Highly decorated group looks to write more history

HOUSTON — Bill Walton played what many agree was the best college game ever. Michael Jordan is universally praised as the best player ever. Years before either of them came along, the great Wilt Chamberlain redefined what a big, athletic center could accomplish.

These icons got their starts at UCLA, North Carolina and Kansas — three of college basketball's most storied programs, which are coming together on the sport's biggest stage, the Final Four.

March Madness? This might feel more like Hoops History 101 when the Bruins, Tar Heels and Jayhawks gather in the oversized classroom called the Alamodome, starting Saturday in San Antonio.

UCLA, the team that won most of its 11 titles in the '60s and '70s with star centers Walton and Lew Alcindor — later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — will play Memphis, a team that also has a colorful and successful history, though not nearly that of the other three.

Walton went 21-for-22 for 44 points in UCLA's 1973 title game — a win over none other than Memphis. This marks UCLA's record 18th Final Four.

In Saturday's other semifinal, it will be Kansas against North Carolina, a perfect matchup with a perfect story line — that of North Carolina coach Roy Williams going against Kansas, the program he left in 2003 amid shouts that he was a traitor for leaving his adopted school to return to his alma mater.

Carolina is in its 17th Final Four, and Kansas its 13th.

UCLA's Kevin Love (42) dunks against Xavier during the second half of their NCAA men's basketball tournament West Regional final, Saturday, March 29, 2008, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/ Matt York )

"They gave me a chance when I was not exactly a household name. I was barely a name in my own house," Williams said of Kansas. "I have no idea what my emotions will be. I'm just ecstatic for this club right now."

And speaking of perfect: This is the first time since the NCAA started seeding teams in 1979 that all four top teams — from the South, Midwest, East and West regionals — advanced to the Final Four.

"This is one of those years where it appears from the Day One, people said there are four teams that are a little bit better than everybody else," Memphis coach John Calipari said after his team's 85-67 win over Texas. "That's what they said. We happen to be one of those teams."

The early betting pick among these four power programs is North Carolina, listed as a 9-5 favorite at the Las Vegas Hilton Race and Sports Book. Memphis was the long shot at 3-1.

North Carolina's Deon Thompson reacts during a time out in an NCAA East Regional basketball semifinal against Washington State on Thursday, March 27, 2008, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

These are the programs that were established in the 1890s, 1910s, 1920s, the ones that sell great players on their schools not only because of gleaming gyms and awesome weight rooms, but because it gives them a chance to wear the same uniforms as Alcindor and Walton, Chamberlain and Manning, Jordan and Worthy.

Which new name might become household in the coming days?

Maybe Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, the guy with the nickname "Psycho T," whose iconic picture is one of him bleeding with a broken nose after receiving a bone-rattling elbow in a game against archrival Duke last season.

Or Kevin Love, the sensational freshman who has fit into a veteran lineup at UCLA that is making its third straight trip to the Final Four.

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams yells to his team during an NCAA East Regional basketball semifinal Thursday, March 27, 2008, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Or Brandon Rush, the guard who has led Kansas in scoring all of his three years in college but finally has helped himself and his long-suffering coach, Bill Self, to the Final Four.

Or Derrick Rose, the Chicago kid who went to Memphis, chose jersey No. 23 and reminds many of Jordan, the Windy City's most famous No. 23.

"It's little ol' Memphis against all these prestigious programs," Tigers guard Chris Douglas-Roberts said. "That's what it is, just little ol' Memphis."

Not so little, though.

North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough (50) dunks over Louisville's David Padgett, left, during the second half of the NCAA East Regional final basketball game, Saturday, March 29, 2008, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

The Tigers, at 37-1, need one more win to set the single-season record for victories by an NCAA Division I team.

They picked up most of those wins in Conference USA, a so-called "mid-major" conference that doesn't command the respect of the Big 12, Pac-10 or Atlantic Coast Conferences, where the other teams come from.

Indeed, this Final Four is as much about where they come from as where they're going.

These teams have history on their side — and a chance to make some more.