Eric Maynor is an uncommon talent, and a threat to UCLA

This time of year, people are bound to approach Eric Maynor, wanting to reminisce about the shot.

A 16-foot jumper. Two seconds on the clock. Virginia Commonwealth upsets mighty Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Maynor listens politely and thanks them when they finish congratulating him for the hundredth time. But two years have gone by since his shining moment and he'd rather move on.

"That's in the past," Maynor says. "I'm trying to live in the present."

As in leading VCU back into March Madness, this time against 18th-ranked UCLA in the first round of the East Regional in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Last-second heroics aside, the senior point guard has matured into a player who can do more than just hit the clutch shot. He is one of only three players in the nation to average more than 22 points and six assists this season.

George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga, whose team has been burned by Maynor more than once, calls him a "magician."

"He does so many things," Larranaga said. "He waves his magic wand and all of a sudden he's got 32 points or 10 assists or he's got a big steal."

That's a big reason why some people consider 11th-seeded VCU a serious threat to upend sixth-seeded UCLA at the Wachovia Center.

"You can't be intimidated when you go out there," Maynor said. "Man, it's college basketball."

Like a lot of kids who grew up playing the game, Maynor spent countless hours in a friend's backyard or at the park in his tiny hometown of Raeford, N.C., pretending that he had the ball in his hands with a big game on the line, the clock ticking down.

But as he grew to a lithe 6 feet 3, that kid came to appreciate the finer parts of his sport. Like the Bruins, VCU prides itself on shutting down opponents, transforming stops and turnovers into transition baskets.

"We talk a lot about defense," Coach Anthony Grant said earlier this season, "and trying to make it a staple of our team."

The players put it another way:

"We play 94 feet." Meaning the entire court.

Maynor had a solid season as a freshman in 2005-06, then truly blossomed when Grant -- a former top assistant to Billy Donovan at Florida -- arrived in Richmond the following spring.

As a sophomore, Maynor averaged just shy of 14 points and set a school record for assists in a season. Even before the Duke shot, he all but willed his team into the tournament with a remarkable performance against George Mason in the previous game, scoring nine straight points in the final 2 minutes 22 seconds.