Tipping off

With Final Four set, Wild March finally stabilizes

RALEIGH, N.C.—Welcome to a Final Four filled with past national champions— just the way the NCAA selection committee drew it up, right? OK, maybe not. Sure, there’s plenty of the expected with 1-seed Villanova making it to San Antonio in pursuit of the program’s second title in three seasons. Kansas is the other 1-seed to navigate its way through a maze full of upsets as it pursues its first title since 2008. And plenty figured No. 3 seed Michigan had a good shot to get to the Final Four as the Wolverines chase their first title since the Glen Rice-led group won the program’s first in 1989. But Loyola- Chicago? Consider the 11th-seeded Ramblers the representative for all the low seeds— UMBC, Marshall and Buffalo, to name a few—that pulled off the big stunners in an upset-filled and memorable March. And yes, the Ramblers do have a national championship, won way back in 1963 during the Kennedy administration. Now it’s time to prepare for next Saturday’s first national semifinal (Loyola vs. Michigan ) featuring the upstart against the surging power-conference team in an undercard to the heavyweight matchup of top seeds in the nightcap. It’s a particular relief for Kansas, which had a No. 1 seed for the third straight season and lost in the Elite Eight the past two seasons— in 2016 to Villanova as the Wildcats marched to the national title. “You think about it, hey, in their careers all we’ve been is the No. 1 overall seed, the No. 2 overall seed and the No. 3 overall seed and haven’t gotten to a Final Four,” coach Bill Self said after Sunday’s overtime win against Duke in Omaha, Nebraska. “So that means that these guys have done so well to put us in a position but we hadn’t kicked the door in yet. “I’m happy for us, staff, school, everything, but I’m more happy for these guys because they deserve to experience what the best of college basketball is—and that will be what takes place Saturday and Monday.”