Virginia State University Basketball

[kjb0615]

Here is the tentative roster I've been accumulating through social media, VC and the previous roster.

G/F Walt Williams 6'4" 190 (Redshirt Senior)
F William Vedder 6'9" 225 (Junior)
G/F Lual Rahama 6'5" 195 (Junior)
PG Antwan Miles 6'0" 175 (Sophomore)
F Armond Greibe 6'7" 210 (Senior)
F Andrew Corum 6'7" 210 (Senior)
F/C Azariah Sykes 6'8 210 (Senior)
F/C Kevin Holmes 6'9 215 (Senior)
G B.J. Fitzgerald 6'4 193 (So. Transfer) (Norfolk State)
G J.C Santos 6'0" 185 (Jr. Transfer) (Juco)
G Caleb Butts 6'3 197 (Freshman)
F Jordan Hernandez 6'7 200 (Freshman)
G James Smith 6'0" 185 (Junior)
G Jamal Washington 6'2" 210 (Jr. Transfer) Millersville

VSU did lose a lot of experience in the back court but the front court is loaded. Walt Williams getting a year back from a medical redshirt is huge. The leadership will be invaluable. Corum, Greibe, Sykes and Holmes are pretty much interchangeable. I don't see the freshmen playing a big role until the end of the year if they can adapt to the college game. Antwan Miles will be much improved and will play major minutes. James Smith left the team 2nd semester after getting benched but decided to come back. Coach Blow may have a couple more additions that hasn't been posted yet. Does anyone know anything about the kid from Millersville?

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Here is the tentative roster I've been accumulating through social media, VC and the previous roster.

G/F Walt Williams 6'4" 190 (Redshirt Senior)
F William Vedder 6'9" 225 (Junior)
G/F Lual Rahama 6'5" 195 (Junior)
PG Antwan Miles 6'0" 175 (Sophomore)
F Armond Greibe 6'7" 210 (Senior)
F Andrew Corum 6'7" 210 (Senior)
F/C Azariah Sykes 6'8 210 (Senior)
F/C Kevin Holmes 6'9 215 (Senior)
G B.J. Fitzgerald 6'4 193 (So. Transfer) (Norfolk State)
G J.C Santos 6'0" 185 (Jr. Transfer) (Juco)
G Caleb Butts 6'3 197 (Freshman)
F Jordan Hernandez 6'7 200 (Freshman)
G James Smith 6'0" 185 (Junior)
G Jamal Washington 6'2" 210 (Jr. Transfer) Millersville

VSU did lose a lot of experience in the back court but the front court is loaded. Walt Williams getting a year back from a medical redshirt is huge. The leadership will be invaluable. Corum, Greibe, Sykes and Holmes are pretty much interchangeable. I don't see the freshmen playing a big role until the end of the year if they can adapt to the college game. Antwan Miles will be much improved and will play major minutes. James Smith left the team 2nd semester after getting benched but decided to come back. Coach Blow may have a couple more additions that hasn't been posted yet. Does anyone know anything about the kid from Millersville?

Washington is decent ... not a game-changer, however. He'll likely be a good role player for VSU off the bench.

[kjb0615]

That's what I figured. I was looking at his stats and nothing really jumped out. Seems he got progressively worse as the season went on.

[kjb0615]

Schedule of the MBB and WBB teams.

https://govsutrojans.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

https://govsutrojans.com/schedule.aspx?path=wbball

[IUPalum]

VSU's start to the season isn't going to be easy. Ship and ESU aren't easy match ups. The only thing they going for them is ESU Sophomore star, Ryan Smith, won't be playing.

[kjb0615]

Coach Blow has really scheduled some tough OOC matchups to start the year. I believe it would have been more but with the CIAA going to a full league schedule, it only allowed 6 OOC games for the year. Those 2 games should be a good indicator as to where VSU stands in comparison to last year. I haven't seen the roster yet but with what they have back, they are more than capable in making another good run for the CIAA championship and beyond.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Shippensburg will be a big test in their building. They will be really strong this year. As mentioned above, ESU will be without their star player this year due to illness. Here's to hoping he battles through this and makes a full recovery.

[kjb0615]

VSU has a sample size of 5 games and here are my thoughts.

