VCU, University of Richmond storm into Sweet 16 as underdogs from same city of Richmond, Va.

Virginia Commonwealth has this to say to all the vocal analysts who felt the Rams didn't deserve an at-large spot in this year's NCAA Tournament.

Look at the scoreboard.

The 11th-seeded Rams from the Colonial Athletic Association have beaten USC, Georgetown and Purdue - teams from the Pac-10, Big East and Big Ten - by an average of 16.3 points. With tenacious defense and solid 3-point shooting, they are making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.

They will arrive with a huge chip and comparisons to another team from their conference, George Mason, which made a Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2006.

"That's fine," senior forward Jamie Skeen said. "They've tagged us with everything else. They said we weren't supposed to be here. Look at us now."

VCU made a huge statement for non-BCS schools everywhere, overwhelming the heavily favored, third-seeded Boilermakers, 94-76, Sunday night in Chicago, shooting 60% and turning loose Bradford Burgess. The 6-6 junior scored 23 points in the paint to propel VCU into a Friday night matchup against 10th-seeded Florida State in the Southwest Region semis in San Antonio.

"You watch them on a four- or five-game stretch and you literally think they can beat anybody in the country," Purdue coach Matt Painter said.

VCU has destroyed a lot of office pools.

The Rams' success has cast a giant spotlight on the Virginia state capital of Richmond, which is the home of not one, but two teams in the Sweet 16. The 12th-seeded University of Richmond also advanced to the Southwest Region semis, defeating Morehead State, 65-48, Saturday to set up a matchup against top-seeded Kansas. This is the first time two teams from the same city have reached the Sweet 16 since 2007, when UCLA and USC did it. The Richmond Times-Dispatch is referring to the city as Hoopstown, USA.

The two schools have stark differences. VCU is an urban campus that has slowly built a residential community and did not have an on-campus arena until the 7,500-seat Siegal Center was built 10 years ago. Richmond is more of a suburban campus and the quintessential school for Southern aristocracy. The annual Richmond-VCU rivalry is called the "Black and Blue Game." There are often chants from Richmond Spiders fans directed toward the VCU student section: "Employer, Employee."

But both universities have developed basketball traditions through financial commitments and inspired coaching hires.

VCU hired Shaka Smart, a former assistant on Billy Donovan's staff at Florida, two years ago. Richmond took a shot on Chris Mooney six years ago after the former Princeton player coached a year at Air Force.

The 33-year-old Smart is the second-youngest coach in the tournament and has had instant success with a team filled with juniors and seniors, including Burgess, Skeen and senior guard Joey Rodriguez .

Richmond gave Mooney a five-year deal so he would feel no pressure to win right away. He has repaid the Spiders by methodically developing a solid program that has some star power in 6-10 forward Justin Harper - a potential first-round draft pick - and mighty mite guard Kevin Anderson .

VCU and Richmond are both tired of being labeled mid-major programs by BCS programs that want to relegate them and others like them to second-tier status. The city of Richmond has as many teams left as the entire Big East, which started with 11.

You do the math.

Tennessee will be better off without the fired Bruce Pearl, but not as good

It took six months longer than it should have.

It took an alleged NCAA violation four days after he cried at a press conference where he admitted to other NCAA violations.

It took an about-face from a university administration that long ago lost the ability to save face.

It took a suspension from the SEC commissioner and a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA and the worst loss of his tenure to close his worst season before Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl finally lost his job.

No surprise there. No matter how often they cross the line or how far they leave it behind, successful coaches usually can keep coaching until they lose an embarrassing number of games or lose a single game in an embarrassing fashion.

Pearl managed to do both.

His 15 losses were the most of his six-year tenure, after starting this season 7-0 and rising to No. 7 in both major polls, and his 30-point loss to Michigan in the NCAA Tournament was the largest margin of defeat he suffered with the Vols.

He lost that game Friday. He lost his job Monday.

Coincidence? Maybe, in this case.

Embattled AD Mike Hamilton signaled a shift in the school's inexplicable support of Pearl in a Knoxville radio interview last week. That interview hinted that this day might come.

Whatever the reason for Pearl's dismissal, Tennessee basketball won't be the same without him. Neither will SEC basketball.

If you believe in law and order, if you believe coaches are teachers who should follow the rules, tell the truth and encourage others to do the same, Monday was a good day for the school and the league. Tennessee fired a coach who admitted that he was guilty of unethical conduct by lying to the NCAA enforcement staff and encouraging a recruit's father to do the same.

That's justice. It's justice delayed, considering that Pearl finally 'fessed up at the start of this academic year, but it's better than justice denied.

It's hard to imagine anyone could disagree with Tennessee's decision, outside of Pearl, his family, UT fans who remember the days of Buzz Peterson and Jim Tressel. But it can't be overstated that the Vols have thrown overboard their best coach of the modern era, one of the better coaches in the SEC and beyond.

Pearl wasn't the best coach in the league. He hasn't led three teams to the national championship game and won two NCAA titles, as Billy Donovan has. But the flop-sweating, chest-painting, carnival-barking Pearl gave Tennessee basketball two things it was lacking and a lot of other SEC programs still need.

Style and substance. And not necessarily in that order.

Pearl won or shared three division titles in the last six years. Only Rick Stansbury has matched that record, but in the weaker SEC West.

Tennessee is the only team in the league to reach the NCAA Tournament the last six years, or every year that Pearl was there. Tennessee and Florida are the only SEC programs to advance to three Sweet 16s in the last six years.

Pearl racked up Tennessee firsts almost as fast as he did impermissible phone calls to prospective student-athletes.

First No. 1 ranking in school history.

First Elite Eight in school history.

First victory over a No. 1 team in Thompson-Boling history.

That kind of success is unlikely to last with the school headed to a hearing before the NCAA Infractions Committee in June. There will be sanctions, and it's hard to predict whether firing Pearl now will lessen the damage.

That uncertainty could limit the pool of interested candidates, at least those that have won the way Pearl did in a power conference like the SEC. So could the cloud over the future of the AD.

So. How badly do such up-and-comers as VCU's Shaka Smart want to coach in the SEC? At Tennessee, someone will have to fill an oversized building and extra-large shoes and do it while on probation.

At least Pearl won't be given the chance to clean up the major mess he made. Tennessee will be better off without him. It just won't be as good.