At their Siegel Center gathering place the Rams had to wait through 48 teams on the NCAA Selection Show to hear their name called. It was worth it. VCU (24-9) was announced as the 11th seed in the East with its first game in Philadelphia on Thursday, at approximately 9:40 p.m., only a day-trip from Richmond.

VCU head coach Anthony Grant has the Rams in the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years.

The Rams’ sixth-seeded opponent will be Bruins of UCLA (25-8), who came in second in the Pacific 10 in the regular season. At this writing UCLA’s RPI is No. 33, VCU’s is No. 50.

Rather than being matched with a program without much history on the national scene, VCU has drawn the school that has won more national championships than any other, 11 in all. Kentucky has seven, Indiana five and North Carolina four. This is just the sort of basketball blue blood program in a top tier conference that has been avoid scheduling the likes of VCU.

This opportunity to make a splash at the Big Dance is similar to what the Rams took advantage of in 2007, when VCU upset Duke in the NCAA’s first round in Buffalo. This year, it’s hard to imagine a better opponent for the Rams, the CAA regular season and tournament champions, to be facing in first-round action.

No doubt, Eric Maynor and his teammates enjoyed hearing the experts at CBS and ESPN speaking well of VCU’s chance of pulling off another upset.

Click here to read, “UCLA gets tough draw in Philadelphia.