HOUSTON — The wildest story in the history of college basketball might just come down to something simple. Like a simple fact printed at the bottom of the score sheet: VCU scored zero fast break points Saturday night. Zero. For 40 minutes in an insanely large dome in Houston, the VCU players wanted nothing more than to run. All the Rams players wanted was open space. Every time they got the ball, they pushed it up court — faster, always faster — this is how VCU plays, this is how their dynamic coach Shaka Smart coaches, this is how VCU won five games and made one of the more unlikely Final Four runs ever. Butler did not allow a single fast-break point Saturday night. For 40 minutes, the Bulldogs players got back on defense … and got back on defense … and got back on defense. All night long, VCU could not beat them down the court. Not even once. And Butler won the game 70-62. And Butler is going back to the national championship game.
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