A member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, Virginia Commonwealth University sponsors teams in seven men's and eight women's NCAA sanctioned sports.

In the sweet sixteen, VCU defeated 10th-seeded Florida State 72–71 on a last second bucket in overtime to advance to the Elite 8 for the first time in school history.

He was replaced by Anthony Grant,[9] formerly an assistant head coach with the 2006 NCAA champions, the University of Florida.

Regular season conference champs and first-seed VCU defeated sixth-seed George Mason in the CAA championship game on March 5, 2007, to receive an automatic bid to the 2007 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

The Rams defeated the Patriots in a close fought game 65–59 to set a school record for wins in a season, finishing 27–6.

The team is best known for its Final Four run in the 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the first time the Rams made it beyond the second round.

[11] In the 2009–2010 season head coach Beth Cunningham led the Rams to the WNIT Sweet Sixteen where they were eliminated by the Syracuse Orange.

The Rams play at The Diamond, located in central Richmond near the Chamberlayne Industrial Center and Scott's Addition neighborhoods.

The Diamond is located on the same athletic complex as the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center, and Sports Backers Stadium, where the men's and women's soccer and track teams play.

Satterfield's successor, Roosevelt Lundy gave the Rams a few winning seasons in the mid-1980s but failed to give the team a berth into the NCAA Tournament.

After the Lundy era came Lincoln Phillips who guided the Rams to the 1991 Metro Conference Men's Soccer Final, but failed to earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament.

In the second round, the Rams defeated George Washington, before upsetting the number-one seeded, Wake Forest Demon Deacons in penalty kicks.

Reaching the regional finals, or quarterfinals in the entire tournament, VCU lost to eventual national finalists, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.

[citation needed] Following a string of three consecutive seasons without a berth in the CAA tournament, Sullivan was fired to be subsequently replaced by Giffard.

Giffard led the team to regular season runners-up in the CAA before falling in the playoff semifinals.

His second season resulted in both a winning conference and overall record, and at one point being ranked for the first time since 2005, but failure to qualify for both the CAA and NCAA Tournaments.

In the tournament, the Rams knocked off the defending finalists, the Charlotte 49ers, before losing to the Saint Louis Billikens in the championship.

In the finals, Stanford rallied to win the doubles and swept Virginia Commonwealth in the singles to claim its 17th NCAA men's tennis title 4–0.

The men's golf team has won 13 conference titles: Sun Belt (1990), Colonial (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009), and Atlantic 10 (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019).

In just their third year, on April 22, 2018, the VCU women’s lacrosse team defeated UMass, ending their 61 game Atlantic 10 conference win streak.

Club highlights include claiming first place in 2005 at the Old Dominion Shootout in Lynchburg over Liberty University, and their best-ever finish in 2007.