What separates this Final Four field from most others:
*The second Saturday semifinal features No. 1 seeds in Villanova and Kansas, arguably as successful and well-rounded programs as there are in the sport, led by coaches (Jay Wright and Bill Self, respectively) who are as well-respected as there is in the profession.
*The Wildcats and Jayhawks are led by not only the two most-complete “point guards”, in Jalen Brunson and De’Vonte Graham, respectively, but also the two-best college players – not the two best “NBA prospects”, mind you, but the two best college players.
*Two of the best – but, yet, underrated – big men in the sport are likely to be matched up against one another in Omari Spellman of Villanova and Udoka Azubuike of Kansas.
Both play with a lot of power and strength although Spellman can step outside and knock in 3s while Azubuike is more of a traditional “center”.
*In No. 11 seed and Southern Regional champion Loyola-Chicago, there is a plethora of cool angles.
The Ramblers represent the “mid-majors” making a “breakthrough” – programs outside of the “power conference” realm of the sport, in the same way that the Gonzaga, George Mason, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth did before them.
It’s the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1993, when the Ramblers knocked off Cincinnati in national championship game in Louisville.
*And, when the Ramblers finally tip off with the University of Michigan in the first of the semifinals in San Antonio, it will be about the Loyola players on the floor competing against the Michigan counterparts instead of the quaint narrative surrounding the Ramblers’ 98-year-old “team chaplain”, Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt.
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