Virginia Commonwealth Universitys senior point guard, Briante

Weber tore his ACL, MCL, and meniscus on January 31st, 2015 at the
Siegel Center during VCUs first season game against the University of
Richmond. The injury ended Webers college basketball career with
Briante being just 12 steals short of the NCAAs all time record. Weber
was the symbol of VCUs Havoc. His half court and full court defense
made the Rams truly hard to defend, posing a strong barrier to
opponents.
With 3:18 left in the second half, Weber was driving down the
lane against the Spiders when suddenly during a jump stop his knee
buckled. Lying down on the court in pain, he left to the locker room to
soon return back resting on crutches. He went to the hospital for an
MRI later that Saturday night with Coach Shaka Smart by his side.
Briante was averaging 7.9 points, 4.4 assists, 3.7 rebounds and a
nation-high 3.8 steals per game.
The loss sent Coach Smart and his team into an adjustment
period after a quick end to their 12 game win streak. "Well, we're not
gonna play zone for 40 minutes, I know that much," Smart said. "We'll
try to be who we are, but at the same time, Bri was a big part of who
we are. To think losing him will have no impact would be a little naive,
but at the same time we're not going to reinvent the wheel."
With Briante injured, sophomore JeQuan Lewis, freshman Michael
Gilmore and senior Treveon Graham stepped up to the plate and filled

in where it was need. Even though the Rams did not have another Final
Four run like they did in 2011, they still made other accomplishments.
They finished the season with a record of 26-10. The team went on to
beat the Richmond Spiders in the quarterfinals of the A10 Conference
Championship and eventually clinching a conference win for the very
first time after going to the championship for the third year in a row.
After receiving a bid to the NCAA tournament, VCU lost 72-75 in
overtime against Ohio State in the Round of 64.
"Bri has always been so durable, available all the time,'' Smart
said. "Now we have to play without him. How that goes, we'll see. It
remains to be seen. There's never been a guy who wanted to be at
VCU more. In terms of the guys I've coachedHe's always been a
terrific steal guy, but he's grown just as much defensively as he has on
offense in terms of his discipline. And just as a player that contributes
to winning and all the things that go into that, he's been one of the
best that we've had."
The Rams have hope. Even though losing Briante was tragic, it
gave the freshman players the chance to step up and gain on-court
experience. VCUs basketball team will come into the 2015-16 season
with their younger guys more adjusted to playing without the
graduating senior point guard than they would have been with Weber
leading the team.