St. Mary’s is like a magic trick unfolding before your eyes that you can’t solve no matter how many times you see it (except for Gonzaga). The Gaels play with such stunning synchronicity and precision that it never looks like they have to strain to find good shots. Such was the case in Salt Lake City Thursday night when Randy Bennett’s Gaels blitzed VCU to the tune of 46 first half points on 64 percent (!!) shooting and an offensive efficiency of 124.3. In the second half, VCU extended its defense to get back in the game, but at a price of fouls. St. Mary’s was in the bonus for the bulk of the half, making them even tougher to defend. VCU mucked the game up and never conceded, but the Gaels ultimately prevailed, 85-77.

St. Mary’s Handled Business Against VCU Tonight (USA Today Images)

Three Key Takeaways.

1. The center position is evolving. From Vanderbilt’s Luke Kornet to Arizona’s Lauri Markannen to St. Mary’s Jock Landale, stretch centers who have guard skills are becoming increasingly prevalent in basketball. While essentially playing the entire game, Landale put up 16 points on a phenomenally efficient 6-of-8 shooting night along with 13 rebounds.
2. St. Mary’s is better than you think defensively. The Gaels came in ranked as the 26th-best defense in the country, and next to their wondrous offense, it shouldn’t be lost in translation how tough this team is on both ends. They held VCU to an Offensive Ratintg of 101.3, limiting the Rams to 2-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc.
3. Joe Rahon drives the Gaels.  Rahon picked up his third and fourth fouls with 15 minutes left in the game, allowing VCU to immediately go on a 15-2 run to close the lead to four. He then came back in and hit a huge three with 8:17 to go, and VCU never got any closer.

Star of the Game: Joe Rahon stabilized Saint Mary’s when it needed it most — hitting the aforementioned three as well as a big pair of free throws — but this was Jock Landale’s night. VCU coach Will Wade summed it up afterward: “Their bigs were just bigger and better than our bigs. I hate to put it so simply but that’s really the way it is and what it came down to tonight.” Landale was first and foremost among Gael bigs, as he usually is.

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The book on VCU’s style of play is fairly simple. Defensively, they want to press you full-court to create a bunch of turnovers and resulting easy baskets. Offensively, they shoot a high volume of three-pointers and rely on the quickness of their guards to break down a defense in the waning seconds of a shot clock. That’s pretty much their ethos. But as the program now enters its third season in the Atlantic 10, teams know what’s coming and have begun countering what VCU likes to do. What they are having trouble dealing with, however, isn’t a problem of strategy as much as personnel. VCU, currently riding a seven-game winning streak, boasts a much-improved second unit this season, led by the heralded freshman Terry Larrier. The bench’s production was on grand display in the Rams’ impressive victory over Davidson in Richmond on Wednesday night.

Terry Larrier is starting to show why he’s Shaka Smart’s highest-rated recruit (AP Photo)

In those seven games, the Rams’ bench has outscored its opposition in all but one contest (a double-overtime victory over Northern Iowa). VCU’s second unit is comprised largely of young players, and they are starting to come around at just the right time. Freshmen Justin Tillman and Michael Gilmore have been doing a much better job on the boards in relief of Mo Alie-Cox inside and have looked more active offensively; classmate Jonathan Williams appears much more confident handling the ball when he spells Briante Weber and JeQuan Lewis at the point; and sophomore Doug Brooks has become a real spark with solid long-range shooting and a disruptive role in the chaos-inducing Havoc defense. Brooks was especially key in last night’s VCU victory with his contributions of eight points and two steals.

