John Wooden.
Muhammad Ali. Wayne Gretzky. Michael Jordan. Arthur Ashe. Dwayne Wade. All have been honored as Sports Illustrated's
prestigious Sportsman of the Year.
The VCU men's basketball team has a
chance to join that historic group after the Rams were nominated for the honor
by Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis, a longtime writer for SI and reporter for
CBS during the NCAA Tournament.
After much scrutiny by the media
after VCU received an at-large bid to the 2011 NCAA Tournament, the Rams reeled
off five straight impressive victories through BCS powers USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and finally top-seeded Kansas to earn the
school's first trip to the Final Four.
Davis covered the Black & Gold
through much of the tournament and explained why his nomination was saved for coach Shaka Smart and crew in this column.
Others nominated for this year's
award were NBA stars Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant, USA women's soccer star
Abby Wambach and golfer Ryo Ishikawa. The SI writers and editors will select
their winner who will be announced Dec. 6.
Rams nominated as Sports Illustrated's Sportsmen of the Year
Kudos Seth for nominating VCU Rams for such an outstanding award. It's amazing what coach Smart was able to accomplish with our team. Many thought we couldn't but as an alumni knew we had a CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM. To be recognized with this honor would still validate there are still some David's who can win against Goliath's in the game of basketball.