By Steve Brisendine
The Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Getting through the talent-rich West Regional didn't buy the Kansas Jayhawks any extra confidence heading into the Final Four.

"We're still looking at ourselves as the underdogs," forward Jeff Graves said Tuesday. "That's the attitude we've had all year."

Kansas (29-7) plays Marquette in the national semifinals on Saturday at the Superdome in New Orleans. Marquette, like Syracuse, advanced as the third-seeded team from its region. Texas is the only No. 1 seed left.

"There are four great teams out there," Kansas guard Aaron Miles said. "Just because you came through a tough bracket to get there doesn't mean you'll have the best team in the end."

Much of the season was difficult for the Jayhawks, even before they began play in the difficult West Regional. They had their worst start (3-3) since 1979, and endured a season-ending shoulder injury to sophomore forward Wayne Simien.

Still, Kansas rebounded to win its second straight Big 12 championship before losing to Missouri in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

Seeded second in the West Regional, the Jayhawks got off to a slow start, beating 15th-seeded Utah State by just three points. Then they blew out Arizona State 108-76 for the right to face the first of two teams that had spent time ranked No. 1 this season.

They beat Duke 69-65, giving Jayhawks coach Roy Williams his first victory in four tournament games against the Blue Devils. Two nights later they blew a 16-point first-half lead before beating Arizona - the same team that beat them by 17 points in January.

"Those games are all in the past," Kansas guard Kirk Hinrich said. "Everybody who's there now had to beat good teams."

For its part, Marquette didn't exactly have a free pass out of the Midwest. The Golden Eagles beat Kentucky, which ended the regular season at No. 1, in the regional final. That 83-69 victory, which broke the Wildcats' 26-game winning streak, came after a 77-74 victory over Pittsburgh, which had won 11 straight and spent all season in the top 10.

"Marquette can probably make the case for being the most confident team going into the Final Four, because that last month of the season Pittsburgh and Kentucky were playing as well as any teams in the country," Williams said. "I think Pittsburgh probably had a better case for griping about not getting a No. 1 seed than even we did."

Still, Marquette coach Tom Crean said, the Jayhawks' hard road to the Final Four can make them only a tougher opponent in New Orleans.

"They've got so many veterans who have been through this now," Crean said. "They know how to win games a lot of different ways, too. They know how to score points, but they can also win the low-scoring games because they've got seniors that know how to win. I don't see them at anything less than their best on Saturday."