The Spartans, located 90 miles up the road in East Lansing, will certainly have the crowd on their side. The talent gap, though? Eek. They'll have to be at least 35 points better than they were in December when the teams met in this same building -- a 98-63 UNC romp.

"They had a couple players that were hurt and came off a long road stretch," Lawson said. "We know they're a better team right now."

Meanwhile, Villanova (30-8) ends a successful season two wins short of its first title since 1985, when Rollie Massimino coaxed one of the greatest upsets in sports history out of his guys -- 66-64 over Patrick Ewing, John Thompson and Georgetown.

Thompson was on press row doing radio and Massimino was chomping his gum nervously behind the Villanova bench, part of the record crowd of 72,456 at Ford Field -- half gone and streaming toward the exits with 5 minutes left.

But James Naismith himself probably couldn't have helped 'Nova out of this one.

North Carolina simply had too much talent.

"They played a great game and are playing extremely well," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "They've got all the pieces, and we have great respect for them. We've been getting better every game, and we did not get better tonight."

Carolina did.

Last season, in one of the more inexplicable performances in Final Four history, the Tar Heels trailed Kansas 40-12 midway through the first half.

This time, they led 40-23.

"I've been there. I was there a year ago," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "It feels like somebody jerks your heart out and shakes it."

Ellington made five of his first six shots, including a 3-pointer after a perfect crosscourt pass over the top from Danny Green. Nobody had an answer for Hansbrough, who once found himself bodied up with Dante Cunningham, faked left, then spun to the baseline and saw no more resistance -- a way-too-easy layup.

Lawson, he of the injured toe and the successful trip to the craps table in downtown Detroit a few nights previous -- well, he stayed on a roll, going 5-for-11 with eight assists and seven rebounds. Had he shot better than 10-for-17 from the line, this game might have been more lopsided.

And so, what began as a tournament with great potential for the Big East -- three top seeds, two in the Final Four -- will end with the conference on the sideline.

"Right now, Carolina proved that regardless of conference, they're playing the best basketball in the country right now," Wright said. "So did Michigan State."

No disrespect to Villanova, which did, in fact, make this interesting for a brief time. The Wildcats cut the deficit to five early in the second half. It could have been three, but Cunningham's jumper went halfway in before cruelly rimming out.

Green answered with a 3-pointer, then the Tar Heels got a steal and layup from Lawson to push the lead back to 10. That took all of 64 seconds.

"Big-time players make big-time shots in big-time games," Ellington said of the Green 3.

Though the rest of the second half was a jumbled mess for both teams -- which allowed Villanova to stay in shouting distance -- the Wildcats never got it back under double digits.

It was a typical no-quit effort from Wright's group of seasoned upperclassmen, who battled through the Big East and started putting it together come tournament time.

Scottie Reynolds will always have that indelible end-to-end game-winning layup against Pittsburgh last weekend that got Villanova to its Final Four since '85. His first basket in this one, however, didn't come until more than 9 minutes were gone and the deficit was in double digits. He finished with 17 points on 6-for-18 shooting.

Cunningham, the Wildcats' leading scorer and rebounder this season, had 12 and 12. Reggie Redding had 15 points, and Corey Fisher scored 13 in 5-for-19 shooting.

A lot of the Villanova stats didn't look so bad. They got five more rebounds and were even in the turnover battle. They hustled and dove on the floor all night.

But as the game was getting out of reach early, they simply couldn't defend. North Carolina shot 67 percent while opening that 17-point lead in the first half. The Tar Heels led 49-40 at halftime.

And the Wildcats couldn't shoot. 'Nova shot 33 percent from the floor, not exactly the 78.6 percent from that "perfect game" back in '85. They were even worse from 3-point range -- 5-for-27. And there were way too many scenes reminiscent of big brother vs. little brother: Where the Villanova player would drive the middle, make a few head fakes and the Carolina guy would just stand there, wait for the histrionics to end and block or alter the shot.

"Even when shots don't fall, we pride ourselves on find a way to win," senior Dwayne Anderson said. "We didn't find a way tonight."

What resulted was, quite simply, what it looks like when a roster of very good college players goes up against a team full of NBA-caliber talent.

Hansbrough. Freshman forward Ed Davis. Lawson. Green. Ellington. The last three in that group actually considered the NBA after last season but didn't get the right feedback from scouts. Another year of seasoning couldn't hurt, they figured, and that made the Tar Heels the team to beat starting in preseason, when they were the unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press poll.

The last time the Heels were No. 1 at the beginning and the end was 1982 -- when a guy named Michael Jordan wore Carolina Blue.

Yes, there were hiccups along the way this season, such as when the Tar Heels lost their first two ACC games, and when Lawson missed three games with the toe -- one of an assortment of injuries they endured.

But none of it was enough to derail this ride from Tobacco Road to Motown. Carolina has won every tournament game by 12 or more. Now, Williams finds himself one win away from leading his alma mater to its fifth national championship.