VCU’s players embracing hotels, road-warrior mentality
VCU assistant coach Will Wade (out of focus, foreground) dives for a ball in a drill with the squad (in focus, background) Thursday (Photo by Chris Conway/The CT)
Jim Swing
Sports Editor
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When it comes to the topic of where he likes to sleep, VCU forward Bradford Burgess prefers staying at hotels. You see, the Rams’ lone senior said where he usually lays his head at night just isn’t as luxurious.
“I’d rather be at the hotel,” the Midlothian native mused. “My bed’s not at nice.”
Luckily for Burgess, VCU head coach Shaka Smart has him covered as the team is staying at a hotel outside of Richmond for the duration of the CAA Tournament. Smart said it’s a regularity for most teams even when their conference tournament is located in their school’s city. He said it’s a tactic used for hone in on the task at hand.
“Just sharpening focus,” Smart said. “Trying to get into a routine of wake up, eat shoot around, eat, play, meeting, go to sleep. Got to keep everyone together.”
Junior guard Troy Daniels said the oddity of spending the weekend in a hotel just outside of VCU isn’t that odd at all.
“Road warriors, just like we’re on the road,” Daniels said. “It’s nothing different, we’re just in a hotel.”
Another tactic Smart has implemented involves staying loose as a team. Last March the 34-year old Smart caught the eye of the national media – among many reasons – for doing the so-called Iron Man drill that involves taking a charge in practice, then diving for a loose ball headed out of bounds.
Thursday afternoon’s practice at the Richmond Coliseum called for a similar prescription. In the closing minutes of practice, VCU players bulked together at halfcourt– with freshman Briante Weber front and center– rolling the basketball toward the sidelines while graduate assistants and the coaching staff dove after each ball.
Of course, the head man himself got involved eventually, slashing toward the sideline and grabbing the loose ball before it went out. The horde of players erupted each time a coach or assistant hauled in a ball as practice suddenly shifted to leisure. Having fun and staying loose has been a running approach for Smart and his teams over the past three years.
“It’s just having fun out there,” Daniels said. “Basketball is just a game and Coach Smart really emphasizes that in practice but at the same time he wants to win so we just stay in attack and have fun at the same time.”
