Meet the Rams

As VCU heads back to the NCAA tournament, Richmond is filled with newly minted Ram fans. This is fantastic! So if you’re just now getting into college basketball and are wondering who exactly makes up the 2011/12 edition of the VCU Rams, wonder no longer.

March 15, 2012; 6:00 AM • by Aaron Williams

As VCU heads back to the NCAA tournament, Richmond is filled with newly minted Ram fans. This is fantastic! So if you’re just now getting into college basketball and are wondering who exactly makes up the 2011/12 edition of the VCU Rams, wonder no longer. Below is exactly enough info on the team’s major contributors to get you started.

Go Rams!

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Shaka Smart, 3rd year, head coach Coach Smart has won an incredible 83 games in his first three seasons as a head coach. Perhaps even more impressive: he’s a combined 10-1 in the postseason with a CBI championship and an NCAA Final Four. His court-side presence is almost as intense as his team’s “HAVOC” defense, and he embraces the underdog role–with big wins over Oklahoma, Wichita State, USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State, and Kanas. After last season, coach Smart turned down a $2 million offer from NC State to stay at VCU for $1.2 million.

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#20 Bradford Burgess, senior, guard / forward The lone senior on a very young team, Burgess often finds himself outsized on the court. His craftiness allows him to defend much bigger players, and he is 2nd all-time at VCU for made 3-pointers. Burgess is the most experienced player in Division I Basketball. He recently set the NCAA record for consecutive starts at 144, and he holds a VCU record with 108 wins.

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#30 Troy Daniels, junior, guard Coach Shaka Smart says Troy Daniels is the best shooter that he has ever coached. After struggling to convert his success during practice to gameday, and breaking his foot, Daniels has finally found his shot. His 90 3-pointers this season is only two shy of the VCU record. Daniels also hit four critical free-throws in the final 19 seconds against Drexel to help win the CAA tournament.

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#10 Darius Theus, junior, guard At the beginning of the season, Coach Smart wrote “Theus=Team, Team=Theus” on a whiteboard, and so far that has proven to be true. Succeeding Eric Maynor and Joey Rodriguez, Theus has earned his spot as the next great point guard from VCU. Theus holds the VCU single-game steal record (7) and was named the 2012 CAA Tournament Most Valuable Player. If history tells us anything, it’s that VCU wins on the back of great point guards.

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#11 Rob Brandenberg, sophomore, guard The Rams most promising returnee, Brandenberg struggled with consistency before losing his starting role to Troy Daniels. Brandenberg is thriving in his new role as VCU’s 6th man. He has scored double figures in four of his last six games–including 21 points against UNCW and 19 points Northeastern. Despite his superior athleticism (43” vertical leap and wicked speed) he sometimes falls in love with the 3-point shot. He is one of the Ram’s best defenders and shot blockers, and on any given night he can drop 20 points.

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#15 Juvonte Reddic, sophomore, forward Reddic’s coming out party happened last year in the NCAA tournament when he scored 12 points against First Team All-American JaJuan Johnson. In addition to being the Rams second-leading scorer, Reddic has posted five double-doubles in the past month and a half. Sometimes he can disappear, but his assertiveness is paramount to VCU’s future success.

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#33 DJ Haley, sophomore, center A piano player and aspiring engineer (who had a 4.0 GPA in high school), Haley is the Rams much needed post presence. He is surprisingly quick for his size, and his toughness is constantly improving. In limited minutes, he has the ability to help VCU’s half court defense by grabbing rebounds and blocking shots.

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#2 Briante Weber, freshman, guard It isn’t often that a 160-pound player can be such a defensive menace, but Briante Weber is such an athlete that Jay Bilas thinks he can be National Defensive Player of the Year one day. Weber set the school record for vertical leap at 45” and his extremely long arms have enabled him to lead the nation in steals per 40 minutes. He leads the CAA in steals despite only playing 19.2 minutes per game.

 

Photos by: VCU Athletics

March 15, 2012 6:00 AM 2