That VCU and Butler would be matching up against one another in the Final Four would have seemed almost inconceivable even a week ago, but, well, here we are. A few weeks ago, Virginia Commonwealth was a borderline tournament pick that had losses against teams like Drexel, Northeastern, James Madison and Georgia State to answer for. Now it's flown through the tournament with wins over Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas. Butler, meanwhile, lost to Youngstown State and Evansville.
ESPN has a good video on what to expect from the VCU-Butler game. One matchup to watch for is at point guard, where VCU's Joey Rodriguez will take on Butler's Shelvin Mack. Rodriguez hasn't put up big points totals, but he's been a dynamic presence in VCU's offense, piling up assists against Florida State and Purdue. Mack was Butler's second-leading scorer and came up huge against Florida in the Elite Eight round.
Another key matchup is between Butler's Matt Howard and VCU's Jamie Skeen. Both are big forwards who are capable of scoring from the outside, and both have had big tournaments so far - Howard has scored in double digits in every game, including 20 points and 12 boards against Wisconsin and dramatic clutch performances against Old Dominion and Pitt. Skeen, meanwhile, posted a double-double and sank four threes against Kansas.