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This will be an historic night in women’s college basketball. Either Baylor becomes the first men’s or women’s team to reach 40 wins in a season, or the Lady Bears become the first team to enter the title game undefeated and not win the trophy.

Standing in Baylor’s way of a perfect season is Notre Dame, which will be trying to avoid consecutive championship game losses (lost to Texas A&M last season). The Fighting Irish lost to the Lady Bears in a championship game once already this season, losing 94-81 in the Preseason WNIT. But the Irish did score 13 more points against Baylor than any other team this season (Georgia Tech scored 68 on March 24).

One key to beating Baylor (or at least staying close) is the ability to hit the 3-point shot. Of the teams that have finished within single digits of the Lady Bears this season, three of them hit at least seven shots from beyond the arc.

Baylor is led by Brittney Griner, who won the 2012 State Farm Wade Trophy, considered “The Heisman of Women’s Basketball.” Griner is the first Lady Bears player to win the award and Baylor is the first school to unite both the Heisman Trophy and the Wade Trophy in the same school year.

Griner’s impact can be felt on both ends of the court. Griner is averaging 22.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.2 blocks per game in the NCAA tournament. In addition, she’s recorded two dunks during the tournament and is tied with former Tennessee great Candace Parker with seven career dunks, the most among women’s Division I basketball players.

Defensively, Griner holds the career record for blocks in women’s tournament play (88) and is only six blocks shy of joining Louella Tomlinson of St. Mary’s as the only players with 600 career blocked shots (Tomlinson has 663 blocks).

It’s not all Brittney Griner, though. Sophomore point guard Odyssey Sims is a second-team AP All-American and she won the battle with Notre Dame point guard Skylar Diggins in the first meeting between these teams.

Since 1995, when Connecticut won its first national title, the Huskies and Tennessee are the only teams in the nation to win multiple championships (12 of the 17 championships held). After this title game, either Baylor or Notre Dame will join the club, winning a second championship during that span.

The Kentucky Wildcats outscored the Kansas Jayhawks 20-9 in transition, the sixth straight game Kentucky outscored its opponent in transition and the fifth time in six tournament games it scored 20 transition points.

The win gives the Wildcats their eighth national championship, second only to UCLA (11), and their 38th win of the season, the most ever in Men’s Division I Basketball. (Memphis went 38-2 in 2008 but later had all its wins vacated).

No. 1 seeds improve to 7-2 against No. 2 seeds in the national title game since seeding began in 1979. Kentucky is the second top overall seed to win the title since the overall seeding began in 2004 (Florida – 2007).

Anthony Davis finished with 6 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 6 blocks, 3 steals. He’s the first player in NCAA Tournament history to reach those marks in a single game.

He’s the fourth freshman to be named Most Outstanding Player in the Men’s Basketball Championship, and first since Carmelo Anthony in 2003.

He scored just 24 points in the Final Four, the fewest by the Most Outstanding Player since Patrick Ewing scored 18 en route to Georgetown's national title in 1984. Only three other players have scored fewer points in the Final Four and won the award.

Davis blocked six shots and altered two more -- both of them on attempts by Jeff Withey -- tying Joakim Noah in 2006 for the most blocks in a national championship game. He also set the freshman record for blocks in a season with 186.

He blocked or altered 18.2 percent of Kentucky's opponents' 2-point field goal attempts during the tournament, including 15.7 percent against Kansas on Monday. Davis finished tied for the second-most blocks (29) ever in a single tournament and altered an additional 28 shots.

The Wildcats blocked 11 shots as a team, the most ever in the national championship game. The previous record was 10 by 2011 UConn and 2006 Florida.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the third national title game featuring a rematch between coaches who had previously met in the national title game, and the first in 50 years. John Calipari is the first of the three coaches to lose the first matchup and win the rematch.

Kansas shot a season-worst 33.3 percent on 2-point field goals, including just 11-for-25 on dunks and layups (44 percent). The Jayhawks shot 36.4 percent inside the arc earlier this season against the Wildcats, their second-worst 2-point field goal percentage in a game this season.

