Shaka Is Smart With Legendary Run Through Tourney

It wasn't long ago when Shaka Smart, a 33-year old known as one of the smartest Colonial head coaches for leading VCU on a magical journey, arrived at Siegel Center shortly after 1 a.m. where he was greeted by nearly 5,000 supporters inside the home arena.


It's one thing for a venue to express much gratitude in Mr. Smart, a shrewd head coach whose strategic and motivational blueprints have benefited a refreshing Cinderella tale in sports, but quite another for a cult of optimistic fans to applaud the emergence of talented players. He's a high-profile name in college basketball, simply because he has built a legend for himself by essentially being the focal point of Virginia Commonwealth pulling off one of the largest upsets in tournament history.

This season alone, he declared his citizenship in a town where suddenly the vast majority loves basketball, amazed with a miraculous tale in college hoops, one story that has awed the casual fans and initiated much enthusiasm and emotion in a tournament filled with thrills, suspense and drama. He cherishes it so much, in fact, that he entered the building Monday, gazed at the stands in disbelief and celebrated.

As he walked into view with each arm positioned skyward, for the first time in school history, fans rallied together and erupted a frenzy unlike ever before. By the time he stepped onto the hardwood, for one of the wildest homecoming rallies in bracing VCU for a sensational tourney run which has landed the Rams in the Final Four, the primal screams and cheers reached deafening levels, so loud in which the vast majority probably could have depended on defibrillators. The screams were delivered with aggressiveness, powerful enough to blow off the roof as a raucous crowd rooted in excitement, a wave of felicity sweeping throughout the venue.

Here we thought VCU was the flukiest team in the tournament, or even a program that never was eligible. But, all things considered, Smart and his players fulfilled the unimaginable on the brightest platform before procuring a spot in the Final Four, capturing national spotlight and embarking on a grand opportunity. However, instead of being perceived as the underdogs or the cutest anecdote, VCU is realistically described as a contender, after stunning the world in an upset of Kansas.

The first notion is now, of course, that VCU is no longer afraid to take on a complex match against any team, knowing they can gleam and defeat anybody on any giving night. Secondly, the Rams are worth more than 15 minutes of fame, enthusiastic, electrified and pumped emotionally and physically by Smart showing inspirational videos on a big-screen television, which has routinely become an instrumental plan for VCU's hurried prosperity. And thirdly, the Rams are in position to silence doubters and non-believers, two wins away from shocking the world even greater than the victory over Kansas.

Now, except for one of the smallest schools representing the Colonial Athletic Association, it turns out Dickie V was stunned, just as much as Jay Bilas and the rest of us were blinking our eyes and shaking our heads in disbelief when he sorely underestimated the Rams. His passions and motivations, ironically, are similar to VCU point guard Joey Rodriguez, a 5-foot-10 star player with arguable intangibles to emerge into a superstar. It's not only a reasonable prediction, but a glaring notion that VCU can win it all and can even confidently prevail and endure the joy of winning their first ever title in school history.

It's a discussion most, though not all, are creating a buzz about with the Rams cruising from the First Four to the Final Four. The reality to such a dazzling story is that he is unproven and currently coaches an unidentified program, even though he owns an impressive track record and is 55-20 overall during an awe-inspiring run as VCU's head coach. The so-called Cinderella team is no longer VCU, no longer is Smart ignored but adored in the homeland, particularly respected by the trustees and his players.


After it seems like a mirage, Smart is doing it for the kids, he is doing it for a less noticeable university. That's what Smart wants us to believe, surely. When he takes advantage of the national scene in the Final Four to disclose his proven coaching habits as a well-known coach in America -- selling VCU as one of the noteworthy programs located in Richmond, Va., an overjoyed community waiting and wishing for a miracle come Saturday.

His wife, Maya, is Shaka's biggest fan, a passionate supporter he says, garnering an assumption that he is truly a star in collegiate basketball in his second season of his young career. Why must we not realize how beautiful this story is, even more so, on a day when warmth, celebration and delirium initiated a party in the stands as fans welcomed home the celebratory Rams? The explanation of such a newsworthy season, upon hearing that VCU finished the regular season 28-11 overall boasting a 12-6 record in the Colonial Athletic Association, finishing 4th in the conference, is that Smart is a popular name after all.

