The minute Blair got here three years ago he got on the recruiting trail and brought in three studs who have the bar for what kind of player this program can bring in.  These juniors to be led this team and are the example of what Blair is looking for in his new breed of VMU athlete.  Wings Ron Carter and Will Bynum and Center Dave Montgomery are the driving force behind the success (limited as it may be) of this team and have established the template for what kind of players this program will recruit from now on!  Carter is a natural leader who can also play basketball.  There is no way to underestimate the impact this Pittsburgh kid has had on this program.  Before he got here VMI had a handful of six five guys in this history of their program but they were always slow, white guys who docked around key waiting to get the ball.  Carter is six five but he is none of those other things.  This kid is the epitome of the slasher (yes made famous with the Pittsburgh area horror movie classic known as Night of the Living Dead) who loves using his athleticism to get to the hoop.  He can flat finish with a nice array of shots inside the key or pull up from 15.  His only downside to his offensive game is limited range on his jumper but he is working on this.  ‘Work’ should be his middle name as this kid came to Lexington to play basketball and get a degree in no certain order.  Any thoughts of basketball after his goal of putting this program on the national map are not discussed but the scouts who watch him sure are talking about it.  There are not many wings in the country who can do the things Carter can do and still be the team leader he is.  He was after all elected team captain as a Junior which is almost blasphemous in Lexington where there is a pecking order to everything and seniority has it’s place at the head of the line.  But most programs have not been fortunate enough to have their best player being this biggest game changer as well for as we all know the South did not come around to having black athletes play for them up until a few years ago.  Well, Carter is a black athlete and I am sure his year as a ‘Rat’ was pure hell but he never said a word and has earned the respect of every player, coach and fan who ever has been affiliated with the Virginia Military Institute.  And be just could be the most unselfish superstar in the country.  Does Carter loves to score?  Sure as attested by his 15 points a game but he loves to keep his teammates involved even better.  He is not a great passer yet but he still averaged 2 and a half assists a game as he loves to set up his teammates in one way or the other!  Carter has stepped back while his two younger sidekicks on the wing get their shots because he knows it helps VMI become a better team.  He is way better than either one of them at just taking over the game when needed ala some kid named Kobe (ask the two Charleston teams about this as he torched them both on several occasions late in the game actually twice scoring the last ten plus points in games against those two teams) but he would rather not.  Team first!  Carter could be as talented as anyone on the perimeter in this conference.  And as good as he on offense he might be even better on the defensive end.  Carter is a big guard who can shut down opponents with incredible quickness and length though he is rail thin. He is a beast in the passing lanes but on this small team (in more ways than one as they are the 4th smallest enrollment of all D-1 schools) Carter had to do yeoman’s work down in the ‘key.’  They needed his height on the boards and he obliged to the tune of almost six a game.  With his great play on the court it is still his demeanor and leadership that sets this kid apart.  When he speaks teammates listen and when he went to Blair so did his coach.  They say the # 13 is unlucky but there is no doubt that when Ron Carter’s career is over his 13 will be the first to hang from the rafters of Cameron! 

Montgomery is a solid inside player who gives VMI something they have never had.  Size.  At six foot eight and a strong 214 pounds Montgomery is the closest thing this program has ever seen to a dominant inside presence. AS a matter of fact this program has never even close to having someone on their roster be six eight.  It’s not that they have height restrictions like other academies (the Admiral of course comes to mind with his legendary growth spurt at the Naval Academy) but they just couldn’t get a kid that big to come play for VMI.  With a bit of luck they got this kid from the big city who got overlooked and when Blair got him on campus he commented ‘we will push two beds together to keep this kid here.’  Good Thinking Bill!  Montgomery can rebound all day but also will score when the opportunity is there. And he hardly ever misses as he shot over 62 percent from the floor.  He just doesn’t get the ball much with all of the ballhogs er scorers on this team.  He leads another way and both are effective.  Ironically Montgomery would never have ended up in Lexington if not for a bit of luck that went VMI way.  As a senior playing high school ball in Baltimore Montgomery’s high school went on strike.  No Really!  He did not get to play that season and most of the scouts forgot about him.  One kid’s misfortune is what has helped change this program.  This kid has given the program the kind of low post play on both ends it not only needed but had no idea it would ever find.  And yes once again this is a black kid who this University steeped in tradition as they say (or racism whichever card your flipping) would never have allowed him to play just a few years before Blair found him and of course Carter.  He might not score 15 a game like Carter (he only average 8.9) but he makes them count and his ability to dominate every game he played on the defensive end and on the boards (6.7 a game in just over 23 minutes a game as he always got cheap calls against him for some unknown reason) without scoring much was indeed majestic!  VMI had great perimeter play all year but Montgomery was just as important with his great interior defense and rebounding.  

Bynum is the third wheel on this mighty tricycle of talent Blair recruited three years back and as different from his two sidekicks as one can be.  This kid hails from Sumter South Carolina with sloping shoulders with soft blond hair cut so short his ears seem to stick out.  A six foot five forward who looks like he just stepped out of Huck Finn’s raft Bynum is even skinnier than Carter yet usually ends up guarding the other teams power forward.  Bynum loves this game however and though he is smart as a whip (3.9 GPA in civil engineering) he has that one skill that will keep you viable on a basketball court.  You see Bynum can flat shoot.  And that never runs out of style!  He slowed down a bit this year and lost his starting role to one of the ‘Rats’ Blair brought in (though we might want to call him the Super Rat as Ms. Golihgtly would say) but coming off the bench seemed to suit him better.  Bynum excelled at coming in and giving the team a lift with his long range bombs and then again some games he did not have it and he played five minutes.  That is the role of the designated shooter off the bench.  But more often than not this kid with the unshakeable stroke came through with some huge games.  He scored 32 in the shootout with West Virginia and Jerry West and he got 22 against Chattanooga in the conference tourney when it seemed everyone else on the team was in foul trouble.  His future might not be in basketball but he has one more year here with his two compadres from the big city to go down as the most successful trio and class of basketball players ever to suit up the old red, white and yellow in Lexington. 