Thomas Robinson finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds, just the sixth player in the past 40 years -- and third from Kansas -- to put up a line like that in the title game. Nick Collison, Ed O’Bannon, Danny Manning, Akeem Olajuwon and Bill Walton are the others.

Withey had just 5 points, but added 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, passing Noah for the most blocks in a single NCAA Tournament (31).

Kansas lost in the national title game for the sixth time, tied with Duke for the most ever.

This is the eighth time in the last 30 seasons that there has been a rematch of a regular season meeting in the Championship Game. The last two times it has happened, the team that won the regular season meeting won the national title (Kentucky defeated Kansas by 10 points in November).

Kansas has been a second half team over its last four tournament games, holding the opposition to 24 points per game on 24.2 percent shooting from the field, compared to 37.5 PPG and 49.1 percent field shooting in the first half.

The Jayhawks were even stingier in the final five minutes of their last two games. Kansas outscored Ohio State 13-7 in the final five minutes of the game Saturday, holding the Buckeyes to 2-of-10 shooting during this stretch. It was the fifth straight game in which a Kansas opponent shot less than 30 percent in the final five minutes, including 0-for-7 by North Carolina in the Midwest Region Final.

Overall, the Jayhawks are holding the opposition to 19.5 percent shooting (8-for-41) in the final five minutes of tournament games, the lowest percentage of any team that advanced to the Round of 32. In addition, Kansas has trailed at halftime in three of its wins in the tournament (Purdue, N.C. State and Ohio State). In the previous eight tournaments under Bill Self, the Jayhawks were 0-5 after trailing at halftime.

Kentucky’s key in the tournament has been its transition offense. The Wildcats lead the tournament field with 112 transition points (22.4 PPG) and have scored 62.5 percent of these points off missed shots, the second-highest percentage among teams to advance to the Sweet 16.

Kentucky has outscored all five opponents in transition during the tournament. The Wildcats entered the tournament with a 7.4 per-game transition differential, 13th best in the nation.

Kentucky is shooting 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) from 3-point range in transition, including a tournament-high four makes by Doron Lamb.

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.

The Kansas Jayhawks rallied once again with another late-game surge to survive and advance in this year’s NCAA tournament. This time Kansas ended the game on an 8-3 run to complete a 64-62 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Jayhawks scored the final six points of the game versus Purdue in the round of 32 to secure a 63-60 victory; against North Carolina in the Elite Eight, Kansas finished with a 12-0 run en route to an 80-67 win.

Kansas will be playing in its ninth national championship game and first since winning it all in 2008. This is the Jayhawks' fifth title game in the last 25 seasons, the second most during that span behind Duke’s six appearances.

Painting a victory
The Jayhawks muscled their way to the win, outscoring Ohio State 32-16 in the paint. Kansas had a 42-30 rebounding advantage, grabbing as many defensive boards as the Buckeyes recorded overall.

Kansas also used its intimidating paint defense to generate easy fast-break buckets. The Jayhawks made 7 of 8 field goal attempts and outscored Ohio State 19-8 in transition, with 10 of the 19 points coming off blocks.

Kansas scored nine of its 19 transition points in the final five minutes during its late rally, and has now outscored its opponents 20-9 in transition in the last five minutes in the tournament.

Jeff Withey had just four points but made a huge impact on the defensive end with a Final Four-record seven blocks. Withey now has 27 blocks in this tournament, two shy of the record set by Joakim Noah in 2006.

Thomas Robinson led the Jayhawks with 19 points, but struggled around the basket. He missed 9 of 13 shots and scored only eight points in the paint, but connected on 4 of 5 jumpers outside the painted area.

Buckeyes busted down low
Ohio State took a nine-point halftime lead thanks to a strong 46 percent shooting effort, including 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. However, the Buckeyes went cold in the second half, connecting on just 3 of 12 3-point attempts, and made only five shots inside the arc in the final 20 minutes.

Overall, Ohio State shot 33 percent in the paint, its lowest field goal percentage in the paint over the last four NCAA tournaments. Kansas blocked eight of Ohio State’s 24 paint attempts, including five shots by Jared Sullinger.

