SAN ANTONIO – After an historic Final Four performance on Saturday night, and after a historic season-long performance from Jay Wright's Villanova Wildcats, I feel I can say this with confidence:

This Villanova program is one 40-minute basketball game away from completing the finest five-year run since John Wooden was coaching at UCLA.

What this Villanova offensive juggernaut did on Saturday night to a really good, No. 1 seed Kansas team was impressive. In an easy 95-79 victory, the Wildcats tied the single-game Final Four record for made 3-pointers with 13 in the first half. The Wildcats finished with 18 3-pointers on 40 attempts.

On Saturday night, the Golden State Warriors of college basketball also set the record for most 3-pointers in a single NCAA Tournament, breaking VCU's record of 61 back in 2011 and have made 66 3-pointers in the NCAA Tournament, and still have a game to play. This should not be all that much of a surprise; after all, Villanova has the second-highest offensive efficiency since KenPom.com started measuring offensive efficiency in the 2001-02 season.

But what Villanova has accomplished over the past five seasons is simply absurd.
• In 2014, Villanova was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It lost to UConn (which went on to win the title) in the second round, finishing with 29 wins.
• In 2015, Villanova was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It lost to North Carolina State in the second round, finishing with 33 wins.
• In 2016, Villanova was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It beat North Carolina at the buzzer to win the national title, finishing with 35 wins.
• In 2017, Villanova was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It lost in the second round to Wisconsin, finishing with 32 wins.



And this season, Villanova was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. If the Wildcats beat Michigan on Monday night, that'll be Villanova's second national title in three seasons, and will be a program-record 36 wins.

If Villanova cuts down the nets on Monday night, this will be one of the greatest five-year runs in college basketball history, period. The program's record since the 2013-14 season would be 165-21.

Coach K's greatest five-year run started with the 1997-98 season. Those five seasons, Coach K's teams won a combined 164 games, and one national title. Bill Self's greatest five-year run started with the 2006-07 season: 165 wins, and one national title. Jerry Tarkanian? Starting in the 1990-91 season, UNLV won 163 games over five years, and one national title.

It's no coincidence this run started in the first year of the "new" Big East Conference. The breakup of the old Big East was a potential death knell for programs like Villanova; instead, the new basketball-centric conference has rejuvenated not just Villanova but old-school Big East school like Seton Hall and Providence as well as new-school Big East schools like Xavier and Creighton.

It's also no coincidence that Villanova's remarkable five-year run has come as traditional blueblood schools have become obsessed with one-and-dones. Villanova has eschewed the pursuit of one-and-dones in favor of "program" guys. Players like Ryan Arcidiacono and Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges have developed over their three or four years at Villanova into legit NBA talents, but they've also become accomplished collegiate veterans. And that's how you get sustained success in the college game: Not by chasing the talent, but by mixing talent and experience in a program with such a distinct identity as Villanova's.

I don't know for sure if Villanova will win Monday night, but after seeing how they dismantled Kansas on Saturday, I can't see how they could lose.

And I do know this: If Villanova, for the second time in three seasons, again cuts down the nets on a Monday night in April, this isn't just one great college basketball team. It would be the crown jewel in the greatest five-year run in recent college hoops memory.</s>SAN ANTONIO — The Latest on the championship of the NCAA Tournament (all times local):

Third-seeded Michigan doesn't have much support from the public when it comes to pulling off an upset of No. 1 seed Villanova.

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas set the opening line for the championship game favouring Villanova by 5 1/2 points, and gamblers quickly pushed that to 6 1/2 points by backing the Wildcats. Sports book data compiled by Pregame.com shows bettors are overwhelmingly backing Villanova in every respect, whether gambling on the spread or the money line. There also appears to be consensus between sharps and casual bettors.

Only about 3 per cent of brackets filled out on Yahoo and ESPN platforms selected Michigan as a title winner, while Villanova was the most popular champion on Yahoo and just behind Virginia as the most likely pick for champion before the tournament began.

