YOUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO VCU BASKETBALL FIRST PITCHES

Over the years, as VCU Basketball has gained steam, so too have requests to have Rams throw out first pitches at baseball games. I’m still waiting on first puck drop calls. I know a spike is coming soon. Anyway, here we examine each Rams’ performance on the diamond.

Shaka Smart (Chicago Cubs, 2011)

Shaka Smart isn’t a large man by any means, but that didn’t stop guys like Billy Wagner from bringing the heat. Unfortunately for Smart, it kind of did. No matter, Smart has pretty good form here as he paints the inside corner. Good snap on the arm. I think he’s falling away to the left a bit, but that’s something the coaching staff can correct during side sessions.
Bonus/demerits: Bonuses for throwing from the rubber, throwing to a VCU guy (Sean Marshall), being at Wrigley Field, the custom jersey (is he wearing No. 91? Channeling Dennis Rodman?), and singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

JUST ANOTHER GAME? RICHMOND MATCH-UP LOOMS

VCU is 2-1 against Richmond during senior Darius Theus’ career.

RICHMOND, Va. – For a night, battle lines are drawn somewhere around Staples Mill Road. It’s West End versus Downtown when Richmond and VCU meet on the basketball court.

“I remember when I got the job here, several people came up to me and told me, I don’t care how you do all season, except you’ve got to beat Old Dominion and Richmond, and so I never forgot when they said that,” recalled VCU Coach Shaka Smart Tuesday.

In recent years, as both programs have risen to national prominence – VCU’s Final Four run in 2011 cemented its status, while Richmond’s Sweet 16 berth the same year did the same – so too has this long-running rivalry.

It’s always been a contentious fight, but lately, the stars have aligned to add flavor to this rivalry. In addition to each school’s NCAA tournament success, 19^th-ranked VCU (16-3, 4-0 A-10) and Richmond (12-7, 2-2 A-10) are conference foes once again this season. A win is worth more than local bragging rights. It can alter the course of the Atlantic 10 Conference race.

Fans on both sides of the rivalry cast their stones annually, sometimes enough to whip players and coaches into the fervor. Smart said recently that in past years, players like Joey Rodriguez, known for his penchant for absorbing Internet chatter, and Richmond-native Brandon Rozzell enjoyed the buzz around town for games like this.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T IS SPELLED E.S.P.Y.

‘sup?

FORMER RAMS RETURN TO VCU FOR SUMMER WORKOUTS

GRADUATION…SWAG

Really nice video here from VCURamNation.com, which gave Joey Rodriguez, Brandon Rozzell and Ed Nixon a camera to use during graduation. Special guest appearances in this video by Larry Sanders, Shaka Smart, Anthony Grant, Darius Theus, the back of Troy Daniels’ head and others.

RULE OF (THE) THREE

Bradford Burgess has hit 13-of-22 3-point attempts (.591) in five NCAA Tournament games.

RICHMOND, Va. – I have to confess, “You live by the three, you die by the three,” might be my most-hated sports cliché. What does that even mean? Will excessive long-range shooting spark the ire of wild dogs? Will the hoisting of triples unleash marauding Vikings?

I get it. If a team forgets about the inside game and focuses too heavily on “low percentage” shots, it’ll be in trouble when a shooting slump takes hold. I suppose that’s correct, that balance is best. But – and this is the 12-year-old pretending to be Mark Price version of myself talking – isn’t this way more fun?

VCU’s five-game blitz to the NCAA Final Four has been fueled, in part, by impressive 3-point shooting. The Rams have hit 44 percent (53-of-121) from long range in the tournament. In wins over Georgetown, Florida State and Kansas, VCU knocked down 12 3-pointers. The Rams’ previous season-best had been 11, reached 10 times. Against top-seeded Kansas, the Rams hit 9-of-11 3-pointers in the first half and built an 18-point cushion on the way to a 71-61 victory.

That’s not to say that VCU hasn’t been productive in other areas. In the tournament, the opposition is shooting 39 percent from the field, including 23 percent from 3-point range. The Rams also hold a plus-4.0 turnover margin, so defense has been a big part of the equation. But on offense, the talk has been all about the three.

RAMS SOAK IT IN NEWFOUND ATTENTION, SHARPEN FOCUS

RICHMOND, Va. – Brandon Rozzell had to leave his biology lab a few minutes early Tuesday. After speaking with his professor, he made his way towards the door. As he did, the class gave him a standing ovation. It’s safe to say things are different here than a week ago.

The VCU campus may look the same, but it’s been changed by the men’s basketball team’s remarkable run to the Sweet 16. The Rams defeated USC, Georgetown and Purdue in convincing fashion last week to earn a Southwest Region quarterfinal matchup with Florida State on Friday in San Antonio. Seeded 11^th in their region, the Rams have become the Cinderella story of March Madness, energizing VCU’s downtown campus. VCU returned from Chicago on Sunday evening and the response on campus and in the media has been unprecedented.

