Villanova hits the Big Easy as the media hoopla and anticipation ramps up for the Final Four

NEW ORLEANS – It could maybe overwhelm you, seeing Coach K roll by in the back of a golf cart, or getting your own cart with a driver. There isn’t just a sign on your door saying Villanova, it’s painted in school colors.

Players Thursday moved from NCAA.com interviews to video entertainment sessions to Westwood One radio to CBS to the newspaper and digital folks. If the idea was to act like you’ve been there before, Villanova players, new and old, rolled with it all at the Superdome ahead of Saturday’s Final Four date with Kansas.

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“Caleb [Daniels], what does it mean to be here?”

Collin [Gillespie], can you tell how much you’ve played in the post …?”

“Your thoughts about the Jayhawks as a team?”

“Chris [Arcidiacono], were you in Houston for the Final Four with your brother.”

Technically, Villanova-Kansas is the undercard, starting at 6:09 ET, with Duke-North Carolina the main event to follow, Mike Krzyzewski’s last game taking center stage at some point, win or lose. It doesn’t matter that the one team here for the third time in six tournaments is Villanova, which happened to have won it those two previous times.

“When you say it, I get it,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said of being involved in the undercard game. Wright added that he doesn’t care how the whole thing is hyped. “I’m so worried about Kansas, honest to God.”

This week, Kansas coach Bill Self talked about how nobody is talking about Villanova-Kansas, not complaining at all.

“I do look at it as the majority of the attention, and probably rightfully so, will be on the second game,” Self said. “Because it’s through Carolina and they never met [in the NCAA Tournament], Coach K’s last year and all those things.

That’s all outside noise.

“We’re fired up,” Self said. “I don’t think anybody in this field is flying under any radar or anything like that. … Actually, I believe all four teams have a legitimate shot if they play well.”

Self is on target. He’s got the only No. 1 seed here, but isn’t bothering tagging his Jayhawks as the favorite. He only has to go back to 2016 to remember when Kansas was the No. 1 overall seed but lost to Villanova in the Elite Eight. In 2018, Villanova again swept through the Jayhawks and everyone else on the way to another title. That kind of sweep-through team doesn’t exist this season. Kansas was losing to 10th-seeded Miami at halftime in the Elite Eight before kicking it all into gear.

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While Duke has a last-year coach, Krzyzewski’s successor already on the bench in Jon Scheyer, North Carolina has a rookie coach in Hubert Davis. The Tar Heels looked like they might be left out of the NCAA Tournament completely before getting its act together, winning five straight to close the regular season, the icing being a 94-81 upset over the Blue Devils to spoil Krzyzewski’s last Cameron Indoor Stadium game.

First, Kansas-Villanova at the Superdome. A first NCAA appearance in New Orleans for Jay Wright and his guys.

“My wife and I were talking about it this morning,” Wright said. “We’re like, it looks so good. Did they knock it down and build another one?”