When star guard Briante Weber went down with a torn ACL in late January, the trajectory of VCU's season undoubtedly changed. The Rams had climbed as high as 14th in the AP Poll and expectations followed, but Weber was the focal point, the defensive guru who spearheaded coach Shaka Smart's 'Havoc' system.
The senior's injury triggered a downward spiral. VCU lost six of its final 10 regular-season games, including the Richmond game Weber was injured in. All but one of the losses (Davidson) were close -- an average margin of 4.6 points per loss, including two double-overtime heartbreakers -- but the team somehow found itself in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. As Smart said in that tourney's aftermath, after Weber hobbled up the ladder to cut down the last of the nets, "For our guys to respond and be able to win a championship and cut the nets down says a lot about their togetherness and their decision to be connected around a common goal."
That conference title singlehandedly kept the Rams from earning a double-digit seed.
The selection committee did them no favors by pitting them against freshman star D'Angelo Russell and Ohio State, which, according to Ken Pomeroy's efficiency ratings, was an under-seeded team and the best 10-seed among Georgia, Indiana and Davidson.
Ohio State sent VCU packing on Thursday evening, out-executing Smart's group down the stretch in a 75-72 overtime victory.
"Really, really tough loss for us. Our guys fought, really battled, which our guys have done all year long," Smart said in his postgame news conference. " ... I thought today at times we lost some poise. That ended up hurting us in the long run. Ohio State made some big shots, some big plays. Got to give credit to them. We had a shot at the buzzer regulation to finish it off. Our best player (Treveon Graham). It's a shot he's made before. We'll take that again all day. He just didn't make it."
While VCU's entire season and its ultimate outcome has to be viewed through the lens of Weber's injury, it does draw attention once again to VCU's early exits since its charmed run to the 2011 Final Four.
The Ohio State loss marks the fourth straight season the Rams have been bounced on the Big Dance's opening weekend. For the past two seasons, they haven't lost to poor teams -- Stephen F. Austin and Ohio State -- but they have fallen to lower seeds, often in excruciating ways.
In 2012, Indiana's Will Sheehey knocked down a game-winner with 12.7 seconds remaining in a two-point win. Last year, Desmond Haymon's miracle four-point play pushed the tourney thriller into overtime, where Stephen F. Austin eventually escaped. This time it was Russell, a much bigger name than his peers on this list, who put together a 28-point showcase to guide the Buckeyes to their own overtime win. In all, VCU has lost three of its past four NCAA tournament games by a grand total of seven points.
The close calls are piling up.
The only other March Madness loss since that Final Four run came at the hands of Michigan in the Round of 32, a 25-point demolition against a team that made it to the 2013 title game. Whatever magic guided them through the First Four to Final Four gauntlet has seemingly abandoned them of late.
There's little need to sound the alarm for Smart's program -- as long as he's there, it appears VCU will be a factor on Selection Sunday.
The 37-year-old coach remains a rising (or risen) star in college basketball coaching, and he's recruited well: VCU's past three recruiting classes include four-star prospects Melvin Johnson, Jordan Burgess, JeQuan Lewis, Terry Larrier, Mike Gilmore and Justin Tillman. There's more high-major help on the way in the 2015 class, too. This was a young group. Next season projects as another athletic and talented team, arguably even deeper than the crop that showed up against Ohio State. Top-30 recruiting classes and top-30 finishes in efficiency metrics tend to yield top-30 results.
There's little reason to expect otherwise.
VCU could use a little more luck once they reach the bracket, though. And a little less disappointment.
