Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Welcome to a Final Four filled with past national champions — just the way the NCAA selection committee drew it up, right?

OK, maybe not.

Sure, there's plenty of the expected with 1-seed Villanova making it to San Antonio in pursuit of the program's second title in three seasons. Kansas is the other 1-seed to navigate its way through a maze full of upsets as it pursues its first title since 2008.

And plenty figured No. 3 seed Michigan had a good shot to get to the Final Four as the Wolverines chase their first title since the Glen Rice-led group won the program's first in 1989.

But Loyola-Chicago? Consider the 11th-seeded Ramblers the representative for all the low seeds — UMBC, Marshall and Buffalo, to name a few — that pulled off the big stunners in an upset-filled and memorable March.

And yes, the Ramblers do have a national championship, won way back in 1963 during the Kennedy administration.

Now it's time to prepare for next Saturday's first national semifinal (Loyola vs. Michigan ) featuring the upstart against the surging power-conference team in an undercard to the heavyweight matchup of top seeds in the nightcap.

It's a particular relief for Kansas, which had a No. 1 seed for the third straight season and lost in the Elite Eight the past two seasons — including in 2016 to Villanova as the Wildcats marched to the national title.