No.3 Stanford (30-4) vs. No.2 Kentucky (33-4)        5:42 pm EST

National Semifinal                               San Antonio, TX
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After staging improbable rallies last Sunday to reach the Final
Four, Stanford and Kentucky do battle today in the first
national semifinal game at the Alamodome in San Antonio. 

The Cardinal (30-4), who have set a school record for wins in a
season, captured the Midwest Region with a 79-77 victory over
eighth-seeded Rhode Island at the Kiel Center in St. Louis,
reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1942. 

Shooting guard Arthur Lee was the hero for Stanford, finishing
with 26 points and seven assists.  But he had eight points and
his playmaking led to five more in the final 59 seconds, when
the Cardinal erased a 71-65 deficit in shocking fashion. 

Stanford showed excellent clock-management skills in the final
minute, picked its spots to foul judiciously and Lee made smart
decisions, such as when to attack from the perimeter for
three-point shots and when to drive the lane or dish off. 

Lee's key moment came after his three-point play cut the Rhode
Island lead to one.  He poked the ball to Mark Madsen, who had a
dunk and three-point play that gave Stanford the lead for good. 

The Cardinal are in only their second Final Four in school
history, having won the 1942 NCAA Tournament over Dartmouth.
Coach Mike Montgomery, in his 12th year with the Cardinal, has
taken the program to unsurpassed levels.  Stanford is in its
fourth straight NCAA Tournament and sixth in his tenure.  Prior
to his arrival, Stanford's 1942 NCAA Tournament appearance was
the only one in school history. 

Montgomery, who has a record of 235-131 at Stanford, also guided
the Cardinal to the 1991 NIT title.  He has only one losing
season in 20 years at the Division I level and is making his
first Final Four appearance in any coaching capacity. 

Stanford is a well-rounded team that has depth in all areas. The
Cardinal are led by the inside-outside combination of Madsen, a
power forward, and Lee, who can play either guard position. 

The 6-8 Madsen, who can best be described as a holy terror in
the low post, averages 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds.  He is
joined down low by 7-1 center Tim Young, who averages 11.4
points and 8.2 rebounds.  Young is very patient in the low
block, often setting himself in solid position for a
high-percentage shot. 

In the backcourt, Lee has emerged to average a team-leading 14.1
points per game while shooting 43.2 percent from three-point
range.  He has stepped up while his backcourt partner Kris Weems
has struggled.  Weems, who averages 12.5 points and shot 39
percent from three-point range, was 2-of-15 in the two games in
St. Louis. 

The fifth starter is small forward Pete Sauer, who averages 9.3
points and shoots 40.8 percent from three-point range.  But
Sauer sometimes gets lost in the shuffle offensively, especially
if he does not get going early. 

But Stanford has a deep bench, led by swingmen Ryan Mendez and
David Moseley. The two sharpshooters average 6.2 and 5.6 points
per game, respectively, but make 43 and 48.4 percent of their
three-point shots. 

Freshman Jarron Collins provides depth in the frontcourt,
averaging 3.7 points and 3.5 rebounds, but had career highs of
12 points and 11 rebounds in the Midwest Region semifinals
against Purdue.  Pete Van Elswyk and Mark Seaton are also
backups in the frontcourt. 

The strengths of Stanford lie in its rebounding, perimeter
shooting and defense.  The Cardinal have a rebound margin of
almost 10 per game, led the Pac-10 Conference in three-point
shooting at 40.9 percent and also held opponents to a
conference-low 41.6 percent shooting. 

In its four losses, Stanford was exposed by solid backcourt play
by big guards.  Arizona, which beat the Cardinal twice, had Mike
Bibby and Miles Simon. Arizona State, which won at Stanford, was
led by Jeremy Veal and Ahlon Lewis, while Connecticut had
freshman Khalid El-Amin and Ricky Moore. 

Kentucky (33-4) reached its third straight Final Four by winning
the South Region.  The Wildcats erased a 17-point deficit in the
final 9:38 and buried the ghosts of the 1992 East Region final
with an 86-84 victory over Duke in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

While the Wildcats are just the eighth school to reach the Final
Four three straight years, they took the road less traveled this
year.  With the departure of players like Ron Mercer, Derek
Anderson and Antoine Walker to the NBA, Kentucky had no go-to
player, no player who could score 20 points every night. 

In addition, Kentucky changed coaches after the departure of
Rick Pitino to the Boston Celtics.  Tubby Smith, six years
removed from his days as an assistant under Pitino, took the job
and a team without superstars. 

But Smith, while keeping the up-tempo pace installed by Pitino,
also has preached defense to Kentucky, which as a team,
responded incredibly well.  The Wildcats were second in the
Southeastern Conference in scoring defense (66.4 points per
game) and held opponents to a conference-low 38.2 percent
shooting from the field and also had a rebounding margin better
than nine per game. 

Without the superstar on offense, Kentucky has enjoyed a
balanced attack. Shooting guard Jeff Sheppard leads the team in
scoring at 13.3 points per game, while center Nazr Mohammed
contributes 11.9 and 7.4 rebounds per contest. Forward Scott
Padgett is the only other person in double figures at 11.4
points per contest. 

But there are many role players for the Wildcats.  Forward Allen
Edwards, guard Wayne Turner, and reserve swingman Heshimu Evans
all average between 8.9 and 9.4 points per game.  In addition,
Smith receives solid contributions from Jamaal Magliore, Cameron
Mills and his son, Saul Smith. 

For Kentucky, the primary concern is going to be containing
Madsen and Young in the frontcourt.  Those duties likely will
fall to Padgett and Mohammed. Padgett, who hit the go-ahead
three-pointer in the final minute against Duke, is an athletic
forward who must prevent Madsen from receiving the ball in the
low post, while Mohammed must avoid getting into foul trouble,
something that has plagued him occasionally. 

In the backcourt, Kentucky has the size to give Weems and Lee
problems, but Turner must pick up where he left off from the
Duke game.  His penetration and kick-out passes were the impetus
for Kentucky's comeback.  Turner finished with 16 points and
eight assists, while Sheppard contributed 18 points and 11
rebounds. 

Coach Smith, who also is in his first Final Four in any coaching
capacity, has an overall record of 157-66.  He has made the NCAA
Tournament five straight years with three different teams,
including "Sweet 16" appearances with Tulsa and Georgia before
this season. 

The Wildcats are appearing in their 13th Final Four appearance,
one shy of the record held by UCLA and North Carolina. Kentucky,
which has an all-time record of 9-3 in the National Semifinals,
has six NCAA Tournament titles and looking for its second in
three years. 

Kentucky won the only meeting between the schools, recording a
78-77 victory in the 1973 Kentucky Invitational.  The schools
have played four common opponents this year -- Arizona, Purdue,
UCLA and Georgia. 

The Cardinal went 4-2 against those opponents, with both losses
coming to Arizona by a combined 50 points.  Stanford recorded
two victories over UCLA by a total of 11 points, a two-point
triumph over Georgia and defeated Purdue 67-59 in the Midwest
Region semifinals. 

Kentucky owned a 4-1 mark against the four teams, losing only to
Arizona in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.  The
Wildcats' four wins over Georgia, Purdue and UCLA came by an
average of 15.5 points. 

The winner will play the winner of the North Carolina-Utah game
Monday night for the national championship.