Atlantic 10 Basketball: 5 key storylines to watch in 2023 offseason

2) VCU’s Search For Offense

The Rams took home trophies in the regular season and A-10 Tournament and are set to return four starters and a pair of bench contributors, but simply running things back won’t return VCU to the top.  Bringing back the trio of Ace Baldwin, Jayden Nunn and Nick Kern Jr should lead to yet another elite defensive season for VCU, but the team’s offensive issues that had been patched up late in the season were badly exposed by Saint Mary’s.

To make matters worse, VCU is losing a pair of crucial offensive weapons in All-Conference forward Brandon Johns Jr and their best shooter, David Shriver.  They figured out enough on that end to win the A-10 in a historically bad year but to repeat in a normal season (although it could be another down season), they will have to replace both of them, and possibly add more.  Many think that VCU will once again fill those spots in the transfer portal but that’s far from a certainty after the failures of a big time scoring talent in Marcus Tsoshonis two seasons ago, after which Coach Mike Rhoades started taking a more patient approach to the portal, even if it means missing out on guys who are looking to make a quick decision.

Similar to Dayton last year, VCU’s ideal offseason will involve finding another perimeter scoring threat to pair with Baldwin, but just like the Flyers, it will be incredibly difficult to convince recruits to walk into a situation where they will really have to fight for limited minutes.  That’s the downside to continuity, as it’s great to bring back all three starting guards and Zeb Jackson, but in doing so, the team is left to rely on them to improve on their own games.  So any backcourt offensive improvement will likely come down to in-house development over the summer from a more consistent Jayden Nunn or a big redshirt freshman season from former Top 100 recruit Fatts Billups.