Rams butt heads with Hoosiers

Mar 17, 2012 - 2:40 PM Portland, OR (Sports Network) - The 12th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth Rams will try to continue their March magic as they take on the fourth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers in the third round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament at the Rose Garden.

VCU pulled off the first big surprise of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday as it took down the fifth-seeded Wichita State Shockers, 62-59, to advance and extend its winning streak to seven games. Coach Shaka Smart and his Rams are the team nobody wants to face with the season on the line. VCU led by 13 in the second half against the Shockers before hanging on for the slim victory. The Rams knocked off the Colonial Athletic Association regular season champion, Drexel Dragons, to earn their spot in this year's field. Unlike last year's Final Four team which relied on a three-point arsenal to get past the single-digit seeds, this year's VCU team is a very strong defensive unit.

Indiana continued its quest for its first NCAA Championship since 1987 by handling New Mexico State, 79-66, in its opening round game. Coach Tom Crean is no stranger to deep runs in the Big Dance, as he guided his former program Marquette to the Final Four. The Hoosiers were one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country during the regular season and continued that trend by hitting 53.8 percent of their shots from beyond the arc against New Mexico State. Indiana has not lost to any opponent outside of the Big Ten Conference this season.

Indiana won the only previous encounter between these programs.

The Rams are balanced and finished third in the CAA in both scoring offense (68.2 ppg) and scoring defense (59.7 ppg). Bradford Burgess provides leadership for an otherwise inexperienced squad. Burgess led the team in scoring with a game-high 16 points in the second round versus Wichita State. Burgess had multiple big time performances in last year's tournament, including a 26-point showing in the Elite Eight versus Florida State. Troy Daniels and Darius Theus each had huge contributions in the second round, as they netted 10 points each. Juvonte Reddic had a quiet game against Wichita State, he will need to bounce back for Smart's team to make a run,

The Hoosiers have an elite offensive attack of their own. Indiana ranks in the top five in the country in three-point field goal percentage and in the top 20 in scoring with an average of 77.3 ppg. The offense revolves around freshman forward Cody Zeller, who averages 15.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Zeller demands attention inside, which has created open shots for Christian Watford and Jordan Hulls. Zeller, Watford, and Will Sheehey all had 14 points versus New Mexico State in the second round. Hulls had a tremendous performance with a game-high 22 points.