The SEC is done, but March Madness is not.

Well, technically there’s only one more day of “March” Madness until the calendar flips to April for the NCAA Tournament National Championship.

On Saturday, we’ll get Final Four matchups that lack neither intrigue, nor star power. Gone are the one-and-dones. Still around around the veterans like Jalen Brunson, Devonte Graham, Moritz Wagner and Clayton Custer.

OK, be honest. You had to Google “Clayton Custer.” He’s that 6-1 kid who was the steadying force that got Loyola-Chicago to the Final Four. Well, he and Sister Jean, of course. You probably already know everything about the 98-year-old nun, or that the Ramblers are the fourth 11-seed to make the Final Four.

You definitely know that Villanova is trying to become the first team since Billy Donovan’s Florida squad to win 2 titles in three years. (The Gators did it back-to-back.) Perhaps you saw that Michigan is 38-8 since experiencing that traumatic plane crash on the runway before the 2017 Big Ten Tournament. You might even know that Bill Self made it to his first Final Four in 6 years despite never being worse than a 2-seed during that stretch.

So now that you know those things, let’s learn some new things about this year’s Final Four and offer up some predictions for who cuts down the nets in San Antonio.

Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

One key stat

LOYOLA-CHICAGO — Different leading scorer in each tournament game

That’s incredible. We spend so much time talking about the stars and which player can put a team on his back, yet the Ramblers haven’t had that. At all. It shouldn’t come as a shock that the team that has 5 players who average between 10-13 points per game has had such balanced scoring throughout the tournament. And go figure that the guy who doesn’t average double figures, Ben Richardson, dropped 23 in the Elite Eight blowout of Kansas State. Michigan has to prepare to defend a team that’s unselfish and capable of getting big-time contributions from anyone.

MICHIGAN — Teams shooting 38 percent against Michigan in tournament

Everyone keeps saying, “Michigan has to knock down shots from deep to win.” That’s lazy analysis, Sir Charles. Anybody who has seen Michigan the past 2 months would tell you that the common denominator during the 13-game winning streak is defense. The Wolverines have been stifling throughout the tournament. In fact, Michigan is riding a streak of 16 consecutive games without allowing 75 points. The Wolverines won games scoring as few as 58 points (Florida State) and they won games scoring as many as 99 points (Texas A&M). John Beilein has a veteran team that bought into defending all over the court, and if it wants to end Cinderella’s run, that’ll be the key once again.

VILLANOVA — Shooting 84 percent from free-throw line in tournament

Yes, John Calipari. Free throws matter. In 4 tournament games, Villanova shot 77 of 92 from the charity stripe. That’s one more than Kentucky missed in the Kansas State game. But back to Villanova. That 84-percent clip would be the best in the nation. We can sit here and talk about Villanova’s high-scoring offense until we’re blue in the face, but that doesn’t happen unless Jay Wright’s squad takes care of business at the line. At the end of the Elite Eight game, Villanova had 4 guys on the floor who shot at least 80 percent from the line. In what figures to be a tight game with Kansas, that could be a huge factor in deciding whether the Wildcats get back to the title game.

KANSAS — 26 PPG from Malik Newman in past 3 games

Newman … sorry. Had to do at least one. The former Mississippi State transfer has been a revelation for the Jayhawks. He basically put the team on his back in that overtime thriller against Duke. Without him, Kansas is sitting at home right now. After Newman’s dud against Penn, he shot 13 of 27 from 3-point range, and he was also 20 for 22 at the free-throw line. With defenses collapsing on Graham, that’s been huge. What’s interesting is that through 4 tournament games, Villanova’s high opposing scorer was Collin Sexton and the past 3 opponents all shot just 25 percent from 3-point range. Perhaps Newman can be the guy to flip that trend upside down.

Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Something you didn’t know

You’re going to hear a lot about Brunson in the next few days, and you’ll see a ton more coverage on his Chicago-area roots if Villanova meets Loyola-Chicago in the title game. I’d love to see a reporter ask Brunson, who was a a 5-star recruit and the No. 1 player in the state of Illinois, why he didn’t pick the Ramblers. With all due respect to Sister Jean, it goes without saying why the Ramblers didn’t make the cut.

What you probably didn’t know was that before he was the East Region most outstanding player, he was a high schooler who refereed youth basketball games in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. In fact, my brother actually worked with him as a ref. Brunson eventually gave up his part-time job — apparently it wasn’t his true calling — but sometimes I wonder if that somehow helped make him the crafty player he is today.

Brunson has a way of initiating contact and getting foul calls in his favor. He’s also not a guy who loses his cool with officials, nor does he pout on no-calls instead of getting back on defense. Those are good qualities for your best player to have, especially in the Final Four.

Feel free to drop that little nugget when you’re watching the games with friends this weekend and sound really smart.

Bonus something you didn’t know (maybe)

So back in 2015 when Brunson was the No. 1 Illinois recruit, the No. 2 player in the state was Charles Matthews. He picked Kentucky and was a one-and-done, but not in the typical Kentucky way. After averaging fewer than 2 points per game for the Cats as a freshman, Matthews transferred the following summer. Calipari didn’t put any restrictions on Matthews, and he ultimately picked Michigan. He then sat out the 2016-17 season because of transfer rules.

More recently, Matthews was the West Regional most outstanding player after averaging 17 points and 7 rebounds per game en route to the Final Four. He put up 18 points in Michigan’s blowout win vs. Texas A&M in the Sweet 16 shortly before the Cats scored 58 points and lost to Kansas State. That happened to be Kentucky’s worst offensive output since Jan. 24, 2015 against South Carolina, which was 2 months after Matthews signed his letter of intent to go to Kentucky.

Now Matthews will try to lead Michigan to its second national championship berth since 2013 … which would be one more than Kentucky has in the same stretch. Sorry, that was mean.

On the bright side, at least Kentucky isn’t Illinois?

And finally, predictions …

If you’ve been reading my NCAA Tournament columns, you probably know where I’m going with this (and by the way, thanks!). I’m sticking with my original prediction that I made an hour after the bracket was revealed — Michigan vs. Villanova in the national championship. Why?

Both teams confirmed my confidence in my prediction by winning games in a variety of ways. I already mentioned Michigan’s grinders and blowouts, which was the same case for Villanova. The Wildcats turned on the offensive jets in a runaway win vs. Alabama, they faced a 6-point deficit late vs. West Virginia (aka Press Virginia) and they had to hold on to a too-close-for-comfort lead vs. Texas Tech. Whatever type of game awaits Michigan and Villanova, it will have already experienced it (and won it) in this tournament.

That’s huge. It’s easy for a team to know how to win when it shoots lights out for 40 minutes. It’s another for it to learn how to stay poised when shots aren’t falling. Michigan and Villanova both showed that they can do that, and in my opinion, they look like the most complete teams in America.

Michigan and Villanova will both present their respective opponents with their toughest defensive challenge of the tournament. I like the odds of a veteran like Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman stepping up for Michigan and Phil Booth stepping up for Villanova in the national semifinals.

In the title game, I’ll also stick with my original prediction of Villanova. Donte DiVincenzo will catch fire off the bench and the Wildcats’ offensive firepower will finally be too much for Michigan.

So far all you (legal) gamblers out there, here are my Final Four scores:

Semifinals

  • Villanova 81, Kansas 75
  • Michigan 68, Loyola-Chicago 62

National Championship

  • Villanova 76, Michigan 70