Sports

Unpredictable Final 4 full of promise

ODD GROUP: Carl Hall’s No. 9 Wichita State, No. 4s Syracuse and Michigan and No. 1 Louisville form the Final Four. (
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Do you remember when this all started, when you looked at the NCAA Tournament draw two weeks ago and gasped, “This thing is wide open!”?

It might have been the only time in the last two weeks you were correct.

The Final Four is set: Wichita State, a No. 9 seed, which the nation knew less about than about North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

Syracuse, a No. 4 seed, whose 2-3 zone is so vexing coaches are treating it like a new strain of the flu.

Michigan, another No. 4 seed, whose unfathomable rally against Kansas is the stuff of legends.

Louisville, the No. 1 overall seed and the most impressive team in this tournament, made certain that this would not be the third Final Four without a top seed.

A look at the Final Four participants:

The Cinderella

We had Wichita State, which made its first Final Four since 1965, losing in the West Region finals and we thought that was pretty gutsy. The Shockers are the grittiest team left standing, a brutally grinding team that has held its four opponents to 79-of-230 shooting (34.3 percent).

Mid-major programs usually make runs with senior-dominated teams. But the Shockers lost five seniors from last season’s team who accounted for 57 points per game. This Cinderella wears work boots.

The Unconventional

Syracuse, making its first Final Four appearance since 2003, when it won it all with Carmelo Anthony, has stretches when its offense is as herky jerky as an Amtrak Northeast Regional train.

But its 2-3 zone is unlike any other defense in America.

The length on the back line has been a staple, but with 6-foot-6 Michael Carter-Williams and 6-foot-4 Brandon Triche at the top, getting the ball into the high post — the Achilles’ heel of the 2-3 — is daunting.

The Hot Squad

Michigan, going to the Final Four for the first time since 1993, began the season as the nation’s hottest team, the last to lose a game after winning its first 16. They have the one commodity that can negate any disadvantage: the unstoppable player.

Behind sophomore point guard Trey Burke, who led the Wolverines back from a 14-point deficit with seven minutes left to beat Kansas in overtime in the Sweet 16, Michigan is sizzling again. In a down season for offense, Michigan is hitting almost 50 percent of its shots in the tournament (124-of-251).

The Favorite

Louisville entered the tournament with all of the pieces. Standout Brooklyn guard Russ Smith gained extra motivation from the death of mentor and former Archbishop Molloy coach Jack Curran.

The horrific broken leg suffered by reserve guard Kevin Ware in yesterday’s Elite Eight win over Duke may galvanize the group as well. The Cards lose depth and a versatile player in Ware, but their press defense remains relentless. This is their Final Four to lose.

The matchups

The national semifinals could not be more intriguing. If there is one team that should be able to counter Syracuse’s 2-3, it’s Michigan. Burke’s range means Triche and Carter-Williams will have to extend.

That would allow forward Glenn Robinson III to work the foul-line area. And with freshman center Mitch McGary emerging as the best big man in the tournament, Michigan could use the high-low game Louisville used so effectively to topple Syracuse in the Big East Tournament title game.

Louisville-Wichita State is the quintessential showdown between one of the sport’s power programs and a pesky mid-major. It conjures up memories of the 1979 championship between Magic Johnson’s Michigan State and Larry Bird’s Indiana State, a game that revived college basketball.

But the Shockers have no star. Some of the Shockers had no awareness of Wichita State before the school recruited them.

“I didn’t know where Wichita was either before I went there,” said forward Cleanthony Early of Middletown. “I had to do my research.”

Even if you did research and did it well, you still would have been hard-pressed to pick this fantastic Final Four.