last year. It adds a consensus ESPN/Rivals/Scout 4-star recruit this year and has been listed on a number of top 25 lists, some even ahead of the Billikens. To think that we won't compete at the top of the conference is not a fair assessment. If we don't, it's because we are not the top 25 level team we're anticipated to be, not because the A10 dregs are going to own us.

Shaka Smart is 2-0 against Rick Majerus and has beaten him at Chaifetz as well. VCU is 16-4 against the A10 since 2001. We'll be okay. If we're truly a top 25 team like several publications are predicting, we won't be mid-pack in the A10. I'm sure we'll take some lumps and we have to acclimate ourselves to the league, but we'll certainly compete.

You're welcome cheeseman! Looking forward to competing in the A10. It looks like we're going to be battling near the top of the league this season. It'll be interesting to see how we stack up in the A10.

Neither does George Mason. The extent of football at either school is club football with no plans to start a program any time soon. VCU is in a position where we don't even have land to build a football stadium if we wanted to. If we were going to start football in the near future, we would have done it already. George Mason's administration has said the same. I understand your point and it is extremely valid in most cases, but not as it pertains to Mason and VCU. We don't have NCAA football at any level or plans to start one anytime soon. You'll find most of our fans are very against football because we don't want it to take valuable resources away from basketball. That's what drives the bus at VCU. I completely understand that you guys have a vested interest in seeing schools like Creighton added since it's closer to you. I'm sure it's not lost on you that you guys are the western most outpost of the A10 and that a majority of the A10 schools don't share that geographical selling point. I agree on Siena not being the easiest place to get to. That's why I said there aren't really that many suitable, home-run candidates out there that fit the A10 profile. Siena fits except for being a bit remote, Creighton is a home-run add except that it's extremely far for most of the conference, Mason fits squarely in the conference footprint and is a basketball-only with no plans for football at all, but it is a public. The A10 had an eye on them and more substantive rumors were put out about them than any other school out there. It stands to common-sense that they'll like be on the radar the next time around as well. I think I'm happy personally with where we're at right now. It's a heck of a basketball conference as it stands already.

Tough to argue with that as well. Good point. I guess I'm a traditionalist and would love to be able to crown a true regular season champion with the ability to have home and homes with each team. We didn't even have that in the 12-team CAA, but I always thought it sucked how the unbalanced schedule would help certain teams. For example, Drexel only had to play VCU (2nd), George Mason (3rd), and ODU (4th) once in the regular season and got both VCU and Mason at home. The other schools all had to play home and homes with each other. Drexel ran through the CAA at 16-2 and VCU came in at 15-3. I understand that we're living in times that are anything but traditional, but unbalanced scheduling sucks, especially when you're in a 1 bid league where seeding for the conference tournament can mean a whole lot. Thank God that's no longer the case for us in the A10. All told, I agree with you now that you put it that way. I'm just not sure I want a 16-team mega-conference either. Perhaps that's the way we'll go if we anticipate anyone will be leaving to create a preemptive buffer of sorts. Who knows?