NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early top-25 power rankings for 2021-22 season

24. VCU Rams

We’ll never know if the Rams would’ve beaten the Oregon Ducks in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 64 and eventually made a run. What we do know is that this program is going to be absolutely motivated for the next season, and essentially brings back all of their key players.

That includes the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year guard Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland. The sophomore guard had a breakout campaign as expected, going for 19.5 ppg and 4.7 rpg. He provided a large source of the Rams offense, whose defensive strengths took them to second in the conference and an at-large candidate.

Junior guard/forward Vince Williams is also set to come back, the team’s leading rebounder and the only other double-digit scorer. There’s also going to be an expected jump for rising sophomores Ace Baldwin and Jamir Watkins, two starters who fit well in VCU’s system and complimented Hyland.

The only concern with the Rams is a potential lack of frontcourt depth. Both Levi Stockard and Corey Douglas are seniors with the option of graduating and moving on, while Brendan Medley-Bacon has transferred out. Outside of Hason Ward, there’s not much inside currently on the roster.

The natural expectation will be that VCU can land one or two of the many frontcourt options in the transfer portal. They won’t even need them to do much either, as Hyland and the guards will have the scoring production covered. Add the motivation factor and this will be a team foes will want to avoid.