One-on-one with VCU head coach Mike Rhoades (part 2)

VCU head coach Mike Rhoades is going on his sixth season at the helm of the Rams program. The 12th head coach in program history has made two NCAA Tournaments and won 65.8 percent of his games while sitting in that first chair.

Can you tell me which two non-high major conferences have put players in the NBA Draft each of the last three years? The West Coast Conference and the Atlantic 10. Now, can you tell me which non-high major program has put players in the NBA Draft each of the last two years? Gonzaga and VCU.

This is Rhoades second stint in Richmond. He was on staff with Shaka Smart for six seasons, including the Final Four run during the 2011-12 season. The coaches who directly preceded Rhoades at VCU were Will Wade, Shaka Smart, Anthony Grant, and Jeff Capel.

This year the expectations are high for VCU; it is the culture of the program. The A10 is expected to, again, be a multi-bid league. The pre-season polls have VCU expected to come in third place, which places them squarely on the bubble for Rhoades to make his third NCAA Tournament in his six seasons.

I took the almost three-hour trip up I95 to the campus in the middle of downtown Richmond. I spent a good portion of the day on campus, sitting with the staff, in practice, touring the facilities, and in meetings. The conversation I had with Rhoades was great; he was very open and candid.

Here is part two of the multi-part series from my conversation with VCU head coach Mike Rhoades.

Read part 1 of One-on-one with VCU head coach Mike Rhoades

You mentioned the NBA Draft, and I want to touch on that a little. The A10, your league, as a whole, has gotten a player drafted in each of the last three NBA Drafts. What do you think that says about the league?

Well, it says we got really good players, right? There are good players, and there are guys that develop in the A10 who turn out to be four or five-star college players or NBA Draft picks. You know, Bones Hyland and Vince Williams were unbelievably talented kids, and were very lucky to get them here.

Bones went after his second year. He comes here, and he improves. He had an edge to him about being a pro, and he pursued it, but he showed out in games, and we won. Vince Williams was a four-year guy. He just kept getting better every year. He took care of his body and matured. Over the last two years, he kept getting better and better. He gets drafted, and the Grizzlies love him. To me, it just says you can develop players; you can develop pros in the A10.

There are a lot of guys from the A10 who are pros, not always in the NBA, but are pros somewhere in the world making money, and that’s their career. Getting up in the morning and being a basketball player. You can do that in the A10 at a high level.

And then you mentioned your two most recent pros. Bones and Vince were each taken in the last two drafts. What did you see from them on the recruiting trail that you think kind of gave them the edge that they could be a pro?

Well, Vince Williams was 16 or 17 when we got him. He was so young; he wasn’t fully physically developed yet. But he just had unbelievable instincts. He could pass at a high level and had a great feel; he just had to continue to mature and get stronger.

Vince had some injuries early on that really stunted his growth, but he just matured each year and became a better player. Then really, in his last two years, he lived in the gym, took care of his body, and turned into this great player. And that, for him, was his maturity and growth.

Bones had that ‘it-factor’ from day one. We were fortunate to get him, but the day Bones got here, his love to be in the gym and his pace while working out was elite.

Now his feel for basketball, his skill level, we all see that. I mean, that was there from day one. He had that before he got to VCU. But I think when he got here, he got stronger. Even though he was a skinny kid, he got stronger. He realized the importance of the weight room, which he’s really done a great job with nowadays in the pros.

But he lived in the gym, and the pace of his workouts and his intensity to want to get better. If there were anything Bones wanted to do today, its number one is to play basketball. His joy for basketball is a. And allows him to be an elite player.

Having a point guard on your team that’s an extension of the coach is such a big deal in the college game. Talk about Ace Baldwin and what he means to this team, both as a player and a person.

Ace Baldwin is the quarterback of our team, but Ace is a basketball player; he’s a competitive basketball player. He’s a guy who, if they were playing pickup, would organize the teams and be running the pickup. If it was a three-on-three game, he would be checking it up, getting everything started. He’s just…he’s a basketball player.

He’s the quarterback of our team, and he’s a leader with his voice on and off the court. He does a great job with the young guys of picking them up, and he holds the older guys accountable. Now that he is in his third year, he’s doing a better job of holding himself accountable, taking care of his body, and working on this game.

This off-season was the best off-season he’s ever had, and he’s really improved his body, which is the growth again, like Vince (Williams).

He’s one of the best point guards in the country because you gotta kill him to beat him. He’s so competitive, but then he can make plays with the ball in his hands. He can also just make plays because he’s out there with his teammates, and he just really knows how to play basketball. He’s a complete point guard.

We spoke earlier about how good this league is; a multi-bid league with pros. What are your expectations for this year’s team?

I’m really excited about this team. Now we have six new faces, so we’re, we’re still finding our identity. We already know what that identity is, but we’ve got to sharpen it. We always say to sharpen our swords every day.

I really like this group; I like how close they are. I like how well they get along. They can say things to each other on the court to hold each other accountable, but also have each other’s back. I love that part of it. These guys look like they have fun and enjoy being together and practicing so hard.

Now the next step is, can we take the maturity level to another level to be a really good team?

I think we could be a really good team, I do. But before you become a really good team, you can’t beat yourself and you gotta have accountability in everything you do. And we’re working on that. But I really like this group. I think we could be pretty good.

And then lastly, I have to talk about the fans. You have an unbelievably passionate fan base. Talk about the fans, and give an illustration as to what a night game at the Seigel Center feels like being on the floor.

Well, when I walk out of the practice facility and go across the street to the arena, I see all the cars. You see the people walking there, so as I walk into the ramp, there’s the band getting ready and all that stuff. You just feel like this is important.

This is important not just to the basketball team and the coaches and to the university but to everybody around here. The community, RVA, and Central Virginia; they all take a lot of pride in wanting VCU basketball to be really good.

So that’s great, that’s exciting. But when you walk in that arena, what I love about it more than anything is that it’s always sold out. Everybody’s excited. Everybody’s in black and gold. It’s an event for everyone. But in one row of season ticket holders, there’s a truck driver, there’s a teacher, there’s a surgeon from the hospital at VCU Health, and there’s a businessman. And then, in the row in front of them, it’s two retirees with their grandkids that are here to see the Rams play.

It’s what our university’s about. It is so diverse. It has everybody from the area, and they all love VCU basketball and their Rams. The community looks after our guys.

So even if you’re not a fan of VCU and you’re coming in as media, or you’re coming as a visitor, or you’re coming for the first time, you want to come back because it’s just such a cool event. We have such good tv ratings because when they do our games, people wanna watch our play. Our style plays really well on tv.

But the arena, the environment, our band, the PEPs, how good they are, the dance team, the cheerleaders, and we have a lot of fun with our style of play, and it’s a cool event no matter when it is during the week.