GONZAGA VS. USC MICHIGAN VS. UCLA

Unless surprising 11th-seeded UCLA or No. 1 or 2 seeds Baylor or Houston have answers, it looks like top overall seeded, undefeated Gonzaga is ready to celebrate its first men’s NCAA Division I basketball championship.

After toying with and cooling off 6th-seeded Southern California, 85-66, Tuesday night in at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the Zags won their 30th straight game to gain the Final Four against, yes, the Bruins, who slipped past No. 1-seeded Michigan, 51-49, in the second game of the Elite Eight.

In the other Final Four Saturday, it will be the No. 1-seeded Bears meeting up with the No. 2 seeded Cougars, with Baylor getting this far for the first time in 71 years, and Houston for the first time in 27 years. On Monday night, the Bears got past 3rd-seeded Arkansas, and the Cougars halted 12th-seeded Oregon State’s surprising run. If that game’s perhaps a toss-up, it doesn’t appear to be the case with whoever takes on Gonzaga.

There were a few thousand fans in the stands to see the Zags open up a 17-6 lead and cruise the rest of the way to dim the hopes of USC and end its bid at 25-8. Gonzaga had fun, too, with Drew Timme tossing in 23 points, bringing down five rebounds, and after one dunk pretended to slick down his handlebar mustache for the fans. He did whatever he wanted against an opponent with the nation’s fourth-ranked defense and who had won its three tournament games by an average of 21 points.

But not on this night. Southern Cal just couldn’t keep up, couldn’t slow down the Gonzaga offensive machine or get its own offense into gear. Plus Timme had plenty of company as teammate Jared Suggs wound up with 18 points, 10 board and eight assists, while All-America Cory Kispert added 18 points and eight rebounds.

“We just wanted to stay moving,” Suggs said about attacking the USC zone that had been shutting down teams in Indy. “We didn’t let the ball be too sticky, and we kept moving, flashing into the high post. It was a lot for them to deal with, good cuts off the baseline, vertical cuts off the wings.”

And if the Wolverines were expected to be next to face the Zags, UCLA just found another way to reach its first Final Four since 2008, This is a storied program that has won 11 national title, 10 under legendary head coach John Wooden. But there’s no Bill Walton, no Lew Alcindor, no Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard or any other elite players on this team, only a group of bracket-busters making their way as the fifth 11th-seed to get this far.

This time these Bruins dictated the pace, eschewing the slick style of Michigan in favor of a rock fight, it only seemed fitting that as underdogs had already won twice in overtimes of the tournament, and would take it to the buzzer again.

They were clinging to a 50-49 lead when the Wolverines called a timeout with 19 seconds remaining in regulation. Then head coach and former Fab 4 Juwan Howard set up an open 3-point look for cold-shooting Franz Wagner  who had had a dismal night throwing up shots. He banked the shot off the side of the rim and then teammate Eli Brooks missed a put-back before UCLA could grab the rebound.

There was still time remaining and Michigan quickly fouled Johnny Juzang, who already had the game-high 28 points while playing most of the second half on an ankle sprain. He made the first, missed the second, and the Wolverines grabbed the rebounds and called another timeout. Then is was Mike Smith racing up court to throw up a shot that was halfway down before bouncing back out.

But after the officials added a half-second to the clock, another Michigan heave-o clanked off the iron and yet another celebration began for the Bruins as they upped their record to 22-9 and ended the Wolverines’ quest at 27-5.

Tyler Campbell added 11 points for the Pac12 team, while Hunter Dickinson, the Big 10 Freshman of the Year, led Michigan with 11 points in a sub-par game for him. In fact, the maze and blue were 3-for-11 from beyond the arch and shot just 39 percent from the field. Instead of the crisp passing, unselfishness and showing its inside strength that carted off three easy wins in the tournament, there was sloppy ballhandling, off-balance jumpers, and breakdowns on defense.

That made things easier for UCLA, especially for Juzang, who tallied 14 of his team’s first 16 points to bring a 27-23 halftime advantage and on went the Bruins to a date with Gonzaga,