UPDATE: Is he a VCU Ram? (the roster is taking shape)
Update #4 — June 5, 2015; 8:07 AM
On June 4th, VCU added scoring sensation Samir Doughty.
Update #4 — May 16, 2015; 9:18 AM
VCU added junior college transfer Ahmed Hamdy Mohamed on Friday night. The 6-foot-9, 245 pound big man averaged 16.2 PPG (54% shooting) and 10.7 RPG last season at Lee College. He’s immediately eligible and will be a junior. VCU has two remaining scholarships for the 2015-16 season.
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Update #3 — April 29, 2015; 3:00 PM
On Wednesday, Coach Will Wade announced that rising-sophomore Terry Larrier has requested his release from VCU and he intends to transfer. He averaged 6.6 points per game and 3 rebounds per game as a freshman while showing flashes of brilliance in an up-and-down shooting season. VCU returns eight players from last year’s A-10 Tournament Championship team and the Rams have added senior Korey Billbury and freshman Gerron Scissum.
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Update #2 — April 15, 2015; 10:29 PM
On Wednesday night, Justin Tillman tweeted that he intends to stay at VCU.
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Update #1 — April 13, 2015; 3:16 PM
On Monday, Jeff Goodman reported that Justin Tillman indeed intends to leave the VCU program and Jon Rothstein reported that Jesse Bopp has been hired as an assistant coach at Chattanooga.
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Original — April 12, 2015
On April 2nd, Shaka Smart accepted the head coaching position at Texas. After years of consistency in the VCU roster, the past two weeks have seen a significant amount of turnover. With five scholarships available for next season, plenty of new faces should be joining VCU in the next few weeks and there’s always the potential for more players to defect. So if you’re wondering, “is he a VCU Ram?”, here are the most up-to-date answers:
| Position | Two Weeks Ago | Today |
|---|---|---|
Head Coach |
Will Wade (Chattanooga) | |
Assistant Coach |
Rasheen Davis (Manhattan) | |
Assistant Coach |
Wes Long (Chattanooga) | |
Assistant Coach |
Jamill Jones (FGCU) | |
Director of Basketball Operations |
Casey Long (Chattanooga) | |
Strength & Conditioning |
Daniel Roose (Texas) | Greg Goldin (Chattanooga) |
Players |
Sr. Melvin Johnson | Sr. Melvin Johnson |
| Jr. Mo Alie-Cox | Sr. Korey Billburry (Oral Roberts) | |
| Jr. Jordan Burgess | Jr. Mo Alie-Cox | |
| Jr. Doug Brooks | Jr. Jordan Burgess | |
| Jr. JeQuan Lewis | Jr. Doug Brooks | |
| So. Michael Gilmore | Jr. JeQuan Lewis | |
| Jr. Ahmed Hamdy Mohamed (Lee College) | ||
| So. Justin Tillman | So. Michael Gilmore | |
| So. Jonathan Williams | So. Justin Tillman | |
| So. Jonathan Williams | ||
| Fr. Samir Doughty (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) | ||
| Fr. Gerron Scissum (Huntsville, Alabama) | ||
| Walk-On Torey Burston | Walk-On Torey Burston |
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Aaron Williams
Aaron Williams loves music, basketball (follow @rvaramnews!), family, learning, and barbecue sauce.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Thanks! was hoping someone would put this together.
Tevin Mack is now gone, he tweeted earlier today and now it is being reported at Richmond.com
This is obviously expected to a certain degree, though it will be disconcerting if Wade can’t keep any of the 3 signees. There’s always attrition with a new coach, but usually a coach will keep 1 or 2 of the players. Especially with Wade explicitly talking about using the same system, this feels like it may be a foreboding of future recruiting efforts.
I think this is the one sphere where I am worried Wade won’t be able to keep up with Smart. Shaka somehow convinced a top 50 player to come to VCU, which is fairly rare for mid-majors, and I don’t know that Wade will be able to do the same. Obviously, give him time, but this might signal a long-term return to pre-Shaka levels.
What a clueless post. Lots of championships in VCUs future.
Did I suggest that lots of championships aren’t in VCU’s future. The Rams return an unreal amount of firepower next season.
I was talking about jasons over the top negative post, not the article. The article is informative and straight forward. Thx
Nah Joe, I agree with Jason. Grew up in Michigan, I’m an MSU guy (just so you know, there’s zero reason for me to care about VCU one way or the other). I see this as exactly the sort of signal that VCU basketball is not going the way of the Gonzagas/Wichita States…but instead the way of Murray States and BYUs. That is to say, a team that will make the tourney, but no one will be talking about VCU in March anymore.
And Aaron- honestly man, not sure I can refer to VCU’s offense as “firepower”. If you took Traveon Graham out of the mix the past year, you were talking about 4 players standing on the perimeter looking at the guy with the ball, then Mo Alie Cox set a ball screen, and the guy would drive and make about 35% of those shots. Then you’d either get a rebound and a kick/layup, or you were back the other way. It was boring half-court offense. And without Briante, you’re not getting nearly as many turnovers…but that’s just me. I can understand why you might say the development of the returning players could produce something better, but what I see is more drop off than what you add (especially without Mack, and, probably, Kenny Williams)
Matthew,
Thanks for the insightful comment. That’s totally fair. Since Wade left VCU after 2013, VCU’s offense has struggled at times. To be honest, I’m excited for Wade to develop an offense that better utilizes VCU’s talents than what Smart ran for the past two seasons.
Aaron, thanks for this post and the information. Looking forward to November and more of your coverage of VCU basketball. This site is the first place I come to!
As for Matthew and Jason, please move on.
Shaka left. Now there’s a new coach who seems to be ready to tackle anything and everything coming his way – including teams who’ve found the answer to Shaka’s strategy. Oh, and he turned Tillman around before he left so now we have all the returning players. That’s better than Shaka was able to do after Grant left, right?!
And, if you ridicule someone for using the term “firepower” in regards to VCU’s returning offense, I seriously doubt you really watched any of the last season. When Graham was out of the mix (for whatever reason) and the other players were finally given the green light, the offense exploded. Can’t wait to see what they come up with in November.
Wait I can’t have a dissenting opinion on VCU basketball????
I respectfully disagree with Aaron, I didn’t ridicule him, and he responded respectfully as well. Good point Aaron about Wade + his offense. I think you’re right in that Wade has the potential to improve the offense. I think the biggest thing is what Jason said regarding recruiting. I just don’t see Wade having the ability to recruit nearly at Shaka’s level, but that’s (obviously) PURE speculation.
Even though Mack is going to be a good player, I don’t see his release as a drastic loss, especially with Larrier just being a sophmore.
I think Terry Larrier is going to be very important in trying to convince Kenny Williams to stay at VCU, as they have no chance in getting Murphy or Mack (In my opinion). Since, Larrier was a very high prospect coming out of high school like Williams, I think his advice would carry more weight then Wade, at rhis point. But, it will be difficult for VCU to recruit over UNC and Michigan.
I also think VCU will win the A10, if the rising sophomores can show the same level of improvement that Lewis and Allie-Cox showed this past season.
I agree that Wade will make the offense better. If VCU, can find a way to take (and make) good mid-range shots, they will be a force and a legitimate top 25 team.
Dear Greg- LOL.