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1. After a somewhat lackluster opening night for college basketball (we will just call it a soft opening), we got under way in a big way with the Tip-Off Marathon yesterday (and technically the day before too). There were not any particularly surprising results–Florida was playing short-handed against Miami and the Hurricanes are better than people think so we aren’t buying that as an upset–but that does not mean there was a shortage of storylines. Not surprisingly, the biggest news came out of Indianapolis at the Champions Classic where Duke beat Michigan State 81-71 and Kentucky crushed Kansas 72-40. The big takeaways from the two games were how dominant Jahlil Okafor can be (he is now 25-for-30 on the season and last night he did it against a legitimate Division I team) and how scary the Wildcats already are. Okafor will certainly be in contention for Player of the Year awards, but we aren’t sure if he will be aggressive enough to put up overwhelming numbers. Kentucky with its platoons might actually do so. The question of whether they can go undefeated will certainly come up and they should be favored in every game they play–only games against North Carolina, Louisville, and Florida (at least twice) seem like the line would even be close at this point–but we would recommend holding off on any serious discussion on that until February at earliest.
2. The details of the NCAA’s investigation of Syracuse remain unclear, but according to reports at least one part of it involves a former YMCA employee who has been accused of stealing nearly $340,000 from the organization. It is unclear if any of that money was directed to any student-athletes, but they are believed to have taken courses/internships that involved working at the YMCA. We probably won’t know the exact details of the accusations until the NCAA releases its findings, but we don’t think the NCAA needs any more of its member institutions involved in academic scandals.
3. Virginia Commonwealth has not yet cleared JeQuan Lewis, who suffered a concussion on Friday against Tennessee, to resume playing. Lewis, a sophomore who averaged 5.9 points in 16.1 minutes per game last season, hit his head in the first half and had to be helped off the floor. According to Shaka Smart, Lewis showed improvement over the weekend, but is still not quite ready yet. Fortunately for Lewis the odds of him suffering another similar injury are extremely low compared with sports where concussions are usually a concern. The other thing in his favor is the Rams don’t really need his services until their game on November 24 against Villanova so he can take his time coming back.
4. The details behind Demetrius Treadwell‘s indefinite suspension have come out and things are not looking good for the Akron star. According to reports, Treadwell is accused of assaulting a female basketball player. This is not the first time that Treadwell has been in trouble as the All-MAC forward was suspended briefly last year. While some schools have developed reputations for going easy on athletes in these settings we think two things are working against Treadwell in this case (outside of the obvious potential assault)–being in the post-Ray Rice era where abuse against women has become more of a focal point (yes, we know how absurd it is that it had to become more of a focal point) and the fact that this was against a member of the same program. On a larger scale, we have to wonder what is going on at Akron where they had a star point guard (Alex Abreu) facing drug charges two years ago, another player who served a yearlong suspension for a domestic incident, and another player who transferred after violating team rules.
5. Last week the NCAA released the sites for the 2017-21 Final Fours. On Monday, they released the locations for many of the earlier rounds. The biggest news is that the First Four is staying in Dayton and the NCAA is no longer going to try to convince us that it is the First Round with every other team getting byes into the Second Round. While we have our reservations about the First Four, it appears to have provided Dayton with some kind of financial benefit as they beat out what was reportedly a competitive bid from Sioux Falls (would have loved to see some national writers get shipped out there).

Effective depth is at a premium in college basketball. VCU, predicating its success on a constant full-court game in a frenzied atmosphere, needs to not only have enough players to run at their opponents for 40 minutes, but talented ones as well. As evidenced by their first conference game on Thursday night, a 71-57 victory over in-state rival and A-10 newcomer, George Mason, the Rams have both the depth and the talent that will be required to make serious waves in the Atlantic 10 again this year.

Juvonte Reddic is a catalyst for VCU, but the Rams reserves are equally as important to a big season (credit: csnwashington.com)

There are obviously players on this squad that opposing teams can look to as the focal points. Juvonte Reddick, the team’s starting center and best pro prospect, mans the middle and is often the sole post presence for the team. His rebounding prowess (14 boards last night, along with nine points) is of the utmost importance to a team that wants to get out and run at every opportunity. Briante Weber, the point guard, is one of the nation’s foremost steals experts, a menace in both the press and in the half-court. Weber’s acumen at the free throw line and an improved tear-drop floater he has developed this season have helped mesh his offensive game with his prowess on the defensive end. Guard/forward Treveon Graham is the steadying force on this team, a player who can bide his time for a half before becoming the go-to threat the team finds late in close contests, as it did in the win over Mason (Graham has now put up double figures in 39 of the team’s last 43 contests).

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Lathan Wells is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after last night’s game between VCU and Winthrop in Richmond. 

The VCU Rams have risen to prominence on the national scene over the last several years due largely to their suffocating, full-court defense and long-range shooting. This has proven to be a style that’s been immensely difficult for teams to prepare for, and most opponents don’t possess the stamina or depth to hang with the Rams for an entire game. But in the infant stages of the 2013-14 season, and following a solid 92-71 win over Winthrop Saturday night, VCU has also proven that it has the ability to win games in different fashions. It’s that versatility that makes this team particularly dangerous.

Legitimate options off the bench like JeQuan Lewis make VCU even more potent (credit: collegebasketball.org)

After the Rams capped off a rugged, grinding win in Charlottesville over in-state rival Virginia on Tuesday, it became apparent that taking the tempo away from this team would no longer guarantee success. The Rams fought off a night where they were whistled for 27 personal fouls and had several key players in early foul trouble with its consistent half-court defense. While they weren’t able to press the Cavaliers full-court due to the slow-it-down style Virginia prefers, Shaka Smart’s team’s perseverance on the road against an ACC foe in prime time showed that it has the makeup of a team that can handle in-game adversity. Avoiding the letdown that sometimes plagues teams playing as many youngsters as VCU was an important barometer early in the year, and the Rams were able to get back to pressing full-court and shooting well from downtown in pulling away against Winthrop.

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