ESPN Men's Basketball

1. Conference USA coaches and athletic directors met in Destin, Fla., Monday and, according to multiple sources, there is a strong movement to move the 2013 conference tournament from Memphis to Tulsa. Memphis is leaving for the Big East after next season and while it would make more economic sense to keep the event where it is, there isn't a lot of goodwill toward the Tigers to give them an added advantage in their final season in the conference. A decision on the tournament will be made next month.

2. Old Dominion is taking its time on deciding whether to upgrade football. The A-10 is apparently not an option anymore. If the Monarchs are deciding between the CAA and upgrading football to go into C-USA, then from a basketball standpoint, staying put makes more sense. If it’s a football decision then the Monarchs have to move. If it’s about hoops then ODU staying with George Mason and in a familiar basketball-first conference would be more beneficial to the continued success of this program.

3. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski made his intentions clear that he won’t coach the US National team beyond this summer. An NBA coach could be the next choice (and on Twitter a good suggestion came in the form of Doug Collins). If a college coach has another shot then Michigan State's Tom Izzo or Kansas' Bill Self, who have strong USA Basketball ties, could be in the pecking order. But it’s still unclear what direction the team/program will take after Coach K departs from the top job.

It is not at all difficult to figure out why the Southern Methodist University men's basketball program wants to hire Larry Brown, and they most likely will, as reported Tuesday afternoon by ESPN.com's Jason King.

The Mustangs -- a program with one winning season since 2003-04, just 10 all-time NCAA tournament appearances (exactly one since Brown last coached in a college game in 1988), and no long-term tradition or cachet to speak of -- are in the process of moving from Conference USA to the Big East. This is a program that needs to get good quickly. It is a program that needs a splash hire, a boost to national perception, a conversation-starter. It is a program that needs to take a risk.

Larry Brown, it is safe to say, represents all of those things.

Brown is something like a legend in the game, the only coach ever to win both a national title and an NBA championship. His legacy in the game, his sheer reach, extends well beyond his own former programs: Both Kansas coach Bill Self and Kentucky coach John Calipari -- the two men in charge of your 2012 national runner-up and champion, respectively -- consider Brown a mentor. Good luck finding someone to tell you this man can't coach the game. Because he really, really can.

But along with that acumen and experience comes the rest of the overstuffed Brown baggage cart. He is just as legendary for his short attention span; his longest coaching tenure -- q.v. this timeline for the details -- was six years (with the 76ers), and more frequently he has left his job after two or three seasons, and often even sooner than that. He has coached 30 percent of the NBA's teams and is on the verge of taking his 13th head coaching job.

Even worse, especially for an athletics program with SMU's history, is Brown's run-ins with NCAA regulatory brass: At UCLA, a Final Four appearance was vacated, and when he left Kansas in 1988 the program was under NCAA probation.

That said, SMU appears to be working on some built-in Brown backup plans. The first is a potential coach-in-waiting deal with Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich, who was still deciding on the opportunity as of early Tuesday evening.

But according to reports, Brown's staff would also include former Illinois assistant/recruiting ace Jerrance Howard and current Kentucky assistant Rod Strickland. That's a good staff. It's also a staff that could take over on a moment's notice if Brown, now 71 years old, decides this whole "coaching basketball again" wasn't such a good idea after all.

So there are huge upsides, sure. In fact, you're looking at one right now. I'm writing about SMU basketball right this very minute. You're reading about SMU basketball. That is a massive improvement over the recent state of the program -- and by "recent" I mean "since 1993 or so" -- in and of itself.

But there are massive risks here, too. The Mustangs, it seems, have decided to take the entire package, the putative risks with the potential rewards. It could work out. It could blow up. That's the Larry Brown package, and all that comes with it.

1. Ernie Zeigler told ESPN.com Sunday that his son Trey would sit out next season and then play two seasons at Pitt. But the Panthers will make an attempt to seek a waiver for Zeigler to play next season. Duke was going to seek the same thing had Zeigler chosen the Blue Devils. The premise is that Zeigler had to leave Central Michigan because his father was fired as head coach.

2. Kansas coach Bill Self said Ben McLemore is eligible and ready to go for next season. Self said in the preseason that McLemore might have been the team’s most-ready NBA level talent. That was before Thomas Robinson had a breakthrough season. But if McLemore has the impact projected then the Jayhawks should be in the thick of the title race again next season.

3. San Diego State will play UCLA in the Wooden Classic on Dec. 1 at the Honda Center. Give SDSU coach Steve Fisher credit for constantly trying to upgrade the Aztecs schedule. But these types of games will become even more important once San Diego State moves to the Big West in 2013. The Aztecs will need to secure neutral-site games against top competition due to the lower conference power rating of the Big West compared to the Mountain West. Conversely, this will be a dangerous game for UCLA. SDSU should be the favored team to win in this game.

NEW ORLEANS -- How did the Kentucky Wildcats just win the 2012 national title?

"We were the best team this season," coach John Calipari said.

"They were playing with pros," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "That didn't hurt, either."

Simple enough, right? Assemble the best freshman class in the country -- including a star center, Anthony Davis, that changes the game in ways both literal and metaphysical. Get Terrence Jones to decide to eschew a pre-lockout NBA draft and come back for his sophomore season. Keep senior Darius Miller around for leadership and savvy. A few months later, win the national title.

