VCU Basketball: Ace Baldwin among 7 Rams to enter NCAA transfer portal after HC Mike Rhoades’ departure

The dominoes have been falling very quickly for the VCU Men’s basketball program this week. Former head coach Mike Rhoades took the job at Penn State and it left the program in shock. With his departure, several starters and vital pieces in the program have announced that they will not be coming back and are entering the transfer portal. That includes 2023 Altlantic 10 player of the year, Ace Baldwin, and six of his teammates. 

VCU Men’s basketball is going to look a lot different next season as the turnover is happening rather quickly. They are losing a player in Ace Baldwin who was likely going to return for his senior season. However, the departure of coach Rhoades and how the whole situation was handled did not sit well with Baldwin or his teammates.

Former Utah State coach Ryan Odom was hired on Wednesday as the new head coach. Baldwin and six of his teammates would announce they are entering the transfer portal on Thursday.

VCU point guard Ace Baldwin is officially in the transfer portal, per @JamieShaw5.https://t.co/EnIlpDUlBM pic.twitter.com/hg0dsSBp0w

— On3 (@On3sports) March 30, 2023

VCU’s Men’s basketball program is going to look much different in 2023-24

Along with 2022-23 A-10 POY Ace Baldwin, six of his former VCU teammates are all entering the transfer portal after their head coach left abruptly, Joining Baldwin are Nick Kern, Jayden Nunn, Jamir Watkins, Jalen DeLoach, and Jarren McAllister. They were all starters on the team or were key contributors in their regular season success and A-10 Conference tournament championship.

Their biggest loss will be Ace Baldwin and it’s not even close. He was a three-year starter at VCU where he played in 80 games as 2022-23 A-10 POY and DPOY. Chances are that he was going to come back for his senior season at VCU if not for the coaching change. Baldwin had this to say on his social media about his decision.

“First, I want to thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to play at VCU. I want to thank VCU RamNation for three incredible years of memories. We did some amazing things that will forever stand in history,” – Ace Baldwin

“Thank you all for embracing my family and myself and treating us as family, I want to thank Coach Rhoades and the coaching staff for trusting in me to lead VCU’s basketball program for the time that I was here.” – Ace Baldwin

Reports say that the breakup between coach Rhoades, his players, and the administration was rather messy and they did not end on great terms. Baldwin went to social media on Wednesday and said “I hate snakes”, and one can infer who he was referencing. VCU has five players on their current roster and has a lot of work that needs to be done for next season.