William Buford was the lone star for Ohio State, leading the team with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Buford had made just 29.5 percent of his field goal attempts and averaged 11.8 points per game in the Buckeyes’ four previous tournament games. He finished his career with 1,990 points, tying Jerry Lucas for the third-most points in school history.

Stat of the game
Monday’s title-game matchup between Kansas and Kentucky will be just the second time that an SEC team has faced a Big 12/Big 8 team in the national championship game. The other instance was in 1951, when Kentucky beat Kansas State 68-58.

Blue blood prevailed in this highly anticipated Final Four battle of in-state rivals, as the Kentucky Wildcats beat the Louisville Cardinals 69-61 to advance to their 11th national championship game and first since winning it all in 1998.

Kentucky is the first top overall seed to advance to the title game since Florida in 2007 and the third to do so since the selection committee began using the distinction in 2004. Florida is the only top overall seed to win a national championship during this span.

The win is Kentucky’s 37th of the season, setting a new single-season school record, and 110th in NCAA tournament play, the most of any school. The victory also gives coach John Calipari a 9-8 edge in head-to-head college matchups with Rick Pitino, and is his first in three NCAA tournament meetings.

Offense wins championships
The Wildcats put together one of the best offensive games this season against a Louisville team that entered the weekend as the best defensive team in the country according to kenpom.com's adjusted defensive efficiency.

Kentucky shot 57.1 percent from the floor, the third-highest field goal percentage allowed by Louisville under Pitino and the highest since 2006. It’s also the best shooting performance by a team in a Final Four game since Syracuse also shot 57.1 percent in 2003 versus Texas.

The Wildcats got out on the break with ease and used their strong transition game to put away the Cardinals. Kentucky made 11 of 13 field goals and scored 25 points in transition, the fourth time in five tournament games that it has scored at least 20 transition points.

Anthony Davis once again dominated the game at both ends of the floor with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks. Davis joins Danny Manning in 1988 as the only players since 1986 (when blocks became official) to have at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks in a Final Four game.

No easy buckets
Louisville erased a 13-point second-half deficit but couldn’t overcome its poor shooting in the paint to beat Kentucky. The Cardinals missed 16 layups and dunks, their most in a tournament game during the past three years.

Overall, Louisville shot 34.8 percent, its third-worst shooting effort in an NCAA tournament game in the shot clock era and worst since connecting on 33.3 percent of its attempts against Wake Forest in 1996.

The Cardinals kept themselves in the game thanks to a strong effort on the boards.

Louisville outrebounded Kentucky 19-6 on the offensive glass, scoring 13 second-chance points. The Cardinals had averaged just 10 offensive rebounds and nine second-chance points in their first four tournament games.

Stat of the game
If Kentucky wins the national championship, it will mark just the second time in the past two decades that one conference won national championships in both football and men's basketball in the same academic year. Florida did it in the 2006-07 season, capturing both titles for the SEC.

Kentucky is the top overall seed in the tournament, and head coach John Calipari is trying to win his first national championship.

However, since the Selection Committee in 2004 began ranking the four No. 1 seeds only once -- the 2007 Florida Gators -- has the top overall seed won the national title.

Calipari is one of three head coaches in the Final Four -- along with Thad Matta and Rick Pitino -- who has lost a national title game. If any one of those three lose in the final, they will be the 12th head coach with multiple losses in the Men's Basketball championship game.

This will be Calipari's fourth Final Four, and according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only head coach who has made more appearances in the Final Four without winning a national title is Guy Lewis. He led Houston to five Final Four appearances and lost in the final twice (1983, 1984).

On the court, Kentucky has the AP Player of the Year in Anthony Davis. He's only the second freshman to win the award, joining Kevin Durant in 2006-07. Davis also is the third player from the SEC to win the award along with Pete Maravich in 1970 Shaquille O'Neal in 1991.

Davis averaged 14.3 points per game this season, the fewest by a player to win the award.

Davis didn’t win the award for what he did on the offensive end of the floor, but his presence on defense. He led the nation with 175 blocks and 145 of them came in the paint, including 80 at the rim. He also blocked 16 mid-range jumpers and 14 3-pointers. (On Dec. 31, four of Davis six blocks against Louisville came in the paint.)