Michigan has made a shift in recent years to transform into one of the country's best defensive teams. Villanova is dropping 3-pointers like pop-a-shot and making teams look far less skilled.

Both teams are preparing Sunday for the final game of the NCAA Tournament, as March Madness bleeds into April for the championship game on Monday night.

Michigan (33-7) got here by ousting Loyola-Chicago in the Final Four on Saturday night, sending home Sister Jean and her Ramblers, the fan-favourite underdogs.</s>SAN ANTONIO, Texas — At this stage of the college basketball season, we tend to search for reasons why one shot falls while another doesn’t. Why one loose ball bounces into one team’s hands while the next ball bounces into the stands. It feels like divine intervention.

For instance, Loyola of Chicago had Sister Jean, the 98-year-old nun who prayed them into the second Final Four in school history. Villanova has associate athletic director Father Rob, a priest with a law degree; that covers a lot of bases.

But in the past few weeks, the Wildcats seem to have had something extra on their side. Something mystical. Spiritual.

It was evident when they tied the Final Four record Saturday night by hitting 13 three-pointers … by halftime. They made four in a row in a span of 2 minutes, 38 seconds. They made six of eight in a 5:32 span. An inconsistent defensive team, they surrendered only five points to Kansas in the first eight minutes of the national semifinal, and Kansas averaged more than 81 points per game, among the top 10 percent in the country.

By halftime, a spot in the final on Monday might against Michigan was virtually assured. Villanova was playing the perfect game. Again.

Maybe it was the ghost of Rollie Massimino. Maybe he’s watching over them.

“The spirit of Villanova will always live on,” said Mike Nardi, Villanova’s director of basketball operations, who played for Jay Wright from 2003-07 and has coached for him the past three seasons. “Coach ‘Mass’ is one of the staples of Villanova basketball. His energy and his spirit will always live here at Villanova. Whether or not he had something to do with yesterday’s performance, I don’t know.”

“If I had to guess? I would say yes. He lived and died with Villanova basketball. I know he’s looking down.”

It’s not all Rollie, of course. Maybe it’s not Rollie at all.

Villanova was already a pretty good team in late February. The Wildcats were 24-3 and ranked No. 3 in the country. But after a loss at Creighton on Feb. 24, the Wildcats changed. They stressed defense and rebounding. They became unstoppable. They have won 10 in a row and are, without question, the best team in the country.

They were good in 2016, too, when they won their first title since Massimino’s in 1985, but they’re better now. They have won their five NCAA tournament games by double digits, something done only four times before. The first three times, the teams added a sixth double-digit win and a national championship — Michigan State in 2000, Duke in 2001 and North Carolina in 2009. UNC came up short in 2016, thanks, of course, to Villanova.

Rollie was there in 2016, too. It was his place to be there.

A fiery, little elf, sometimes jolly, sometimes fierce, Massimino had built a strong program at Villanova in the early 1980s but he got famous in ’85 when he led Villanova to its first national championship, as a No. 8 seed. That remains the lowest seed to ever win the NCAA tournament. On the way, Massimino beat No. 1 seed Michigan and No. 2 seed North Carolina, and then he coached The Perfect Game and beat Georgetown. The Hoyas were the defending champions and the top overall seed. They featured future Hall of Fame coach John Thompson and Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing.

The victory made Villanova a destination school. It was something of a miracle.

This edition of Wildcats didn’t need a miracle, exactly, but Wright certainly didn’t expect to be back in the big game so soon.

“You can’t even say it’s a dream come true, because you don’t even dream about it,” Wright said Saturday. “You don’t dream about getting here two out of three years.

“And not having Coach Mass this year … I personally miss him a great deal.”

Wright was Massimino’s assistant at Villanova from 1987-92, then at UNLV from 1992-94, so he saw Rollie both enchanting and enraged. Massimino could be a scoundrel, and a taskmaster, and an opportunist, but, like the best of them, he had the good sense to smile when the lights were on. By the time Massimino exited retirement to coach Keiser University, an NAIA school in West Palm Beach, Fla., he was 72, and he had mellowed. When he visited Villanova, Wright’s players knew only jolly Rollie.

