The 2015–16 VMI Keydets basketball team represented

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

in the

2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 13. The first early-season tournaments to begin were the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the Charleston Classic. The season ended with the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tour ...

. The Keydets were led by first-year head coach

Dan Earl Milan Daniel Earl (born December 10, 1974) is an American college basketball coach who is currently head coach for Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball. He is originally from Medford Lakes, New Jersey and attended Shawnee High School (New Jersey), ...

and played their home games out of Cameron Hall, their home since 1981. Earl replaced

Duggar Baucom Robert Franklin "Duggar" Baucom (born September 21, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, most recently the head men's basketball coach at The Citadel. Baucom was hired as the Citadel's head coach following the 2014–15 season. He was p ...

, who departed for military rival

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

in March 2015. The Keydets played as a member of the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

for the second consecutive year, having been in the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

from 2003 to 2014. Prior to that, VMI was a member of the SoCon for nearly eighty years. They finished the season 9–21, 4–14 in SoCon play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They lost in the first round of the SoCon tournament to Samford.

Preseason

Departures

In addition to four seniors, VMI also lost sophomore forward Craig Hinton to transfer.

Coaching changes

In addition to the departure of Baucom, VMI assistant coaches Daniel Willis and Ryan Mattocks also left for The Citadel. Willis came to VMI in 2005 along with Baucom, and Mattocks was hired prior to the 2012–13 season. Additionally, the contract of assistant coach Ben Thompson, who was in his first season with the program, was not renewed. In May, Earl announced three hires to the coaching staff: Steve Lepore, Chris Kreider, and Jason Slay. Lepore came from

Hargrave Military Academy Hargrave Military Academy (HMA) is a private school, private, all-male, Military school, military boarding school located in the town of Chatham, Virginia. Hargrave is affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia emphasizing Chr ...

and played college basketball at Wake Forest where he graduated in 2003. Kreider most recently served as an assistant coach at

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

for four seasons, and also worked with former Southern Conference member Georgia Southern for two years. Slay had been an assistant at SoCon rival East Tennessee State the past two seasons, and played collegiately at

West Virginia State West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia, United States. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Color ...

Recruiting

Roster

Depth chart

Schedule

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 VMI Keydets basketball team VMI Keydets basketball seasons VMI VMI Keydets bask VMI Keydets bask