Davis and his teammates have scored at least 80 points in all four tournament games in reaching the Final Four. According to Elias, over the last 20 years, only one school has topped the 80-point mark in five consecutive games within a single NCAA tournament. Not only is that school Kentucky, but the Wildcats did it twice, in the 1996 and 1998 tournaments.

The Wildcats lead this year's tournament with 87 transition points (21.8 PPG), and have scored two-thirds of these points off missed shots.

If Kentucky wins its eighth national championship (only UCLA has more, 11), then it will mark just the third time since the 1990-91 academic calendar that one conference won national championships in football and men's basketball in the same school year.

The SEC, with Florida in 2006-07, won national titles in football and basketball. Before the Gators it was the ACC with Georgia Tech and Duke winning football and basketball titles, respectively, during the 1990-91 school year.

And one last note about Saturday's Kentucky-Louisville game. It's the first matchup of in-state rivals in a national final or semifinal since 1962, when Cincinnati defeated Ohio State in the national championship game.

The Louisville Cardinals are making their ninth trip to the Final Four, the fewest of this year’s participants.

Here are five things to watch for Louisville this weekend.

Pitino has been here before
Rick Pitino is the third coach to take more than one team to multiple Final Fours. The other two coaches to do so were Jack Gardner and Roy Williams.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Pitino is the second coach to face a former team in the Final Four. Roy Williams led North Carolina to the Final Four in 2008, where he lost to former school Kansas.

This is Pitino’s sixth Final Four appearance, and three of those trips have been with teams seeded fourth or lower. He is the first coach to lead three teams seeded that low to the Final Four since seeding began in 1979. Larry Brown, Tom Izzo, Lute Olson and Brad Stevens have each done it twice.

Pitino has been to Final Fours in New Orleans before, but hasn't the best of results. This is the third time that he has led a team to the national semifinals in New Orleans, with Providence in 1987 and Kentucky in 1993 both falling short of the championship game.

Defense wins championships
Louisville is holding its opponents to 35 percent shooting when it plays man-to-man defense this season, the lowest percentage in the nation.

The Cardinals’ man defense held Kentucky to 22 percent (5-for-23) when the teams met earlier this year. That was the lowest field goal percentage by the Wildcats against man-to-man defense this season.

Louisville has recorded 29 steals in the NCAA tournament, the second-highest total in the field. Fourteen of those steals were by players stepping into passing lanes, while 13 were strips.

Big East runs redux
Louisville’s run to the Final Four bears a close resemblance to Connecticut’s title run last season.

Last year, the Huskies went 9-9 in the Big East and finished in ninth place. The Cardinals lost one fewer game this year and received a first-round bye in the Big East tournament by finishing seventh.

Both teams entered the Big East tournament with four losses in their last six games before starting long winning streaks.

Key player
When Louisville played Kentucky on New Year’s Eve, Russ Smith scored a career-high 30 points off the bench as the Cardinals lost by seven. Unfortunately for Louisville, he was the only player to reach double figures.

After scoring only 46 points in his previous six games, Smith has scored 47 points in his last three games and led the Cardinals in scoring twice.

Second chances
Kentucky outscored Louisville 20-6 on second-chance opportunities earlier this season, and that number could be key in the rematch.

Louisville has allowed only 9 second-chance points in its last two games. Kentucky has scored 26 points in the same span, and leads the SEC with 13 second-chance points per game this season.

The Ohio State Buckeyes are back in the Final Four for the first time since losing to the Florida Gators in the 2007 championship game. ESPN Stats & Information takes a look at the keys to success for the Buckeyes in New Orleans.

Key Player
The key to the Buckeyes run to the Final Four has been sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas. Thomas scored a career-high 31 points in the Round of 64 win against Loyola-Maryland, and has averaged 21.7 points in this year’s NCAA tournament.

Thomas leads the tournament with 48 points in the paint and 28 second-chance points. Kansas has allowed six players to score 10 or more points in the paint during its last three games.