So there was Smart in his finest season, particularly when VCU was never projected to advance past the first round but amazingly knocked off the No. 1 Jayhawks. And with that, really, he heard his name chanted "Shaka! Shaka! Shaka!" and also "We want Butler," VCU's next opponent in the Final Four on Saturday night in Houston.

"When we got to San Antonio, we said, 'Why not go to the Final Four?'" Smart said to the crowd. "And now that we're going to the Final Four, we say, 'Why not win the whole thing?'"

It was a genuine privilege for the crowd, cheering and chanting when Smart introduced Jamie Skeen, a clutch performer and the most standout player in the Southwest Regional, and when Rodriguez was announced holding the regional championship trophy above his head.

"All the people that didn't believe in us on Selection Sunday, what are they saying now?" Smart asked the crowd, proceeding in the Rams' rallying since VCU was selected to play in the tournament.

Considering everything, Smart reflected back on the list of teams the Rams defeated in order to reach a convincing climax, all from power conferences, from Southern California of the Pac 10 to Georgetown of the Big East to Purdue of the Big Ten. And suddenly Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference was defeated. And then on Sunday, top-seeded Kansas of the Big 12 was pummeled.

Before he takes the floor Saturday night in front of thousands, before he is the center of heavy talk, Smart, is nonetheless the boy wonder at the 2011 Final Four, partly because of his youth and small-college experience. As for Smart, the road to the Final Four, where the Rams will meet Butler, he is raising to greater stakes, already a smart gentleman.

As we had been yearning to, loving a young man with a brilliant coaching style, a strong method, and lastly, a smart mind to guide his VCU players, the Rams have captivated our attention. This was especially a season of fruition, thanks to Smart, now the best available candidate for a coaching vacancy, if familiar with his capabilities to have a large impact on VCU and the university, particularly after qualifying for the Big Dance.

In a youthful sport, it seems, I strongly believe it wouldn't be smart to discount Smart and VCU, a program on a mission, a glorious mission, that is.

Kansas' Date With VCU Embodied the Greatest Cinderella Tale

So this was the year when Cinderellas were born, when abnormal events ruined brackets and turned a compelling tournament upside down and when the suspense elevated obscurity in a mystified sports event that hijacked our consciousness in March.

Believed to be the largest upset in recent memory, if not in tournament history, the Kansas Jayhawks were victimized in consecutive seasons and painfully sustained a heartbreaker against VCU, the darlings no one ever imagined even advancing past the first round, let alone earning a berth in the Final Four. It's fair to suggest, in what has been the craziest and the most erratic tournament in ages, that nobody in our nation picked the eleven-seeded Rams for the Final Four.

For the Jayhawks, favored to raise another championship banner and celebrate with happiness, this was a great challenge for the No. 1 seed, unexpectedly blowing a chance to revive its history and return to prominence among elite programs in America. This time, for a region of much uncertainty and volatility, the Jayhawks encountered a match with VCU, a fascinating date with Cinderella in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The cutest program in the nation stunned Kansas, regardless of being one of the last teams invited into the field of 68 teams.

The darlings ousted the Jayhawks, surprisingly in the national landscape and have perennial talent, depth and heart to defy the logic and rationalize a sense in survival to withstand the odds of aspiration. But in the meantime, our hearts believe VCU is not a pipe dream--winners from the Colonial Athletic Association who reminds us of the insanity in the month of March, when we witness breathless scenes, underdogs and competitors wearing the glass slipper to oddly fool us all.

The oddity in college hoops centers Virginia Commonwealth, a group with much parity and determination that shocked the entire world by trouncing a No. 1 seed in a 71-61 victory against Kansas. Here's where the NCAA selection committee deserves its praise, even though the vast majority slammed the overseers for clearly choosing the Rams in as an at-large First Four entry and then heard the derision and widespread criticism.

