This year's Final Four includes a couple of familiar faces.
The Final Four is finally set.
It's no surprise that undefeated No. 1 Kentucky is one of the region winners, but nobody expected No. 3 Notre Dame to take them to the final shot like it did. The Wildcats advanced with a 68-66 win off a big 25-point night from Karl-Anthony Towns, who hit the game-tying bucket with just over a minute left to set up Andrew Harrison's game-winning free throws.
Kentucky had coasted past its first three opponents, including a 39-point walloping over West Virginia on Thursday. The Wildcats are still the favorites to win the national title, but Notre Dame showed that they aren't invincible.
Kentucky will face No. 1 Wisconsin, which knocked off No. 2 Arizona, 85-78, in the West regional final. Arizona led at halftime, but the Badgers could hardly miss a shot if they tried in the second half, hitting 10 three-pointers on 12 attempts. Sam Dekker had five himself in a perfect 6-of-6 shooting mark in the second half and finished with a career-high 27 points.
Wisconsin can do this offensively, and has most of the season. A matchup against Kentucky will bring about the classic unstoppable offense vs. unmovable defense adage. Even if the Badgers can't repeat the same type of ridiculous shooting performance, they can learn from Notre Dame's gameplan and find ways to score on Kentucky's nation-best defense. It just won't be easy.
The other national semifinal features No. 7 Michigan State and No. 1 Duke. These two programs are no strangers to the Final Four -- or to each other, having met in March four times in the last 21 years. The Spartans and Blue Devils have met once in the Final Four, with Duke winning, 68-62, in 1999.
Duke enters Indianapolis after knocking off No. 2 Gonzaga, 66-52, in an Elite Eight game that was closer than the final score indicated. Though the Blue Devils did not get a single point from their bench, four starters scored in double figures while Jahlil Okafor had nine points and eight rebounds. But Duke was led by sophomore Matt Jones, who had the game of his life against the Bulldogs. He knocked down four threes and scored 16 points, a team-high he shared with Justise Winslow. Duke shot 42 percent from three for the game, sending head coach Mike Krzyzewski to his 12th Final Four.
But in order to advance to another title game, the Blue Devils will have to get past a Michigan State team that knocked off the 2, 3 and 4 seeds in its bracket, including an overtime thriller over No. 4 Louisville on Sunday.
The Spartans and Cardinals went back and forth all afternoon, but Bryn Forbes hit a three 23 seconds into the extra session to give Michigan State a lead it never relinquished. Travis Trice scored 17 points and played all but one minute to power his team to Indianapolis. This is Michigan State's seventh trip to the Final Four under head coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans won the whole thing in 2000, also in Indianapolis.
Here's the complete Final Four schedule (all times Eastern):
Saturday
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 1 Duke, 6:09 p.m., TBS
No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 1 Wisconsin, approx. 8:49 p.m., TBS
Monday
National Championship Game, 9:18 p.m., CBS
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