After their Cinderella run to the NCAA college basketball final four this past season, the consensus among both Virginia Commonwealth fans and media was that it was a once in a lifetime success story that the program would have trouble repeating. Their inspirational coach was likely to be picked up by a bigger school, and some of their top players would be moving on after their senior seasons. But after the school managed to keep head coach Shaka Smart with a new $1.2 million contract it built more than enough reason for optimism at VCU, and that has led to something even more inspirational ahead of the 2011 Belmont betting race.

The school will increase student fees this season so that it can give the basketball program an extra $733,00, including for coaches’ raises. That translates into an increase of about $50 per student going forward, with the budget set for the fiscal year that begins on this July 1. The figures that the school release show that 37-percent of the student fees already go towards the athletics program, including salaries, scholarships, and sports-facility repairs. The rest of the money for the sports betting program comes from private donations and ticket revenues, as well as a university fee allocation. Whether or not the school will be able to compete once next year’s NCAA national title tournament nobody knows, but the security of Smart should have them earning at least a spot in the top-68 in the nation after being one of the final teams to make it a year ago.