As Micah Schrewsberry informed Penn State that he was leaving for the Notre Dame basketball head coaching job, the Nittany Lions were in search for their next head coach after going to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011, a 12 year drought. Incomes a established head coach from a mid-major in one the best mid-major conferences (Atlantic-10 conference) in college basketball, Mike Rhoades from VCU, who also went to the NCAA tournament this year, losing to five seed Saint Mary’s out of the West Coast conference.
Against the Odds
Under Mike Rhoades, VCU has went to three NCAA tournaments in six seasons with the rams, losing all three in the round of 64, though. The 2023 VCU rams team had some hope, though, with wins over Kennesaw State (Tournament team), Pittsburgh (ACC Champs & Tournament team), Vanderbilt (bubble team), Howard (Tournament team) and good Atlantic 10 teams like Saint Louis, Dayton, and Fordham. They are currently ranked 60th at Kenpom, a site the committee uses for NCAA tournament seedings. Kenpom says they have a top 15 defense and top 150 offense in adjusted efficiency. VCU was also five and four in quads one and two, which is considered good wins and losses. Quads three and four qualify as bad losses, which they only had one of those. During Rhoades time at VCU, they went 129-61, and never finishing below .500 during his time at VCU, his worst season being his first season at 18-15. Penn State is getting one hell of a coach, but he will need to recruit since most of the players on this year’s roster entered the transfer portal to follow former head coach Schrewsberry to Notre Dame or transfer elsewhere. Although, Jalen Pickett, their best player, is still on the roster.
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