“I’d always say, ‘You didn’t play for him. He was not always that sweet when you played for him,’ ” said Wright, then added: “I love the fact that’s the how these guys know him.”

It’s easy for the current to team view Massimino as their patron saint.

He was by their side in 2016. He’d lived the game’s biggest moments. He knew how tense the team would be before the game, and he knew Wright, a clothes horse of the first degree, had a fixation with fashion and fastidiousness. Before the game, Massimino broke the tension.

“We’re in the championship game,” recalled forward Mikal Bridges, who was a freshman. “It’s a lot of pressure. He looks at Coach [Wright] and tells him to fix this little pocket.”

Wright looked down and, sure enough, the flap that covers his suit coat pocket was tucked into the pocket. He fixed it, a bit abashed that Massimino, whose rumpled suits fit like gunny sacks, was able to correct his dress, but happy that Rollie relaxed his team. Villanova beat Carolina at the buzzer. They never played tense.

“Everybody is, you know, nervous. Everybody’s real anxious for this game,” Bridges said. “And you just see him point at Coach: It’s like, “You gotta coach this team, but fix this first.’

“That was probably the best moment.”

The best until — maybe — Saturday night.</s>SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Jay Wright's custom-tailored suits are as sharp as Villanova's 3-point shooting. The game-day attire for Michigan coach John Beilein is more reflective of his team's emphasis on old-school fundamentals and defense.

"At the end of the game tomorrow, he'll still look like George Clooney and I will look like Columbo by Peter Falk," Beilein said Sunday. "I'd like to say Kevin Costner, but I can't go there."

For their drastically different styles, both in dress and how their teams play, one of them will be national champions Monday night. Wright will either get his second title in three seasons, or the 65-year-old Beilein his first in 40 seasons as a college head coach.

Villanova (35-4), the No. 1 seed from the East Region, has set records for making 3-pointers - both for the season (454), the NCAA Tournament (66) and their 18 in the national semifinal game against fellow No. 1 seed Kansas.

The title game in the Alamodome will be the first time in this NCAA Tournament that the third-seeded Wolverines (33-7) face a top-5 seed. They beat the Nos. 14, 6, 7 and 9 seeds in the West Region before overcoming a 10-point deficit after halftime Saturday night to be Loyola-Chicago, only the fourth No. 11 seed to ever make to the Final Four.

Loyola made only 1 of 10 3s against the nation's No. 3 defense in terms of efficiency.

After Kris Jenkins hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer against North Carolina to win the national championship two years ago, Villanova's first since 1985 under Rollie Massimino, the now 56-year-old Wright noticed people looking at him differently.

"Mostly positively. But sometimes if you don't handle it well they look at you negatively. They just look at you a lot more. You just get a lot more attention," said Wright, in his 17th season at Villanova after seven years at Hofstra.

Beilein has an impressive coaching resume with 799 wins when including all his previous stops - at Erie Community College in New York, Nazareth, LeMoyne, Canisius, Richmond and West Virginia. Missing is a national title.

Of course, Beilein would love to have a championship - the Wolverines made to the 2013 title game and lost to Louisville. Louisville was later forced to vacate that 2013 title because of NCAA sanctions in the wake of an embarrassing sex scandal. It was the first time a Division I men's basketball program was stripped of a national championship.

Going into his 1,260th game as a head coach, Beilein doesn't anticipate that winning a title, or not, will change how he sees his career.

"You hang in there and you just do your absolute best every single day. And someday you're going to say, I gave it everything I had, and if I'm falling into my grave, that's OK too," Beilein said. But you just do everything you can to be the best coach, the best mentor, the best teacher, the best husband, the grandfather, father every day, and you go do it again. And that's all I want to be."

Michigan is in its seventh national title game. The Wolverines have won only one, beating Seton Hall in overtime in 1989.