The All-American
When the Buckeyes traveled to Lawrence to take on Kansas in December, Jared Sullinger missed the game with back spasms. He’ll be in the lineup in the Final Four for a star-studded matchup with fellow All-American Thomas Robinson.

Sullinger leads the nation with 279 points on post-up plays this season while shooting 47 percent. If the Jayhawks can force him farther from the basket, the advantage shifts their way. Opponents are shooting 27 percent on jump shots guarded by Robinson, third-best among Big 12 players.

Sullinger has made 27 free throws in the tournament, the most for any player. After scoring 26 percent of his points from the line during the regular-season, he has scored 38 percent of his points from the line in the last four games.

X-Factor
While Sullinger is the All-American and Thomas has been the hot hand, it was a lesser-known Buckeye who came out of nowhere to help Ohio State win in the Elite Eight and advance to New Orleans.

Lenzelle Smith Jr. scored just 10 total points in Ohio State’s two games in Pittsburgh as the Buckeyes advanced to the Sweet 16. In the team’s games in Boston, he scored 17 points against Cincinnati and 18 against Syracuse while making three 3-pointers in each game.

The Gunner
Senior William Buford leads the team in shots and 3-point attempts this season. During the NCAA tournament, more than half of his shots have been contested by a defender and he has connected on less than 15 percent of those attempts.

As the competition has gotten tougher, more of Buford’s shots have been contested. In Ohio State’s first two games, only nine of 24 shots were contested. Against Cincinnati and Syracuse, 14 of his 20 shots were over a defender.

The Defensive Specialist
Aaron Craft leads the nation with 57 turnovers forced as an on-ball defender this season. No other player in the country forced more than 50.

When the teams met in December, Craft was able to shut down Tyshawn Taylor as a scorer. Taylor scored just 9 points in the game, one of four times this season he was held in single digits.

With Craft guarding him, Taylor had six turnovers and made just one of five shots. The Kansas senior did finish with a career-high 13 assists in the contest.

After upsets leading into the Final Four the past two seasons, this year’s event is for blue bloods only.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is the first time that every national semifinalist has made at least eight prior Final Four appearances.

The only other Final Four in which each team had made more than five previous semifinal appearances was 1993. That year was the 11th appearance for North Carolina while Kansas and Kentucky were making their 10th trip and Michigan its sixth.

Rematches provide rare second chances
For the first time since 1964, the national semifinals will feature two rematches of regular-season contests.

That season, Duke avenged an early-season loss to Michigan and UCLA beat Kansas State for the second time. The Bruins beat the Blue Devils in the championship game to finish the season 30-0 as John Wooden won his first title.

Both of this year’s matchups occurred in December.

On Dec. 10, Kansas beat Ohio State 78-67 in Lawrence, handing the Buckeyes their first loss of the season. Thomas Robinson scored 21 points to lead the Jayhawks while Tyshawn Taylor dished out a career-high 13 assists.

One big difference this time around will be Jared Sullinger, who did not play in December because of back spasms. Ohio State shot just 39 percent from the floor while Kansas shot 58 percent.

Kentucky and Louisville met on New Year’s Eve in Lexington. In the first matchup between the two as top-five teams since Rick Pitino arrived in Louisville, the Wildcats won by seven points.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 24 points and pulled down 19 rebounds, becoming the first Kentucky player to have a 20-15 game against a top-five opponent in 15 seasons. Russ Smith scored a career-high 30 points off the bench for Louisville, but no starter scored in double figures.

Seeing the game from both sides
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino spent eight years at Kentucky, leading the Wildcats to three Final Fours and a national championship in 1996. His semifinal matchup with Kentucky will be just the second time that a Final Four game pits a coach against a former team. In 2008, Roy Williams and North Carolina lost to Kansas in a semifinal.

ACC left out of party
What this year’s Final Four doesn’t have is a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. It’s just the second time since the tournament expanded in 1985 that the ACC has failed to have a Final Four team in consecutive years -- the other was 2006-07.

That makes four times in the last seven years that the ACC hasn't had a Final Four representative, matching the number of times the national semifinals were played without an ACC team in the 21 years from 1985-2005.

