Moments after his team left the floor with an improbable win over one of the true giants of the college basketball world, Shaka Smart, the 33 year old head coach of the VCU Rams, when asked what he would say to all of the people who had questioned whether his team deserved to even be in this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament said, "Those people [the doubters] don't matter. The only people that matter are the 14 guys on our team, and they never stopped believing."

Sports presents as many metaphors for life as any activity or endeavor around. And one of those metaphors is this, "You've gotta believe."

Call it trite if you will, or hackneyed if you want, but of all the intangibles which lead to success in life--no matter what the undertaking--belief has got to be right up there at the top of the list.