After VCU's shocking 71-61 upset of Kansas to send the Rams to the Final Four, Rams' fans took to Broad Street in Richmond, Va., to party like it was, well, never.
Never had VCU, a team that, according to college basketball analysts, wasn't even supposed to be in the tournament made it to the Final Four. But with the win over Kansas, VCU's fifth win of the tournament, the Rams were thrust into elite company and their fans crowded the streets in celebration.
"I got a picture sent to me where you can't walk anywhere on Broad Street right now," guard Joey Rodriguez told media after the game. "It's exciting. I'm sure everybody is going to be out there waiting for us, and I can't wait to get out of here. Sorry guys."
There were no burning of couches or toppling of cars, just good-natured whooping and hollering that went on for hours and culminated with everyone -- at least as many people as VCU's Siegel Center could hold -- piling into the gym to await the team's arrival back to Richmond at 1:30 a.m.
And when the team was introduced into the gym, it was like the beginning of a Justin Beiber concert. The cheering was deafening as the players filed into the gym wearing their Southwest Regional championship T-shirts and hats. Some still had pieces of the net tucked into their hats and behind their ears, and Jamie Skeen, who was named the region's MVP, was still carrying the game ball, which was awarded to him by coach Shaka Smart after the game.
"All the people that didn't believe in us on Selection Sunday, what are they saying now," Smart said to the crowd. "We beat USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and now Kansas. Here's the best part, we ain't done yet!"
As enamored as the fans were with the team, the players were equally as captivated. Several of them took video with their phones of the scene from the stage to savor the moment that no other VCU basketball players had had before.
VCU players are humbled by their fans. From packing the gym in the middle of the night to being a small, but loud, contingent against an army of Kansas fans in San Antonio. Smart and his players have maintained all along that the fans are the only ones who have believed and that belief has helped carry them through the tournament.
"I think we was all very thankful," VCU guard Brandon Rozzell said after the game. "Our fans stuck with us through everything this year, and as well as through this tournament. Even when Kansas' fans got loud and the arena was loud, our fans were right there in that section still cheering us on. They were the loudest and we could hear them and they motivated us to keep fighting."
Jessica White Anna Friel Monica Bellucci Minki van der Westhuizen
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