On Monday night, Kentucky made that process look remarkably easy in its 67-59 win over Kansas. It is this team's unique genius that the most difficult accomplishment in college basketball, and one of the most difficult in sports -- win six do-or-die games in a row -- can, once accomplished, seem downright rote.

Kentucky was the best team. It had the best players. Of course it won. Duh.

But that explanation is not sufficient. There's more to it than simply talent.

How did the Wildcats storm the NCAA tournament with a brand of dominance not seen since the 2009 North Carolina Tar Heels, and rarely seen before? How did they end that run by snuffing out an experienced, tough-as-nails Kansas squad, one led by a top-five pick and one of the best coaches in the country? How did Calipari's team go from "wow, these guys look talented" to "NCAA champions" in five short months? Here's how:

Dominant interior defense.

This is no surprise, of course: All season long, the college basketball world has marveled at Davis' shot-blocking and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's defensive will, and the way this team has made the typically simple act of scoring in the paint a feat akin to a 30-foot 3-point shot. Kentucky opponents ranked last in the country in two-point field goal percentage and overall effective field goal percentage this season.

This ability was rarely more obvious than on Monday night. Davis and Co. held Kansas to 17-of-51 (just 33.3 percent) inside the arc. Robinson and frontcourt mate Jeff Withey combined to go 8-of-25 from the field, all of which were two-point attempts. Davis' six blocks (and Jones' two) had much to do with this, of course.

But it goes far beyond sheer blocks. On Monday night, it was attributable to Davis' sheer presence -- the way he obviously and subtly affects his opponents' psyche with the knowledge that he's always around, somewhere close, waiting to send their shot the other way.

It stemmed from Davis' freakish mix of length, athleticism and agility; we've never seen a player so good at challenging more than one shot on any given possession, and few who can leave their man to contest a penetrating guard or a post move, but still recover quickly enough to grab rebounds and stop second chances. Davis was always hovering near Robinson Monday night, always ready to leap over and challenge the opposite post, while still able to grab 16 rebounds, 12 of them defensive.

And Jones was great in his own right Monday night -- and all season -- too. Charged with battling Robinson for post position, he rarely allowed KU's star to catch the ball cleanly near the rim. Instead, as Kansas swung the ball around the perimeter, Jones shifted with Robinson, moving his body to either side to prevent the post entry and disallow Robinson from sealing him over the top.

It was a clinical post defense performance. Robinson felt its effects -- and Davis' presence, and the sheer combined strength and speed Kentucky has used to dominate opponents around the rim all season -- in a Nov. 15 loss in Madison Square Garden. And he felt it again in the national championship game.

Incredibly balanced, efficient offense.

For all the talk of this defense (and it has dominated the Kentucky discussion for much of the year), the Wildcats' best trait for most of the 2012 season -- particularly during its undefeated SEC regular-season blitzkrieg -- was its offense. Hello, Monday's first half; goodbye, Kansas Jayhawks.

In Monday's first half, Kentucky scored 41 points on 16-of-30 shooting, including 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. It bumrushed the Jayhawks in a variety of ways, both in slower half-court sets and fast-break opportunities. Doron Lamb took the lead in the first half as he did throughout the game, scoring 22 points on 7-for-12 from the field, 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. When Kansas' defense shaped up in the second half and held Kentucky to just 26 points, Lamb's 10, including two key back-to-back killer 3s to stave off an even earlier Jayhawks push, were absolutely crucial.

But the Wildcats were balanced in their early breakout, too: Jones had six points, Kidd-Gilchrist 11, Teague nine, Miller three and Davis zero. (You don't need to score when you dominate every other facet of the game like Davis did.)

All of which was emblematic of the Wildcats' offensive style this season. As Calipari was fond of touting, no UK player averaged more than 11 shots per game this season. Their usage rates, per KenPom.com, were as follows (in order of highest to lowest):

Terrence Jones: 22.6 percent
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: 21.7 percent
Marquis Teague: 21.1 percent
Anthony Davis: 19.1 percent
Darius Miller: 18.9 percent
Doron Lamb: 18.1 percent

That is the utter definition of balance, and it's precisely what made this team so good: There was no one option opposing teams could lock in on and stop at all costs, no "if they don't do this, they'll lose" quality available to scouts and assistant coaches. If you stop Davis -- if he shoots 1-for-10 -- well, big whoop. You still had to guard Teague on ball screens, Lamb on off-ball screens (on curls and fades and every manner of creative methods to get easy open shots), Jones in the low block and on the offensive glass, Kidd-Gilchrist in penetration and on the fast break, Miller in the mid-range. There was no way you could do all of it all the time, for a full 40 minutes.

If the Wildcats played well, they would beat you. Now that I think about it, that part really is sort of simple.

The unique nature of this once-in-a-generation group.

Hard-nosed interior defense. Offensive balance between six remarkable, multifaceted talents. These are the two primary qualities the Wildcats brought to the floor for nearly all of 2011-12, and they're why Big Blue Nation got to celebrate the program's eighth national title Monday night. (And Tuesday morning. And probably Tuesday night. And Wednesday. And Thursday ...)

Getting to this point -- to get to the national title, to create this remarkable team -- wasn't merely a matter of recruiting this talent and letting it go do their thing. And voila! National title! That's not how it works. Calipari had to do his finest coaching job of all-time, too. He had to meld these players together into that all-hands-on-deck offensive attack, had to get them to defend every possession like it was their last, and he had to embark on a near-constant process of adjustment and acclimatization.

