Quinn Casteel
Sports Editor
Thirty-five-year-old head coaches Brad Stevens of Butler and VCU’s Shaka Smart have led notably similar career paths until now, having each innovated new styles of play and established their own brands as recruiters while bringing their respective programs to new levels.
Smart’s and Stevens’ histories as coaches have brought them together on and off the court over the past several years, including a meeting in the Final Four in Houston two seasons ago where the Bulldogs won 61-54. Both became national celebrities after that point, Stevens even more so having made his second NCAA Championship game in a row.
This season, the coaches will see their paths cross again as their respective programs join the A-10 together, a move, as it turns out, that was not entirely by coincidence. Stevens told The CT Sports at A-10 Media Day on Oct. 4 that he and Smart had talked on the phone multiple times while the schools were in the process of realignment in the months following the end of last basketball season.
Both were in favor of the move because it brings their teams more chances to play quality opponents throughout non-conference and conference play and better odds at receiving those elusive at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament. It also means more meetings on the court for Butler and VCU.
“I never really wanted that to happen,” joked Stevens about being in the same conference as VCU. “You’re friends today, you hope you’re friends tomorrow, right? We talked a lot about it together, and we have 15 new teams to learn, everybody else has two. It’s much different for us than it is for everyone else so we’ll be on the phone I’m guessing quite a bit, throughout the regular season especially since we don’t play until March,” Stevens said about Smart.
While Smart has oriented the well-documented HAVOC system, Stevens has emphasized a tough, gritty style of play with his teams, different from HAVOC in a lot of ways but similar in its effect on opponents. Both strategies emphasize being the aggressor, particularly on the defensive end and as a result, cause oppositions a great deal of frustration and annoyance.
This season, as Stevens prepares for his first year in the A-10, he brings a grind-it-out, sometimes low-scoring sytem into a league where all the teams are used to lighting up the scoreboard. Massachusetts (76.9 PPG) and Temple (75 PPG) were 20th and 32nd, respectively, in the nation in scoring offense last season while Duquesne, St. Joseph’s, Dayton, Xavier and St. Bonaventure all averaged at least 70 points per game as well.
However, Stevens said at Media Day he will not be switching up his coaching philosophy any time soon.
“I won’t change,” Stevens said. “We might change personnel, but I’m not changing anything about who we’ve been or the characteristics of our program because it’s been pretty good. It doesn’t matter who we play, we want to build our team to where we can beat the best in the country.”
Stevens added that a change in personnel may be necessary to survive and adjust to the culture of the A-10, a conference known for being stacked with physically gifted athletes. What may have cut it talent-wise in the Horizon League or for VCU the Colonial Athletic Association, could be a mismatch in the opposition’s favor in the A-10.
“I’m not the end-all-be-all of A-10 basketball, but from what I know they’re longer at every position and more athletic,” said Stevens. “The guard play is obviously terrific and they can all handle the ball. I think it’s an extremely talented league with 16 good teams. There will be good teams that don’t even get (to Brooklyn for the A-10 Tournament), so we’ve got to work hard every day to make sure we get here.”
Stevens has made up for the potential talent gap between leagues by picking up Kellen Dunham, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Pendleton, Indiana who he believes will bring a new dimension to the Bulldogs’ outside shooting. He also brings back 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Kameron Woods, who he said may be the best defender to ever play at Butler, which has boasted defensive playmakers such as Ronald Nored in the past decade. Meanwhile, Smart has bolstered his roster by bringing in two top 100 recruits in Melvin Johnson and Jordan Burgess, although Burgess will miss this season due to academic ineligibility.
Butler and VCU will meet for the first time since the 2011 Final Four on March 2 at the Siegel Center in Richmond, their only regular season meeting.