W here: University Arena (cap. 5,421), Kalamazoo, Mich.  Radio: WBBT (107.3) Projected starting lineups:  Notable: VCU (1-0) beat Western Michigan (0-1) 79-62 last year at the Siegel Center. . . . The Rams are coming off a 77-51 victory over Bethune-Cookman. Joey Rodriguez, Jay Gavin and Bradford Burgess combined to hit 8 of 13 3-pointers. . . . The Broncos lost 86-80 to Detroit in their opener. Senior guard David Kool had 29 points. . . . Kool, selected to CollegeInsider.com’s preseason Mid-Major All-America team, led the Mid-American Conference in scoring (17.9 points) last year. He hit 89.4 percent of his free throws, which ranked sixth in the nation. . . . Western Michigan was 10-21 last season. Nine of its 12 scholarship players are freshmen or sophomores.

On the first day of the signing period, Virginia Tech yesterday said two men’s basketball players signed for its Class of 2010: wing player Jarell Eddie and guard Tyrone Garland. Tech currently has the NCAA-maximum 13 scholarship players but just one scholarship senior, forward Lewis Witcher. Tech coach Seth Greenberg said he expects Eddie and Garland to enroll next school year. So in order for the Hokies to get to 13 scholarships next season, a current player would have to leave with eligibility remaining.

Stanley Rayfield does not consider himself a great artist. But the proof is hanging in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. There by itself, commanding attention on a wall of its own in a second-floor gallery, is “Dad.“ The oil painting was chosen as the second-place winner in the 2009 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. It will remain on display through August.

No injuries were reported this morning in an armed robbery that occurred on Virginia Commonwealth University’s main academic campus. Two young men told Richmond police they were sitting on a wall in the 700 block of West Franklin Street, opposite the north side of Monroe Park, when they were confronted at 12:30 a.m. by two unknown males who first asked for a light. One of the suspects then pulled a handgun and demanded money.

The recession that has gripped the nation since 2007 may have ended. But the damage is not over and solutions are needed to prevent another crisis, a finance and real estate expert said yesterday at a Virginia Commonwealth University real estate event at the Willow Oaks Country Club. “We’re still missing the new financial architecture,“ Susan M. Wachter, a professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, told about 150 VCU students, faculty and alumni.

Virginia Commonwealth University is getting a new corporate sponsor - Verizon Wireless - for its arena at the Siegel Center. The five-year partnership for the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Siegel Center is worth $850,000, VCU Athletic Director Norwood Teague said. PITTSBURGH - Pitt senior guard Jermaine Dixon underwent bone graft surgery on his broken right foot and is expected to be out about two months. Dixon reinjured the foot he initially broke in July. Dixon started all 36 games for the Panthers last season, averaging 8.4 points.

ROBERT TRUMBLE Metro Business asked Robert R. Trumble, director of the Virginia Labor Studies Center at Virginia Commonwealth University and a professor of management at VCU and former dean of its business school, about future labor trends: “Some of the major trends in labor are the aging of the labor force. This isn’t just in the United States but it’s true in all of the developed counties in the world.

Now it’s Old Dominion University’s turn to weather a scandal. When critics questioned the legitimacy of the degree that Virginia Commonwealth University awarded to then-Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe, the Richmond university found itself standing waist deep in muck as Monroe left to take the reins of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., police force.

The number of volunteers in the Richmond region declined by 38,600 people last year as the economic downturn took its toll. Even so, a report on Volunteering in America found about 231,100 people, or 21 percent of adults, volunteered in 2008. Based on an average of 2006 and 2008 data, the number of volunteers in Richmond ranked the city 40th of 51 large cities in percentage of volunteers. The average of 34.9 volunteer hours per resident ranked 27th of 51 large cities.

Former VCU standout Sean Marshall has allowed but three runs in 161/3 innings out of the bullpen in 2009. WASHINGTON Given a few days off for the all-star break, Chicago Cubs pitcher Sean Marshall returned home to Chesterfield to pursue his other passion—fishing. In fact, it’s what first got the left-hander mentioned in The Times-Dispatch, 18 years ago.

High School: Hickory (Chesapeake); was a first-team All-Group AAA pick and Eastern Region player of the year in 2002.
  College: Ranks in VCU’s career top 10 in batting average, home runs, doubles, triples and slugging percentage; hit .364 with 12 home runs and 56 RBI in 2005, earning all-Colonial Athletic Association and third-team All-America honors.

The sexual solicitation trial for former Virginia Commonwealth University Police Chief Willie Fuller was postponed today, with authorities setting a September hearing to assess his medical condition.

Richmond police last night released composite sketches of two possible suspects in the assault and rape of a woman last month in a parking deck in the Virginia Commonwealth University area. The woman was attacked about 1:45 a.m. on June 21 in the 1300 block of West Broad Street between North Lombardy and North Harrison streets, police said.

Virginia has more than 240 laboratory-confirmed cases of the H1N1 swine flu, but the true number of those sickened by the virus is probably many times that. Four students at Virginia Commonwealth University were on the sick list last week after getting flu-like symptoms; officials at the College of William and Mary were taking precautions after several participants in a youth summer-enrichment program were diagnosed with the flu.

Eric Maynor went down in VCU lore when he knocked Duke out of the 2007 NCAA tournament with a last-second shot. They came to be known as “Maynor Moments” among fans and coaches in the Colonial Athletic Association, the ones who spent four years watching Eric Maynor take over one game after another for Virginia Commonwealth. Just consider the scouting report on the Jazz’s newest draft pick from George Mason coach Jim Larranaga, who had a spot in the NCAA tournament swiped by Maynor in the last two minutes of the 2007 CAA tournament championship game.