Tough to Four-Cast

This year’s Final Four became mouth-of-the-Mississippi wide open last Saturday, the day Kentucky and Arizona were ousted.

The favorites to win the national title quickly skewed from Wildcats to wild cards.

The four schools that won the four games needed to get here have taken none of this for granted, unlike the presumptuous Kentucky fan who stood on Canal Street on Friday, five days after Marquette knocked his team out of the NCAA tournament.

You caught the guy’s brain waves -- Hey, I had a non-refundable on the airfare and hotel ... and Dick Vitale swore Kentucky would be here!

In a seven-game series, maybe, but not in the wacky world of one-and-out.

Kansas vs. Marquette and Syracuse vs. Texas at the Superdome today is not a Final Four any Cajun chef or CBS executive would have cooked up.

Kansas was not supposed to survive the rugged West regional.

Marquette committed 30 turnovers in a Conference USA tournament loss to Alabama Birmingham, nearly got double-crossed against Holy Cross, needed overtime to escape Missouri and then used that, um, momentum to KO Pittsburgh and Kentucky.

Syracuse, perennially underestimated because few have the cold-weather gear required to make mid-season scouting expeditions, once again slipped through the cracks (of ice).

Texas won neither the Big 12 Conference nor the conference tournament, last appeared in a Final Four in 1947 and, above all else, is a football school

Put it this way: The Final Four without 1-2 poll-sitters Kentucky and Arizona is like Tiger and Ernie pulling out of the Masters and leaving the event as anyone’s tournament to win.

You could argue the best team in college basketball is not going to win the title, but who cares?

Some team is going to win it and it’s definitely going to be interesting.

Kansas vs. Marquette

It might sound like great opener in the Great Alaska Shootout, but it is bustling with story lines and undercurrents

No one pushes the ball up court like Kansas, led by seniors, forward Nick Collison and guard Kirk Hinrich.

The Jayhawks’ transition game has earned its place in our sporting lexicon.

Or, at least that’s what their coach says.

“I emphasize that as much as Coach [Vince] Lombardi used to emphasize that power sweep right or left,” Kansas Coach Roy Williams said of his fastbreak. “Or Coach [John] Robinson at USC when it was USC right or left. We’re going to go as hard as we can every single day.”

The Jayhawks run and dare you to stop them. Last week, Arizona’s zone defense held Collison to eight points, but that left Hinrich open to score 28.

With Arizona hunkered down in the middle, Kansas won the battle for fastbreak points, 22-2.

Marquette will counter with a one-man fastbreak, 6-5 guard Dwyane Wade, who in victories over the top-seeded teams in the Midwest, Pittsburgh and Kentucky, had 51 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists.

Marquette is a sentimental favorite because of the school’s historical ties to the lovable 1977 Al McGuire NCAA title team.

“They’ve left a legacy for Marquette,” guard Travis Diener said of that team. “We’re trying to be linked in the same sentence with that team.”

That said, Marquette slightly resents its underdog image. After all, the school was a No 3 in the tournament, same as Duke.

Golden Eagle Coach Tom Crean cringed Friday when a reporter referred to his school as a “mid-major.”

Kansas vs. Marquette is also about the subplot Williams vs. Crean, coaches trying to lead national title campaigns while their fans wonder whether both men will be coaching elsewhere next year.

Williams has been linked to the vacancy at North Carolina but continues to bristle at the suggestion even as he has refused to end the discussion by saying he’s not leaving Kansas.

The routine is such that Williams says he doesn’t want to talk about North Carolina and yet reporters keep asking.

“I really don’t understand why people can’t stop with the first answer they get,” Williams said.

Crean is clearly getting more of a kick out of this. He is a rising star in the coaching ranks and has embraced the publicity of his name being mentioned for openings at UCLA, Pittsburgh and possibly Kansas should Williams leave.

“It’s flattering sometimes to see your name,” Crean said. “Everybody wants to be known as somebody that does a good job. But it’s not a distraction to me at all.

“Watching Kansas film is a distraction.”

Syracuse vs. Texas

For years, Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim struck many as a bookish-looking sourpuss, but he arrived here with a great attitude, the nation’s best freshman in Carmelo Anthony, a killer 2-3 zone defense and real chance to finally bag that first national title.

Boeheim has come close, losing national title-games in 1987 and 1996.

In 1987, Syracuse lost on a shot by Indiana’s Keith Smart with four seconds left.

That setback was suffered in New Orleans.

“I’ve tried to block out everything that’s ever happened here,” Boeheim joked Friday. “I hope we don’t have the same result.”

Boeheim’s chances rest with Anthony, his sensational freshman, and a zone defense that has confounded opponents for years.

Syracuse players are long, lanky and almost amorphous. Eight of the team’s top nine players are 6-4 or taller.

What makes the 2-3 so tough?

“I mean, we work at it,” Boeheim said. “We have good players. So we can have a good defense.”

The Syracuse defense will be severely tested by Texas and T.J. Ford, its zone-busting point guard.

Ford is maybe the quickest player in America and almost unstoppable one-on-one.

His challenge today is to poke enough holes in the 2-3 to create shots for his teammates.

“They’re a big team,” Ford said. “Really long. You just try to find the weakness in the zone and really just attack it.”

Syracuse will try to keep Ford outside the web and make Texas make outside shots, which is not the Longhorns’ strength.

For all his talents, Ford has made only 17 of 66 three-point attempts this season.

The question on the Texas side is: Who will stop Carmelo Anthony?

The short answer is guard Royal Ivey, with the emphasis on short.

At 6-3, Ivey is about five inches shorter than the 6-8 Anthony.

“You play to your strengths,” Ivey said. “You play defense like you know how to play. I just got to keep the ball out of his hands.”

Texas Coach Rick Barnes says not to sell Ivey short.

“Ivey is a guy that we’ve always tried to put on the other team’s best player as much as possible,” Barnes said. “We’ve always tried to let him know he’s got help in certain situations.”

He’s going to need it.