Need a primer on the NCAA men’s Final Four? See below for a quick guide:
Who is in the Final Four?
The Villanova Wildcats advanced out of the South Region as a No. 2 seed.
The Oklahoma Sooners advanced out of the West Region as a No. 2 seed.
The Syracuse Orange advanced out of the Midwest Region as a No. 10 seed.
The North Carolina Tar Heels advanced out of the East Region as a No. 1 seed.
What was each team’s road to the Final Four?
Villanova: Defeated No. 15 UNC Asheville 86-56, No. 7 Iowa 87-68, No. 3 Miami 92-69 and No. 1 Kansas 64-59.
Oklahoma: Defeated No. 15 Cal State Bakersfield 82-68, No. 10 VCU 85-81, No. 3 Texas A&M 77-63 and No. 1 Oregon 80-68.
Syracuse: Defeated No. 7 Dayton 70-51, No. 15 Middle Tennessee State 75-50, No. 11 Gonzaga 63-60 and No. 1 Virginia 68-62.
North Carolina: Defeated No. 16 Florida Gulf Coast 83-67, No. 9 Providence 85-66, No. 5 Indiana 101-86 and No. 6 Notre Dame 88-74.
Where is the Final Four?
The men’s Final Four games are at NRG Stadium in Houston.
What time are the games?
No. 2 Villanova vs. No. 2 Oklahoma tips off at 6:09 p.m. ET Saturday on TBS.
No. 10 Syracuse vs. No. 1 North Carolina is scheduled to start at 8:49 p.m. ET Saturday on TBS. This game will start 40 minutes after the conclusion of Villanova-Oklahoma.
The winner of each game will play each other in the championship game Monday on TBS.
How can I watch the games?
In addition to TBS’ Final Four game coverage, TNT and truTV will feature Team Stream by Bleacher Report, team-specific presentations tailored to the schools participating in the Final Four national semifinals as well as for the national championship game. The concept is to present the game with local flavor, including comprehensive team and player story lines, music, custom graphics and show packaging, additional cameras and team-centric replays as well as custom halftimes with school features.
Accompanying the live television coverage, NCAA March Madness Live provides live streaming of the NCAA Final Four National Semifinals — including the Team Stream presentations — and the national championship game on desktop computers, tablets, mobile phones and most set-top boxes.
Who is favored?
No. 2 Villanova is a slight favorite over No. 2 Oklahoma, while No. 1 North Carolina is a big favorite against No. 10 Syracuse.
Who are the top scorers for each team?
Oklahoma: Senior guard Buddy Hield with 25.4 points per game through all games this season, as well as a notable 29.3 points per game in the NCAA tournament.
Villanova: Junior guard Josh Hart with 15.3 points per game this season.
Syracuse: Senior guard/forward Michael Gbinije with 17.6 points per game this season.
North Carolina: Senior forward Brice Johnson 17.1 points per game this season.
Who are the coaches?
Oklahoma: With Oklahoma in this year, Lon Kruger has now taken two different schools (Florida in 1994) to the Final Four. He’s also the only Division I head coach to lead five different schools to at least one NCAA tournament win. (The others schools: Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma.) He has not won a national title.
Villanova: This is Jay Wright’s second Final Four appearance. He reached the same stage in 2009.
Syracuse: Jim Boeheim leads all active coaches, with 32 NCAA tournament appearances in his career, dating back to 1977. He won a national title in 2003. This is his fifth Final Four appearance.
North Carolina: Roy Williams has won two national championships (2005, 2009, both with North Carolina) and now has eight Final Four appearances. Over his coaching career, which also includes when he was the head coach at Kansas, Williams has been to 26 NCAA tournaments.
What is the Final Four history for each team?
Oklahoma: This is the Sooners’ fifth trip to the Final Four, the team’s first since 2002. The other years were 1939, 1947 and 1988. The Sooners have never won a men’s basketball national championship, losing in the title games in 1947 (Holy Cross) and 1988 (Kansas).
Villanova: This is the school’s fifth Final Four. The other Final Four appearances were in 1939, 1971, 1985 and 2009. The Wildcats won the championship in 1985 as a No. 8 seed in an epic 66-64 upset to No. 1 Georgetown.
Syracuse: This is Syracuse’s sixth Final Four berth in team history. The school’s lone national championship came in 2003, which was led by Carmelo Anthony. The Orange also advanced to Final Fours in 1975, 1987, 1996 and 2013.
North Carolina: UNC is making its 19th Final Four appearance, the most in NCAA history, and is seeking its sixth NCAA title. UNC is the only school to appear in at least one Final Four in each of the last eight decades. The NCAA titles came in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005 and 2009. As for the rest of the Final Four appearances, those happened in 1946, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1977, 1981, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2008.
Who are famous alumni from each school?
Oklahoma: Olivia Munn
Villanova: Bradley Cooper
Syracuse: Dick Clark
North Carolina: Michael Jordan
