Press Box: Reflecting on men’s basketball following an A-10 Championship
Illustration by Killian Goodale-Porter.
Drew Thompson, Staff Writer
Since the VCU men’s basketball season has come to an end, there is no time like the present to take a look back on how its season panned out.
The season as a whole can undoubtedly be called a success. In preseason conference polls, VCU was slated to finish first in the conference, according to the Atlantic 10.
VCU met these expectations, winning a share of the regular season title and finishing as the one seed in the conference heading into the Atlantic 10 tournament.
The beginning of VCU’s season seemed to be everything fans wanted and more, with the Rams winning their first four games by double-digit margins. However, a loss to a poor Seton Hall University team would slightly derail this momentum causing a two-game losing skid. Their non-conference games were mostly positive though, going 10-3 during this time.
VCU’s start to the A-10 conference schedule would not start as smoothly. The VCU Rams first conference opponent was St. Bonaventure University, a team that has proven to be a thorn in VCU’s side for previous seasons.
The Bonnies once again showed they are the Rams kryptonite for the time being, winning a two-point nailbiter and starting VCU at 0-1 in the A-10.
VCU bounced back going on a six-game win streak, capping it off with a win over St. Bonaventure at home to avenge its previous loss, according to VCU Athletics.
A similar story would befall VCU however, as a road loss to Saint Louis University seemingly disrupted their momentum and broke the win streak.
VCU took this loss in stride and went on a nine-game winning streak, going undefeated in the month of February in the process.
Around that time was when graduate student guard Max Shulga really began to make his mark and separate himself as the clear favorite to win A-10 player of the year, an award he would later take home.
Shulga won player of the week halfway through February after dominant performances over the University of Massachusetts and George Mason University, according to VCU Athletics.
During this conference stretch, first-year forward Luke Bamgboye truly began to step into his own, solidifying himself as an elite shot blocker with a bright future. Bamgboye swatted a career-high seven blocks against UMass and scored a career-high 17 points against Davidson College a few weeks later, according to RealGM.
VCU would be thwarted in its final game of the season with a chance to go undefeated at home however. The University of Dayton came to the Siegel Center and left with a close win, dampening spirits heading into the A-10 tournament.
The Rams did not let this loss affect them and finished on a strong note, winning the conference championship after a slugfest in the final against two-seed GMU. This marked the third time VCU has won the A-10 Conference Championship, and sent them to the NCAA tournament for the 13th time since 2005, according to Sports Reference.
VCU would go on to lose in round one of the NCAA tournament against six-seed Brigham Young University 80-71 in Denver, Colorado on March 20.
I think that the VCU basketball experience was undeniably a great one this season. The team certainly did not reach the highs that the 2010-2011 team did, but this is probably the best team VCU has had since then.
The Rams spent a large majority of their year on the cusp of many elite programs, sitting inside the top 50 in KenPom and having statistics rank among some of the best in the nation.
There is no time like the present to be a VCU Ram. I believe that VCU men’s basketball will only get better from here on out, and we will see even more plentiful success moving forward.