There are plenty of examples of this in the 2011-12 season, but perhaps the most noteworthy is how much Calipari changed the pace of the Wildcats' attack in SEC play. Kentucky averaged 70.7 possessions per game in nonconference play. This was vintage Cal, vintage Kentucky: Uptempo, utilizing the dribble-drive motion offense, overwhelming opponents with sheer talent until they finally were forced to relent.

But Teague struggled. He was prone to turnovers and forced shots; he was trying to do too much, to be the all-everything point guard he was in high school, when he was the No. 1-ranked player at his position in his recruiting class. So Calipari slowed the Wildcats down. In 16 SEC games, they averaged just 62.6 possessions. The slower pace made the game easier for Teague. He rushed less, controlled more. As a result, his assist-to-turnover ratio skyrocketed. Meanwhile, Kentucky's best defensive trait -- that inside rim-protecting defense -- was allowed to establish itself, as opponents found themselves stuck playing UK in a halfcourt game.

And so it was that the Wildcats were able to enter the tournament as a team capable of playing fast or slow, on the break or in the fray, with a freshman point guard that calmly and coolly worked the Wildcats away from two sets of upset-minded, turnover-forcing guard corps at Louisville and Kansas. Those teams made their late runs. The tension built. But Teague, a world away from November and December, was ready.

These Wildcats won't be easily replicated. There are few players in the world like Davis, who grew to become the nation's most dominant player years after most top prep stars have already been groomed and coddled beyond recognition. There are few top-5 picks like Kidd-Gilchrist, as acutely aware of his strengths and weaknesses -- and as willing to play within the game, to do whatever it takes to win -- as any elite star we've seen in decades. There are few players like Jones, the sophomore big enough to play power forward but skilled enough to plug holes on the perimeter as well.

These players, and their teammates, arrived at this season with both tangible and intangible qualities that primed them for success. Calipari had to find them, first and foremost. But he also had to mold them. They had to trust him, too.

And their willingness to do all of the above -- their special qualities and complementary abilities and sincere care for more than draft hype and touches, but for more lasting glory -- transcended any of the easy labels foist upon them by the outside world.

"What I wanted them to show was that we were not just a talented team," Calipari said, just minutes after cutting down the nets in honor of his first national championship. "We were a defensive team, and we were a team that shared the ball.

"I wanted that. I told them I wanted this to be one for the ages. Go out there and show everyone what kind of team you are, even though we were young. It doesn't matter how young you are. It's how you play together."

That will be the lasting lesson of the 2012 national champion Kentucky Wildcats: Youth only means so much. Talent, too. Greatness requires so much more.

This team had all of it, everything it takes on offense and defense and in the locker room and on the sideline. On Monday night, they made sure we'd remember that more than anything else. And so we will.

Or, at least, we should. Because winning a national title like this team just won a national title is never -- despite appearances to the contrary -- as simple as it looks.

Kansas' coach talks about his team's 67-59 loss to Kentucky in the national title game.

NEW ORLEANS -- The immediate reaction to Kentucky's 67-59 national championship win over Kansas:

Overview: Kentucky fans, breathe easy. The coronation is complete.

We expected a coronation, and that's exactly how much of this game went. Kentucky jumped out to a big lead early, extended it to as many as 18 points in the first half, went to the half with a 41-27 lead, and was never truly threatened throughout the second half.

How? The Wildcats were, as they have been all tournament, comprehensively good. They shot 16-of-30 in the first half, using every manner of attack -- at the rim and from the perimeter, jump shots and isolation drives, you name it -- in ways Kansas, one of the nation's best defenses all season, couldn't hope to match.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats might have been even better on the defensive end, especially in the second half. Kansas never got anything easy, and Anthony Davis was everywhere: He blocked three shots in the first half and six for the game (and changed countless more), while skying high over Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey to grab what felt like every rebound. Robinson shot 6-for-17, Withey just 2-of-8; both were stymied all night by Davis and the ever-active quick-handed Cats defense. The KU big men needed to have a big game -- and Kansas' defense needed to play all 40 minutes very well, as Jayhawks coach Bill Self said this weekend -- to have a real chance of upsetting this Kentucky team. Neither happened.

Turning point: But that doesn't mean Kentucky didn't have to sweat. Oh, Big Blue Nation had to sweat. Of course it did.

With 10 minutes left in the second half, Kansas looked poised to go on its traditional second-half run. Robinson converted a dunk, Tyshawn Taylor made a fast-break layup, and the lead was cut to 10 at 48-38. Jayhawks fans were rowdy. The momentum seemed to shift. And then Doron Lamb struck. Lamb's back-to-back 3-pointers moved the lead back to 16 points, Kansas still couldn't get easy shots to cut the deficit, and Kentucky maintained a double-digit lead until the five-minute mark.

That's when Taylor came alive. The Kansas senior (somehow) sank a deep 2-pointer over Davis, followed by a fast-break, one-on-two layup and the foul. That cut the lead to nine -- the closest the game had been since midway through the first half -- and by the under-four timeout, Kansas fans had regained hope that this unlikely team had another unlikely comeback left in the tank. The lead closed to seven on two Robinson free throws, then grew to 10 again on a Marquis Teague 3, then went back to 7 as Johnson hit a wide-open answer of his own. Teague took another top-of-the-key jumper, but this one missed, and Robinson nearly completed a 3-point play on a surprising pass from Withey.

