TODAY’S NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL FINALS
No. 3 Texas Tech (27-9) vs. No. 1 Villanova (33-4)
East Region; Boston; 12:20 p.m., CBS
BOTTOM LINE: With a victory, Villanova can earn its second trip to the Final Four in three seasons. The Wildcats won it all in 2016. They also are trying to win their second regional held in Boston. Villanova was a No. 3 seed in the East in 2009 when it beat top-seeded Pittsburgh to earn a Final Four berth — its first under coach Jay Wright. Texas Tech is playing in the Elite Eight for the first time, in coach Chris Beard’s second season.
3-POINT PROWESS: The Wildcats have made 44 3-pointers in the tournament so far through three rounds. They now have 432 for the season, putting them 11 away from a Division I record. VMI hit 442 3-pointers in 2006-07.
THE BENCH MOB: The Red Raiders have gotten steady contributions from their bench during the tournament. Texas Tech’s reserves tallied 27 points in its win over Stephen F. Austin and 15 against Florida before outscoring Purdue’s reserves 33-6 in the Sweet 16. “It’s our identity,” Beard said. “We have a lot of faith in our whole roster, we use a lot of different guys. … That is the way we have played all year.”
GETTING DEFENSIVE: Villanova and Texas Tech are two of the best defensive teams left in the field. Including their Big East championship win over Providence, the Wildcats have held opponents to just 90 of 238 shooting from the field (38 percent), including 25 of 91 from the 3-point line (28 percent). Meanwhile, the Red Raiders have held each of their first three NCAA Tournament opponents to 66 points or fewer.
QUOTABLE: “Guys like me get one shot, and that’s just the way we coach.” — Texas Tech coach Chris Beard.
No. 1 Kansas (30-7) vs. No. 2 Duke (29-7)
Midwest Region, Omaha, 3:09 p.m., CBS
BOTTOM LINE: The stakes are huge even by Elite Eight standards. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is looking to break UCLA legend John Wooden’s record of 12 Final Four appearances. Kansas coach Bill Self, who recently joined Krzyzewski and Wooden in the Naismith Hall of Fame, is hoping to snap a two-year losing streak in regional finals and a 2-7 personal record in Elite Eights.
GRAHAM VS. GRAYSON: For all the talk about the young stars on each team, each squad is run by a star senior guard coming off a so-so game. Devonte’ Graham, the Big 12 player of the year for Kansas, shot just 4 of 12 from the field in an 80-76 victory over Clemson, and Allen was just 3 of 14 on 3s in a 69-65 win over the Orange. But both are expected to bounce back.
BLUE VS. BLUE IN THE BIG DANCE: Duke and Kansas have met five previous times in the NCAA Tournament, most notably in 1991 when the Blue Devils beat the Jayhawks 72-65 for the first of two straight NCAA championships. The two teams last met in the Big Dance in the 2003 Sweet 16, when Kansas upended Duke 69-65 behind coach Roy Williams, who would leave Lawrence to take over North Carolina shortly after that season ended.
THE NUMBERS: Kansas is ranked second in all-time wins with 2,247. Duke is fourth at 2,144. … The Jayhawks are making their 22nd appearance in the Elite Eight, third-most in Division I history, while Duke will play in its 21st regional final.
QUOTABLE: “When you start thinking about (breaking records) you can rationalize. And rationalization is one of the things that stops people from continued excellence, because they live in the past. And then they stop adapting and they stop getting hungry.” — Krzyzewski