Virginia Commonwealth Rams

1. Like Father, Like Duke. Gerald Henderson Jr., he of the face-breaking adamantium elbows, is the son of VCU alum Gerald Henderson (fancy that!), the best NBA player to come out of the Commonwealth. We can only presume the elder Henderson acquired the How To Land Your Ulna Bone On The Bridge Of An Opponent's Nose With Devastating Results style guide while winning an NBA Championship with the 1990 Bad Boy Pistons and subsequently passed them down to his eager protege/son, not yet even three years old at the time. Speaking of Duke — and since we put our headline-eggs in the Duke basket — this all comes semi-circle in noting that Duke alum Jeff Capel(the III) coached VCU for four years prior to current head coach Anthony Grant, never winning fewer than 18 games. Last year Capel left VCU for a coaching job at Oklahoma one month after signing a six-year contract. What does it all mean? Never trust a Blue Devil.

2. VCU's Gonna Get Medieval On Your Ashe. Speaking of broken bones and style guides, VCU doesn't have a football team, but Robert Lanham, author of The Hipster Handbook and a VCU alum, tells us the school does have a "medieval club" where students practice their jousting in full armor (good Knights-in-Shining-Armor are so hard to find these days). Epic scrimmages take place on the grass beneath a statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue, a street decorated with a collection of enormous bronze statues celebrating a handful of civil war "heroes." The other statues include Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis and perhaps most appropriately, deceased tennis pro Arthur Ashe.

3. Winning At Home Is All About Defense, Rebounding and Fresh Organs. Wiki tells us VCU is home to the nation's oldest organ transplant center. The records tell us that VCU has been one of the best home teams in the country, going 98-19 since they opened the Stuart C. Siegel Center in 1999. Coaching probably has a lot to do with the Rams success at home, but we also think the school is just loaded with heart. — The Assimilated Negro