Since his first coaching job as an assistant coach at Division III Rochester in 1984, Wright has been crossing paths with Beilein, who at the time was at LeMoyne College, also in New York. Wright said Beilein had an advantage in recruiting back then because he could offer scholarships while Wright could not.

"You'd be on a guy and you'd just hope you wouldn't see John in the gym. And like, in April, he'd pop in and he'd see you," Wright said. "You'd say, 'Are you going to take him, John?' He goes, 'Yeah, I'm sorry but we're going to take him."

They coached against each other in the Big East, after Wright got to Villanova and when West Virginia was still in that league.

These Wolverines with 6-foot-11 Moe Wagner are similar to some of Beilein's teams at West Virginia, like the ones that made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances more than a decade ago with big man Kevin Pittsnogle.

"They remind me of John's West Virginia teams. Wagner kind of reminds me of a modern-day Pittsnogle, thinned down, eating healthier, a little more skilled," Wright said.

After Michigan wrapped up the first national semifinal game Saturday by finally putting away Loyola, the favorite underdogs with Sister Jean on their side, Beilein didn't get a chance to tune into the Villanova game until after halftime.

By then, the Wildcats had already matched the Final Four single-game record with 13 of their 3s. They had a double-digit lead throughout after jumping ahead 14-4 in the first 4 minutes and added 10 more points before Kansas scored again.

"I'm sure glad I didn't get to see it," Beilein said. "It was an offensive clinic against a very good defensive team."

On Monday night, it will be up to Beilein's very good defense to try to prevent another one.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>In an anti-climatic end to a tournament filled with surprises, Villanova cruised to its second men’s college basketball championship in three years Monday night, rolling past Michigan, 79-62, in San Antonio, Texas.

The No. 1-seeded Wildcats were led by Donte DiVincenzo, who poured in 31 points coming off the bench, including five 3-pointers. His scoring outburst was a record for a bench player in an NCAA championship game.

Someone check DiVincenzo for consciousness pic.twitter.com/6QfzlEkXMm — BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) April 3, 2018

The No. 3-seeded Wolverines were seeking their first national championship since 1989.

It was the third basketball title for Villanova, which also won in 2016 and 1985. The Wildcats, who were the highest-scoring team in the country, finished the year 36-4. They absolutely dominated the postseason, with a 17.7-point average margin of victory in the Big East and NCAA tournaments, and won all their NCAA tournament games by at least 12 points.

Also see: Notre Dame women win NCAA basketball title with stunning buzzer-beater

While the championship game lacked drama, this year’s tournament will be remembered for two shocking Cinderella stories: The University of Maryland-Baltimore County, who became the first 16th-seed in history to knock off a No. 1 seed; and Loyola-Chicago, the No. 11 seed who defied the odds to reach the Final Four in its first tournament appearance since 1985.</s>There’s any number of reasons Jay Wright has Villanova back in the NCAA championship game and going for its second title in three years against Michigan tonight, after the Wildcats disposed of shell-shocked Kansas 95-79 in the Final Four national semifinal late Saturday night in San Antonio.

And while their defense and rebounding are beyond dispute and they can move the ball and find the open man better than anybody, the key to their success really comes down to one basic thing: Math.

Never was that more apparent than watching Nova systematically take apart the Jayhawks, who offered only sporadic resistance once the Wildcats broke out of the gates 22-4 in the first seven minutes. Each time Kansas tried to muster a rally with a layup or short jumper, Villanova had the answer. And more times than not it was worth three points, as the 35-4 Cats not only shattered the Final Four single game record with 18 3-pointers, but passed VMI for the all-time mark in a season. They’re now at 454 — and counting.

Somewhere along the way, Wright figured out that making a bunch of threes was more beneficial than all the layups in the world. When you factor in the kind of stifling defense Nova plays across the board, but particularly in the interior with Omari Spellman and Eric Paschall, it means getting behind Villanova will usually prove fatal.

