The Final Four is set. It has an eastern bent, one phenomenal player, two rematches, three old masters and the first No. 10 seed in history of the event.
North Carolina, Oklahoma, Villanova and Syracuse: Not the field we expected to see when the weekend began and not the field CBS and Turner network executives wanted to see.
The NCAA tournament started poorly in the ratings game and could end that way.
The closest thing the Final Four has to a household name, Buddy Hield, is a senior from Oklahoma who grew up in the Bahamas and went to high school in Kansas.
But what the semifinals lack in star power, they make up for in fraud power.
The second game Saturday will match two programs, North Carolina and Syracuse, stained by academic transgressions and NCAA violations.
North Carolina was found guilty in 2014 of one of the worst academic scandals in collegiate sports history, an institutional rotting that spanned two decades, numerous sports and thousands of students.
Of course, Syracuse basketball is hardly a beacon of ethics and honor.
Last spring, the NCAA found the Orange guilty of major rules violations that included academic malfeasance. The penalties included a nine-game suspension for coach Jim Boeheim, whose program has twice been nailed for cheating.
So it will be one scandal-plagued school against another for a spot in the championship. One shining moment, indeed.
But enough about the storyline the NCAA wishes would go away. There are others to follow through the week, including:
Familiarity
This is the rare Final Four in which both semifinals are rematches.
Oklahoma hammered Villanova by 23 points in a nonconference duel in December in Honolulu.
Syracuse and North Carolina played twice during the season as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference: The Tar Heels won both, by 11 and five points.
The gap has narrowed, especially in the case of Villanova-Oklahoma, but has it narrowed enough?
Road to redemption
No team carried more demons into March Madness than Villanova, which two years ago lost in the second round as a No. 2 seed and last year lost in the second round as a No. 1 seed.
But the Wildcats blitzed through the opening weekend and made enough free throws down the stretch to eliminate top-seeded Kansas and win the Midwest.
The old masters
Syracuse, one of the last teams in the field — and a 1,000-to-1 shot to win the title when the tournament began — became the first No. 10 seed to reach the Final Four. And it only took a stunning turn of events to do it.
Down 15 points midway through the second half against top-seeded Virginia, the Orange scored 25 of the next 29 to send Boeheim to his fifth Final Four.
That’s three shy of North Carolina coach Roy Williams’ total, by the way. Williams, who suffers from vertigo, is seeking the third national title in a Hall of Fame career nearing its conclusion.
And don’t forget about Oklahoma’s Lon Kruger, the only coach to win a tournament game at five schools.
Kruger is making his second appearance in the Final Four. The first came in 1994, with Florida.
Buddy and the Miracles
Rarely does one player carry a team through March the way Hield, who’s averaging 29 points in the tournament, has carried Oklahoma.
In fact, the 6-foot-4 wing is doing his best impression of Danny Manning, who led Kansas to the championship as a No. 6 seed in 1988.
Manning was incredible in the Final Four, with 56 points and 28 rebounds. Will Hield rise to that level?
Talent drain
The Final Four is usually a showcase for the top prospects in the upcoming NBA draft.
Last year, for example, nine first-round selections participated in the semifinals, including the No. 1 (Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns) and No. 3 (Duke’s Jahlil Okafor) selections.
This year, only one player, Hield, is a lock for the first round.
Let’s hope the no-names produce some terrific games.
For more on college sports, see Jon Wilner’s College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/wilnerhotline.