Robinson knocked down both free throws, cutting the lead to five. And after Kentucky nearly turned the ball over, Jones corralled it and sent it to Davis, who made one of two free throws and kept the lead relatively safe at six, with just 1:11 left to play.

Self drew up a backcut play for Taylor out of a timeout. Taylor caught it going at the rim but was defended and blocked by Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Later, with the lead still at six, the Jayhawks found Johnson open in the corner. Johnson lifted to take a 3. But Davis flew out to challenge the shot, forcing Johnson to drop the ball, travel, and give it back to UK. Lamb sealed the game with two free throws with 17 seconds left, and UK fans were finally free to cheer. Coach John Calipari hugged his staff. The national championship was official. The coronation, which came with no small share of stress, was real.

Key player: Anthony Davis. You watched the game, so you saw him in action. When have we seen a collegiate player with the ability to thoroughly control a game without scoring a point, as he did in the first half. When have we seen a player who can shoot 1-for-10 from the field and still be the best on the floor for much of the contest? His final line: 6 points, 16 rebounds, 6 blocks, 5 assists, 3 steals.

There's a reason Davis has so dominated this season, and tournament, why he'll be the obvious No. 1 pick in a loaded 2012 draft: He is simply on another level than his competition. Never was that more obvious than on the game's biggest stage.

Key stat: Kansas shot just 17-of-51 from inside the arc. All season, the Jayhawks' interior play has been their main offensive strength, but Kentucky's defense was too much, and even a 5-of-11 night from 3-point territory wasn't enough to make up for it. The Jayhawks finished well below the one-point-per-possession mark, and their inability to finish in the low block -- thank Davis (as well as Jones and Darius Miller) for that -- was the reason why.

What's next: Kentucky will go down as one of the best teams of the past decade, and maybe longer, a dominant force comprised not only of talent, but of complementary pieces -- a real team in every sense of the word. They were unstoppable in this tournament, and Davis, who dominated this Final Four and his team's final game in every way imaginable, will be remembered as the most successful one-and-done talent since Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to the national title. Tonight was the crowning achievement of Davis' short but wondrous collegiate career, and we'll never forget it.

This was also the crowning achievement of Calipari's much-debated coaching career, the season in which his best-in-class ability to acquire the best talent in the country, and mold that talent into quality college basketball teams, paid the ultimate dividends. He found a once-in-a-generation talent (Davis) and a fearless, selfless warrior (Kidd-Gilchrist), and put those two pieces alongside at least three or four other potential NBA players. By the end of the season, this team had no holes. It was something close to flawless.

Calipari will always be controversial, but there's nothing controversial about the season this team had or the role its coach played in guiding it.

NEW ORLEANS -- On Sunday, Bill Self came right out and admitted it: When he first saw the 2012 NCAA tournament bracket, he dreamed of Monday night.

"I dreamed about it as soon as I saw the brackets," Self said. "You look at your region, you say, OK, first game, who do we have to beat to get to the Sweet 16, who is a potential matchup, how do we match up?

"I did look. I said: 'How cool would it be to play Kentucky in the finals?'"

The answer, now that it's real: Very, very cool. The other answer, now that it's real: Very, very difficult.

As good as Kansas is, with experienced guard play and surefire All-American power forward Thomas Robinson and a defense ranked among the nation's best, to win the national title it will have to take down a team Self believes to be among the best we've seen in years. This game is infused with storylines -- from the two winningest programs in college hoops to the personal Self-Calipari rematch of the 2008 national title to the Davis-Robinson matchup, and on down the line -- but those storylines serve only as a function of what happens when two basketball teams take the court for 40 minutes Monday night.

Self and his players made another admission Sunday: They know they're the underdog. From a sheer talent standpoint, Kentucky is -- and should be -- the favorite. But games aren't played on paper, and Kansas has its own fair share of talent, too. "They got to bleed just like we bleed," guard Tyshawn Taylor said. "Everything will be proved Monday night."

So, how do the Jayhawks match up? Let's dig in.

For the rest of Eamonn Brennan's preview, click here.

NEW ORLEANS -- The last time John Calipari was on this stage, he was facing Kansas and Bill Self. He may or may not have had the better team in 2008, but he probably should have won. Two minutes and a nine-point comeback and Mario's Miracle and four years and a job change later, Calipari is back on the verge of a national title again.

And so the question was asked: What did he learn from the experience? What great lesson will he bring to Monday's national title matchup with Kansas? Do you feel any pressure?

"Make free throws, that's what I learned," Calipari said. In other words, there is no great mystery to competition at this level, or at least none that Calipari is willing to reveal. The consensus in the Superdome media sessions Sunday was widespread, easily formed and ultimately correct: If the Cats play well Monday, they'll win. Calipari will get his redemption. Big Blue fans will get their coveted eighth national title. It really is that simple.

One look at Kentucky's lineup tells the story: The Wildcats are great at every position. Even better, they've long since coalesced into something even better than the sum of their parts. They're a team with minimal ego, a batch of future pros with defined, accepted roles, a group that draws strength not from the fear of failure but the promise -- even the casual expectation -- of success.

For the rest of Eamonn Brennan's story, click here.

