The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 64 is VCU basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of VCU basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 1
- Elite Eights: 1
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 14
- Bids: 21
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 20.5
- Bids per season: 0.40
- AP Polls: 34
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 9
- Conference Players of the Year: 8
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 14
- Conference tournament titles: 12
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 1
Overall scoop on VCU basketball
VCU is one of those programs that will always be known for one distinct run in March Madness. In 2011, out of the CAA, the Rams were picked as an at-large team. Many experts thought they shouldn’t have even been close to getting into the field. But Shaka Smart and the Rams proved everyone wrong, going from the First Four to the Final Four and getting to the national semis for the first and only time in program history. Amazingly, only one player on the team, Troy Daniels, would later get drafted into the NBA. And Daniels didn’t even play a big part on the squad.
But VCU has had plenty of players go on to have successful careers in the Association. Bones Hyland, Eric Maynor, and Larry Sanders are the most notable.
They’ve also had other successful seasons and wins in March. In fact, the Rams have made the NCAA Tournament in 40% of their D1 seasons, an insane rate for any program, let alone one that isn’t a Power 5 team. 12 of those bids came since Smart took over in 2009, with other notable coaches like Will Wade, Mike Rhoades, and Ryan Odom leading them there. They also got to the dance last season in year one of Phil Martelli Jr.
Before Smart, VCU was still a good program. Jeff Capel and Anthony Grant had them competitive in the early 2000s, really setting up Smart for success. And in the 80s, JD Barnett took the Rams to the NCAA Tournament five times, as they competed in the Sun Belt and were one of the best programs in that conference. In fact, since going D1 in 1973, the Rams have had 13 head coaches. All of them finished with winning records with the program. Seven even had winning percentages of .700 or better. As a program, VCU is at .657. Just ridiculous success over a long period of time.
And that’s another thing about VCU – they’ve always been highly competitive in whatever conference they’ve played in. The Rams have won 14 regular season conference titles, spread out amongst the Sun Belt, CAA, and A-10.
With VCU, the sky really is the limit. They’ve virtually always been good, and since Smart, you really expect them to be in the picture each season, whether or not they win the A-10 Tournament. Dare I say, Gonzaga East?