Championship ring redux
Looking ahead, it’s possible that the national championship game will feature two coaches who have already won a title. If Louisville and Kansas win on Saturday, Monday’s title game will be the sixth in the last 50 years between coaches with championship rings.

The "BPI bracket" -- which had all four No. 1 seeds making the Final Four -- took some big lumps over the weekend, with both Syracuse (No. 2 in pre-tournament BPI) and North Carolina (No. 5) losing in the Elite Eight.

In the ESPN.com Tournament Challenge, this bracket currently has 700 points and ranks in the 59.95th percentile. Projected national champion Kentucky is the only team BPI still has left in the field.

BPI was not designed to be predictive of tournament games, but rather to rank the overall quality of team’s résumés leading up to the tournament. With that said, the previous five years of BPI data was used to design a tournament prediction system that has done fairly well in the past; for more on that, see here.

Other statistical systems were higher on the No. 2 seeds that advanced -- Ohio State and Kansas -- but BPI had both teams ranked one spot behind the opponents they defeated (Ohio State was third, Kansas was sixth). And of course, that was before accounting for the ineligibility of Fab Melo and the injury to Kendall Marshall, which no major statistical system incorporated into its tournament predictions.

If you look at the average pre-tournament ranking of the four teams that made the Final Four according to BPI and some of the other systems, BPI actually has the lowest average among these five notable ranking systems.

• BPI: 5.3
• Sagarin: 6.3
• RPI: 6.8
• KenPom: 6.8
• LRMC: 7.3

(One key differentiator for BPI was having Louisville 11th before the tournament, the Cardinals' best ranking among these systems.)

Another way to look at this is to consider the BPI-based percentage chances of each team getting through to each round of the tournament. According to BPI, the Final Four is made up of teams that were all among the 10 most likely candidates to earn a spot in New Orleans.

Notably, BPI gave Kansas a solid 36.5 percent chance of making the Final Four before the Round of 64. That was the fourth-highest in the field and just behind North Carolina at 37.2 (again, with no anticipation of the Kendall Marshall injury).

The BPI-based system also gave Louisville a reasonable 10.0 percent chance of making the Final Four, the highest of any team not seeded No. 1 or No. 2. For comparison’s sake, KenPom’s system gave the Cardinals just a 4.7 percent chance of making the Final Four, and only 6.8 percent of ESPN.com Tournament Challenge brackets picked Rick Pitino’s squad to make it to New Orleans.

In a highly anticipated matchup between two of the three winningest programs in college basketball, the Kansas Jayhawks beat the North Carolina Tar Heels 80-67 to advance to their 14th Final Four and first since 2008.

This was the fifth all-time meeting between Kansas and North Carolina in the NCAA tournament (Kansas now leads 3-2) and the first since the Jayhawks beat the Tar Heels in the 2008 Final Four. The winner of the previous four showdowns has gone on to win the national title.

Kansas is now 4-0 versus No. 1 seeds in the regional final, having also beaten Arkansas in 1991, Indiana in 1993 and Arizona in 2003. That matches Duke for the most such wins by any school, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Why Kansas won
The Jayhawks ended the game on 12-0 run, sparked by a 3-pointer from Elijah Johnson with 3:07 left that gave Kansas a 71-67 lead it would not relinquish. Kansas forced North Carolina to miss all six of its field goal attempts in the final three minutes, including four shots from beyond the arc.

Kansas proved it could run with the Tar Heels, outscoring North Carolina 18-8 in transition during the game. The Jayhawks were the first team to outscore the Tar Heels in transition over the last three NCAA tournaments.

Tyshawn Taylor shined for the Jayhawks, leading all scorers with 22 points and added five assists and five steals.

He is first player to reach each of those totals in an NCAA tournament game since Georgetown’s Allen Iverson had 32 points, five steals and five assists in 1996.

Why North Carolina lost
Leading by 5 with less than 9 minutes to go, Kansas switched from man-to-man to a triangle-and-two hybrid zone defense. The Tar Heels' offense went cold against the zone, making just two shots on their final 12 half-court possessions.