NEW ORLEANS -- Of all the players scattered throughout the Kansas locker room, perhaps none is more qualified to offer insight to Bill Self than Niko Roberts.

The deep reserve has known the coach practically his whole life, dating back to 1996 when his father, Norm, began an eight-year run as Self's assistant and a lifelong friendship.

Midway through the season, Niko picked up the phone and practically gushed to his dad.

"He said, 'Dad, Coach is back,'" Norm Roberts remembered. "'He's having so much fun. He's still getting after us but he's having a blast.' This is how I remember him."

This national championship pits the two winningest programs in college basketball against one another, a battle royale of the game's finest.

Kentucky trots to the Superdome fitting the bill, carrying the burden of expectation of not being the favorite but also, as John Calipari constantly reminds everyone, "The Commonwealth of Kentucky's Team."

Kansas saunters to Monday's title game like a poser, wearing the uniform of a blueblood and the pressure of a mid-major.

No one expected the Jayhawks to be here.

No one expects the Jayhawks to win.

And that is exactly why Self is having so much fun.

For the rest of Dana O'Neil's story, click here.

NEW ORLEANS -- Kentucky and Kansas are the two winningest programs in college basketball.

They are also two of the most similar, at least since John Calipari and Bill Self took over at the respective schools.

They have competed against each other for high-level recruits. Yes, believe it or not, Calipari isn’t the only one who seeks out players who are in college for one season. Self does it too.

“If your final schools are Kentucky and Kansas then that young man should be a very good player,’’ Calipari said.

“We’ve both had our fair share of good players and lottery picks,’’ Self said. “They’ve done the best job in recruiting in the country as far as a roster of freshmen and sophomores. They have by far the most talent, far away since he’s been there.’’

Self and Calipari recruited Thomas Robinson, Tyshawn Taylor, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb and Kyle Wiltjer.

In previous years, Marcus and Markieff Morris were wanted by both coaches. The same is true for Xavier Henry.

“They both like athletic, fast guys who can run,’’ Robinson said.

Self and Calipari competed for the national title in 2008 when Calipari was coaching Memphis. Self won.

They are both incredibly competitive. Yet they are friendly rivals.

They want the best players, regardless of whether they are going to stay for one or four seasons.

They seek out similar talent: players who are going to defend, aren’t going to wilt one bit and must be able to check the ego at the door. Both coaches have succeeded at massaging the talent into one cohesive unit.

“Bill Self looks at his team and creates roles for his players,’’ Calipari said. “He gets guys to play their roles. He uses a lot of pick-and-rolls and they defend. His teams play hard and he essentially has a totally new team."

“Everybody talks about my team being new, but he lost his freshman class,’’ said Calipari, referring to freshmen Ben McLemore and Jamari Traylor being ineligible this season. “Everybody thought they’d be an NIT team and they’re not in the NIT, he’s in the final game.’’

Self said the two coaches are similar in their philosophy of coaching. Of course, he put in that Calipari always has “guys,’’ a term used to essentially describe the immense talent Calipari has amassed.

“We want to recruit the best players in the country, and we go against Duke, Carolina and Michigan State and Texas, but at some point, you’re going to have to beat Kentucky,’’ Self said. “He’s much more animated than I am on the sidelines. But we both get after our guys.’’

They win under intense pressure and don’t mind all the attention that comes with it.

There are programs that feel pressure, some more than others. Winning at places like North Carolina, Indiana and UCLA is expected, and when it doesn’t happen, as has occurred in the past decade for all those schools, the pressure increases. Yet the scrutiny frazzles neither Self nor Calipari.

And their teams play in two of the most hallowed halls in the game: Phog Allen Fieldhouse and Rupp Arena. The fan bases travel as well as any in the country. They expect success. And both coaches have delivered.

Now they’ve got a chance to send their faithful home with a national championship, either Self’s second -- and second against Calipari -- or Calipari’s first.

Kansas head coach Bill Self talks with Andy Katz on playing from behind, his impressions of Anthony Davis, and stopping Kentucky on Monday night.

For the first time, all three Final Four games will be regular-season rematches. Kentucky beat Kansas, 75-65, at Madison Square Garden back on Nov. 15.

Monday’s national championship game will be the third meeting between the Wildcats and Jayhawks in the NCAA tournament. In 1999, Kentucky beat Kansas in the Round of 32, 92-88. Kansas won the other meeting in 2007, 88-76, also in the Round of 32.

Kentucky was the selection committee’s top overall seed, marking only the third time since 2004 -- when the committee began ranking the four No. 1 seeds -- that the top overall seed reached the title game. In 2005, Illinois lost in the final and the 2007 Florida Gators won the national championship.

Kansas head coach Bill Self won his first title four years ago, beating John Calipari’s Memphis Tigers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this will be the first time in exactly 50 years (and third time overall) that the national title game will feature a rematch between coaches who have previously met in the national title game.

In 1962, Cincinnati's Ed Jucker beat Ohio State's Fred Taylor for the second straight season. In 1953, Indiana's Branch McCracken beat Phog Allen of Kansas -- just as he had done in 1940.

There will be two AP First-Team, All-Americans on the court Monday: Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis and Kansas junior Thomas Robinson. Since seeding began in 1979, this will be only the fourth national championship game with two First-Team All-Americans on the court, and the first time since 1999 (Duke’s Elton Brand and Connecticut’s Richard Hamilton).

