Virginia Commonwealth University Rams

Infobox college athletics
name = Virginia Commonwealth University Rams

---

university = Virginia Commonwealth University
conference = Colonial Athletic Association
division = Division I
director = Norwood Teague
city = Richmond
state = Virginia
stateabb = VA
teams = 16
stadium = N/A
arena = Stuart C. Siegel Center
mascot = Rodney The Ram
nickname = Rams
fightsong = [http://www.vcu.edu/vcurams/ra/omg/fightsong.ram Ram Fight Song]
color1 = Black
color2 = Gold
hex1 = 000000
hex2 = F8B800
pageurl = http://www.vcuathletics.com/
pagename = www.vcuathletics.comThe Virginia Commonwealth University Rams are the athletic teams of Virginia Commonwealth University. The school's athletic program includes 16 NCAA Division I varsity sports which compete in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Championship teams

Men's basketball

The VCU men's basketball team defeated George Mason to win the 2004 CAA championship and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Rams were seeded #13 in the East Rutherford Region and faced #4 Wake Forest in the first round in Raleigh, N.C. VCU led for much of the second half before the Demon Deacons prevailed 79-78. VCU was 19-13 in the 2005 season and finished second in the CAA with a 13-5 conference record and received a bid to the NIT where they lost to Davidson. In 2006, the Rams did not make a postseason appearance.

In 1985, VCU received an invitation to the NCAA men's basketball tournament as a #2 seed in its region, the highest seeding that the team has ever earned. However, it was upset in the second round of the tournament by #7 seed Alabama.

Until 2006 the team was coached by Jeff Capel, who at the time of his promotion to head coach in 2002 was the youngest coach in Division I NCAA basketball at 27 years old. During his time with VCU, Capel compiled a 79-41 record (.658), and in his first year earned VCU 18 wins, the most ever for a first-year coach at the school. In April 2006, Capel announced his decision to coach the University of Oklahoma basketball team. He was replaced by Anthony Grant, [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2412409 ESPN - VCU hires Gators assistant Grant as new coach - Men's College Basketball ] ] formerly an assistant head coach with the 2006 NCAA champions, the University of Florida.

Regular season conference champs and first-seed VCU defeated sixth-seed George Mason in the CAA championship game on March 5, 2007 to receive an automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The Rams defeated the Patriots in a close fought game 65-59 to set a school record for wins in a season, finishing 27-6. The Rams also set a mark for the most conference wins in the regular season by any team ever in the CAA, finishing their CAA campaign 16-2 in the regular season and 3-0 in the tournament. In the first round of the 2007 NCAA tourney the 11 seeded Rams upset 6 seeded Duke by Eric Maynor's game-winning buzzer-beater. VCU then lost in the second round to 3-seed Pitt in overtime.

This was Grant's first conference championship as a head coach and the VCU Rams third CAA title since joining the league. Prior to the tournament, Grant was also named CAA Coach of the Year for his first year efforts breaking school records for wins in a season, wins by a first year head coach and setting the conference mark for conference wins in a season. Other CAA honors included the naming of Eric Maynor to the first team All-CAA roster, B.A. Walker to the second team All-CAA roster, Jesse Pellot-Rosa to the third team All-CAA roster, T.J. Gwynn to the All-CAA Rookie roster, and Calvin Roland to the All-CAA Academic roster.

Men's Baseball

Men's Track & Field

The VCU men's track team won the 2006 CAA Conference Championship after placing second in the CAA's in the previous 2 years. The team was lead by Davion Lambert and James Frerson who were named the Field MVP and Track MVP respectively. The team is looking to be lead to another CAA victory with some old and new faces at the CAA Championships this year.

Other varsity sports

The VCU men's tennis team was ranked 14th pre-season by the International Tennis Federation (ITA) in 2005, and has been nationally ranked in the top 50 since 1993. The Rams have had 13 straight NCAA tournament appearances and had won nine consecutive Colonial Athletic Association tournament crowns until being dethroned in the 2005 CAA tournament final by William and Mary. In 2000, the men's team reached the NCAA Finals after defeating Illinois (Quarterfinals) and Tennessee (Semifinals) respectively. In the finals, Stanford rallied to win the doubles and swept Virginia Commonwealth in the singles to claim its 17th NCAA men's tennis title 4-0.

The nationally ranked men's and women's soccer teams have both won CAA championships, having then advanced to national finals as well. In 2004, the VCU Men's soccer team went to the Quarterfinals and lost to NCAA runners up, the UCSB Gauchos.

The Men's and Women's Track & Field Teams have also enjoyed success, having won multiple conference titles. The men's team won three consecutive outdoor track & field conference titles from 1994-1996 and an indoor track & field conference title in 1995. The first two conference titles came as a member of the Metro Conference and the third was won in the Colonial Athletic Association. VCU moved from the Metro Conference to the CAA in 1995 when the Metro was dissolved and many of the teams merged to form Conference USA. VCU's men's track & field team also won the 2006 Outdoor CAA Championships.

