There was a team of destiny out there, all right—the North Carolina Tar Heels—and the final chapter of their story was about as heartwarming as a demolition derby. Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and North Carolina won a national championship a season or more in the making, stomping out Michigan State’s inspirational run last night with a 89-72 blowout.

There was a team of destiny out there, all right. It’s the North Carolina Tar Heels, and the final chapter of their story was about as heartwarming as a demolition derby.

DETROIT (AP)—In tonight’s NCAA men’s championship, the North Carolina Tar Heels are rated a seven-point favorite over Michigan State, a team they beat by 35 points back in December at Detroit’s Ford Field. Nobody is expecting such a blowout this time.

Wayne Ellington broke Jay Wright’s heart again. First the kid from the Philadelphia suburbs with the smooth jump shot chose to play for North Carolina over Wright’s Villanova program. Now he’s a big reason the Wildcats’ surprising Final Four run is over and the Tar Heels have moved on to play for the national championship most everyone expected them to win in the preseason.

Raymar Morgan grinned and lifted his right arm, saluting a stadium filled with Michigan State fans with a wave. The Spartans promised their downtrodden state something good, and they delivered. Morgan broke out of his late-season slump with 18 points, Kalin Lucas added 21 and the smaller Spartans ran roughshod over Hasheem Thabeet and Connecticut in an 82-73 upset in the Final Four last night. The Spartans will play the winner of the Villanova-North Carolina game for the NCAA title tomorrow night, a boost for a city and state hit harder than most by the economic crisis.

DETROIT—At 7-3, Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet was the biggest player on the floor. He didn’t play that way. The Big East’s co-player of the year led UConn with 17 points in the Huskies’ 82-73 loss to Michigan State in the Final Four last night. But Thabeet wasn’t the intimidating presence the top-seeded Huskies (31-5) needed against a gritty Spartans squad toughened by the physical Big Ten.

DETROIT—Travis Walton played defense when few of his peers did back in high school and summer-league games. It earned him a Michigan State scholarship four years ago. Now, a national title could be up for grabs. The note on which Walton’s college career ends might depend upon how he fares against Connecticut’s A.J. Price in the national semifinals tonight.

ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR North Carolina: The South Region’s No. 1 seed beat No. 16 Radford 101-58; No. 8 LSU 84-70; No. 4 Gonzaga 98-77; No. 2 Oklahoma 72-60 Villanova: The East Region’s No. 3 seed beat No. 14 American 80-67; No. 6 UCLA 89-69; No. 2 Duke 77-54; No. 1 Pittsburgh 78-76 STARS North Carolina: Tyler Hansbrough, last season’s consensus player of the year, was a first-team All-America this season after averaging 20.9 points and 8.1 rebounds. The senior holds every scoring record for North Carolina and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Ty Lawson was the ACC player of the year after running an offense that was second in the nation at 90 points per game. The junior point guard missed the ACC tournament and first-round NCAA game with a toe injury, but he won MVP honors in the South Regional after averaging 20 points and 6.7 assists while committing a total of two turnovers in the three games he played. Villanova: Villanova really doesn’t have a star, just a lot of really good players with six averaging between 16.2 points (Dante Cunningham) and 6.9 points (Reggie Redding). They all play defense, and three players have more than 100 assists. Scottie Reynolds is the go-to guy at the end of games. It was his driving shot with less than a second left that won the East Regional final against Pittsburgh. COACHES North Carolina: Roy Williams is in his seventh Final Four and third with the Tar Heels. He led North Carolina to the national championship in 2005. Including his years at Kansas, Williams is the first coach to win at least one NCAA tournament game in 20 consecutive seasons. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2007, Williams joined Mike Krzyzewski and John Wooden as the only coaches to reach five Final Fours in an eight-year period. Villanova: Jay Wright is not just the only rookie in the Final Four, he is the only coach here without a national championship to his credit. The win that got the Wildcats to the Final Four for the first time since 1985 was Wright’s 300th in his 15th season overall and eighth at Villanova. He was selected the coach of the year in the Big East this season. KEY POINTS North Carolina: The Tar Heels have almost everybody back from the team that lost in the Final Four last season, a fact that had them a unanimous preseason No. 1 selection. They spent 10 weeks at No. 1, and all their losses were in the ACC. The worry over Lawson’s toe injury is gone as he had the Tar Heels running and scoring as usual, while the defense was able to hold Oklahoma to 60 points in the regional final. Villanova: The Wildcats are playing their best defense of the season in the NCAA tournament, holding opponents to under 40 percent shooting overall and 29 percent from 3-point range. They’re struggling from 3-point range, however, hitting only 29 percent, well below their 36 percent mark for the season. The lack of size (Cunningham is a 6-8 center) is made up for with the ability to constantly switch defenders to avoid mismatches. STATISTICS

DETROIT—North Carolina’s roster is dotted with players likely to see each other in the NBA. Villanova doesn’t even boast an all-Big East first-team selection. The Wildcats’ projected NBA futures are dim, and three-quarters of the winningest senior class in program history will watch the NBA draft on TV instead of waiting for their names to be called.

