At the onset of the tournament there were very few people who could’ve made a Final 4 prediction that somehow included the VCU Rams. Hell, even I thought they’d lose outright to the USC Trojans to get in to the round of sixty-four to begin with. How scared are the oddsmakers of VCU? Very scared.
VCU has posted as the longshot, but at a measly +550 to win the National Title. To do so they need to get past Butler and then topple the winner of Kentucky-UConn. I know that seems farfetched, but look at the trail of asses that VCU has left in their wake.
Beating USC wasn’t such a big deal after all. The Trojans have been a wobbly team all season long. Dismantling Georgetown, no matter how good or bad the Hoyas are, is a feat in itself but crushing Purdue was unheard of. The Rams seemed to come back down to reality a bit when they nearly lost in a one-point thriller against FSU, but erased all doubts by undressing the Kansas Jayhawks 71-61 by literally running them off the floor.
The VCU Rams aren’t a great team. They’re a hard working one. There’s a very big difference here. This is very much a case where the sum is greater than the parts and it’s all thanks to head coach Shaka Smart.
The unenviable task that Smart has had in rebuilding VCU in to a contender began with keeping things simple. VCU was never going to get the type of big name recruits that made major programs worthy Final 4 prediction teams every season. And Smart neither had the clout or reputation to steal a gem from any of the bigger schools.
Frankly, he looked in to Wake Forest reject, Jaime Skinner who has been one of the tournament’s best players thus far. Skeen averaged just 6.1 points in 21.4 minutes over his first two years at Wake and has thundered in to his own right as a senior with 15.4 points per game in 31.9 minutes. He is far and away the most talented player on the VCU Rams, and as a 6-foot-9 big man, he’s as good as anyone left trolling the paint in March Madness.
Having Skeen is a god send to the VCU Rams, but the team itself has stepped up big when they needed to. You can’t say enough about Joey Rodriguez leading the team as a 5-foot-10 point guard who isn’t a great scorer, nor a fantastic athlete. What he does do is lead and Rodriguez’s relentless attitude permeates the entire team. He is a perfect conduit for the energy that Smart generates on the sidelines.
VCU will never beat you by being flat out better than you. We just think that they’re good because of their absolutely insane +11.8 point differential. The difference is actually simplistic: they just work harder than everyone else.
You saw it in the game against Kansas, where everyone had the highly touted Jayhawks passing through as a Final 4 prediction. The VCU Rams hit the ground running…and then never stopped. Kansas played with a sense of entitlement, and were left stunned when VCU simply wouldn’t let up.
The inside-outside combination of Skeen and Rodriguez is pretty good. Not great, but worthy. What sets VCU apart is that “nothing to lose” factor. When Rodriguez isn’t making jumpers – and he misses a lot – the VCU Rams keep running and running. And then they run some more until their opponents are exhausted. They seem undeterred, as if they know that mistakes are part of their game. Not the game, but their own. It’s as if they know they’re aware of their limits, but show a defiant urge to work hard to prove that talent doesn’t matter and effort does.
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