Not too Smart

[Halldan1]

Unfortunately VCU is taking it on the chin big time possibly losing 2 top 100 recruits.




Jeff Borzello, College Basketball Recruiting Reporter


Top-50 recruit Tevin Mack has been released from his letter of intent to VCU, sources told ESPN.com.

Mack, a 6-foot-7 small forward from Dreher High School (Columbia, South Carolina), is ranked No. 47 in the ESPN 100. He committed to the Rams in November, choosing them over the likes of Connecticut, South Carolina and Georgia.

With Mack back on the market, all three members of VCU's recruiting class now have received their release in the aftermath of Shaka Smart's departure to become the head coach at Texas. Freshman forward Justin Tillman also was given his release, Tillman's father told ESPN's Jeff Goodman on Tuesday.

Mack is likely the only one with a chance to follow Smart to Texas, and sources have indicated it's an option.

Kenny Williams (No. 81 in the ESPN 100) was given his release last week, but sources told ESPN.com that he could end up looking around and returning to VCU. Williams chose the Rams over North Carolina last summer.

Three-star Jordan Murphy, a native of Texas, has received interest from UCLA, Indiana, Miami, Gonzaga, Fresno State, Minnesota and others, according to D1 Ambassadors AAU coach Max Ivany.

Will Wade, a former VCU assistant who was the head coach at Chattanooga the past two seasons, replaced Smart earlier this month.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12690580/recruit-tevin-mack-released-letter-intent-vcu

 

[Hall91]

will be interesting to see if VCU remains relevant now that Smart is gone. VCU really came out of no where a few years ago when Smart got them to the final 4. Quick sucsess, elevated conference status; all pretty much due to Smart sticking with the program.

Now that he is gone, VCU in a real bind to go out and spend big to try to maintain what they've become. Won't be easy.

 

[Halldan1]

Great, great fan base. That will always help them but with Smart gone the obvious conclusion will be a strong mid major at best. But not anywhere near what they were under the former coach.

Possibly losing two top 100 players and another 3 star recruit is a brutal blow to the program.

 

[SHUSource]

Originally posted by Halldan1:
Great, great fan base. That will always help them but with Smart gone the obvious conclusion will be a strong mid major at best. But not anywhere near what they were under the former coach.

Hard to say how it goes. Everyone had their fingers crossed for Gonzaga when Dan Monson left for Minnesota. The same went for Xavier when they lost Pete Gillen/Skip Prosser/Sean MIller/etc. All they've done since is manage to join a major conference and keep winning.

In football everyone feared for Boise State after Dan Hawkins left for Colorado, and unknown Chris Petersen took over.

 

[JIMSOULS]

VCU was excellent not only under Smart (163-56), but also under Anthony Grant (75-25) and Jeff Capel (79-41). In fact, they're 842-476 since the program started in 1968. Most schools would kill for that kind of history. While it hurts losing Smart, there's no reason to think they won't carry forth as a winning program. VCU I similar to Xavier in that they don't make mistakes when it comes to hiring men's basketball coaches. They realize that it's their bread-and-butter sport.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

vcu beat duke in an ncaa first round in the mid 2000s