Davis, the AP Player of the Year, has blocked 11 shots in Kentucky's last two games. This season he has 180 blocked shots, two shy of Hassan Whiteside’s freshman single-season record set in 2009-10.

For the 2012 Men’s Basketball Championship, Davis has blocked 18 shots in the paint and altered another 23.

Davis also is one of only three players, along with Joakim Noah (2006) and Kevin Love (2008), to score at least 75 points, grab 50 rebounds and block at least 20 shots in a single NCAA tournament (since blocked shots became an official stat in 1985-86).

In this tournament, however, Davis has been outdone by Kansas’ Jeff Withey, who blocked a Final Four record seven shots against Ohio State. What’s more, Withey kept each of his blocked shots in bounds, and has kept all but 15 of his 136 blocks this season in bounds

Withey has blocked 27 shots in the 2012 NCAA tournament, two shy of the single-tournament record set by Noah in 2006.

Finally, if the Wildcats beat the No. 2 seeded Jayhawks, they will be the fourth straight team to win the national title without having played a No. 1 seed. From 1979 to 2008, only six teams won it all without having to play a No. 1 seed along the way.

NEW ORLEANS -- As fans from the upper deck littered the court with seat cushions, this Final Four's version of confetti, Bill Self and Thomas Robinson stood amid the din and chaos, waiting to do their postgame TV interview.

Self, a grin as wide as a mouth can stretch spreading across his face, turned briefly and looked at Robinson, shook his head and mouthed, "Wow."

Perhaps the only people more shocked than Jared Sullinger, who sat jersey over his head in the middle of the court after the buzzer solidified Kansas' 64-62 win over Ohio State were the Jayhawks.

Find a locker room, any locker room in any sport, and you will find athletes lined up to insist that they knew they could and would succeed and achieve, no matter how improbable the odds or ragtag the roster.

Not at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Ten minutes after Kansas landed itself in a national championship game against Kentucky, there was as much stupefied disbelief as unfiltered joy filling the steamy Jayhawk locker room.

For Dana O'Neil's full story, click here.

NEW ORLEANS -- Back in October, we said we'd get a colossal Final Four. When the brackets were released, we forecast a chalky March. When the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight finished in thrilling fashion and the final weekend of the NCAA tournament's marquee event took shape, we knew, after two years of unexpected mid-major incursion, we'd get back to the blueblood basics on the grand Superdome stage.

We were right.

And even so, whether four months or four weeks or four days ago, it was difficult to fathom the sheer titanic size of Monday night's matchup. Because they don't get much bigger than this.

It is Kentucky and Kansas, the two winningest programs in the history of the sport, the place where the game was invented versus the place that has obsessed over it each and every day since. It is Anthony Davis versus Thomas Robinson, the nation's consensus national player of the year and the player who most closely challenged him for those honors all season. It is a rematch -- a rare national title rematch after two such games in the Final Four -- of a mid-November Kentucky win at Madison Square Garden. It is John Calipari and Bill Self -- the coach whose 2008 Memphis team frittered away a national title in the final two minutes getting a redemptive crack at the program and coach who beat him. And it is, of course, the Superdome, an epic setting with a knack for producing fittingly monumental games.

So, now that we know what to look forward to -- and the process of evaluation, analysis and prediction begins in earnest -- let's take a first look at what (we hope, anyway) will be a national championship game every bit as big as the programs, storylines and atmosphere that inhabit it.

This is Kentucky's title to win. Kansas was asked about its first meeting with the Wildcats (a 75-65 Kentucky win) more than few times here Saturday night. It would be foolish to pay too much attention to that game for obvious reasons: It came on Nov. 15, nearly five months ago; it was just the second game of the season; both teams were still in the larvae stage, and so on. But it is instructive in at least one way: Nov. 15 was the date we all realized just how insanely talented this Kentucky team is, how high its ceiling was, how much sheer athletic ability it brought to the floor. Kansas' Thomas Robinson was everything we imagined he would be, but even one of the nation's most gifted frontcourt players was dwarfed and swarmed by Anthony Davis -- who had seven blocks and 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting (he's always been this good) -- Terrence Jones, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and the rest.

Jeff Withey had yet to emerge for Kansas, which has made this team an entirely different beast. Self's guidance since has been magnificent. Kansas of April 1 barely resembles Kansas of Nov. 15. All of that is true. But the point remains: Kentucky has looked like a national title contender since it dropped the Jayhawks in November, and it has only gotten better since. Marquis Teague has gone from too eager and turnover-prone to the cool hand that calmly guided Kentucky past a tricky Louisville team Saturday night. Darius Miller has emerged as a glue guy, leader and sixth-man extraordinaire. Kidd-Gilchrist has played himself into the top three of the NBA draft thanks to his rare combination of toughness, talent and willingness defending. Terrence Jones is a less moody, more driven version of himself, less likely to pout, more likely to seek and destroy.

If you haven't figured it out by now, know this: This is not your typical freshman-filled, one-and-done team. This is a group with no ego. Its two best players (Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist) rank sixth and seventh on the team in shot percentage (the percentage of available shots they attempt). On the whole, Calipari has molded this once-in-a-decade (if that!) combination of talent and unselfishness into a national championship steamroller.

The names on these teams' jerseys suggest there is no true underdog here, but that will not be the case on Monday. Kentucky is too good to be anything other than the overwhelming favorite. It's just too good.

