RICHMOND, Va. — The buses rolled onto the Virginia Commonwealth University campus a little before 1 a.m. Monday morning.

When the VCU men's basketball players, coaches and staff pulled into the parking lot of the Siegel Center and entered the school's arena, more than 7,000 fans were there to greet them.

Jeff Cupps, a 1971 graduate of Butler High School, was one of them.

Cupps is the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Business Affairs at the university. Part of his job is coordinating the transportation for the athletic teams and staff at VCU.

Normally, Cupps does not travel with the team, but during the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament, he has made the journey with the Rams to Dayton (Ohio), Chicago and San Antonio during their improbable run to the Final Four.

“That's excitement,” Cupps said. “That's really something else.”

VCU is everyone's darling these days.

Cupps has seen a lot since he began working for the athletic department at the school in 1984.

But the 1975 Penn State University graduate has never seen anything like this.

VCU Final Four T-shirts are nowhere to be found on store racks around town and on campus. All that is being talked about is the Rams' run to the doorstep of the national championship game.

VCU will play Butler (Ind.) Saturday in Houston.

“The level of excitement here is almost unimaginable,” Cupps said. “At places like the University of Kentucky and UNC, it might be expected. But when you work at a mid-major, it's unexpected.”

Cupps said the basketball team didn't even expect to earn a bid into the NCAA tournament after falling in their conference championship game to Old Dominion.

The Rams were delighted, however, when they received one of the four bids to play in the first round of the tournament.

“I thought, ‘Well, we had a good season. We'll go play in the NIT,'” Cupps said. “When our name was called (for the NCAA tournament) we really felt fortunate.”

Now Cupps must plan the trip to Houston for the Final Four, which has been no easy task, he said.

“The Final Four is a whole other level,” Cupps said. “It's a whole new ballgame.”

The fact VCU is playing Butler has not been lost on Cupps, who still has family living in Meridian.

He comes back to Butler County twice a year to visit.

“Not as much as my mother would like,” Cupps said, laughing.

His mother can forgive her son for not coming home this weekend.

Cupps may be in the front row for NCAA basketball history.

“This is great for the kids,” Cupps said. “They are a great bunch of kids. As low as they were after losing in the conference tournament, to be where they are now is great. It's really something.”

Should VCU beat Butler and then win in the national championship game, the Rams would hold the record for most NCAA tournament victories in a season (seven).

Cupps hopes to organize one more trip for the men's basketball team when it is all said and done.

“Hopefully we'll win two more games and I'll be making travel arrangements to the White House,” Cupps said.