“Obviously we're very talented offensively,” said All-America guard and AP Player of the Year, Jalen Brunson, one of seven Cats to drain treys against the helpless Jayhawks, who were nowhere near the team that knocked off Duke for the Midwest championship. “We have a lot of weapons, but when it comes to us staying together on defense, that's what makes it special. We're going to keep getting better and keep getting better tomorrow and be ready for Monday.”

That’s what John Beilein’s Wolverines will be up against after Michigan burst media darling Sister Jean and her Loyola of Chicago’s bubble, 69-57 in Saturday’s opener. Loyola made just one trey against the Wolverines, who weren’t all that efficient themselves, shooting just 42.4 percent, only 25 percent beyond the arc.

It’s Michigan’s second time in the title game in the last six years, the Wolverines falling to Louisville 82-76 in 2013. For Villanova, going for its second crown in the last three years, this will be the fourth time in the Big Game.

But you’ll only find three in the record books. Jack Kraft’s1971 team’s appearance was vacated following their 68-62 loss to UCLA when it was subsequently discovered star Howard Porter had secretly signed a contract with the ABA Pittsburgh Condors during the season.

The Wildcats made it back in 1985 when Rollie Massimino’s Cats stunned heavily favored Georgetown, led by Patrick Ewing, 66-64 for the school’s first title. Along the way, they pulled a early surprise, upsetting Southeast Region top seed Michigan, 59-55 in the second round.

That’s the only time they’ve ever met in the tournament and this will be only their fifth time they’ve gone head-to-head, Nova’s 60-55 early season win in 2014 giving them a 3-1 advantage. Of course, none of that will mean a thing Monday night in the Alamodome, where Villanova dispelled the common theory teams just don’t shoot well in such a setting, going a gaudy 18-for-25, 72 percent on two-point attempts, to go with their blistering 18-for-40, 45 percent from long distance.

Chances are they’ll cool off a bit against a 33-7 Michigan team that needed Jordan Poole’s 3-point buzzer beating prayer to get past Houston in the second round. The Wolverines have been on a roll since, largely thanks to their rugged defense and the inside play of center Mo Wagner.

But they’re no “Fab Five,” with a Chris Webber or Jalen Rose, meaning Michigan usually has to beat you with its physical play and grinding defense. It worked against teams like UCLA, Purdue and Michigan State twice, but Villanova is a different breed of Cat. The Wildcats can do much more than shoot the rock, their defense holding opponents to just 42.8 percent, while hitting 50.1 percent themselves. More telling is the 3-point disparity, 454-269, which accounts for a whopping 86.8-70.4 point differential.

“We've had some good ones, but this is definitely our best offensive team,” said Wright said following Nova’s 28th double digit latest win, 23 of them by at least 15 points. “We shoot them up and we sleep in the street. Sometimes they go in. Sometimes they don't. This is one of those nights where everything went in.”

For Villanova that’s been the rule this season rather than the exception. Tonight, taking nothing for granted, they go for all knowing full well one thing: The math favors them.</s>Loyola-Chicago is going to need some more answered prayers to have another game at the Final Four.

Moe Wagner and the Michigan Wolverines are trying to end the magical ride in the NCAA Tournament for the Ramblers and Sister Jean.

Wagner has 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Wolverines, who have overcome a 10-point deficit in the second half to lead 61-53 with 1:39 left in the first national semifinal game.

Marques Townes is hobbled for Loyola-Chicago after coming down awkwardly on his left knee while missing badly on a 3-point shot.

Townes was on the bench when Michigan tied the game at 47 at the 6:56 mark, though he re-entered with 6:20 left after trying to stretch it out on the bench and convincing coach Porter Moses he was OK to get back in the game.

Michigan fifth-year senior Duncan Robinson is the first player ever to score in a Division I and a Division III men's basketball semifinal game.

And his two second-half 3-pointers in the second half could be a good sign for the Wolverines.

Michigan is 28-0 when Robinson scores six points or more. He was scoreless at half.

