ST. LOUIS — History was waiting for N.C. State. Kansas decided to make its own instead.

With a date with North Carolina in the Final Eight on the line, N.C. State bowed out of the NCAA tournament on Friday night in a 60-57 loss to second-seeded Kansas in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Instead of an historic fourth meeting between the Wolfpack and Tar Heels — what would have been the first in the NCAA tournament between the two rivals — the Jayhawks will get a rematch of the 2008 Final Four with their former coach, UNC's Roy Williams.

ST. LOUIS — When Duke beat Kansas, at a neutral site, back in November, the Blue Devils made 11 3-pointers, compared to only two for the Jayhawks.

When Davidson beat Kansas, at a neutral site, a month later, the Wildcats made 11 3-pointers, compared to only six for the Jayhawks.

In all six of its losses this season, Kansas — a prototypical inside-out team — was out-scored from 3-point range. And four of those losses came at a neutral site.

ST. LOUIS — Bill Self has won an average of 29 games a year in eight seasons at Kansas with the 2008 national title and five Big 12 titles to his credit. Still, N.C. State assistant coach Bobby Lutz, who spent last season in the Big 12, considers this season to be Self's best work.

"When you consider what they lost and how they've progressed, I think it's his best coaching job ever," Lutz said.

The Jayhawks (29-6) had to replace three NBA draft picks from last season's team, which won 35 games before bowing out to Virginia Commonwealth in the Final Eight.

ST. LOUIS — Raleigh holds a special place in Ohio coach John Groce's heart, and not just because it's where he got his first break into major college basketball. Groce met his wife, Allison, when he was an assistant at N.C. State under Herb Sendek in the late 1990s.

"Obviously, that's a big part of it," Groce said. "I really enjoyed my time there. I learned a lot there at a very young age."

Groce, 40, in his third season as the head coach of the Bobcats, who face North Carolina tonight in the Midwest Regional semifinals.

Behind blistering shooting, Duke punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the 14th time in 15 years.

Sophomore Haley Peters scored a career-high 25 points and five Blue Devils finished in double digits as No. 2 seed and sixth-ranked Duke blasted No. 7 seed Vanderbilt for an 96-80 victory on Tuesday night in the second round of the Fresno Region of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

“They were all in and all ready to go,” Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “This team is going to Fresno, they deserve to go to Fresno and we’ve got to keep it going.”

Duke will play either No. 3 seed St. John’s or sixth seed Oklahoma in a regional semifinal on Saturday. Find a full game story here.

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall on Monday underwent surgery on his broken right wrist but his playing status remains unknown, according to a statement released by the university.

Marshall suffered a fractured scaphoid bone in his right wrist during the Tar Heels’ 87-73 victory against Creighton on Sunday in the third round of the NCAA tournament. With the victory, UNC advanced to the Midwest regional semifinals in St. Louis, where the top-seeded Tar Heels will play Ohio on Friday night.

COLUMBUS, Ohio —  After he made the free throws to clinch N.C. State's spot in the round of 16, sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown clenched both of fists, looked over to the Wolfpack fans behind press row and screamed:

"Yeah, baby!"

As the seconds melted off the clock, and Jason Clark's last-second shot fell short for Georgetown, 11th-seeded N.C. State had every reason to celebrate Sunday's 66-63 over the third-seeded Hoyas in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — John Thompson III doesn't remember the last time N.C. State and Georgetown met in the NCAA tournament, but his dad does.

Georgetown, coached by John Thompson, beat N.C. State, 69-61 in the Round of 16 in the 1989 NCAA tournament. Wolfpack guard Chris Corchiani was called for a travel with 1:47 left in the game, which was the second game the Hoyas won in that tournament which included a controversial finish.

Georgetown, the No. 1 seed in the East, beat 16th-seeded Princeton in the first round in '89 when Alonzo Mourning blocked a shot by Princeton guard  Bob Scrabis at the buzzer.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — San Diego State coach Steve Fisher has taken two different programs to the NCAA tournament 12 times, three of his Michigan teams made the Final Four and his Wolverines won it all in 1989.

So Fisher knows what a winner looks like in March and after N.C. State beat his San Diego State team on Friday, 79-65 in the NCAA tournament, he recognized a certain quality in the Wolfpack.

"They're playing with a togetherness you have to have to win," Fisher said.

Lehigh will play in its second NCAA Tournament game in three years Friday night when the Mountain Hawks face Duke.

Coach Brett Reed and his players say this time around, the second time for many of the Mountain Hawks, will be different than their first-round lost to Kansas in 2010. That isn’t to say Lehigh doesn’t respect Duke. The Mountain Hawks spoke highly of the Blue Devils. But much like UNC-Asheville tested Syracuse today, Reed expects his Mountain Hawks to play with no fear.