VCU FANS, DON’T PANIC ABOUT NEXT SEASON

ARRICK WILSON Sports Editor

DESPITE OUTGOING TRANSFERS and graduating seniors, Havoc fans from Broad Street, Richmond and beyond should not fret about the black and gold in the upcoming season.

During the last press conference of the season, VCU head basketball coach Mike Rhoades said the team persevered through injuries that plagued the beginning of the season.

“People counted us out early in the year because of who we played and some of the results, and look what we did,” Rhoades said in the press conference.

The Rams started the season without three key players, due to injury, taking rough home losses from Wagner College on Nov. 13 and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Nov. 20. Yet the Rams finished the season second in the Atlantic 10, according to the A-10 website.

Three VCU basketball players, including sophomore forward Mikeal Brown-Jones, junior guard Marcus Tsohonis and junior forward Jimmy Nichols Jr. entered the NCAA’s transfer portal this past month.

The NCAA’s transfer portal is a database of every player who has an interest in transferring from their current program to another institution. To transfer, an athlete must have their school’s athletic compliance department express the athlete’s intent to be entered into the transfer portal. Once an athlete’s name is in the portal, schools all over the country can reach out to the athlete, according to ESPN.

Sophomore forward Mikeal BrownJones’s transfer announcement was surprising due to his development with the team over the years. The Pennsylvania native boasted a career-high of 15 points against George Mason University on Feb. 23, according to VCU Athletics. Brown-Jones announced his decision to transfer on Twitter, stating his overall respect for the program.