North Carolina and Kentucky in a rematch of improved teams

NEWARK, N.J. - It's a basketball traditionalist's dream matchup: North Carolina vs. Kentucky, two of college basketball's blue bloods, 1-2 on the list of teams with the most NCAA tournament victories, the schools that produced Jordan and Worthy and Prince and Wall and Larry Brown and Pat Riley.

But John Calipari is a basketball coach trying to lead Kentucky to a national championship, so forgive him if he's not into all the background surrounding Sunday's NCAA East Regional final.

"Most of us here weren't there for many of those" victories, Calipari, in his second year with the Wildcats, said Saturday. "It's like, we got to 2,000 [wins] first, and I think we were there for nine of the 2,000.

"The names on the front, Kentucky-North Carolina, wow. The history of both of these programs, wow. But I don't think [Wildcat players] are worried about that, and I am certainly not. I know they are going against terrific players, and I am going against a Hall of Famer. That's what I know. And I know the challenge of this. . . . It's not past history. These guys only remember two or three years, max."

The fourth-seeded Wildcats (28-8) and the No. 2 Tar Heels (29-7) will duel Sunday at the Prudential Center for the right to go to the Final Four, a place with which they're very familiar. Carolina has been to a record 18 with five national championships, the Wildcats to 13 with seven titles.

Freshman Harrison Barnes, the Tar Heels' leading scorer (15.6 points per game), said he has a sense of the tradition on both sides.

"It is special," he said. "I looked at Kentucky, and they have a lot of tradition that is as rich if not richer than Carolina. So just to be able to meet like this to go to the Final Four, it's a special situation."

The two teams got to this game in different fashions Friday night.

The Tar Heels had a relatively easy time of it against Marquette and boosted their own NCAA tournament record to 105 wins by defeating the Golden Eagles, 81-63.

The Wildcats had to go hard for 40 minutes to outlast Ohio State, 62-60, on Brandon Knight's jumper with 5.4 seconds remaining, their 104th NCAA victory.

However, the two victories for Carolina and Kentucky, both known for their ability to score whenever and however they want, were similar in that they featured what each team could do on the defensive end.

"They are starting to believe in each other," Calipari said of the Wildcats. "Now you are seeing a swarming team that is covering for each other. We had 11 blocks [against Ohio State]. Are you kidding me? We're doing what we have to do defensively."

North Carolina and Kentucky met during the regular season, Dec. 4 in Chapel Hill, where the Tar Heels eked out a 75-73 victory. Tyler Zeller scored 27 points to lead Carolina, while star Kentucky freshman Terrence Jones managed only three baskets in 17 attempts.

North Carolina has a different point guard from that game, with freshman Kendall Marshall having taken over in January after replacing Larry Drew II, who eventually left the team, as the starter. Kentucky's three star freshmen - Jones, Knight, and Doron Lamb - are part of a more cohesive unit.

"Both teams are drastically different," Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "I think both teams improved greatly since that time. Personnel changed for us. Both teams were very young and are still very young, but the experiences that we've gained have made both of us a much better team."

With Marshall as a starter, the Tar Heels are 17-2 with a starting lineup of two freshmen, two sophomores, and a junior. The Kentucky freshmen have meshed with the upperclassmen - juniors Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins and senior Josh Harrellson - to produce nine straight victories.

"We've definitely grown into great teams," Barnes said. "I think earlier in the season, we were both individualized. We had a lot of individuals on our teams trying to come together. I think tomorrow will be a matter of who executes better as a unit, who gets better passes, who rebounds better, who defends as a unit."