But clearly, this wasn't such an awful choice in how the committee underscores the program's eligibility, such as the way VCU made the panel seem wiser while they made the critics seem like fools. Because the Rams probably won't ever again enjoy the pleasure of playing in the Final Four, it does make sense for VCU to take advantage and attempt to hoist its first ever title in school history, another way to represent the smaller conferences with very little adoration, if any.

It is decisive to Kansas' self-absorbed psyche, known for competent odysseys in the tournament and capturing titles, that the university regains its easiest way back into the Final Four picture. Aside from it all, the Rams won it respectively and enjoyed the pleasure in annihilating brackets across the nation. When it ended, Shaka Smart, the motivated coach, jumped wildly in disbelief after he encouraged his players to believe and not be intimidated by the power-conference teams, a strong message that might've led to VCU's successive conquest.

When it ended, the Rams attained national testimony, no longer identified as a fluke. The underdogs, in afterthought, were never a fluke and bullied the Jayhawks that conveyed a statement to the doubters and non-believers across the country. It figures that VCU, now the most wonderful tale in college basketball, is so bittersweet in part of a magnificent upset for the ages, an extraordinary story we relish in collegiate sports. When it ended, though, tears dropped from the watery-eyes of feverish Jayhawks fans, tears dripped gradually from the faces of Kansas' big man Marcus Morris and his twin brother Markieff Morris.

The sight to behold, despite the happiest celebration near the VCU bench, was the Kansas supporters, numbed and saddened in the stands weeping into tears over the wrath of another hurtful letdown. For the record, VCU shockingly emerged as the second No. 11 seed to ever make the Final Four with difficult obstacles. The last team to accomplish such a historic feat was LSU, winning four games by an average of 4.3 points in 1986.

It seems weird, of all teams, that VCU beat Kansas by 10 points to prevail in what clearly was the greatest challenge for inexperience, raw and unknown program out of the Colonial Athletic Association. It just so happens, particularly when it involves the Rams, that the Final Four is an unpredictable event staggering by anybody in their right state of mind. Welcome to the Final Four, a contest of craziness, weirdness and enigma, as we can utter, "Houston, WE HAVE A PROBLEM, well, only for those awry bracketologist and fans with destroyed brackets.

Seen from this tournament alone, if something boosted the energy level and perturbed VCU, it clearly was Jay Bilas' harsh evaluation that VCU never belonged in the competition or had a right over Colorado. It's a good thing, for obvious reasons, that his words as an analyst propelled the Rams to dominate and manage faith, during one of the hottest pursuits done by any team in March. The Rams advanced to Houston by exceptionally beating teams from five major conferences by an average of 12 points.

That's unbelievable.

It wasn't always this beautiful for VCU, from the bubble to the First Four to the Final Four, finally finding their swaggering when it counted to stand as the "One Shinning Moment" in college hoops, an exhilarated tale that forges an inerasable Cinderella story. What matters now, delivering largely for a small university that has never experienced so much triumph, is that VCU is en route to Houston.

"When you have belief in each other and a belief in your coaching staff," Joey Rodriguez said, a 5-foot-10 point guard whose astonishing performance bolstered VCU.

This was no surprise to VCU, an optimistic group of players with the heart and guts to shock the world, courtesy of Smart's philosophy to emphasize that his players were disrespected and lambasted across the country. Inside the locker room, filled with energy and a fiery attitude, he instills the significance of survival and being the underdogs or underestimated by showing motivational videos, an exercise for shunning off the negativity and disregards. The big-screen television, along with the videos, has fueled VCU to attack and perform with much heart, poise and diligence over the course of the tournament, hungry to win the greatest prize in school history and elevate its grandeur as a prominent university in collegiate hoops.

"Once again we felt like nobody really thought we could win going into the game," Smart said in the postgame news conference. "But these guys believed we could win. They knew we could win. And we talked before the game about how nobody else really matters, what they think."


