This should be an interesting one. There aren't too many teams that play harder than Duke, but VCU might be one of them. VCU is ranked #16 by Ken Pomeroy, they shoot the 3 a lot, shoot it well, and offensive rebound well. That all said, they turn the ball over a lot and are a poor free throw shooting team. Matching them up with a Duke team that defends the 3 point shot, hasn't done a good job the defensive glass, and isn't a team that forces a lot of turnovers and what do you get? Who knows? But it should be fun. I'll take Duke in a close one.
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VCU is looking forward to facing an opponent with the pedigree of Duke, although it has been the program that has gone farther in each of the last two NCAA tournaments.
The Rams have also won the only previous meeting between these schools heading into Friday night's semifinal matchup with the fifth-ranked Blue Devils at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas.
VCU (3-1) reached the Final Four two seasons ago and the third round of the NCAA tournament last season. Duke (4-0) exited in the first round last March and the round of 16 in 2011 since winning its most recent national title in 2010.
The Rams may have ushered in their recent era of success in 2007 when they ended a 22-year drought without an NCAA tournament victory by beating the Blue Devils 79-77 in the first round.
