Over the years, no program has represented the philosophy behind Giant Killers better than VCU. High-risk, high-reward strategy is virtually embedded within the Rams’ DNA. And if you thought that era would end when Shaka Smart departed for Texas last April, you don’t know Will Wade.

While Smart was an assistant coach at Clemson, Wade served as the director of basketball operations. When Smart got the VCU job in 2009, Wade was the first assistant coach he hired. So after spending the past two seasons as the head coach at Chattanooga, a team that is headed to the NCAA tournament with a strong Giant Killer rating (18.3), Wade was the natural replacement for Smart at VCU.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that Wade has the Rams again projected as a top-tier Killer (48.6 GK rating). So with his team about to begin play in the Atlantic 10 tournament and hoping to secure a favorable slot on Selection Sunday, we decided to chat with Wade about his first year back in Richmond and how he has balanced Smart’s system with his own twists.

Q: What has it been like being back at VCU this year?

Wade: It’s been a great experience and fun. I like familiarity, so this was obviously a place I’m very familiar with, a place I know well, which has made the transition a little bit smoother. It’s been fun to be able to head a program of this caliber; it’s certainly a dream come true and something I’m very grateful for.

Q: How similarly are you running things to the way Shaka Smart did?

Wade: It’s probably 70-75 percent the same. I ran into some things at Chattanooga that I thought were good and we were able to try some things out there that were successful. We brought some of those things with us here to VCU that hopefully have helped the program. I don’t think you can use a one-size-fits-all method. I couldn’t come in here and be just like Shaka. At some point you’ve got to change what you do a little bit and evolve, and I think we’ve been able to do that pretty well this season.

Q: What were those things you did at Chattanooga that you brought back to VCU?

Wade: We play a little bit differently. We use a lot more zone. We play some matchup zone. We use a 2-2-1 press more than we do a diamond or double-fist press. We don’t shoot as many 3s. We play inside-out a little bit more. The way we prepare for games is pretty similar. We changed a couple of things up in terms of our prep time and the way we travel and do things on the road. You change some things to fit the personality of your team and also fit your own personality. My personality is different from Shaka’s and you do things that fit what you do.

Q: Where did the change in philosophy toward shooting 3s come from?

Wade: We still take some 3s. We’re just not solely reliant on it. I think if you can establish an inside game and have good big guys -- and we have two pretty good big guys here -- then that opens up cleaner looks from 3. So we don’t take as many 3s, but we shoot a lot higher percentage. We just try to take good ones. You try to be conscious of quality, not necessarily the quantity.

Q: We’ve talked a lot in the past about the Giant Killer philosophy of high-risk/high-reward play. Could you dial up the frequency of 3-pointers against a better opponent?

Wade: Yes. When we played Florida State earlier this year -- and I’m not saying they’re a better team than us, but they were just so much longer -- we jacked up a bunch of 3s. We can dial that back up if need be.

Sometimes that’s what you have to do. Sometimes you may not be able to score it inside, and you have to know that. We’d be stupid to just pound it inside every night. But within our league, we’re able to pound that thing inside pretty good and make things happen.

Q: What is it about a pressing/trapping style that appeals to you?

Wade: We don’t press as much. We probably press 30-40 percent of the time. We do a lot more stuff in the half court. That’s where we create our turnovers and steals. I just felt like with our team here, we don’t have the margin for error this year that maybe we’ve had in the past, and we can’t give up a lot of the easy baskets we’ve given up, especially against some of the better teams than we’ve played. We need to be a little bit smarter with what we do and I think we’ve been able to do that this season.

Q: Why has that frenetic style worked so well in the tournament?

Wade: Because I think it keeps you loose. I think teams that are tense and tight don’t play as well in tournaments. And I think it’s hard to be tense and tight when you’re flying around out there and not having to think a whole lot and just playing, using your instincts.

Q: What concerns you most about your team on a night-to-night basis?

Wade: Rebounding. I worry some about our rebounding margin when we play teams. We’ve been pretty good when we’ve emphasized it, but on the whole we’re not a great rebounding team. I’m not one of those guys who thinks rebounding is a huge stat -- I think you can make up for it with steals and turnovers. But we can’t just get annihilated on the glass. We need to keep it at a manageable number. So I really worry about just getting mauled on the glass. If we get outrebounded by five or less, that’s pretty much even in my book, as long as we make up for it with the steals and turnovers. I kind of look at all that as one stat combined. We’ve got to make up possessions that way. That worries me when we get outrebounded and we don’t create any turnovers. That’s going to spell disaster for us.

Q: In 2012-13, Shaka decided to emphasize offensive rebounding more, and you guys vaulted up in that stat. And for a team you describe as not great on the boards, you’re 58th in the nation on the offensive glass, which is really good ...

Wade: Yeah, we’re OK. We put some time into the offensive rebounding. I spend a lot more time on that than I do defensive rebounding.

Q: How do you coach offensive rebounding, anyway?

Wade: I measure it by effort. We have four different moves you have to make and on every shot, you have to make one of those four moves to the rim. And if you don’t in practice, we run you at the end of practice. The more times you go -- it’s like winning the lottery. The more balls you have in the hopper there, the better chance you have that one of them will be drawn. So the more times you go to the glass, the better chance you’ve got that one’s going to fall in your hands.

Q: Have you been following Chattanooga?

Wade: Oh yeah, I was a nervous wreck watching them [in the Southern Conference championship game]. I’ve been following them. I try to keep my distance from the players. I’ve talked to Coach [Matt] McCall a couple of times. I know one of their assistants really well -- he came from VCU. So I know him well and I’ve talked to him a bunch. But I definitely follow 'em and try to stay in touch with those guys. I’m very, very proud of them. And they can win a game [in the NCAA tournament]. They can shoot it. They’ve got a BCS-level big who can block shots. They’ve got a chance.

Q: What is your favorite March memory?

Wade: When we left VCU and drove to the airport on the way to the Final Four -- just the way the streets were clear and people were hanging over the overpasses. It was awesome just to see how everybody had united around our team and town. It was really, really cool.