VCU basketball racks up postseason awards

Zachary Holden
Staff Writer

After a very successful first season in the Atlantic 10, the VCU basketball program is garnering the postseason awards for both players and coach.

It was a season that included narrow losses to teams that made the Final Four and Elite Eight –Wichita State and Duke respectively – and a huge 32-point win over Butler that was, at one point, ranked as high as ninth in the country.

Now that the season has concluded, the team is getting its recognition.

Darius Theus was named to the Lefty Driesell Defensive All-American team after nabbing a total of 85 steals, helping VCU to an NCAA-leading 422 steals. It brought his career total to 237, second-highest in school history.

He will receive the award April 5th in Atlanta, Ga.

After setting a single-season school record and third-best in A-10 history 124 three-pointers, Troy Daniels was selected to the Reese’s College All-Star Game, following Bradford Burgess’ selection last season. He will also compete in the three-point contest held over the weekend of the Final Four.

Joining him from the A-10 will be Kwamain Mitchell from Saint Louis and Ramon Galloway from La Salle.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District squad honored Juvonte Reddic and Treveon Graham by naming Reddic to the first team and Graham to the second team.

Reddic finished the season with 11 double-doubles and reached the 1,000-point mark this season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Akron. Graham led the team in scoring, averaging 15.1 points per game, and ranked in the top-15 in conference for rebounds per game at 5.8.

The two were an integral part of VCU’s offense each night and their honoring is well deserved.

To top off the first season in a new conference, Shaka Smart was named Richmond Times-Dispatch coach of the year.

Smart has led VCU to three straight years of NCAA Tournament wins, as well as a taking the CBI tournament in his first year as coach.

Smart also guaranteed his future at VCU by agreeing to a contract extension that will keep him in Richmond until 2023.