The more surprising scene, evidently on a shocking, mind-blowing afternoon at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, happened when VCU led in a jaw-dropping blowout and drove to an 18-point lead. It is no wonder Kansas' momentum crashed in the first half, with the Jayhawks rallying to within two points at 46-44 midway in the second half. Even after Kansas rallied and brought an interesting turnaround in the second half, ultimately it wasn't enough to beat the sleepers as a dream all of the sudden turned into reality and a nightmare cast a dreaded scare on the unraveling Jayhawks, beaten and tormented by the underdogs. The Rams, a program that finished fourth place in the CAA, epitomized a vintage defeat. What's next?? The Kansas natives Dorothy and Toby get lost on the Yellow Brick Road?? The Sunflower State becomes the Sabotaged State??

All I know is that VCU believed strongly.

"Our guys have done a phenomenal job putting all the doubters aside, putting all the people that didn't believe in us aside and going out and doing their job."

When it ended, Kansas felt the agony and reflected back on a poor shooting night in which the Jayhawks strangely missed 19 of the 21 three-point attempts. When it ended so emotionally for VCU, the players jived on the court and celebrated in delight by racing near the VCU supporters in the section and were braced for fulfilling the folks with much joviality. Smart, a 33-year old head coach, cut down the nets and thanked the ecstatic VCU fans over the microphone.

His reliable guard, particularly in the previous games, Rodriguez, struggled in a shooting drought but nailed the biggest shot of his lifetime late in the half. With 4:58 left, after Kansas roared back and eased within 57-52, he knocked down a crucial three-pointer to extend the lead to 60-52, clearly emerging as the star of the game.

And ultimately, seen driving the lane with the shot clock winding down, he softly lobbed it near the rim for Bradford Burgess to finish the alley-oop for a 65-57 lead with 1:54 left. What worked, more than ever, was VCU's capacity to play harder, smarter with more composure. As the Morris twins sat in the locker room dumbfounded and disheartened, in an isolated part of the room speechless while dripping into tears, Brady Morningstar had angrily wore a disappointing facial expression on his face and, even though he was stronger than the rest of his teammates, Tyrel Reed was somber after the loss. They certainly didn't have the greatest game, as both Morningstar and Reed combined on 2-for-16 shooting.

Together, by the time it was over, they missed 13 of 28 free throws, including seven of their first nine. More importantly than anything else, it wasn't Kansas typical game plan, nor was it smartness or creativity, but clumsiness and ill-advised shot attempts. It was essentially embarrassing, one of the poorest shooting displays from one of the ideal shooting teams in the nation, ousted by the sudden toughness of VCU, a confident school after defeating Southern California, Purdue, Georgetown, Florida State and then Kansas.

For Jamie Skeen, it was a dream come true and he came through huge for the Rams. He measured his shot timely, faked a shot, fired unstoppably on an array of shot attempts as he felt a hot streak and hit three long range shots from beyond the arch. The components to VCU's hottest streak was clearly from the nine three-pointers in the first half, enough damage that pressured the Jayhawks mentally and physically. After all, there's no joke or flukes when VCU forced an orgy of turnovers, including six by Markieff Morris in the first half.

And it turns out that VCU belongs in the national spotlight by playing with much poise and confidence to upset Kansas on the brightest platform. In essence the Rams certainly belong in the Final Four. But the reality of Kansas has played soft and fearful under Bill Self, a well-respected name who has been unsuccessful in winning the meaningful games, losing to smaller and irrelevant programs.

Among them, Bucknell, Bradley, Northern Iowa and VCU, a number of miss opportunities in recent memory. As expected, Self's Jayhawks faltered greatly, even though he has watched Kansas flub unbelievably against low-seeded competitors and almost were eliminated by Davidson a few years ago, but barely outlasted them in a two-point victory with the reinforcements of Mario Chalmers in the tourney.

Aside from it all, the Rams pulled off one of the nicest upsets in NCAA history. But as Mr. Smart said, "We're not done yet."

No, they are not done yet, but in the meantime, this is one special story. Perhaps, it's too special to implode.