CBB Summer Buzz: VCU

Virginia Commonwealth Rams

2010-11: 28-12 (NCAA tournament -- Final Four)

Shaka Smart, four VCU seniors and junior Bradford Burgess, surrounded by legendary athletes, soaking in adulation as they accept the ESPY for "Best Upset," honoring their upending of the big, bad Kansas Jayhawks in the Elite Eight.

Freeze that moment, then roll back the film. So much went into that celebratory instant.

In November, the Rams beat UCLA in Madison Square Garden, providing a preview of their big-win capabilities. Then they lost at South Florida, and dropped another at crosstown demi-rival Richmond. Come the end of January, however, they were humming along atop the CAA with a 10-1 league mark, looking ready to run away with the regular-season championship.

February was chaos, as the Rams lost home games to George Mason, James Madison and archrival Old Dominion. The season looked wrecked until a conference tourney run to a championship-game loss -- ODU again -- left VCU on the thin part of the bubble. A bubble that, surprisingly, didn't burst.

"There was so much excitement when we got picked that we didn't even realize who we were playing for a while," says VCU's third-year coach, Shaka Smart. "Then all of a sudden, after 10 or 15 minutes of celebrating and hugs and slappin' fives, I turned to my assistant and said, 'Now, who are we playing?' and he says, 'USC,' so I said, 'Let's go to work.'"

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