COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S FINAL FOUR : This One Is a Final Four for the Ages

If tradition and talent are key ingredients for a great Final Four, this weekend’s version ranks among the best.

--UCLA, North Carolina, Arkansas and Oklahoma State have combined for 38 Final Four appearances and 16 NCAA titles.

--The coaches--UCLA’s Jim Harrick, North Carolina’s Dean Smith, Arkansas’ Nolan Richardson and Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton--have taken nine schools to 65 NCAA tournaments.

--In Arkansas’ Corliss Williamson and North Carolina’s Donald Williams, this is the first time two former Final Four most outstanding players have been in the same field.

--This is the first Final Four in 33 years to have the preceding two national champions: Arkansas won last year, North Carolina in 1993.

Three of the six teams ranked No. 1 during the season will take the court in the Kingdome today.

UCLA (29-2), No. 1 since the last three weeks of the regular season, will meet underdog Oklahoma State (27-9), which was ranked no higher than 18th, at 2:40 p.m. Then Arkansas (31-6), which began the season as No. 1, will play North Carolina (28-5). The Tar Heels held the top spot for six weeks. The winners will play Monday at 5:40 p.m.

Former UCLA coach John Wooden might even attend his first Final Four since he led the Bruins to their last national title in 1975.

“If UCLA comes through all right (today), and if I feel pretty decent, and if the traveling back to Los Angeles and then up to Seattle isn’t too hard, I might make it,” Wooden said from St. Louis, where he was attending a banquet.