NCAA Tournament | 'Cats look to land on Heels in Final Four

Penn basketball fans might see some familiar faces playing in tomorrow's Final Four.

Of course, the Quakers aren't competing in Detroit - even if it is the 30th anniversary of Penn's lone national semifinal appearance.

Instead, Penn's first opponent of the season, No. 1 North Carolina (32-4), and one of Penn's Big 5 rivals, No. 3 Villanova (30-7), will meet tomorrow to claim a berth in the championship game. The winner will face either No. 1 Connecticut or No. 2 Michigan State who play in the first semifinal.

Although UNC - playing in its record 18th Final Four - is favored by 7.5 points, it was actually Villanova who beat Penn by the larger margin this season. In both teams' opening game, the Tar Heels beat Penn by 15 in Chapel Hill, N.C., but at the Palestra two weeks later Villanova dominated the Quakers, 69-47.

Then again, the Heels were without their star forward Tyler Hansbrough. Earlier this week the Pine Bluff, Mo., native was named a consensus All-American, becoming just the 14th player since World War II to win that honor for three consecutive years.

Ironically, Hansbrough isn't even the most important player on his team this year. That honor goes to Ty Lawson, the ACC Player of the Year. After missing the ACC Tournament and the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a sprained ankle, the junior point guard has been stellar in the last three rounds. In that span he's averaged 20.3 points and 6.7 assists, leading UNC to victories of 14-, 21- and 12-point margins.

Fortunately for the Wildcats, they have an outstanding 1-2 punch of their own. Junior guard Scottie Reynolds not only has averaged 15.2 points and 3.3 assists per game this season but also drove three quarters of the way down the court against Pittsburgh to hit the game-winning layup in the Elite Eight. And senior forward Dante Cunningham has contributed an average of 17.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in the tournament.

But besides those individual matchups, the key to the game is whether Villanova will impose its defensive will on UNC's high-flying offense. The Wildcats have given up a stingy 66.5 points per tournament game. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels offense has averaged 90.0 points in 2008-09, second best in all of Division I.

It's going to take a complete effort to stop UNC.

"We just have to work together as a team," Wildcats senior Shane Clark said at 'Nova's press conference Wednesday. "Defensively we have to do whatever it takes to get a rebound and get a stop. . It will be a tough challenge for our defense to face them."

These two teams have quite a history in the NCAA Tournament. In the most recent of Villanova's previous three trips to the Final Four - during their miraculous run to the 1985 Championship as an eight seed - the Wildcats dispatched the Tar Heels, 56-44.

Conversely, when UNC last won it all, it beat Villanova in the Sweet 16, 67-66. But that 2005 game wasn't without controversy.

No. 5 Villanova had a chance to tie the No. 1 Heels with 9.0 seconds left. Down by three, guard Allan Ray penetrated the lane and threw up an awkward shot, drawing contact. When the whistle blew after the ball went in, everyone thought Ray would go to the line with a chance to tie the game. Instead, a questionable travelling violation was called.

But that was four years ago, ancient history in terms of college sports. These 'Cats are prepared for whatever will occur tomorrow.

"It doesn't matter what the calls are, what happens in the game, we just play," Cunningham told ESPN's Dana O'Neil.

After tip-off around 9 p.m. tomorrow, the Wildcats will be playing, all right. But this time, the stakes are the highest they've been in nearly a quarter of a century.

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