Before transferring to Michigan three years ago, Robinson played at Williams College in Massachusetts. He played for the Ephs in the 2014 Division III semifinals.

Michigan started the second half against Loyola-Chicago with its biggest deficit in the NCAA Tournament since falling behind 10-0 in the first 4 minutes of its first-round game against Montana.

Loyola-Chicago, the No. 11 seed from the South Region, led the Wolverines 29-22 in the Alamodome. Then the Ramblers started the second half with a three-point play to make it 32-22.

The Wolverines, the No. 3 seed in the West Region, erased their deficit against Montana and led 31-28 at halftime of that game. This was the first time they have trailed at halftime in the NCAA Tournament.

Ten of the 13 members of the Basketball Hall of Fame's newest induction class have been introduced at halftime of Michigan's game against Loyola Chicago at the Final Four.

The Alamodome crowd warmly welcomed the group of basketball luminaries, which includes Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, Ray Allen and Tina Thompson.

Their honour was announced earlier in the day, and they'll be enshrined in Springfield, Massachusetts in September.

Even Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt joined in the cheers and applause for the honorees. From her seat two rows behind courtside, Loyola-Chicago's 98-year-old superfan clapped the longest for Hill, Allen and Thompson, the WNBA great.

Sister Jean and the Loyola-Chicago fans are feeling pretty good at halftime, with the Ramblers leading Michigan 29-22 in the first game at the Final Four.

Donte Ingram ended the half for Loyola-Chicago by grabbing an offensive rebound and making a short jumper just before the buzzer.

The Ramblers were down by as many as eight points early after missing eight of their first 10 shots. They made eight of 14 shots after that and have three players with eight points — Aundre Jackson, Marques Townes and Cameron Krutwig.

Moe Wagner has 11 points and 11 rebounds for Michigan, which is 9-of-31 shooting (29 per cent). The Wolverines are 2-of-13 on 3-pointers.

Michigan centre Moe Wagner already has a double-double in the first half against Loyola-Chicago.

Wagner, the 6-foot-11 junior from Germany, had 11 points and 10 rebounds with 2:46 left in the half. He had five offensive rebounds, though the Wolverines had fallen behind 25-19.

Loyola-Chicago has finally ended its long field-goal drought at the Final Four.

The Ramblers missed eight straight shots and went 7 1/2 minutes without a basket before Donte Ingram found Aundre Jackson for a layup inside at the 10:17 mark.

Loyola-Chicago started the game by missing nine of its first 11 shots. But Jackson got open inside, then Marques Townes hit a contested jumper over Jordan Poole at the 9:19 mark to beat the shot clock.

Loyola-Chicago is off to a bad start in the Final Four, missing eight of its first 10 shots and going more than 5 minutes without a field goal.

The Ramblers are also getting out-rebounded 12-6 and have already given up seven second-chance points less than 8 minutes into the game.

Michigan was up 12-4 at the 12:38 mark.

The Final Four is underway with Michigan winning the opening tip in the first semifinal game against Loyola-Chicago.

This isn't the first NCAA Tournament matchup between the Wolverines and Sister Jean's Ramblers.

In 1964, Michigan won a second-round NCAA Tournament game 84-80 over Loyola, then the defending national champions. The Wolverines made it to their first Final Four that season.

That 1963 title was the only previous Final Four appearance for the Ramblers, who this season were the No. 11 seed in the South Region.

The national anthem was performed by a group of four students — one from each school playing in the Final Four.

After the lights went down in the Alamodome, those students were under a spotlight on one side of the court, with images of the American flag displayed around them.

Loyola Ramblers superfan Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt has prime seats to watch her team play in the Final Four.

The 98-year-old nun who sends the players notes of encouragement, writes scouting reports of upcoming opponents and serves as chaplain drew applause and gawkers as she arrived courtside on Saturday about an hour before the first semifinal. The 11th seeded Ramblers are playing No. 3 seed Michigan for a spot in the NCAA title game.

She was presented with a team jacket with her name emblazoned on it by coach Porter Moser before the game, and also briefly met Hall of Famer Bill Walton as she was heading into the arena.