“It’s been great,” said senior Ed Nixon. “Ram Nation. Love them. People have been honking horns on our way to class and just congratulating us. It’s been great.”

By the time Sports Information Director Scott Day boarded the team bus following VCU’s win over Purdue, he had 30 interview requests. As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, that number had ballooned to 129. No one has been spared. Even freshmen Reco McCarter and Heath Houston, who are redshirting and have not appeared in a game this season, have been requested. Players have been bombarded by congratulatory texts and phone calls.

WOW FACTOR: RAMS SHRED PURDUE, MARCH INTO SWEET 16 FOR FIRST TIME

Joey Rodriguez scored 12 points and had 11 assists in Sunday's win over Purdue

CHICAGO – Ed Nixon tried to craft his best composed, politically correct, answer, but teammate Brandon Rozzell wasn’t having any of it. As Nixon tried to describe how it felt to be headed to the Sweet 16, the first such trip in VCU history, Rozzell – amidst a jubilant locker room celebration – butted into the conversation.

“Woooooowwww. Wow,” Rozzell blurted.

Far from an eloquent, but dead on in its raw emotion and simplicity, Rozzell’s sentiment was essentially perfect. Wow.

Playing their third NCAA Tournament game in five days, the 11^th-seeded Rams shot 57 percent from the field to shred third-seeded Purdue’s vaunted defense in an NCAA Tournament third round 94-76 victory.

Make no mistake, this was the biggest win in VCU history. There’s room for you to debate whether Eric Maynor’s “Dagger” against Duke was a more memorable moment or whether the powerhouse squads of the J.D. Barnett era in the early 80’s were better from top to bottom, but there is no dispute that Sunday’s victory was the program’s greatest.

Superior defense keyed VCU in first and second round wins over USC and Georgetown, respectively, but the Rams’ triumph over Purdue highlighted a multifaceted, up-tempo offense clicking on all cylinders. The Boilermakers boasted one of the top defenses in the Big Ten and had allowed more than 80 points once this season, but the Rams made Purdue look ordinary, and, at times, even helpless.

ROZZELL AN ‘X’ FACTOR FOR VCU

CHICAGO – Who’d have thought Brandon Rozzell’s broken shooting hand, which cost him a chunk of his senior season, could be viewed as a good thing. Rozzell certainly didn’t feel that way at the time of the injury, but after scorching Georgetown with six 3-pointers and 26 points in a convincing, 74-56 NCAA Second Round victory Friday night, he might start at look at it differently.

“It’s funny, because the first person I talked to after the game is my father, and he mentioned the hand injury,” Rozzell, who missed eight games with the hand injury, said. “All he could talk about is how the injury helped me sit out and get my legs back into my shot. So, I guess he looked at it a different way.”

Rozzell certainly had his legs under him Friday when he bombed 6-of-10 from long distance to lead a 12-of-25 VCU shooting performance from beyond the arc.

It was a moment that also clarified how important Rozzell is to this team. When he’s on, the Rams are a dangerous foe. VCU is 4-1 this season when Rozzell scores at least 20 points.

NCAA NOTEBOOK 1.0

Joey Rodriguez looks on during VCU's NCAA open practice Tuesday.

RAMS HOPE TO DRAW ON 2009 EXPERIENCE
DAYTON, Ohio – In 20 years, the four remaining players from VCU’s 2009 NCAA Tournament team – seniors Joey Rodriguez, Ed Nixon and Brandon Rozzell, as well as junior Bradford Burgess – may look back fondly on that experience, but now, even two years later, it’s still a sore subject. In that contest, the Rams made a valiant second-half rally against UCLA, but lost a 65-64 decision when Eric Maynor’s final jumper fell short at the buzzer.

“I just remember The last shot and how we lost,” said Burgess. “It was a great game. We were down big and came back and made a run in the second half. We just didn’t pull it out.”

Rodriguez and Burgess were starters on that squad. Rodriguez’s memories of that night in Philadelphia are similarly jaded.

“Every time I think about that game I think about the ending,” Rodriguez, who scored eight points and dished out two assists in that game, said.  I remember how we came back and that last play by Eric, that last shot. It just frustrates me. I remember the feeling in the locker room after too, it was Eric’s last game and how emotional it was for everybody.”

As much as it still hurts, that experience may prove valuable for the Rams, who are aiming for VCU’s first NCAA win since 2007 when when they take on USC Wednesday at 9 p.m. at University of Dayton Arena.

“I remember how much it hurt to lose, so I really don’t want to experience that again,” commented Nixon.

“We always wanted to get back here and now we’re back here with a chance against another Pac-10 team and we want to try to go at them,” Rodriguez said.

VCU’s four NCAA veterans can also provide leadership for some of the team’s younger players, who otherwise might get caught up in the production that is the NCAA Tournament.

“We just tell them don’t get caught up in the media. It’s just a game,” Nixon said. “It’s do or die, so we’ve got to do it from the start.”