How VCU became a Final Four team

HOUSTON - The critics howled as soon as the "U" showed up next to the "VC" on the NCAA brackets on Selection Sunday, complaining that Virginia Commonwealth had no business being in the tournament and would be knocked out quickly - if not in the play-in game, then the next one.

Well, the NCAA tournament is down to the Final Four, and the Rams of Richmond, Va., are still standing. Thanks to the extra game necessitated for the "First Four" in the expanded 68-team field, they're the first team to enter a national semifinal game having won the previous five in tournament competition.

So as they prepare for their next "biggest game" in school history, Saturday against fellow mid-major Butler, it's time to ask: Who are these guys, anyway?

At the top is Shaka Smart, a photogenic 33-year-old wrapping up the second season of his first head coaching gig, who likes to make a point to his players.

For example, after the Rams wrapped up a dismal 3-5 February that almost ended their NCAA dream, Smart took the old page from his desk calendar, set it on fire in the practice gym, and made sure his players watched it burn in a trash can.

"My assistants said if I would have held onto it one second longer, my hand would have caught on fire," said Smart, the second-youngest coach to reach the Final Four.

Another performance took place in the locker room at halftime of Sunday's Southwest Regional championship game against No. 1 seed Kansas. Although VCU had dominated the game to that point, Smart and his players knew that a Jayhawks run was coming.

"He threw a basketball out to the middle of the floor and he dove on it," junior guard Bradford Burgess said Thursday. "He just wanted to show us the effort and attitude it was going to take to beat a tough Kansas team. He's always doing that. In practice, he'll take a charge or sprint the floor with us to show us the effort we need to have."

Burgess, a 6-foot-6 guard who creates matchup problems for opponents, saved the Rams in their overtime win over Florida State in the regional semifinal, knocking down six three-point baskets and hitting the winning layup off an inbounds play with seven seconds remaining.

The Rams (28-11) have four seniors on their roster, three of whom were recruited by Anthony Grant, Smart's predecessor. One is the Rams' current floor leader, Joey Rodriguez, who had withdrawn from VCU after Grant left to take the Alabama job following the 2008-09 season. Rodriguez intended to transfer to Division II Rollins, near his home in Florida.

"I was really down. . . . I was really close with [Grant] and wasn't listening to what Coach Smart was saying at the time and being really stubborn," the 5-foot-10 Rodriguez said. "I just said I was going home. I went home for three weeks and decided to come back."

Smart said he had one "small conversation" with Rodriguez in that time.

"I said, 'We'd love to have you back, but I've got to know that you're going to be in the circle with both feet,' " Smart said. "And he said, 'Coach, I will.' And that was really the last time we ever talked about it other than the times it's been brought up in the media.

"Would we be here today [without Rodriguez]? I could make up some long answer, but no, we would not be here today."

The other seniors are 6-9, 240-pound forward Jamie Skeen, who played his first two collegiate seasons at Wake Forest and leads the Rams with 15.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game; sixth man Brandon Rozzell (11.8), who, with 78 three-point baskets, is the most prolific of the team's array of three-point shooters; and defensive ace Ed Nixon, always assigned to the opponent's best perimeter scorer.

Sure, there may have been some serendipity involved. What if Skeen hadn't beaten the buzzer to defeat Drexel in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament? What if the field hadn't been expanded from 65 to 68 teams, perhaps keeping the selection committee from taking a third CAA team in VCU?

No one is asking those questions now, not even the critics. And the Rams continue to enjoy the ride.

"Coach kind of prepared us for how crazy it was going to be," Rodriguez said. "I just shot a music video, so that was nuts. It was a deal for CBS, and we were dancing and dribbling. It's probably the best time that I've had."