Which doesn't mean Kansas' cause is hopeless. Far from it, of course. Yes, Kentucky inhabits a different stratosphere, but down here on Earth, the Jayhawks happen to be a very good basketball team. They entered Saturday's Final Four as the No. 4 team in the nation in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted efficiency rankings, with a defense ranked No. 4 in efficiency and an offense ranked No. 16. They were 16-2 in the Big 12, 32-6 overall, they have a top-five draft pick of their own in Robinson, a talented senior point guard in Tyshawn Taylor, and a 7-foot shot-blocking center of their own in Jeff Withey. In fact, Withey's block percentage -- he had seven more against Ohio State and Jared Sullinger on Saturday night -- is 15.1 percent, the highest in the nation. Anthony Davis' 13.95 percent actually ranks No. 3.

In so far as anyone can match up with Kentucky -- and really, no one can -- Self's team actually matches up pretty well. Withey isn't nearly as mobile as Davis (obviously), and it's hard to figure who will guard Kidd-Gilchrist or how a good-but-not-great offense will find its buckets against a still very good Kentucky defense. But in terms of sheer strength-on-strength matchups -- Kentucky's strength is offense, Kansas' defense -- Self's team isn't that far off the mark.

Especially if it plays two halves of defense. It is somewhat miraculous that this team has a chance to win the national championship, once you consider how poorly it has played in the first half of its past four NCAA tournament games. In wins over Ohio State, North Carolina, NC State and Purdue, the Jayhawks have allowed an average of 37.5 points in the first half and just 24 points in second halves. Their opponents' shooting percentages plummet after the locker room visit: Total field goal percentage drops from 49.1 to 24.2, and opponents' 3-point percentage drops from 51.2 to 18.4.

The glass-half-empty pessimist would be inclined to wonder why Kansas doesn't muster that stifling defense all the time. But give the Jayhawks credit: They turn it on late.

Kansas outscored Ohio State 13-7 in the final five minutes Saturday; the Buckeyes shot 2-for-10 during this stretch. It was the fifth straight game that a Kansas opponent shot worse than 30 percent in the final five minutes, including 0-for-7 by North Carolina in the regional final. That's a remarkable quality -- the ability to get better and better as the game goes along -- and it will be one the Jayhawks need to expand on to give themselves a chance to take home a title Monday night.

"Kentucky had to play for 40 minutes today, too," Self said after his team's win Saturday. "And the thing about it is they're terrific. Our second-half performance, if we could play both halves that way, [Kentucky] is still good enough to [for us] to get beat."

The hype says T-Rob versus the Brow. The matchups say otherwise. As much as we would love to see Davis and Robinson match up on the low block time after time -- a vintage clash for the ages in the Superdome, just turn down the lights and shut up and watch -- that dream (which is currently playing in my head, and it's glorious) is probably no more than that. The two national player of the year candidates will surely meet at the rim more than once Monday. They'll see plenty of each other, no doubt. But the way Kansas and Kentucky are composed, the Jayhawks almost certainly have to put Withey on Davis or use that triangle-and-two defense Self has often busted out to confuse opposing offenses in the tournament. Leaving Withey to guard Terrence Jones, who could pull the 7-footer out to the perimeter, seems like an unwise idea.

Good news for Tyshawn Taylor. Kentucky doesn't force many turnovers. As of this writing, the Wildcats rank No. 297 in the nation in opponents' turnover rate, which is just 17.7 percent. That's been the fundamental flaw in Taylor's game all of his career, and throughout the tournament, and it was part of the reason he struggled so mightily against Aaron Craft and Ohio State on Saturday. Kentucky's defense holds back its foes in other ways -- namely Davis' shot blocking, great shot defense all over the court and a unique ability to avoid putting opponents on the free throw line.

Can Kansas' offense break down the Wildcats' defense? It's hard to imagine. But at least Taylor won't have to worry about Craftian levels of stress Monday night. That must be a relief.

No one will be distracted by Bourbon Street now. There is a tendency to assume that this insane city bleeds into focus and preparation, that it makes it more difficult for the coaches to control their players, keep them in line and keep them ready to play. That doesn't seem to be the case. Kansas' players were spotted strolling Bourbon Street on Wednesday night, and that didn't change their ability to lock down on defense Saturday. Kentucky's players, both old and young, seem entirely unwilling to focus on anything else but the basketball. They are preternaturally calm.

And as for Self, he was asked about this just after the game Saturday. His strategy? Lock his players away.

"I told them Bourbon Street was in the locker room tonight," Self said. "That's as close as they're going to get to it. ... Guys will go straight to their room. We don't even let them go to the lobby. Unless they got some sheets they can tie together and drop them from the 14th floor, they're not going anywhere tonight."

It seems slightly draconian, but if it's the price KU's players have to pay to give us the best possible game Monday night, we're glad they're (probably begrudgingly) willing to take it.

After all, this game has all the makings of an epic -- the programs, the history, the coaches, the talent. All it needs is a Kansas team up to the task.

