VCU first staggered and then stunned the top-seeded Jayhawks 71-61 to advance to the Final Four.
"Coach told us we could attack them in transition," VCU point guard Joey Rodriguez insisted afterward. " ... He was absolutely right. They [were] the weakest in transition in the first half and we attacked them."
It took a handful of possessions -- and an easy 6-0 Kansas lead -- for VCU to find its footing, but the Rams' suspicions began to prove startlingly correct. Over the next 13:37, VCU unloaded a mind-blowing 39-15 run on the Jayhawks, who at first looked irked, then frustrated, then a bit panicked as the three-pointers kept raining and the deficit kept growing.
The Rams found secondary transition opportunities by the bushel, and the deluge of jump shots forced Kansas coach Bill Self to burn two timeouts and go deep into his bench early, groping around for some combination of guards that could find VCU's shooters. He never really got a handle.
"I think what hurt us more than anything in the first half is transition defense," Self said. "You look at the stat sheet, and at halftime, [we] had zero points in transition, and by our stats, they had 14."