I saw him coming down the middle and I stepped up

Baylor couldn't — and the Bears' roster burberry ties is full of talent. Indiana couldn't — and the Hoosiers had beaten the Wildcats earlier this season. Iowa State couldn't — and it wasn't close.

The Wildcats have marched through the NCAA tournament on a mission, barely celebrating victories along the way, insisting they are not even watching other games. Reaching the Final Four wasn't an achievement. It was an expectation.

To win a national championship — and Kentucky fans won't be happy with anything less — the Cats will have to get through two very good basketball teams.
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Their next foe is a familiar one, Louisville. The Cardinals lost to Kentucky 69-62 on Dec. 31, but they've played their best basketball over the past month. Since losing to Syracuse at the end of its regular season, Louisville has won eight in a row.

Throw in Rick Pitino, his burberry handbags outlet rocky relationship with John Calipari and history with the Kentucky program, and Saturday's Final Four showdown will make for entertaining theater.

Even considering Anthony Davis' possible knee injury (which he returned from during Sunday's game), Kentucky remains the favorite. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is playing as well as he has all year, and the Wildcats' defense is unrelenting.

If Davis gets in early foul trouble or multiple Kentucky starters get injured, Saturday's game could be close. But the Cats will move on to face the winner of Kansas-Ohio State.

Two All-American big men will face off in Saturday's second matchup, another rematch. Ohio State played without its star, Jared Sullinger, and lost to Thomas Robinson-led Kansas in early December.

But this time both teams will be at full strength. Sullinger and Robinson both average more than 17 points and nine rebounds per game. Expect a physical but fun matchup there with Ohio State winning a close one.

In the next round, it won't matter. Kentucky has shown all season it's the best team.

It happened first in the 2008 national semifinals, and again Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome for the Midwest Region championship. In a game that burberry sneakers women had been tight throughout, Kansas scored the last 12 points to oust the top-seeded Tar Heels, 80-67.

The Jayhawks (31-6) will face the East champion, Ohio State (31-7), in a national semifinal next Saturday in New Orleans — the first Final Four appearance by Kansas since its 2008 national championship.

North Carolina (32-6), playing its second game without point guard Kendall Marshall (broken bone in right wrist), shot a sizzling 63.6 percent from the field in the first half but faded down the stretch, missing its final nine field-goal attempts and 14 of its last 16. In the second half, the Tar Heels made only seven baskets and went 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts.

Williams said he thought his team panicked at the end.

“It was pretty there for a while,” Williams said. “It just wasn’t very pretty those last five minutes.”

Tyshawn Taylor had 22 points and Thomas Robinson, named the regional’s most outstanding player, 18 points for No. 2-seeded Kansas. But two big blocks by the Kansas seven-footer Jeff Withey, playing with four fouls, helped the Jayhawks pull away in the final minutes. Withey finished with 15 points, making all five of his shots from the field, and had three blocks.

In a game that featured 13 lead changes and 15 ties, Kansas led by one when the Tar Heels seven-footer Tyler Zeller Ray ban sunglasses blocked Taylor on a drive. Moments later, Taylor stole the ball, and Elijah Johnson — shooting 2 for 10 from the field to that point — sank a pull-up 3-pointer from the left wing.

“I couldn’t go home thinking I had a shot and backed off it,” said Johnson, one of the most dependable Jayhawks in the second half throughout the tournament.

With 2 minutes 4 seconds to play, North Carolina’s 6-foot-11 John Henson, playing gamely after twisting his right ankle in the first half, drove for the basket. But Withey, the Big 12 defensive player of the year, swatted the shot, spied Taylor and tipped it ahead to him for a fast-break layup and a 3-point play.

“I saw him coming down the middle and I stepped up,” Withey said. “I just threw my hands up and he shot it into my hands. Then I looked burberry watches for men outlet where the ball was, saw Ty and tried to tip it to him.”

Taylor said, “It was the perfect play for us.”

Then Stilman White, starting for Marshall, saw an opening and drove inside. Withey blocked that too. Kansas broke the other way, and Travis Releford finished with a two-handed dunk to make it 76-67 with 1:29 to play — the biggest lead by either team to that point. After a 3-point miss by White, Releford sank one of two foul shots for a 10-point lead with 49 seconds to play.

“A lot of times, a guy with four fouls won’t guard you because he wants to stay in the game,” Williams said, adding: “It wasn’t just us missing shots. Jeff was a load inside.”

Releford dribbled out the final seconds as he and Taylor waved their arms at the stands, an unnecessary gesture in front of a crowd of 24,107 that was up and cheering. The preponderance of blue — and not the Carolina shade — suggested that Kansas fans had bought most of the tickets dumped by Ohio and North Carolina State fans after losses in the Round of 16.

James Michael McAdoo had burberry shoes 15 points for North Carolina.

Williams said Marshall, who took part in noncontact drills at practice Saturday, was sore afterward. After that, playing Sunday was not a consideration.

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