When: Monday November 17 – 7:00 PM
Opponent: Virginia Commonwealth University Rams (Atlantic 10 Conference)
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 84-74 / NC State 86-78
VCU is a launch pad for D1 coaches. Their previous six head coaches (Ryan Odom -UVA, Mike Rhoades – PSU, our own Will Wade, Shaka Smart – Marq, Anthony Grant – Dayton, and Jeff Capel — Pitt). are current coaches, and 5 of 6 are P4. When Shaka Smart was hired at VCU, Will Wade was his first hire (2009-2013), Wade left there for his first head coaching job at Chattanooga (2013-2015), and then returned to follow Smart at VCU (2015-2017). He went 51-20 / 28-8 in two seasons, and took his team to the NCAA tournament both seasons, winning one game.
VCU is under new management again this season. Outbound coach Ryan Odom finished last season as the A-10 champions at 28-7 / 15-3 and with an NCAAT first round loss to BYU, before moving to UVA. (more about him in future episodes)
Phil Martelli Jr. moved south from Bryant (Rhode Island – admit it, you didn’t know where it was either) after finishing last season as the American East champion at 23-12 / 14-2 and with an NCAAT first round loss to Michigan State. That was Bryant’s second ever NCAA tournament appearance. He was named the American East and NABC Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year. He packed up those trophies and moved to Richmond. This will be his third season as a head coach.
VCU is picked to repeat as A-10 conference champions in preseason polls. Like every other coach these days, he had to build a mostly new roster after the Rams lost last season’s top five scorers, including Max Shulga the A-10 POY.
