Will Wade VCU Rams New Style of Play: Paintball
The Will Wade VCU Rams are finding success by scoring points in the paint. It’s a bit of a departure from the VCU Rams days of Havoc. They have a banner in their gym that states “Havoc Lives Here!”. Havoc was the chaotic style of play that Shaka Smart used while he coached there.
Coach Will Wade has developed a new brand offensively call Paint Ball. Coach Smart’s Havoc was pressing defense and a quick striking guard offense.
Coach Wade replaced the gambling press with a less pressure and plugged in VCU as a power tool. The Rams pound the ball inside to their big men now. They also get their guards into the lane as much as they can.
The VCU Rams just beat Richmond last Wednesday; The Rams are 17-5, 7-2 in Conference. They scored 44 points in the paint and got another 8 points off free throws in the paint. It’s the 12th time that they have scored 40 points in the paint. VCU is averaging 38.3 points in the lane which is more than a 10 point advantage over their opponents.
Coach Smart’s team in his last year at VCU averaged 28.7 points in the paint. Their highest lane average was 34.6 in 2009-2010. Coach Wade sees VCU’s strength as their interior attack. It’s something that he wants to use deep into the future.
Here is what Coach Wade sees as the future of the program: Mid-tempo team, pressing and playing solid half-court defense, take high percentage shots in their half-court offense. They will shoot 3’s if they are wide open.
They want to have the right balance, but their main emphasis is to get the ball inside. He would rather open up the outside by establishing the inside presence.
Coach Wade wanted to run Havoc when he left the VCU Rams to be the Head coach at Chattanooga in 2013 until he found out that he didn’t have the right players for it.
He made some defensive adjustments switch to a 2-2-1 press to try and get more steals in the backcourt. They switch up their man and zone defenses now.
Coach Wade wanted to run Havoc when he came to VCU, but he only had two or three players that could trap and press. They didn’t have the right type of athletes to press all game.
He tried to come up with a winning philosophy that would help him beat the best teams on their schedule. Coach Wade thinks that they found the right formula for them. They have to give themselves a chance to win.
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