The Atlantic 10 regular-season title, an Atlantic 10 Tournament championship and a berth in March Madness: the VCU Rams accomplished quite a bit in the 2022-23 season.
Under head coach Mike Rhoades, the Rams finished at 27-8, a record that included a nine-game win streak through the A-10 tournament, and junior guard Ace Baldwin Jr. was named conference player of the year and conference defensive player of the year.
Baldwin, though, was injured and temporarily out of the game during VCU's Round of 64 matchup with St. Mary's in March Madness, which the Rams lost 63-51. As Adam Epstein reflected on Monday (March 20), it continued a bad-luck trend for the Black and Gold in the tournament, but didn't put a damper on a huge year for the Rams.
"[2012] was my favorite year covering VCU basketball until this season," he said, "and you look at the personalities on this team [...] look at the stardom on this team. Ace Baldwin Jr. scoring 37 points in a game, winning A-10 Defensive Player of the Year and Player of the Year. I think of the improvement from Jalen DeLoach and from Jayden Nunn and from Nick Kern.
"[...] I do feel disrespected about the [No.] 12 seed, I think the Rams could've made some noise if they were a nine-seed or a 10-seed, but that 12-5 matchup against St. Mary's, the second-best team out of the western conference, was not a favorable matchup for the Rams."
Check out more from the segment below.