By Paul Gotham
Shaka Smart likes Mark Twain references.
Virginia Commonwealth’s fifth-year coach may want to add this one to the repertoire: “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.”
The distortion is what VCU’s Havoc defense does to opposing game plans.
When the Rams open their season Friday night, fans can expect the same – a dizzying pressure defense which staggers opponents.
How far that defense takes the Rams this year is yet to be seen. Where it starts is clear.
“Briante Weber is the poster child for who they are,” ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg said during a pre-season media conference call. “He has the ability to disrupt at every level: on the ball, off the ball, in the full court turning people’s heads, getting in the passing lanes.”
The two-time Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year set a conference record and led the nation with 121 steals a year ago (the next closest was UCLA’s Jordan Adams with 95). He needs just 90 more steals to reach the all-time NCAA mark of 385.
“They’re a team that comes at you in waves,” Greenberg added. “It’s his ability to set that tone and basically set the level where everyone else has got to play at his intensity.”
Treveon Graham joins Weber as a returning starter. The senior guard-forward led VCU with 15.8 points a game in 2013-14. He also added seven rebounds and two assists.
“People talk about his pro status and is he a great NBA athlete?” Fellow ESPN analyst Jay Bilas commented. “I’m not worried about that. He’s a great college player is what he is.”
Melvin Johnson made seven starts last year. He led the Rams with 66 3-pointers, but a sprained knee in the A-10 semi-finals shortened his season. VCU missed his outside threat in the NCAA Tournament when they lost to Stephen F. Austin in the second round.
“He’s poised to have a good year for them,” Greenberg said of Johnson.
Mo Alie-Cox should more than fill void in the paint left behind by the graduation of Juvonte Reddic. The 6-6, 250 lbs. Alie-Cox logged double-digit minutes in 10 of VCU’s last 11 games a year ago.
“One of the nice things will be watching the emergence of Mo Alie-Cox, who is one of the better interior defenders in the country,” Bilas stated. “He plays like a Kenneth Faried type player.”
The Alexandria, Va. Native grabbed 10 rebounds as VCU opened the A-10 tournament with a win over cross-town rival, Richmond. He turned in a workmanlike performance the next day with seven-rebounds and eight-points when VCU downed George Washington, 74-55.
“Mo Alie-Cox is going to be an exciting guy to watch,” Greenberg added. “He’s an under-sized guy with ridiculously long arms.”
After making just one NCAA Tournament appearance in the 90s, VCU has made four straight trips to the Big Dance including 2011 when Shaka Smart’s club went from First Four to Final Four. The Rams, who many thought did not deserve a bid, opened at the University of Dayton Arena with a first round win over USC, 59-46. VCU went on to knock off Georgetown (74-56), Purdue (94-76), Florida State (72-71 OT) and Kansas (71-61) before falling to Butler in the national semi-final, 70-62.
Do the Rams have another run in them this year?
“A lot is going to be determined by how Briante Weber plays at the point,” Bilas stated. “He’s so good defensively. If he can match the offense as well as he points the defense, they’ll be really good again. I don’t think they’ve been that far away in the last few…This year they’ve got a really good opportunity because they’ve got really good depth. They got guys who can shoot it. They’ve got size.”
“For me it’s more about those players buying into the culture. Greenberg explained. “When they get in the tournament, if they get past the first day, they are hard to beat the second day. They are such a tough preparation on the second day of weekend. That to me is why when they get into the tournament, they’re potentially a tough out. You can prepare for that opening game. You can simulate their style of practice for three days. But you sure can’t simulate it in 36 hours. That’s what makes them so difficult.”
VCU opens against Tennessee Friday night in the inaugural Veteran’s Classic at the U.S. Naval Academy.
“We’re always excited to take the court,” Smart said during his weekly press conference. “There’s those coaches, I guess they call them basketball purists. They like practice more than the game. That’s not me. I like the game because it gives us an opportunity to see how much we can carry over what we’ve worked on.”
“Briante is a unique player,” Smart said. “You don’t just replace him. Basketball is a team game. It’s never been about one guy around here. Certainly not expecting our guys to do anything other than compete as best they can. Hopefully depth is a strength for us. It gives other guys a chance to step up. We’d love to have him out there. Certainly needs to learn a lesson from this game.”
Weber was recently named to the 2015 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award Watch List.
VCU and Tennessee tip off at 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
Last year, Smart quoted Twain when he said: “There are lies, damn lies and statistics.”
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