NEW ORLEANS, April 5 (UPI) -- Saturday's NCAA Tournament's Final Four features No. 1 seed Texas, No. 2 seed Kansas and two No. 3 seeds - Syracuse and Marquette - at the Superdome.
A quartet of the nation's best players - Texas point guard T.J. Ford, Kansas forward Nick Collison, Marquette forward Dwyane Wade and Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony - will also be on display in a fight for the national championship.
Kansas (29-7) will play Marquette (27-5) in Saturday's first semifinal game at 6:05 p.m. EST.
Kansas is making its second straight Final Four appearance and 12th overall after capturing the West regional. The Jayhawks got a terrific performance from Kirk Hinrich in last Saturday's 78-75 victory over Arizona.
Hinrich bounced back from a 1-of-9 shooting performance in the semifinals against Duke by scoring 28 points. Kansas blew a 16-point lead before rallying and Hinrich blocked a potential tying 3-pointer by Jason Gardner in the closing seconds.
Marquette is in the Final Four for the first time since Al McGuire's team won the 1977 championship and the third time overall. The Golden Eagles received one of the best performances in NCAA Tournament history from Wade in an 83-69 victory over Kentucky in the Midwest Region final.
Wade, the Conference USA Player of the Year, notched the third triple-double in NCAA Tournament history with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in an electrifying performance. He joined Michigan State's Magic Johnson and Utah's Andre Miller as the only other players to record triple-doubles.
A pair of superstars square off when Ford and Texas (26-6) meet Anthony and Syracuse (28-5) in the second national semifinal. Ford and Anthony each was named the Most Outstanding Player of his respective region in leading Texas and Syracuse to this point. Ford is the Naismith Award winner and Anthony is the national Freshman of the Year.
Texas has reached the Final Four for the first time since 1947, when the NCAA Tournament had only eight teams. The Longhorns lost to Wyoming in the 1943 championship, when the field had four teams.
Ford had 19 points and 10 assists as Texas moved into the Final Four with Sunday's 85-76 victory over Michigan State. Ford, a sophomore considering entering the NBA draft, did not shoot the ball well from the floor, but made 11-of-13 at the line.
Syracuse has also never won a national championship. The Orangemen suffered a 74-73 national title game loss to Indiana in New Orleans in 1987 and also lost to Kentucky in the 1996 championship.
Anthony collected 20 points and 10 rebounds as Syracuse cruised to a 63-47 victory over Oklahoma to capture the East Regional. He scored 12 points in the first half after scoreless first halves in Syracuse's two previous NCAA Tournament games.
