NCAA Final Four - an event of legends

INDIANAPOLIS (NCAA) - When the 2015 NCAA Final Four tips off on Saturday, basketball fans will be expecting special performances from special players.

This is an event where legends have been born.

Looking back at the history of the Final Four, which was first played in 1939, many of the sport's greats have graced its stage and some of them competed in international basketball.

Most Outstanding Players (MOPs) in the 1950s included FIBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell of San Francisco (1955), Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas (1957), Elgin Baylor of Seattle (1958) and Jerry West of West Virginia (1959).

In the 1960s, Bill Bradley of Princeton (1965) and Lew Alcindor of UCLA (1967, '68 and '69) - who would later change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - were MOPs and, in the 1970s, Bill Walton of UCLA (1972, '73), David Thompson of North Carolina State (1974) and Magic Johnson (Michigan State) were among those to claim the honor.

The tremendous rivalry between Johnson and Larry Bird began in the 1979 Final, in fact, when the former led Michigan State to victory over Bird's Indiana State.

Other MOPs in the years to follow included Akeem Olajuwon of Houston (later Hakeem Olajuwon, 1983), Patrick Ewing of Georgetown (1984) and Anthony Davis of Kentucky (2012).

Davis has since become one of the top players in the USA national team, helping it capture 2012 Olympic and 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup titles.

Michael Jordan was not the MOP after the 1982 Final Four but he made the most memorable shot in the tournament, drilling a go-ahead jump shot in the last minute of North Carolina's title triumph over Georgetown.

The coach of that UNC team, the late Dean Smith, is in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Andrew Gaze of Australia, who is also in the FIBA Hall of Fame, made headlines in the United States in 1989 when he led Seton Hall past Duke with 20 points to get the Pirates to the title game and more recently, 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup star Gorgui Dieng shone for Louisville when they beat Michigan in the title 2013 title game.

In 2015, there is a strong connection to international basketball at the Final Four.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has held the reins of the USA senior men's national team since the 2006 FIBA Basketball World Cup, will lead the Blue Devils against Michigan State on Saturday.

Tyus Jones, Duke's point guard, has played for the USA youth teams and Gavin Schilling of Michigan State has suited up for Germany at youth level.

Schilling, who was born in Germany and then grew up in France before moving to the United States in 2003, was not the most highly recruited of players.

Many did not expect him to make an impact at such a high level, yet he has proven everyone wrong.

"I was kind of underrated (in high school), I guess you could say," Schilling said.

I wasn't the most highly recruited guy in high school. This just proves you can do anything - Schilling

A member of the Dominican Republic national team, Karl Towns, is one of the best players of the Kentucky Wildcats, a side led by former Dominican national team coach John Calipari.

"He's one of the best young men I've coached in twenty-plus years of doing this," Calipari said.

Kentucky is the university that New Zealand's up-and-coming star, Tai Wynyard, has decided to play for.

The Wildcats will face Wisconsin on Saturday and a member of the Badgers, Split-born Duje Dukan, has played for Croatia's U20 team.

Dukan's father, Ivica, once played professionally in Europe and is now the Chicago Bulls supervisor of scouting on the old continent.

FIBA