The starting lineups are set for the first national semifinal — and it's all the same for Michigan and No. 11 seed Loyola-Chicago

Both teams have the same five starters they've used their previous four NCAA Tournament games — and for most of the season.

The starting five for the Wolverines, the home team, are guards Charles Matthews, Zavier Simpson and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, and forwards Moe Wagner and Isaiah Livers.

Loyola's starters are guards Clayton Custer, Ben Richardson and Marques Townes, forward Donte Ingram and freshman centre Cameron Krutwig.

Malik Newman's year of work has paid off with a trip to the Final Four.

Newman sat out last year at Kansas and worked behind the scenes as a transfer after leaving Mississippi State following his freshman season. He has come up with big performances in recent games, including scoring 13 of his 32 points in overtime of last weekend's Elite Eight win against Duke.

Newman says coach Bill Self stayed on him about becoming "a better point guard, a better player, a better leader."

The 6-foot-3 sophomore says he "should have come here straight out of high school" and called the transfer "definitely the best decision that I made."

The top-seeded Jayhawks play Villanova on Saturday night for a spot in the final.

When Michigan and Loyola-Chicago meet in the Final Four on Saturday night, one team will soon suffer its first loss in a long time.

The Wolverines have won 13 straight games since losing at Northwestern on Feb. 6. Michigan shot 50 per cent in the first half and led 32-29 in that game, only to make only 5 of 20 shots and score 20 points after halftime in the 61-52 loss.

As for the Ramblers, they have won 14 straight since falling at Bradley 69-67 on Jan. 31.

Both teams advanced deeper into March Madness because of last-moment shots in earlier rounds.

Steve Nash, Jason Kidd and Grant Hill are among the 13-member class that will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

The Hall of Fame made the announcement Saturday before the NCAA Final Four semifinals.

The inductees also include Ray Allen, Maurice Cheeks, Tina Thompson, coach Lefty Driesell, Charlie Scott, longtime executive Rick Welts, NBA executive Rod Thorn, Katie Smith, the late Ora Mae Washington and Croatian star Dino Radja.

Nash and Kidd were two of the greatest point guards of their generation. Nash is a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and eight-time All-Sta. Kidd earned 10 All-Star selections.

Hill won two NCAA titles at Duke and seven NBA All-Star selections. Allen is the most prolific 3-point shooter in NBA history and a two-time league champion.

It's been an almost all-or-nothing thing for Villanova and Jay Wright when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats reached the Final Four in 2009 before falling to eventual national champion North Carolina, then failed to get out of the NCAA Tournament's opening weekend 7/8for another six years. That included a loss to North Carolina State as a 1-seed in 2015.

Villanova finally made its push a year later, beating Kansas in a regional final then beating UNC on Kris Jenkins' walk-off 3-pointer for the national title.

But last year, Villanova lost as a 1-seed in the opening weekend again against Wisconsin.

This time, the Wildcats arrived at the Final Four as the highest remaining seed in the tournament.

Villanova plays Kansas on Saturday night in the second semifinal.

Loyola-Chicago had to win the Missouri Valley Conference championship to secure its spot in the NCAA Tournament then made a run as an 11-seed.

Yet Michigan coach John Beilein sounds like he thinks the Ramblers might have been good enough to win a title in one of the power conferences.

Loyola and Michigan play Saturday night in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.

Loyola-Chicago is only the fourth No. 11 seed to reach the national semifinals. Beilein says he thinks the Ramblers could've been seeded anywhere from No. 4 to No. 7 had they been in a bigger conference.

Beilein says he isn't saying the seeding was wrong, but that "it's an inexact science to try and figure out."

It's game day at the Final Four in San Antonio.

Saturday night features two NCAA Tournament semifinals at the Alamodome. The first is West Region champion and third-seeded Michigan against South Region champion and 11-seed Loyola-Chicago. Both teams have had wins during this tournament with last-moment shots.

