In the 2011 NCAA Tournament, the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels will be joined in the Sweet 16 round by two No. 11 seeds: Marquette and VCU. Duke and UNC played early games on Sunday to clinch spots in the Sweet 16, but the underdogs took the spotlight in the later games.
No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth, coming off a win over USC to enter the field of 54 and then a second round victory over Georgetown, absolutely stunned No. 3 Purdue in a 94-76 victory. The source of heated debate over their inclusion in this year's tournament, the Rams have definitely shown that they belonged in it. Six VCU players scored in double digits, but none better than Bradford Burgess' 23 points. The Rams play the winner of No. 2 Notre Dame-No. 10 Florida State.
No. 11 Marquette played a much closer game with No. 3 Syracuse, but pulled out the 66-62 victory. With 27 seconds left in the game, Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom hit a three that broke the tie and gave the Golden Eagles a 62-59 lead. Syracuse fouled Marquette twice, and all four free throws were successful. Jae Crowder was key off the bench with 16 points and seven rebounds. They will face the UNC Tar Heels
No. 5 defeated No. 4 Texas, 70-69, on what has erupted into a controversial call when the ball was not in play. Texas called a time out and then failed to inbound the ball within the allotted five seconds. You can check out video of the five-second score here. Arizona will play No. 1 Duke.
No. 1 overall seed Ohio State manhandled George Mason, 98-66, to advance to the Sweet 16. They will play Brandon Knight and No. 4 Kentucky. No. 1 Kansas sent No. 9 Illinois home for the season with a 73-59 victory. They will play No. 12 Richmond
And make sure you visit SB Nation each morning for an updated printable 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket. That way, if you want to predict the games each day because your bracket has already been ruined, SB Nation has you covered.