Overall, North Carolina struggled with its perimeter shooting against the Jayhawks.

The Tar Heels made just 2 of 17 shots (12 percent) from beyond the arc, their second-worst 3-point shooting effort in an NCAA tournament game in school history.

North Carolina also missed Kendall Marshall’s ability to lead the Tar Heels’ fastbreak offense.

Without Marshall at the helm, the Tar Heels did not run as much in the tournament, averaging nearly eight fewer transition plays and 11 fewer points per game in its last two contests compared to its first two.

What’s next
Kansas advances to the Final Four in New Orleans to face the Ohio State Buckeyes in a national semifinal game. This will be just the second meeting of 2-seeds in the NCAA tournament. The only other was the 1995 semifinal, when Arkansas beat North Carolina, 75-68.

Big Blue Nation celebrated once again as the Kentucky Wildcats cruised to an 82-70 win over the Baylor Bears and advanced to their second Final Four in as many seasons. It’s the first time the Wildcats have made consecutive Final Fours since going three years in a row from 1996 to 1998.

Kentucky’s scoring spree continued with its fourth game in a row reaching at least 80 points. The Wildcats are the first team to score 80-plus in four straight games in a single tournament since the 1998 Kentucky team did it five times in a row en route to its national championship, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Kentucky confirmed its status as the favorite in the tournament, winning each of its first four games by double digits. The Wildcats are the sixth team to do that since 2000 and the first since North Carolina in 2009. Four of the previous five teams went on to win the title that year.

The last time the Wildcats played in Atlanta prior to reaching the Final Four was 1998, when they played their first- and second-round games there. Kentucky took home its seventh national championship that season, which is also the last time the Wildcats won the NCAA title.

Why Kentucky won
Kentucky pushed the pace against Baylor, dominating the Bears on the break en route to the 12-point win. The Wildcats outscored Baylor 17-5 in transition, including 11 points in the first half as they built a 20-point halftime lead.

Kentucky entered Sunday's game with 70 transition points in the 2012 NCAA tournament, the most in the field.

Anthony Davis led the way on both ends of the floor with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks. Davis now has 175 blocks this season, setting the SEC single-season blocks record by passing Jarvis Varnado, who had 169 in both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was the most efficient Wildcat, scoring a team-high 19 points on 7-of-10 field goal shooting and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Kidd-Gilchrist has scored 43 points in his past two games, after totaling 26 in his previous four games combined.

Why Baylor lost
The Bears couldn’t find their shot in the first 20 minutes, making just 7 of 24 field goal attempts (29 percent) in their half-court offense. That was the worst half-court shooting performance in a half for Baylor in an NCAA tournament game over the past three seasons.

Baylor also failed to take advantage of its second-chance opportunities. The Bears had 16 offensive rebounds but scored only 14 second-chance points, making just 4 of 13 shots (31 percent). Entering Sunday, Baylor had converted 53 percent of its second chances in its first three games of the tournament.

What’s next
One of college basketball’s most intense rivalries is renewed as Kentucky moves on to New Orleans to face the Louisville Cardinals in a national semifinal game. This will be the 44th all-time meeting between the Bluegrass rivals, with Kentucky owning a 29-14 edge, including a 69-62 win on New Year’s Eve this season.

The Ohio State Buckeyes were the only Big Ten team still playing after the Sweet 16, but preserved some conference pride by knocking off the Syracuse Orange, 77-70, to advance to their first Final Four since 2007 and 11th overall.

This was the fourth Big Ten-Big East matchup in the 2012 NCAA Tournament and Ohio State now owns both of the Big Ten’s wins so far. The decisive fifth game could come in the national championship on April 2 if both Louisville and Ohio State win their semifinal games.

No. 1 seed looms large
Ohio State beats a No. 1 seed for the second time in school history. It also did so in 1999, when it beat top-seeded Auburn, 72-64, in the South Regional Semifinal. However, the Buckeyes lost to eventual national champion Connecticut in the Final Four.

This was the third time that Syracuse has been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, a feat the Orange also achieved in 1980 and 2010. This year’s team suffered the same fate as the others, failing to reach the Final Four each time.

