Response I made in another thread about him leaving.

Your basketball program is reaching new heights and is continuing to improve. The improvement is becoming a matter of baby steps rather than leaps and bounds though. I think that is in large part because of your region. Look at the map that some guy posted about all the final four players and where they are from. Duke and Kentucky had guys from everywhere. Michigan and Wisconsin were mainly pulling from their immediate region with a few outliers. VCU doesn't have the pull of the blue bloods and they sit in the middle of a very competitive region for basketball. The ACC is all over you and most top recruits are going to those schools first.

Texas on the other hand is in a power conference and is the main school in a huge state and has huge regional pull. Look at the recruits rick barnes has acquired. That isn't entirely because of the "prestige" of Barnes but rather the prestige of Texas. Put a proven coach in that area and there is a strong chance they become a serious national contender year in and year out.

VCU could very well get there but they have a lot of challenges to overcome. VCU has done everything they can to keep shaka and they are have made all the right moves. But, ultimately when a major school with greater resources, less competition for recruits, and "bigger" brand comes calling it will be difficult to turn that down.

The other thing to consider is that Texas kept rick barnes for forever so they appear to stand by their coaches even through moderate success.

The only question is whether Shaka can deal with being second fiddle to football, I think it would be a close second with him there, but second none-the-less.