Connecticut: The West Region’s No. 1 seed beat No. 16 Chattanooga 103-47; No. 9 Texas A&M 92-66; No. 5 Purdue 72-60; No. 3 Missouri 82-75 Michigan State: The Midwest Region No. 2 seed beat No. 15 Robert Morris 77-62; No. 10 Southern California 74-69; No. 3 Kansas 67-62; No. 1 Louisville 64-52 STARS Connecticut: The Huskies’ biggest star, literally, is 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet, the Big East’s co-player of the year and its defensive player of the year after averaging 4.3 blocks per game, second in the nation. His scoring average has increased in each of his three seasons, and he enters the Final Four averaging 13.5 points and 10.9 rebounds. Senior forward Jeff Adrien also averages a double-double at 13.7 points and 10.0 rebounds. Senior guard A.J. Price leads the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game, but he has averaged 20.0 during the NCAA tournament. Michigan State: Sophomore guard Kalin Lucas, the Big Ten’s player of the year, leads the Spartans in scoring (14.6) and assists (4.5), and he was fourth in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.19. Senior guard Travis Walton was the conference’s defensive player of the year, and his best effort might have been holding Louisville’s Terrence Williams to 1-for-7 shooting in the regional final. Senior center Goran Suton is averaging 14.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in the tournament and was selected the MVP of the Midwest Regional. COACHES Connecticut: Jim Calhoun is taking the Huskies to the Final Four for the third time; the first two resulted in national championships. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2005, Calhoun is one of two active coaches with 800 wins, 557 of which have come in his 23 seasons at Connecticut. He missed the opening-round game against Chattanooga because of dehydration, then faced allegations of possible recruiting violations before the regional semifinals. Michigan State: Tom Izzo has the Spartans in the Final Four for the fifth time, and they won it all in 2000. In his 14th season at Michigan State, his teams are known for their toughness on the boards and tenacious defense. With 335 career victories, Izzo is just five behind Jud Heathcote, his former boss at Michigan State. KEY POINTS Connecticut: The Huskies lead the nation in rebounding, grabbing 43.3 per game, and they average 7.8 blocks, which will have them No. 1 in the nation for the eighth consecutive season. Connecticut was ranked No. 1 for four weeks this season, and its only losses were to Big East teams. The four NCAA wins have been by an average of 17 points. Michigan State: The Spartans have the “home dome” advantage with their campus about a 90-minute drive from Ford Field. Michigan State is No. 1 in the country in rebound margin, grabbing 38.8 per game, an average of 9.6 more than its opponents. The Spartans have fought through some nagging injuries all season; the one affecting them most right now is the broken nose suffered by Raymar Morgan in the regional semifinals. He wore a protective mask for one half against Louisville, a game in which he went scoreless, dropping his average for the tournament to 5.8. STATISTICS

It’s a little early for polls. But the pool is just right. The Virginia governor’s race has tightened considerably—for top honors in the Richmond Times-Dispatch NCAA Basketball Gubernatorial Bracket. Heading into Final Four weekend, the University of Connecticut, Villanova University, Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina are all that remain of the 65-team field.

Three of the teams are Final Four regulars, programs that expect to be practicing and playing in the first week of April, not attending end-of-season banquets. Trying to pull a postseason surprise is Villanova, a school that might not have the tradition of North Carolina, Michigan State or Connecticut but does have the biggest shocker in NCAA tournament history on its colorful résumé.

Blake Griffin might be the nation’s best player. North Carolina brushed him aside with a total team effort. Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Danny Green added 18 to lead the top-seeded Tar Heels to a 72-60 win over Griffin and Oklahoma yesterday in the South Region final. North Carolina (32-4) advanced to the Final Four for the second straight year and will play Villanova in the national semifinals.

Michigan State is marching on to Motown. The Spartans gave the Final Four a hometown feel, stopping overall No. 1 seed Louisville 64-52 yesterday to win the Midwest Region title. Goran Suton had 19 points and 10 rebounds as the second-seeded Spartans (30-6) reached their fifth Final Four in 11 years—the most trips of any team in the nation during that span.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Michigan State gave the Final Four a hometown feel, stopping overall No. 1 seed Louisville 64-52 Sunday to win the Midwest Regional.
Goran Suton had 19 points and 10 rebounds as the second-seeded Spartans (30-6) reached their fifth Final Four in 11 years.