SAN ANTONIO — Roy Williams taught Kansas all about how to handle cruel, crushing disappointments.

Bill Self schooled the Jayhawks on how to dish out some pain of their own.

Kansas left its former coach in the dust Saturday night, getting 25 points and seven rebounds from Brandon Rush to stave off a ferocious comeback by North Carolina for an 84-66 victory in the national semifinals.

Trailing 40-12 late in the first half, Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and the Tar Heels made a valiant rally, getting to within five points with nine minutes left.

But they fell short in their effort to pull off the biggest Final Four comeback ever.

"We sort of came out a little more casual than we would've liked and they hit us right between the eyes," Williams said.

Now, the Jayhawks will play Memphis, an earlier 78-63 winner over UCLA, in Monday's title game.

Kansas moved within a win of its first national championship since 1988, the year before Williams began his storied 15-year tenure in Lawrence — one that ended when he jilted Kansas for his alma mater.

"I hope it's set aside and goes away forever," Williams said of the animosity that has lingered since he left in 2003. "I'm too thin-skinned, probably. ... Let's don't focus on that. Focus on the great job done by Kansas."

Hansbrough had 17 points and nine rebounds for North Carolina (36-3) — a typically gutsy effort — but his next move will be to decide whether to come back for his senior season.

Kansas has more pressing things to deal with — stopping fast-breaking Memphis and its sensational freshman Derrick Rose.

"We know we've got another step to take Monday night," Sherron Collins said. "It's going to be a great matchup. They play fast, we play fast."

Collins had two assists, a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws during the decisive stretch that saw the Jayhawks (36-3) pad that five-point lead back to 15 and send the Tar Heels into true desperation mode.

Williams stood stoically as the clock ticked down, arms folded, nothing much left to do. Tears usually come pretty quickly after the final buzzer of the season for him, and this season ended one game short of where many thought it might.

"We've had a good year, but I don't think anybody's goal here was to be one of the top four teams in the country," Hansbrough said. "It's to be the top team. I'm frustrated with that."

Williams got outcoached in this one, especially at the beginning, finding no solution for Kansas' strategy of dumping the ball inside to Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson and Cole Aldrich.

The Jayhawks also smothered Hansbrough, even flooring him once on a hard foul by Mario Chalmers.

"To start the game, I felt, instead of having 10 hands out there it felt like we had 14 or 16," said Self, in his first Final Four since replacing Williams five years ago. "Guys were making a move, a reverse pivot, and there were two hands there waiting for them."

Memphis St. 78, UCLA63

As hard as it is to imagine, Memphis keeps getting better just when it matters the most.

The Tigers claimed their piece of history Saturday, beating UCLA 78-63 in the NCAA men's semifinals to become at 38-1 the winningest team ever in a single season. Now they have a chance to do what the other 37-win teams — Duke, Illinois and UNLV — couldn't do: cap it off with a national championship.

With Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts taking turns at basketball acrobatics, it's certainly imaginable. And the Bruins certainly wouldn't doubt it.

"Going into the game, we knew that we was going to win. Ain't too much to say," Rose said. "We're just a great team. With the team that we have, it's hard beating us."

All season, this Memphis team from lightly regarded Conference USA played along with Calipari's us-against-the-world theme. Now, the Tigers need only one more victory for their first championship.

UCLA star Kevin Love put on his own show at practice Friday, hitting a full-court shot. He managed just 12 points — and missed both open 3-pointers — as the Bruins (35-4) again fell short in their third straight Final Four appearance.