What went right for Ohio State
The Buckeyes struggled to find their range in the first half, shooting 35 percent overall while missing six of seven from beyond the arc. Ohio State flipped the switch in the final 20 minutes, connecting on half of its shots from the floor and 23-of-29 free throws.

Jared Sullinger and Lenzelle Smith, Jr. combined for 31 of the Buckeyes’ 48 second-half points, after scoring just six total points in the first half.

The Buckeyes lit up the perimeter in the second half, going 7-for-11 on shots outside the paint en route to the win. Ohio State was shooting just 41 percent on shots outside the paint in its first three tournament games.

Overall, the Buckeyes shot 44 percent against the Syracuse zone, including 11-for-21 in the second half. That was the highest field goal percentage allowed by the Orange zone defense over their last three NCAA Tournaments.

Ohio State also drew 27 fouls against the 'Cuse zone defense, the most fouls drawn against the Orange zone in the last three NCAA Tournaments.

What went wrong for Syracuse
The Orange used a strong perimeter game to beat Wisconsin in the Sweet 16, hitting 12-of-14 shots outside the paint in the win. Against Ohio State tonight, Syracuse went cold from distance, missing 20-of-28 attempts outside the paint, including a woeful 3-for-16 effort in the first half.

Perhaps Syracuse was destined to lose when it stepped on the floor. The Orange are now 1-7 versus Big Ten teams under coach Boeheim, with their only win coming against Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.

Stat of the game
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Big Ten is now 5-0 all-time vs the Big East in Regional Final games.

The teacher prevails again as Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals erase an 11-point second half deficit to beat Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators 72-68 and advance to their first Final Four since 2005.

This was the seventh all-time meeting between Pitino and Donovan as head coaches, and Pitino has still yet to lose to his student Donovan. Rick Pitino joins Roy Williams and Jack Gardner as the only coaches to take two schools to multiple Final Fours.

Déjà vu for Louisville?
The Cardinals appear to have destiny their side during their remarkable 8-0 run since the beginning of March.

Similar to last year’s national champion, the Connecticut Huskies, Louisville dropped four of its last six regular-season games. The Cardinals lost eight conference games, one fewer than the Huskies last year.

Like UConn, Louisville then stormed through the Big East Tournament, capturing the title in New York City, and has now reached the Final Four.

The last time that Louisville made the Final Four was 2005, when the Cardinals were also the 4-seed and won the West Regional.

In both 2005 and this year, Louisville beat the No. 1 seed by double digits in the Sweet 16, and played a No. 7 seed in the Regional Final.

And in the Elite Eight both years as well, the Cardinals had to overcome a hot shooting performance from their opponent to advance to the Final Four.

Turning point
Louisville mixed up its defense in the first half but couldn’t stop the Gators, allowing as many field goals in the first 20 minutes tonight (14) as it did Thursday in the entire game versus Michigan State.

Florida connected on 7-of-10 3-pointers against the Cardinals’ vaunted zone defense in the first half. In their first three tournament games, the Cardinals' zone limited opponents to 11-of-52 (21 percent) shooting from beyond the arc.

After allowing a made jumper while playing zone on the opening possession of the second half, the Cardinals played man-to-man defense the remainder of the game.

Florida then missed all eight of its long-distance attempts the rest of the way against Louisville's man defense and was outscored 39-27 in the second half.

After trailing by 11 with 8:16 left, Louisville finished the game on a 18-3 run. Florida made one of its final six paint attempts, two of which were blocked by Louisville. The Gators had made 12-of-15 field goals in the paint prior to the final eight minutes.

Florida’s historical obstacles
Entering Selection Sunday, the Gators had lost six of 10 games. Including this season, there were 75 teams since 1985 that entered the NCAA tournament with a 4-6 record or worse in the season's last 10 games.

Florida was just the third of those teams to reach the Elite Eight. The others were the 1986 North Carolina State Wolfpack and the 1997 Providence Friars.

Like the Gators, their incredible runs too ended with a loss in the Regional Final.

Stat of the game
No. 7 seeds are 0-7 all-time in the Elite Eight since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.