What I like:
The front court is deep and playing extremely well. Vedder, Corum, Griebe and Rahama are really playing well.

Like in previous years, VSU goes 9-11 deep during the season. I know Coach Blow is figuring out his rotations and he seems to be settling in on the amount of minutes for each player.


What I don't like:
VSU front court is very inconsistent right now. Last year was similar with all the new players and this year doesn't seem to be any different. Losing 8 seniors and the top 3 scoring guards is going to take time for the new guards to gel.

Too many turnovers. 16 turnovers a game is way too many. A lot of traveling calls and very lazy passes. That has to get cleaned up.

Inconsistent on defense. I can't remember when an opposing team got so many easy drives to the basket. They defend the 3 very well but really let the opposing team guards drive right pass them for easy buckets.

They were 3-2 at this point last year so hopefully history repeats itself. It's going to be interesting playing everyone in the CIAA twice.

Overall:
I like this team and I think they are just as deep and talented as last year's team. The only question I have is I'm wondering when the Wagner transfer Jonathan Norfleet will play. Seems that he may help settle down the back court with Santos, Miles, Parks, Fitzgerald and Williams. Looking forward to an exciting season. Good luck to all the teams in the Atlantic region.

[Ship69]

VSU has a sample size of 5 games and here are my thoughts.

What I like:
The front court is deep and playing extremely well. Vedder, Corum, Griebe and Rahama are really playing well.

Like in previous years, VSU goes 9-11 deep during the season. I know Coach Blow is figuring out his rotations and he seems to be settling in on the amount of minutes for each player.


What I don't like:
VSU front court is very inconsistent right now. Last year was similar with all the new players and this year doesn't seem to be any different. Losing 8 seniors and the top 3 scoring guards is going to take time for the new guards to gel.

Too many turnovers. 16 turnovers a game is way too many. A lot of traveling calls and very lazy passes. That has to get cleaned up.

Inconsistent on defense. I can't remember when an opposing team got so many easy drives to the basket. They defend the 3 very well but really let the opposing team guards drive right pass them for easy buckets.

They were 3-2 at this point last year so hopefully history repeats itself. It's going to be interesting playing everyone in the CIAA twice.

Overall:
I like this team and I think they are just as deep and talented as last year's team. The only question I have is I'm wondering when the Wagner transfer Jonathan Norfleet will play. Seems that he may help settle down the back court with Santos, Miles, Parks, Fitzgerald and Williams. Looking forward to an exciting season. Good luck to all the teams in the Atlantic region.

As a Ship follower, I was at the Ship-VSU game and was very impressed with the talent and depth of your front court. Neither team shot well in the 58-54 game, but I thought part of that was due to tough defense and the physicality of the game. Luke Nedrow, our forward transfer from Marist, is feeling his way into the lineup and I think Ship will be more solid as the season goes on. Judging from our results against Virginia Union and Bowie State (double-digit wins at home), your Trojans should be in shape to contend in the CIAA. I like Ship playing the CIAA teams early as your league almost always has good talent, and the games provide a good early season checklist to measure where we are at that point. Good luck this season.

[Roundball76]

VSU -Ship game was a physical game - VSU has 4 front court talented players . Nedrow - Castello battled valiantly and as Luke Nedrow adjusts to new system Ship will be competitive . Ship shooting % against VSU was terrible & team is very close to 4-0 record

[GoVSUTrojans]

After 7 games this is what I see...

Williams doesn't shoot enough. Your best 3 pt shooter should not be fourth on the team in attempts. They have to get him more looks.

It is no surprise our frontcourt is our strength. Rahama is a beast! The man has greatly improved his game and you can see the increased confidence. You can tell now he knows his role.

Our backcourt needs to step up. Miles does not drive enough. Personally I would start him and tell him if you take a 3 I'm taking you out the game. True he is has a problem with turnovers and defense but on offense he can open up our shooters.

We had 1 bad losses - JCSU - We should have won this game. No excuses.
We had one game we should have won but lost. - Wingate - We were up late in that game.
We had one game we lost but I can't explain how we lost - Barton - That was just a bad night

Our backcourt is a problem. It's early, it can be corrected.

After 7 games I don't think we make it to the playoffs. I see us winning 20+ games and losing in the CIAA tournament semi-finals. I hope I'm wrong.