A Smart New Era: Tonight's game is the first for new head coach Shaka Smart. Smart is the 10th head coach in the history of the program. The Madison, Wisc., native comes to the Black & Gold after time at Florida, Clemson, Akron,  Dayton and California University (Pa.). He takes over for Anthony Grant, who departed to take the head coaching gig at the University of Alabama.

Summer of Sanders:  Most college students spend their summers on the beach or catching up with old friends from their hometowns. Junior Larry Sanders spent his summer bursting on the national spotlight with outstanding performances at the Amare Stoudemire Skills Academy and the Lebron James Skills Academy.

Name Tags Needed:  Smart is not the only new face in the VCU basketball office with a whole new staff, including assistant coaches Will Wade, Mike Rhoades and Mike Jones, director of basketball operations Kyle Getter, strength and conditioning coach Daniel Roose and video coordinator Mike Pegues.
The coaching staff is not the only new faces on the Black & Gold with freshmen Darius Theus (Portsmouth, Va./I.C. Norcom), Troy Daniels (Roanoke, Va./William Fleming)  and Issiah Grayson (Atlanta, Ga./Findlay Prep (N.V.)).

Experienced Newcomers: Along with the three freshmen, the Rams have two experienced newcomers joining the squad with transfers Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, Md./Marist) and Jamie Skeen (Charlotte, N.C./Wake Forest). Gavin had an outstanding freshman year at Marist, leading the squad with 12.3 points per game and was named the 2008 MAAC Rookie of the Year. Skeen saw action in 60 games over two years with the Demon Deacons, tallying 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game over that span.

Preseason Accolades:  With Sanders outstanding summer comes a boat load of preseason accolades. The Port St. Lucie, Fla., native earned spots on both the Naismith Award Preseason Watch List and the Wooden Award Preseason Watch List, along with Mid-Major All-American honors by FoxSports.com.  

Putting in the Extra Work: Even before he has played in a game for the Black & Gold, Gavin is making quite an impression on the coaching staff with a tireless work ethic. From the day school started on August 23rd up until the first week of practice, he had put up over 40,000 extra shots in the gym.