Club sports

The [http://www.vcurugby.com/ VCU Men's Rugby] team took the 2005 Virginia Rugby Union and the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union Division III Collegiate Championships and received a bid to play in the East Coast Championship which was hosted by VCU April 22-24 of 2006. The team took fourth at the East Coast Championship tournament. Following their Division III success, they accepted an invitation to move to Division II in the Fall of 2006.

The [http://www.ramslacrosse.org/ Rams Lacrosse Club] began competitive play in 2004 with the [http://www.ncllax.com/ National Collegiate Lacrosse League] . The club embraces players with and without experience in the sport, often giving new players the opportunity to excel at the club level alongside skilled ones. Rams Lacrosse competes in the Tidewater Division of the NCLL, against UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, William & Mary, and cross-town rival University of Richmond. Club highlights include claiming first place in 2005 at the Old Dominion Shootout in Lynchburg over Liberty University, and their best-ever finish in 2007. The club claimed the Tidewater Division title and made it to the second round of the playoffs.

The [http://www.studentorg.vcu.edu/clubbaseball/ VCU Club Baseball] team began in Fall 2005 and began play in Spring 2006. While they went just 1-7 in their inaugural season as an independent team, they are now a part of the [http://www.clubbaseball.org National Cub Baseball Association] in District 3 Conference of Division II play. They compete against other conference teams including Radford University, Washington & Lee University, Georgetown University, and University of Richmond. The team competed in 2007 as a member of the Division I Mid-Atlantic South Conference, finishing 4th out of 7 teams. In 2008, the team moved to Division II play, a newly created division for smaller schools and younger programs. In 2008, the team won their District title and advanced to the inaugural Division II World Series. There, they placed 4th, winning 2 games before falling in the double-elimination tournament.

The VCU Men's Club Basketball team began play in August 2004, playing other schools from around the state of Virginia. In January 2006, the team was taken over by first year coach Brandon Baker and began to expand the teams it played and their level of competition. The team is now 13-5 in the last year under their new coach and continue to expand and grow every semester.

The VCU men's ice hockey team plays in the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference of the American Collegiate Hockey Association. Their biggest ice hockey rival is the University of RichmondFact|date=February 2008. The VCU Rams ice hockey team clinched a playoff spot in the Northeast BRHC standings in the 2006-2007 season.

Rowdy Rams

Rowdy Rams are the student supporters of the VCU Rams basketball team. The Rowdy Rams are known for causing difficulty for the visiting teams to focus when in possession of the ball or shooting free throws. Stuart C. Siegel Center, which can be expanded to hold 8,000 students, has earned the reputation as the toughest place to play in Colonial Athletic Association behind the Rowdy Rams and the highly successful record of VCU's basketball team. Old Dominion University vs Virginia Commonwealth University rivalry is well documented and brings the highest intensity out of the Rowdy Rams. In the most recent ODU vs VCU game Rowdy Rams were standing out in front of Siegel Center for 5 hours. Rowdy Rams are known very well for their striped black and yellow faces and for their momentum changing chants of VCU's unofficial fight song during strategic times in the game.

During the CAA Tournament the Rowdy Rams travel to Richmond Coliseum,VA to give VCU its true "Home Court Advantage" and greatly outnumber the turnouts from the rest of its conference. The Rowdy Rams are also known for traveling to most away games to give the basketball team home support due the short distance between most CAA teams. In recent years Rowdy Rams have become more raucious and louder than ever before due to the success of current coach Anthony Grant who is under contract with the Rams until 2014. In the 2008 National Invitational Tournament (NIT) opener of VCU vs UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Siegel Center was recorded to have one of it's loudest games in the history of the arena. Rowdy Rams have become easily identified by their Rowdy Ram 6 shirts. [cite web
url=http://media.www.commonwealthtimes.com/media/storage/paper634/news/2004/10/18/Sports/Basketball.Fans.Pack.The.Siegel.Center.For.Rams.Madness-772296.shtml
title=Basketball fans pack the Siegel Center for Rams Madness
publisher=The Commonwealth Times
accessdate=2008-06-26] [cite web
url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=whelliston_kyle&id=2740099
title=Grant, VCU staying cool in CAA's heat
publisher=ESPN.com
accessdate=2008-06-26]

Well known Chants started by Rowdy Rams include:

Fundamentals, Lets Go Rams, We are VCU, Let's Go V-C-U remix (taken from Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2"), You can't Do That.

Facilities

*The Diamond
**"Baseball"
*Alltel Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center
**"Basketball"
**"Volleyball"
**"Cheerleading"
*Sports Backers Stadium
**"Soccer"
**"Track and Field"
*Cary Street Field
**"Field Hockey"
*Thalhimer Tennis Center
*Leigh Street Field
**"Men's and Women's Rugby"

References