Can VCU win the CAA tournament that starts today (Friday) at noon and ends Monday night?

It will take winning four games in four days; it hasn’t been done before in CAA history. It will likely mean beating a team on Monday night that had to play one less game than the Rams.

Yes, personnel-wise, VCU does have the individual parts it would take to pull it off. The talent is there.

If Larry Sanders plays like he played against Drexel at the Siegel Center on Feb. 16, then the Rams have the most dominant player in the conference.

If Ed Nixon and Brad Burgess drive into the paint with the ball more, and Joey Rodriguez refrains from getting caught in the lane  — with nowhere to go! — less, good things should happen.

If Jamie Skeen is more aggressive around the backboard it could pay dividends.

If Rams head coach Shaka Smart can convince his roster of players to execute their defense with the intensity they usually exhibited at the Siegel Center, instead of anything like the lackluster efforts that were usually turned in on the road, VCU has a chance of swelling up to make history.

Should the Rams take to sulking and jabbering with the referees, as key players have tended to do at times, they will not make it to Monday’s title tilt. Instead, they will be talking up their chances for a NIT invitation.

Maybe Smart will need to use more zone defense than he’s been willing to deploy in recent games. If Smart can rest key players for significant minutes in today’s contest, maybe tomorrow’s, too — by using the depth advantage VCU has over some other teams — the Rams may have the stamina to win a championship game on Monday night.

Truth be told, for the fifth-seeded VCU Rams (20-8, 11-7 in CAA) to win their conference’s championship tournament at the Richmond Coliseum it will take more heart to sustain the effort than they have shown this season. It will take a focus that Smart’s Rams have demonstrated only in spurts this year.

To steal this tournament from the four top seeded teams, it will call for the Rams two star players — Sanders and Rodriguez — to sustain a higher level of basketball savvy and maturity. Forget about numbers, they will both have to be significantly better leaders than they have been for most of their minutes on the floor this season. They both must stick closely to doing what they do best, where they are at their best.

Can they do it?

From this week’s CAA Notes:

The Rams beat James Madison 76-62 to improve to 15-1 at home, but fell 73-70 at rival ODU.

Junior Joey Rodriguez tied a season-high with 24 points versus JMU and also had five assists and four steals. It was Rodriguez’ fifth 20-point effort of the season.

Sophomore Bradford Burgess tallied 16 points versus JMU and a team-high 13 points at ODU. Burgess, who shot 60% (12-20) for the week, is averaging 12.0 ppg over his last four games.

Junior Larry Sanders ranks among the CAA’s top six in scoring, rebounding, FG percentage and blocks.

Junior Ed Nixon has reached double digits in six of his last nine games and is averaging 10.0 ppg over that stretech.

Senior T.J. Gwynn set a record for most career wins (96) by a Rams’ player. VCU reached the 20-win mark for the fourth year in a row.

Shaka Smart’s 20-8 record is the second-best of any first-year coach in the nation.

Click here to read the entire report from the CAA Associate Commissioner Rob Washburn. Click here to read Washburn’s report on the All-CAA teams announced at the conference’s banquet on Thursday night.

Click here to visit the CAA’s official tournament web site.

Click here to visit Ram Nation.

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Click here to read about Friday’s first session.

Click here to read about Friday’s second session.

Click here to read about Saturday’s first session.

Click here to read about Saturday’s second session.

Come back frequently over the weekend for updates on CAA tournament action.