The second is a battle of No. 1 seeds between East champion Villanova and Midwest champion Kansas. They've both played at a high level all year and entered March Madness as popular picks to win it all.

All four teams are past national champions. The Wildcats are pursuing a second national title in three seasons. The Jayhawks are trying for their first title since winning one in San Antonio in 2008.

Michigan won the title in 1989, while Loyola-Chicago won it in 1963.

The winners of the games Saturday will meet Monday night for the title.

By The Associated Press</s>SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The Latest on the championship of the NCAA Tournament (all times local):

Turner Sports and CBS Sports officials say the two Final Four games drew an average of 13.4 million viewers across the cable networks and primary streaming app where it aired.

That's down from an average of 16.8 million viewers who watched the national semifinal games on the broadcast flagship CBS last year, when Gonzaga beat South Carolina and North Carolina beat Oregon.

Michigan's win over Loyola-Chicago and Villanova's defeat of Kansas aired on TBS as well as TNT and truTV, which carried team-specific telecasts. The games were also streamed on March Madness Live.

Network officials say the numbers are up compared with two years ago, when the Final Four last aired on cable rather than CBS.

The memory that stands out for Duncan Robinson from playing in the 2014 NCAA Division III Final Four with Williams College was losing the championship game after Wisconsin-Whitewater made a layup in the final second.

Robinson, now a Michigan senior, is the only player who has played in both the Division I and Division III Final Fours. And now he gets another title shot when the Wolverines take on Villanova.

"As far as my freshman year ... when you go through something like that, a championship run, you're kind of forged together for, hopefully, life," Robinson said. "Those guys on that team my freshman year are still some of my closest friends, as I know these guys on this team will be as well."

Robinson scored 9 points for Michigan in the national semifinal win over Loyola-Chicago.

When Villanova's Jalen Brunson and Michigan guard Charles Matthews were high school standouts in Illinois, Brunson beat out Matthews for the state's Mr. Basketball award.

Brunson and Matthews are contending for the same trophy again — the NCAA national championship.

"He deserved it, he won the championship," Matthews said.

Sure, Matthews would have liked to win the high school honors back in 2015.

"I would rather win a title," said Matthews, who in five NCAA Tournament games has led the Wolverines with 16.6 points per game.

Third-seeded Michigan doesn't have much support from the public when it comes to pulling off an upset of No. 1 seed Villanova.

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas set the opening line for the championship game favoring Villanova by 5 1/2 points, and gamblers quickly pushed that to 6 1/2 points by backing the Wildcats. Sports book data compiled by Pregame.com shows bettors are overwhelmingly backing Villanova in every respect, whether gambling on the spread or the money line. There also appears to be consensus between sharps and casual bettors.

Only about 3 percent of brackets filled out on Yahoo and ESPN platforms selected Michigan as a title winner, while Villanova was the most popular champion on Yahoo and just behind Virginia as the most likely pick for champion before the tournament began.

Michigan has made a shift in recent years to transform into one of the country's best defensive teams. Villanova is dropping 3-pointers like pop-a-shot and making teams look far less skilled.

Both teams are preparing Sunday for the final game of the NCAA Tournament, as March Madness bleeds into April for the championship game on Monday night.

Michigan (33-7) got here by ousting Loyola-Chicago in the Final Four on Saturday night, sending home Sister Jean and her Ramblers, the fan-favorite underdogs.

Villanova (35-4) turned a highly-anticipated matchup against fellow No. 1 seed Kansas into a rout, making a Final Four record 18 3-pointers and also becoming the most prolific long-range shooting team in NCAA history with 442 makes.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Behind huge game from DiVincenzo, Villanova tops Michigan 79-62 for title</s>Villanova caps dominating NCAA Tournament run with 79-62 victory over Michigan for 2nd championship in 3 seasons

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Villanova caps dominating NCAA Tournament run with 79-62 victory over Michigan for 2nd championship in 3 seasons.
Villanova beats Michigan 79–62 to win the NCAA men's basketball championship.