Blair did have a group of returning seniors that he felt obligated to play especially early on since he had actually played with most of them.  Senior Charlie Schmaus is the tough leader of the team.  A no nonsense old school player, Schmaus understands the game but also the tradition of this university.  He was against the mutiny (he and Blair are great friends who were roommates at one point) but came to grips with his teammates afterwards.  A six foot three power forward. Schmaus (rhymes with mouse) does not have near the game to compete at this level but he did start the first six games and is one tough hombre who can really board for a guy his height.  His friend sent him to the end of the bench where he became more of an assistant coach to his friend than a player the last half of the year.  Schmaus is not overly talented but demands respect and will be missed.  Fellow Senior Bill Ralph got some time as well early on backing up on the post but like Schmaus was way undersized and nowhere near fast enough to keep up with the fast paced style the new players were utilizing.  Norm Halberstadt was another senior who got faded out but unlike the tow undersized big men he used to be the main scoring option for VMI.  Halberstadt led the team in scoring for a couple of years and last year was third but that was before Blair brought in some real talent.  Still, the guy can shoot and does have enough size to be a solid wing if he gets a chance to play at the next level.  Speaking of fading out there was an entire group of senior guards who Blair never even really gave the time of day.  Former starters John Kemper and Joe Kruceski plus John Mitchell never even really got on the court except for a few mopup minutes late in a couple of blowouts and of course on Senior day.  These guys just do not have the quickness to compete in the SoCon and Blair had brought in some ‘Rats’ to man those spots on the SS Sinking Ship! 

Otman ‘Gay’ Elmore is a sophomore scoring machine.  Elmore is a talented forward who can fill it up from mid-range and can also score slashing and drawing contact.  He does not have great size at six foot six especially since he ended up guarding many fours (and sometimes fives) with VMI small team size but he is extraordinarily smart and knows how to play this game.  This Charleston West Virginia native has been ultra-popular with the home crowds and just the opposite on the road.  Opposing teams love to harass this kid for the obvious reason but also because he has a tendency to complain (or whine) a little to the officials.  Elmore is one of the best in the league and drawing fouls and then converting on the foul line, shooting over 80 percent from the charity stripe while taking over six free throws a game.  His style of play does not fit his name as he plays with a chip on his shoulder and the only time he smiles is on road games when he gets the fans all worked up The fans in Marshall, Davidson and of course The Citadel were especially hard on the uniquely named forward.  In the conference tournament opener in Charleston the Bulldog fans encased the floor with toilet tissue when Elmore was announced to give him grief over his so-called ‘crying.’  Of course Gay went out and scored 17 including four free throws in the final minutes to beat the hometown team.  Elmore was pushed near the end of the year because VMI had a logjam of talented wing players and he is not as physical as some of the other guys on the team.  He is not much of a passer and is little help on the boards as he is not overly athletic or quick which hurts him mainly on the defensive end and rebounding.  Still. Elmore is a scorer and he is really good at doing that and he will get his shots and put a large amount of them in the hoop.   

Talk about best Twins?  If Blair finds something he likes he sticks to it.  Two years ago he recruited a pair of guards from the Roanoke area and they had exceptional first years in Lexington.  Funny thing is of course is that they were twins!  This season the bench for VMI featured will have not one but two sets of twin brothers.  Sophomores Damon and Ramon Williams will be joined by freshmen Chavis and Travis Holmes in VMI own version of Mary-Kate and Ashley.  All four are solid wing players (what else?) who played very well when they got into the game.  VMI do not lack for high scoring wings.  But they do need more defense here and the Holmes brothers can really pressure the ball.  These twins who led their small North Carolina school to a state title were a great get for Blair as he got two of the best wing defenders in the entire freshman class.  Not that they were going to beat out the guys in front of them but these two can flat get in some passing lanes and at six four are the perfect height for their positions.  The Williams Brothers (no sisters here sorry Richard) do not have the size (six two) to be full time wings especially on this team and Blair tried to make them point guards.  Of course he could not figure out which one should play point so that became an issue.  The one thing both of these kids do is shoot as both hit more than 40 percent of their three pointers.  

The VMI basketball program is somewhat of s a dichotomy.  This a proud institute known for developing fine young men for military service.  The basketball team on the other hand is an up and down the court street team that does not look like it has any discipline at all.  But it does.  And this year it learned how to come together when the chips are down.  And the chips have been down for way too long in Lexington.   No VMI did not suddenly learn how to win a bunch of games in the Southern Conference which they have been a proud cellar dweller since the days the most famous team from Lexington and their huge new rival that plays their games in an arena named Cameron shared the court with them.  This is not that Southern conference but the Keys have not seemed to be able to even keep up with the new dominant teams from the likes of Davidson and Chattanooga.  The Keys did pull off a few big wins and most importantly Coach Bill Blair has implemented a new offense (though it took some prodding) that takes advantage of the great wings this program deploys.  Most of these gifted players are coming back for more including a trail blazing junior class, an oddly named sophomore shooting star and a group of ‘Rats’ who might just take over the ship.