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CAA Tournament Preview

F.T. Rea
editor@corp.richmond.com
Published: March 3, 2008

March Madness is almost here and Richmond is once again playing host to the Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball championship. Twelve teams from up and down the East Coast will vie for the coveted CAA trophy and a chance to make their way up the NCAA tournament ladder to the Final Four.

In recent years, thanks to the success of past CAA champions in the national tournament, the CAA has garnered a lot of attention as a rising mid-major conference. This year, expect similar if not increased attention by the national media.

To help get you in the March Madness spirit for the tournament, we are taking an in depth look at each of the 12 teams in the CAA.

This time, we take an in-depth look at Virginia Commonwealth University .

Record : 23-6 overall (15-3 in conference)

Coach : Anthony Grant (second season)

Players to watch : Junior Eric Maynor (17.8 points per game) and senior Jamal Shuler (15.6 ppg)

Season summary : VCU is young, but consistently pulled out wins this season. Riding off their high of beating Duke in the NCAA tournament last year, coach Grant wasn't afraid to mix things up with the starting lineup.

How they'll win : They'll be the team to beat if they keep doing what they've done all season – play tough defense and hit the three.

Reality check : They're the team to beat. Now's not the time for the inexperience to show through.

Virginia Commonwealth University is headed into the Colonial Athletic Association tournament this week as the No. 1 seed.

Head coach Anthony Grant has used nine different starting lineups this season. Only junior Eric Maynor and senior Jamal Shuler have started all 29 games.

Grant's young team is deep -- he's been employing an 11-man rotation, five of which are freshman. But no matter who has been on the floor at any given moment the Rams opponents' have had to face smothering defense for the entire game, the trademark of Grant's style in his two years at VCU.

This season VCU led the CAA in scoring defense, field goal defense, three-point defense and steals. The Rams were second in blocked shots. VCU led the nation in its defense of three-pointers, allowing a stingy 26.6 percent completion rate per game.

Put that together with the fact the Rams also led the CAA with the best shooting percentage in completing treys (37.9 percent), and it's easy to see why VCU likes to spread the court and use its quickness at both ends of the floor. Much of every game Grant has had three guards on the court.

The team is led in scoring by Eric Maynor and Jamal Shuler. They are the only players averaging more than 10 points and more than 30 minutes of playing time per contest. Maynor is the betting favorite to win the CAA's Player of the Year Award on Thursday night at the conference's awards banquet. Shuler is a lock to be listed among the CAA's best 10 players when the all-star team is announced.

Beyond those two reliable performers, the offense has come from whoever else is hot that given day; the defense has come from everyone in the game. If you don't play the tough "D" for Grant, you simply don't play.

Two other players of particular note to watch are both freshmen – guard Joey Rodriguez and forward Larry Sanders . Quick as a cat on defense, Rodriguez has twice recorded seven steals in a game. Sanders has blocked as many as nine shots in a game.

Last season Grant inherited a squad that had terrific leadership from its two senior guards, B.A. Walker and Jesse Pellot-Rosa. After defeating Duke in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA tournament, the season ended with a heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh in the second round.

This year, with seven freshmen on his roster, Grant has experimented much more with his lineup, tinkering with a variety of combinations all year. Unlike most coaches do by mid-season, he didn't settle on seven or eight guys. But throughout the experimentation process, the Rams have consistently worn their opponents down with their hustle and depth.

Of the difference between coaching this year's team in March and back in November, Grant speaks of knowing the team now, so in practice he and his staff have been able to "narrow the focus" of what they stress.

The Rams have won four consecutive games and eight of the nine they played in February.

Since joining the CAA in 1995, the Rams have won the conference's regular season crown three times (1995-96, 2003-04, 2006-07). Each time VCU also went on to take the CAA postseason tournament's crown and the automatic ticket to the Big Dance that comes with it.

VCU will begin tournament play at noon Saturday, facing the winner of the Hofstra (12-17, 8-10 in CAA) vs. Towson (12-17, 7-11 in CAA) contest.