Is there a hotter team in the country right now than VCU?

There are four double digit seeds in the Sweet 16. A fifth -- the eighth-seeded Butler Bulldogs -- is a team that was completely written off from tournament contention as recently as early February. Ohio State is rolling over opponents. BYU is winning without Brandon Davies. Florida and UConn and San Diego State are proving their doubters wrong.

Despite all of that, there may not have been a more impressive team in the NCAA Tournament's first week than VCU.

The Rams didn't just win three games in five days, although that alone is as impressive as anything that happened this week. The Rams dominated their three opponents.


It started with a relatively ugly win over USC where the Rams rode the broad shoulders of Jamie Skeen to a 59-46 win. Next up was Georgetown, a team battling an injury to point guard and leader Chris Wright. The Rams got a 26 points from Brandon Rozzell and hit 12 threes as a team en route to a 74-56 win.

Then came Sunday.

VCU was playing their best opponent of the season, a defensive-minded Purdue squad that was considered a serious contender for the Final Four. And what VCU did to the Boilermakers was borderline criminal.

The Rams scored 94 points on an average of 1.32 PPP. They shot 56.5% from the floor, hitting eight long balls. Of their 37 field goals, 26 came via an assist while the Rams committed just four turnovers. Brad Burgess led six scorers in double figures with 23 points, and VCU cruised to a 94-76 win.

Add it all up, and VCU, a team that very few believed should have been dancing, beat USC, Georgetown, and Purdue in the span of five day by a total of 49 points.

Next up? Florida State.

Its a terrific matchup of styles. The Seminoles have a bevy of big bodies to throw at a VCU team whose weakness is inside. They are as tough defensively as anyone in the country and just held Notre Dame, a team with similar offensive principles and just as many quality three point shooters, to 57 points and 7-30 shooting from deep.

That said, VCU just eviscerated another very good defensive team in Purdue. And they run a press that should be able to five Florida State's questionable back court problems.

Undoubtedly, this VCU team is going to get compared to the 2006 George Mason team this week. They are both from the CAA. They were both an 11 seed that got a controversial at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. They both beat two national names en route to a Sweet 16 game with another underdog in the same bracket as the most talented No. 1 seed.

The safe bet is against VCU. They are, without a doubt, the underdog against every team they will face from here on out, with the possible exception of Butler.

But if the Rams continue to play this way, do you really want to bet against them?