NEW ORLEANS, April 5 (UPI) -- A perfect first half by Kansas Saturday night and a typically sensational effort by Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony put the Jayhawks and the Orangemen into the championship game of the NCAA Tournament.
Keith Langford and Kirk Hinrich ignited a first-half onslaught that sent Kansas sailing past Marquette, 94-61.
In the second semifinal, Syracuse took the lead for good with 11 minutes remaining behind Anthony's 33 points and the Orangemen held off the Texas Longhorns, 95-84.
Both Kansas Coach Roy Williams and his Syracuse counterpart, Jim Boeheim, will be looking for their first national title when their teams face each other Monday night in the Louisiana Superdome. Williams and Boeheim are first and third among active coaches in winning percentage.
Kansas played with a frenzy that left Marquette stunned and overwhelmed as the Jayhawks (30-7) notched the sixth 30-win season in school history.
In a game that was expected to be a showdown between the up-tempo style of the Jayhawks and the superstar skills of Marquette's Dwayne Ward, Saturday night's first Final Four semifinal was never a contest.
Kansas ran the ball down the court at every opportunity and forced Marquette into a series of off-balanced shots -- the vast majority of which turned into rebounds by the Jayhawks.
Kansas opened a staggering 59-30 halftime lead and then scored the first eight points of the second period in the 101st NCAA Tournament game in school history. The 33-point final margin was the second largest ever in the Final Four.
"Needless to say, the first 25 or 30 minutes was sensational," Williams said. "I think the biggest thing for us offensively was that we kept attacking. I think that was something we talked about all the time throughout the course of the entire season, emphasized it in the locker room today."
"Some people could say we reached the pinnacle of our game today. I hope there's still something left in us."
Langford, who has played all year in the shadow of teammates Hinrich and Nick Collison, scored six of Kansas' first 14 points and finished with 23. Hinrich contributed three-three-point shots during the first-half mauling and totaled 18. Collision added 12 and all three sat out the final six minutes of the game to rest up for Monday night's championship.
"It's not us running faster than anyone, it's the fact that we're going to continue to do it," Langford said. "We just kept pushing."
Wade, who keyed Marquette's upset victory over Kentucky in the Midwest Region final, found himself smothered by Kansas' defense in the first half, took a blow to the nose in the second half and still managed 19 points.
With Marquette missing easy shots on one end and giving up easy baskets on the other, Golden Eagles Coach Tom Crean took one time out after another in an attempt to halt the Jayhawks' surge. He ran out of time outs with 13 minutes remaining in the game.
"We missed so many layups and close shots," Crean said. "That affected our defense. We could never get that juice and confidence you need, especially in the first half.
"We lost to a great team. It was our day last week against Kentucky. This was their day."
The first half generated by Kansas was one of the most dominating in the history of the Final Four.
The Jayhawks shot 60 percent to 26 for Marquette while Kansas contested virtually every shot and every pass.
A fast-paced tempo down the court by Kansas appeared to leave Marquette flat footed in the early going and the Golden Eagles were never able to adjust.
"I've always felt like we're going to try to attack you," Williams said. "I've always said that we can win in the 50s or 60s, but we just enjoy playing more in the 80s or 90s."
Wade made two free throws with 13:57 remaining in the half to tie the game at 12-12 and it appeared at that point the contest would be the close encounter most had predicted.
But Langford hit his third field goal of the game moments later and the rout was on. Kansas put together an 18-2 run en route to a 35-16 advantage -- a surge highlighted by seven points from Hinrich and four from Collison.
Marquette finally slowed Kansas down for a brief period and moved within 15 points with four minutes left in the half. That gave the Golden Eagles hope that they could cut the deficit to a reasonable margin by intermission.
Kansas, however, scored 18 points over those final four minutes. The last two baskets of the half symbolized the one-sided nature of the opening 20 minutes.
With all five Marquette players swarming around the basket, Hinrich was wide open for a long pass following a turnover and had an easy layup. And Collision scored Kansas' 58th and 59th points with seven seconds remaining when Marquette fumbled away a defensive rebound and allowed the Jayhawks' center another easy basket.
Syracuse also threatened to turn the night's second game into a blowout when it raced to a nine-point advantage with six minutes to play in the first half.
But even though the Orangemen shot 71 percent from the field through the first two-thirds of the opening half and made five of eight three-pointers, they wound up with only a 48-45 advantage at the break.
Texas, making its first Final Four appearance since 1947, took its first lead of the game early in the second half and the lead changed hands six times through the opening nine minutes of the period.
But two free throws by Josh Pace with 11 minutes to go put Syracuse in front for good and Texas went four minutes without a field goal.
Anthony added 14 rebounds to go with his 33 points and managed to stay in the game in the critical stages of the second half despite picking up three fouls in the first 20 minutes. He did not commit a foul during the second period.
Gerry McNamara also keyed Syracuse's offense in the first half with two quick three-pointers and he hit another three-point shot with 10:43 to play in the second half that opened a five-point advantage. He scored 19 points.
Texas was paced by Brandon Mouton, who scored the Longhorns' first 10 points, produced 20 in the first half and wound up with 25.
