Huh? TJ, Ric, ST,  Nick and Jon are still in the cupboard and arguably what this team will see as it;s leaders. ALl have been to the dance. Nice part is that every one of those kids can transition to a new system and role fairly easy with their skill sets and motivations. Probably more versatile and utility oriented than the players leaving this year.

Jon is the most limited but also has the summer to upgrade shooting and making plays off the dribble (that is intentionally singular). . The rest are guys who are athletic and can play and guard a couple of positions....whether it is an uptempo or half court offense.

I am interested also in how the summer gets treated by this coach. TOS always brought guys in early and then sent them home for a month before sept. JG had them up basically all summer . Time of building, conditioning and teaching. These young bigs are gonna need a solid summer experience to make the jump.
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Well, thanks, Akron, the monkey is now off our back, you got beat in the NCAA tournament worse than Ohio in 1970:

Mideast

n/a

Ohio

James Snyder

First round

Notre Dame

L 112-82

Austin Carr before he blew out his knee.

You are spot on about the "VCU System" and recruiting for the system. The VCU team conducts Navy Seal trainning during the offseason to meet the physical and mental demands of their system.

VCU is now ready to break ground on a new 10 million dollar practice facility.  The entire VCU campus has had a massive amout of growth and renovation since I moved to Richmond in 1988.  Much of this was during the time period when President McDavis was the provost and Dr. Eugene Trani was the president of the University.

I do not expect to see Smart leave VCU anytime soon.  Both Jeff Capel fired from Oklahoma and Anthony Grant (Alabama) have not fared well after leaving VCU.  Both have lost at VCU when they returned with their new team.  Richmond and Greater Richmond has a lot to offer in terms of recruiting and being a nice place to raise your children.  Within 90 miles of Washington DC, Virginia Beach / Outer Banks and the Blueridge mountains.  The Smarts have a new Baby and his wife is a very talented person and had two big wins last night with her alma mater Harvard winning. She also has a degree from Northwestern.

www.playerwives.com/miscellaneous-sports/ncaa/vcus-head-coach-shaka-smarts-wife-maya-payne-smart/

I think there's something to be said for "play to your strengths, not to your opponents weaknesses." We are not a pressing team, we haven't been all year.  So press the whole MAC title game?  That's like telling a football team with the best passing offense in the league that you need to run the ball the whole game against an opponent because they struggle to stop it.  Don't get away from who and what you are when it got you all the way to the finals of the MAC tourney. 

As for Akron...way to go, boys.  All respect we earned for the MAC in the NCAA tourney the last three years was out the window after 25 minutes of that debacle last night.  #ThinkBigger, as in biggest 12 seed loss to a 5 seed in the history of the tournament. 

Wingfield is hindered by the system he plays in. They run three small guards, Wingfield as a point-forward type player and then the big man Johnson down low. Could be a reason why he wasn't noticed earlier. But as others have said, he would have gotten a lot of late interest if he hadn't signed with us.

If you're petty and small, then I'm in the same camp.  I'm not afraid to admit that I enjoyed all kinds of #ThinkBigger mocking last night.

Or it had zero effect.

I do agree with your overall point, but I do have to say that it has been tough for Stevie to show much of anything while backing up DJ and only getting spot minutes.  I actually thought he was a spark off the bench against Denver, but was only played for 6 minutes the entire game.

Agreed.  We are in now way being left with a bare cupboard.  Are we losing a great senior class?  Yes.  But we have 5 guys that have been on campus for at least 3 years coming back.  We also have Green (4th year in college) and Stetty(3rd year in college).  Wilkins will be a senior as well.  We will have some growing pains as player figure out their new roles but we have enough experience that someone will step up. 

You guys are right on second thought, it's not a bare cupboard.  I failed to consider how these supporting cast members might do when provided the opportunity to play greater roles, along with another off-season of growth.  STILL, I think when you lose as many points, minutes and leadership as we did, help from this incoming class is crucial.  I still consider Willis and Setty part of the incoming class since the casual fan has no idea what they bring to the table.  To be a contender for the MAC, we will obviously need a lot of current members to step it up in their new roles + some new guys filling some big shoes in a short amount of time as I don't think what we have coming back with out some significant help is going to be enough to get it done.