Oh yeah, Virginia Commonwealth belongs in the NCAA tournament. The real question now: Who can stop the Rams? Fresh, fast, furious and at times flawless, VCU didn’t look a bit like a team playing its third game in five nights. The Rams pressured Purdue, broke through its defense for numerous layups, and overwhelmed the third-seeded Boilermakers of the Big Ten 94-76 Sunday night to earn their first trip to the round of 16.As their fans chanted “VCU, VCU,” players hugged and celebrated on the floor of the United Center. What a trip — what a week — it has been. Now it’s on to San Antonio for the 11th-seeded Rams (26-11) to play the winner of Notre Dame-Florida State on Friday in the Southwest regional semifinals.It was just a week ago the Rams received an at-large bid to the disbelief of some critics. Shuttled off to Dayton for a first-round game, they beat Southern Cal on Wednesday, got into Chicago in the wee hours Thursday, routed Georgetown on Friday and then did the same to the Boilermakers.Purdue coach Matt Painter, whose Boilermakers (26-8) were denied a third straight trip to the round of 16, agreed. Bradford Burgess scored 23 points to lead a balanced offense, and the Rams’ depth wore the Boilermakers down in the second half when the lead reached 20 points.VCU finished with 26 assists to just four turnovers. The Rams didn’t hesitate to pop up 3-pointers — making 8-of-21 — but they also took it inside against Big Ten Player of the Year JaJuan Johnson, challenging the 6-foot-10 center.Johnson did finish with 25 points and 14 rebounds in the final game of a stellar career.But VCU really stopped the Boilermakers’ other star, E’Twaun Moore, holding him to 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting. That’s eight points below his average. Ryne Smith had 20 for Purdue, hitting 6-of-8 on 3-pointers.
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]Bernard James scored 14 points, Michael Snaer added 13 and Florida State showed there’s more to its game than defense with a 71-57 upset of second-seeded Notre Dame on Sunday night that put the Seminoles in the Regional semifinals for the first time since 1993.It was an impressive effort by the 10th-seeded Seminoles, who had four players in double figures and went 9 of 19 from 3-point range. Even more astounding, James was so sick he needed three IVs on Sunday and felt as if he was going to get sick the whole night.Derwin Kitchen, who had 10 points and six rebounds.Florida State (23-10) now faces upstart Virginia Commonwealth in the Southwest Regional semifinals Friday in San Antonio. The 11th-seeded Rams, maligned as not worthy of being in the 68-team field, stunned third-seeded Purdue earlier Sunday for their third win in five nights.It will be the first 10 vs. 11 matchup in NCAA tournament history.For Notre Dame, meanwhile, it was another disappointing showing in the NCAAs. The Fighting Irish (27-7) had their highest seed since also receiving a No. 2 in 1981 under Digger Phelps, yet ended up the same way they have for much of the last two decades — headed home after the first weekend.Notre Dame has made the regional semifinals just once in the last 24 years, back in 2003.