I’M ASSUMING THIS IS HOW GRADUATES FEEL

I’m assuming this is how VCU student-athletes will feel at graduation on Saturday. In fact, I want to see people spinning their way down sidewalks and gallivanting into Siegel Center.

THIS GAVE ME CHILLS

I could watch this 100 times. Go USA. Go Boston.

THIS DAY IN VCU HISTORY: HAVOC IS BORN

Four years ago today, near mid-court of the Verizon Wireless Arena – underneath where a Final Four banner would soon hang – Havoc was born.

On April 2, 2009, Shaka Smart was introduced as head coach of the VCU Men’s Basketball program, to which we all answered, “who is Shaka Smart again?” Four years later, the man has a higher Q rating than RGIII (okay, slight embellishment) and could run for mayor of Richmond tomorrow (probably not an exaggeration). The Rams are 111-37 under Smart with three straight NCAA bids and a Final Four appearance. Meanwhile, Havoc, Smart’s trademark full-court press defense and opportunistic, up-tempo offense, is an integral piece of the Richmond lexicon, right up there with BBQ and Brown’s Island.

Happy Havoc Day.

FROM AUBURN HILLS…

#RamNation getting warmed up at pre-game pep rally! #PeppaEffect #LetsGoVCU twitter.com/jonpalumbo/sta…

— Jon Palumbo (@jonpalumbo) March 21, 2013

 

From the pep rally, via Greg Burton telly.com/9OB174 via @telly #LetsGoVCU

— Around The Horns (@VCUHorns) March 21, 2013

Stickered Logan #letsgovcu twitter.com/DeanHoffmeyer/…

— Dean Hoffmeyer (@DeanHoffmeyer) March 21, 2013

YOUR VCU CELEBRITY STARTING FIVE

The photo I posted yesterday got a bajillion views, but people noted that I forgot Drake. My bad. He has now been placed among the other great celebrities to don the black and gold. Not a bad starting five, eh? Plenty of size with Snoop and Bilas, Leo was in the “Basketball Diaries”, so I feel okay with him running the point. I feel like Spike Lee would be a mad dog defender at the 2-3 in the mold of Bruce Bowen. Drake, I’m just going to assume he can fill it up at one of the guard spots.

If you are a celebrity and want to get on board for March, feel free to visit our official VCU team store here.

A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTOESSAY

A QUICK BARCLAYS PHOTO ESSAY

PRACTICE FACILITY CHUGS AHEAD ON HEELS OF $3 MILLION MWV PARTNERSHIP

A rendering of the front of the VCU Basketball Complex (click to enlarge).

RICHMOND, Va. – The VCU Basketball Complex, a state-of-the-art, multimillion dollar practice facility, returned the forefront Monday with the announcement of a $3 million donation toward the project from MeadWestvaco (MWV). Artist renderings of the outside of the complex were also released publicly for the first time (see here).

Monday afternoon, VCU Director of Athletics Ed McLaughlin said the department hopes to break ground on the facility this spring or summer and would take approximately 20 months to complete. The total cost of the project has not been finalized. The complex will be located primarily on what is known as the UU Lot adjacent the Stuart C. Siegel Center, the Sports Medicine Building and the Bowe Street parking deck. McLaughlin said the partnership with MWV has brought the practice facility one step closer to reality.

“In terms of a start, it’s a tremendous start for us,” McLaughlin said. “It really gets the momentum going as well. People look and say, ‘this practice facility is going to be real’, and it is, and before it was thought about how great it would be to have one. And this makes it real.”

The VCU Basketball Complex will replace Franklin Street Gym, which has served as the primary practice home for the Rams’ men’s team since the early days of Anthony Grant’s tenure in 2006. It also serves as an occasional practice venue for women’s hoops, volleyball and others. In recent years, VCU has taken steps to upgrade Franklin Street Gym, but the new facility is clearly on a different level, one which could be a centerpiece in recruiting.

“It is, next to Coach [Shaka] Smart and our student-athletes, it’s the most important piece of our program and it will be moving forward,” McLaughlin added. “If you look at the success without having it that we’ve been able to have…I think the sky’s the limit for us as a program having this facility.”

The donation from MWV is the largest in the history of the VCU Department of Athletics and will be paid over a 10-year period. It is the first major pledge announced toward the new practice facility, but surely won’t be the last.

“It’s a huge help. It shows commitment. It shows how important a facility like this is for a program,” McLaughlin said. “And a corporation like MeadWestvaco, who’s a tremendous community partner in Richmond, they see the value in it, so when people who know business see value in it, that helps you a lot.”

MeadWestvaco is a Richmond-based paper, packaging and office-product giant that employs more than 20,000 and may be best known for its Mead, Five Star and Cambridge paper products. The company formed in 2002 as the result of a merger between Mead and Westvaco in 2002.

MWV AND PRACTICE FACILITY RENDERINGS

The front of the VCU Basketball Complex facing outward towards Broad Street.

The rear of the VCU Basketball complex, viewed from Marshall Street.

In conjunction with today’s announcement of MeadWestvaco’s $3 million donation towards VCU’s new basketball practice facility, here are artist’s renderings of the complex, released today. Obviously these could change as the process moves forward, but this gives you a taste of the state-of-the-art facility, which will sit in what is currently the UU Lot, situated between the Siegel Center, the Bowe Street parking deck and the Sports Medicine Building. Director of Athletics Ed McLaughlin said today that VCU hopes to break ground on the facility in the spring or summer, and that it would take around 20 months to construct.

More from McLaughlin coming up…

BEST TRICK SHOT VIDEO. EVER.

I’m not sure I need to add commentary to this. Best trick shot video I’ve seen.