Four Number One Seeds in the Final Four? 

All four number one seeds remained alive heading into Sunday with both Kansas and Memphis set to still play against two tough opponents.  Both teams are looking to make history as there has never been a year where all four number one-seeded teams have made the Final Four.

The final has featured two number one seeds only 5 times and the final four has had zero one-seeded teams twice in 1980 and 2006.  We now know that this year's Final Four has at least two number one-seeded teams: UCLA and North Carolina.

After reaching the Final Four for the third straight time, UCLA coach Ben Howland called these Bruins "by far the best" of the three.

"Obviously, it's unbelievable," Howland said after taking the last few snips of the net. "That's really a credit to how good the players are and how well we performed under pressure the last three years."

It's the Bruins' longest string of Final Four appearances since they closed the John Wooden era with nine straight trips and added a 10th consecutive trip in 1976 under his successor, Gene Bartow.

The North Carolina Tar Heels did not exactly cruise to a victory against Louisville on Saturday even though they still managed to pull off a 10 point win. 

Battling in a physical contest inside, Tyler Hansbrough finished 12-for-17 from the floor in 38 minutes and was named regional MVP. That included a pair of clutch jumpers over the outstretched arms of 6-11 center David Padgett as the Tar Heels desperately tried to hold their tenuous second-half lead in the final minutes.

"He does the same thing in practice every day," Williams said. "He is the most driven, focused player I've ever seen in my life. He wants to be the best player he can be and win.

"That's Hansbrough. That's Tyler Hansbrough at practice every day. That's Tyler Hansbrough on off days. That's who Tyler Hansbrough is."

The Tar Heels (36-2) advanced to play the Kansas-Davidson winner next Saturday at San Antonio, setting up a potential matchup between Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams and the Jayhawks program he left behind when he returned to his alma mater in 2003.

Not so fast.  Davidson has been the talk of the Big Dance thus far.

Davidson, a 10th seed, bucked its underdog status for the third straight NCAA tournament game, defeating third-seeded Wisconsin to earn a trip to the final eight Sunday against No. 1-seeded Kansas.  Davidson had massive 200-1 odds early on, potentially paying $20,000 for every $100 bet.

And let's not take anything away from Texas.  The Longhorns initially would have paid out 15 to 1 odds as the number two seed.  Both teams are evenly matched up heading into Sunday afternoon's game. 

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Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com

Originally published March 30, 2008 9:28 am EST