SAN ANTONIO - No. 1 North Carolina was the smart money pick to win an NCAA title when the 2007-08 basketball season began, but the Kansas Jayhawks proved a better bet on Saturday. The Jayhawks ended one of the most successful seasons in North Carolina history, and recorded the winningest season in their own history, by beating the Tar Heels 84-66 in the NCAA Division I men's basketball national semifinals at the Alamodome.

Kansas, after claiming a school-record 36th victory, faces Memphis for the national championship Monday at 9:21 p.m.

North Carolina (36-3) lost its first game this season away from Chapel Hill as Roy Williams lost his first game against his old program. Only Maryland, Duke and Kansas could claim victories over the high-scoring, quick-moving Tar Heels this season.

UNC's immediate prospects for 2009 now hinge on what junior star Tyler Hansbrough does next.

Four years ago, after Williams earned his first NCAA title, UNC's top seven players graduated or left, and Williams rebuilt the program around Hansbrough and his gutsy 2005 classmates.

Hansbrough turned into the consensus national player of the year in 2008 as a junior but still yearns for a title ring.

With a year of eligibility left, will Hansbrough take one last shot at a title? Or will he take his hard-hat-game to the NBA?

Either way, this season was a special one -- but one that didn't end with a title game.