NEW ORLEANS -- Take a deep breath, if you can, then dig in to this immediate reaction to Kansas' 64-62 win over Ohio State:

Overview: The Buckeyes opened with what might have been their best half of basketball in the 2012 season. Jared Sullinger was getting good touches on the low block, William Buford and Deshaun Thomas were lacing 3-pointers and the defense -- Ohio State's best characteristic all season and the one that earned them this spot in the Final Four -- was utterly stifling. By the six-minute mark, OSU had held the Jayhawks to just 13 points, opened a 26-13 lead and looked likely to dominate their national semifinal in unexpectedly impressive fashion.

And then, of course, the game changed, because Kansas changed. The Jayhawks began pressuring and doubling Sullinger on every touch, and the forward began to cough it up and force bad looks over forward Jeff Withey's outstretched arms. Things got easier on the offensive end, too, where Withey and forward Thomas Robinson began to find space on the low block, where they converted easy dunks and layups on screen and rolls and post-ups, the kind they couldn't find in the first 20 minutes. Kansas' guards scored on turnovers, found their way to the rim and chipped away at the deficit. Meanwhile, Deshaun Thomas spent much of the half on the bench with three -- and then, nearly as soon as he returned, four -- fouls.

By the 14-minute mark in the second half, Kansas had gone on a 25-12 run in little more than 12 minutes, tying the game at 38. From there, the game would always be in the balance.

Turning point: The Jayhawks kept up the pressure, but never built their own lead, even as Thomas languished on the sidelines with four fouls. This was a major victory for the Buckeyes: They had their second-best offensive player off the floor for nearly the entire second half and they gave up their big lead, but they never let Kansas take control of the game. Thomas re-entered at the under-four-minute timeout. OSU led, 55-53.

The Buckeyes still couldn't pull away. With 2:22 left to play, Aaron Craft's steal and fast-break layup gave the Buckeyes a three-point lead, but Kansas nipped and clawed, and with two minutes left it finally took its first lead since the first basket of the game. Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson delivered on remarkable drives to the paint, Withey made a huge block on the other end and the Jayhawks suddenly found themselves up 62-59 with just one minute to play.

With 55 seconds left, Robinson poached a steal from Thomas, but Craft -- in what may have been the day's best defensive play -- ripped the ball out before Robinson could convert on the break. OSU didn't get a bucket on the next possession, but it was bailed out by a Withey travel (the right, albeit very unpopular, call). Thomas launched a too-early 3 on the other end, which Buford followed up with a putback dunk, and Kansas needed merely to make its free throws to ensure at least a tie game with 8.3 seconds left.

Taylor converted on both. Then, he stole the ball -- a game-sealing play! -- before throwing it away on an overzealous bounce pass. (This is Tyshawn Taylor in a nutshell.) Releford fouled Craft before Craft could shoot a 3 -- not that he didn't try. Craft made the first free throw but was called for a lane violation on the second. The game ended just like that; Craft and his stunned teammates staring at the officials and the scoreboard and each other in disbelief.

Kansas fans started throwing their seat pads in the general direction of the floor, makeshift confetti for the ensuing party. The Jayhawks will have their chance at a national title Monday night. The party had begun.

Key stat: Offensive rebounding percentage. The Jayhawks grabbed 37.5 percent of their misses and limited Ohio State to just 25 percent of theirs, the key difference between two defensively dominant teams in a game in which the smallest of statistical margins made outsized impacts.

Key player: Withey. Every Jayhawk played a role in their comeback and eventual win, and Robinson's night -- 19 points, 8 rebounds, 8-of-18 from the field -- can't be overlooked. But the most important performance came from the 7-foot Withey, whose incredible reach and interior defense made Sullinger a nonfactor on the offensive end. Withey finished with 7 blocks and 8 rebounds; Sullinger posted just 13 points on 5-of-19 from the field. In a game filled with tricky matchup issues, Withey was the biggest mismatch ace up Bill Self's sleeve. He proved why Saturday night.

Miscellaneous: Kansas continued its rather remarkable string of second-half defensive turnarounds. In the past three games (before the Final Four), the Jayhawks have allowed opponents to score 38.7 points per half on 50.0 percent shooting and 51.9 percent from beyond the arc. In the second half of those games, the Jayhawks have allowed just 22.7 points, 22.4 shooting and 15.4 percent from the field. A similar situation unfolded in New Orleans. (Imagine if they locked down like this all game!) Either way, the turnarounds have been remarkable, enough to guide Kansas to the precipice of a national title. Crazy.

What's next: The unlikely story of these Kansas Jayhawks isn't over yet. Kansas survived yet another nail-biting NCAA tournament game -- its specialty in the weeks leading up to this Final Four -- and its latest escape act puts it on the sport's biggest stage, with a chance to take down the overwhelming favorite, the Kentucky Wildcats. The game is a coaching rematch of the 2008 Final Four, when Bill Self's Jayhawks made their nine-points-in-two-minutes comeback to steal a remarkable national title from then-Memphis coach John Calipari's grasp. If we're lucky, Monday night's edition of Self versus Calipari will be half as good. It certainly has that potential.

Meanwhile, Ohio State will head back to Columbus leveled, no doubt, by another missed national title opportunity. Sullinger, the team's star, is almost certain to leave for the NBA, where he'll be a likely lottery pick. Matta will have this team back near the top of the Big Ten yet again in 2013; his Buckeyes remain a recruiting haven and Thomas, Craft and a handful of talented young players will be back in the fold next season. But Matta will surely lament the inability to break through with his big man from Columbus -- the best Buckeyes' player since Greg Oden -- when he had the chance.