The 11th-seeded Rams, who didn’t even bother watching the NCAA tournament selection show, are heading to Houston, and final No. 1 seed Kansas is heading home after a spectacular collapse.

“It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” VCU guard Rob Brandenberg said. “Coach didn’t tell me we were going to go to the Final Four when he was recruiting me.”

Like anyone could’ve seen this coming.

Virginia Commonwealth players, jubilant after an astonishing Final Four berth, paraded the trophy into the stands.

Their few fans serenaded guard Brandon Rozzell with an impromptu “Happy Birthday.” Coach Shaka Smart was so candid he stopped short of cursing. Twice.

That’s how the Rams celebrated the biggest March upset in years to become just the third 11th seed to ever make the Final Four.

“Once again we felt like nobody really thought we could win going into this game,” said Smart, the budding star of the tournament. “Our guys have done a phenomenal job of putting all the doubters aside, all the people that didn’t believe in us, and going out to do their job.”

VCU guard Joey Rodriguez counted one of Kansas’ vaunted Morris twins — Marcus or Markieff — as one of those many doubters.

During a pregame captains meeting with officials, Rodriguez said one of the brothers offered him some parting words: “The run ends here.”

“We’ll see,” Rodriguez said he shot back.

The Jayhawks saw all right.

VCU players, hoisting their Southwest Regional championship trophy, poured into the temporary bleachers where VCU’s widely outnumbered fans sat in an Alamodome that was otherwise colored in Kansas blue and white.

VCU sold out its allotment of 1,000 tickets in San Antonio after advancing further than any Rams team in school history. The weekend before in Chicago, VCU had so many leftovers that Purdue fans scooped them up.

Jamie Skeen led VCU with 26 points, and as the final seconds ticked down, heaved the ball from the free throw line into the stands behind the opposite backboard. His teammates on the bench, who spent the final minutes with locked arms to hold each other back, finally spilled out onto the court, grinning ear to ear.

Kansas players trudged slowly off the court, many pulling their jerseys to their faces.

“Probably the best game they played ever. Probably the best game ever as a school tonight,” Kansas forward Markieff Morris said. “We let them. We let them beat us.”

The Jayhawks spent the first half not knowing what hit them.

Kansas (36-3) hadn’t trailed by more than two points the entire tournament. With five minutes left in the first half, the Jayhawks trailed by 17.

Marcus Morris had 20 points and 16 rebounds, and his brother had 13 and 12. They played in disbelief as VCU (28-11) hit 9 of their 12 3-pointers in the first half. Kansas trailed 41-27 at halftime and closed the lead to 46-44 with 13:11 left, but a 10-2 VCU run put the Jayhawks right back where they started.

Kentucky 76 North Carolina 69: In Newark, New Jersey, John Calipari restored the roar at Kentucky, leading the Wildcats back to the Final Four after a 13-year absence.

Brandon Knight scored 22 points and fourth-seeded Kentucky restored some order to the Final Four with a win over second-seeded North Carolina in the East Regional final.

The Wildcats (29-8) will play Connecticut in Houston on Saturday night after turning back a late surge by the Tar Heels (27-10), who erased an 11-point deficit before running out of gas in the final 2 minutes.

DeAndre Liggins added 12 points for Kentucky, including a 3-pointer from the corner with 37 seconds remaining to help lift the Wildcats to the Final Four for the first time since 1998.

Tyler Zeller led North Carolina with 21 points and nine rebounds, but the Tar Heels fell behind early and struggled to keep the hot-shooting Wildcats in check.