What time does the 2018 Final Four start?
![ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 24: Marques Townes ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 24: Marques Townes](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/c89cf4058503cb60a4d9017b1a05888236aaabbf8df07fe67299f39d9b4afd83.jpg)
The Final Four will be played in San Antonio, Texas this season. When will the games tip-off on Saturday night?
And then there were four — the words college basketball loyalists have been waiting to hear since their favorite teams took to the hardwood in November. The NCAA Tournament has been a delight so far, and with the Final Four teams set to battle, a platter of must-see TV will be the main course.
Need a “Cinderella” team to tickle your fancy, in this tournament you get that in the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers. The Ramblers and lovable Sister Jean, also known as an international star, have invaded households across America capturing our hearts and demanding respect.
Head Coach Porter Moser has his guys primed and ready to shock the college basketball world, once again and with Guards Clayton Custer and Marques Townes leading the way, the Ramblers have just as good a chance as anyone. Through four games in the tournament, the duo of Custer and Townes have combined for 92 points, with an identical split of 46 each.
With no game in the NCAA Tournament being an easy task, the Ramblers meet another Goliath on their path to a National Title appearance, the Ramblers must play the Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines, riding on some good fortune of their own, are playing for another a shot at a potential National Championship for the second time in five years, after losing to the Louisville Cardinals in 2013. Head Coach John Beilein’s team won in the Second Round on a buzzer beater of their own to Houston, destroyed Texas A&M and won a close won against a confused Leonard Hamilton and Florida State in the Elite Eight.
Paced by the charismatic German native, Moritz Wagner, the maize and blue have one of the most electrifying teams left in the tournament. Winning the Big Ten Conference Tournament to kick off the postseason play, the Wolverines can really do some damage on the offensive end and possess a stingy defensive unit led by Wagner and Seniors Charles Matthews and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman.
Charles Matthes is coming off back-to-back games with at least 17 points and if the Wolverines want to get back to ‘ship, they’ll need the same output against Loyola-Chicago. Loyola-Chicago must operate with a sense of urgency to contain the three-point bucket from Michigan, the Wolverines rank among the top 5 in the NCAA in three-point field goals attempted, made, and percentage.
In a clash of the Titans, the No. 1 seeded Villanova Wildcats will meet the No. 1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks in a matchup TV executives are likely salivating over. The diehard “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” fans have a short trip to San Antonio and the champions from two years ago, the Villanova Wildcats, are playing exceptional basketball looking to snag one more behind the polished and fashionable, Jay Wright.
Jay Wright’s crew has steamrolled the competition all season (34-4), with their four wins in the tournament coming by an average of 18.25 points. Working like poetry in motion, the Wildcats are led by talented Junior Guard and likely Naismith Player of the Year, Jalen Brunson. Brunson has been the straw that stirs the drink for Wright’s team, but it has been the exceptional play in March that everyone will remember.
Through four games in the tournament, Brunson has averaged 17.5 points and made 8-of-19 from three, but the future lottery pick has done the most damage in getting to the rim. Brunson is 18-of-20 from the charity stripe in the tournament and with Kansas being long and stacked with athleticism, Wright will need Brunson to stay aggressive in hopes of disrupting Bill Self’s ball club.
The Kansas Jayhawks seem to be hanging by a thread, but the name of the game this time of the year is, survive and advance. After four-point victories in each of the last three games, the Jayhawks are doing what Kansas has traditionally done in program history. The Jayhawks are back in position to play for a chance at National Title No. 4 and Head Coach Bill Self’s second in ten years.
The Jayhawks enter the Final Four with one of their least talented rosters compared to the teams of the past, Bill Self has really had to rely on the x’s and o’s to get by in lieu of multiple NBA lottery picks. While there may not be a Josh Jackson or Joel Embiid on this roster, the Jayhawks do have Udoka Azubuike, Malik Newman and Devonte Graham.
Azubuike may be thought of to have the highest ceiling for the next level, but it is Malik Newman who has carried the weight of being the player that Self can count in. In an overtime thriller to top Duke, Newman walked away with 32 points and seven rebounds in 44 minutes of play.
Possessing a quick first step and displaying leadership well beyond his years, the sophomore Guard has tallied 87 points this tournament through four games. The former prize of Mississippi’s State recruiting class under Head Coach Ben Howland transferred to Kansas in the summer of 2016 and is showing why he was so highly touted coming out of high school. Playing lights out with generous role-player contributions from Graham and Azubuike, Newman is the easy MVP of this tourney, only behind Villanova’s Brunson.
Next: Best college basketball player from every state
In two matches of the ages, the Final Four possesses great value from both sides — a battle of Goliath vs. Goliath and a “Cinderella” led by a nun named Jean looking to topple another “blue blood” of the NCAA.
The games will begin on Saturday, March 31 with No. 11 Loyola-Chicago taking on No. 3 Michigan at 6:09 p.m. ET with No. 1 Kansas playing No. 1 Villanova in the night-cap of the evening immediately to follow. Check back to the FanSided March Madness hub for more news.