The men’s basketball team will try for a third NCAA Championship Monday night against Butler University, after beating Kentucky 56-55 on Saturday. The game will begin at 9 p.m. on CBS, WTIC 1080 and WHUS 91.7. The women’s basketball team lost in the semifinals to Notre Dame 72-63 on Sunday, ending its season at 36-2.

The Husky men’s and women’s basketball teams preparing for the Final Four in Houston and Indianapolis this weekend will each face teams they beat earlier this year. In both games, however, the teams on each side have changed significantly over the course of the long collegiate basketball season.

The UConn men tip off for the second time this season against Kentucky on Saturday in Houston at approximately 8:39 p.m. (CBS, WTIC 1080, and WHUS 91.7), while the UConn women play Notre Dame in Indianapolis on Sunday for the fourth time this year at 9:30 p.m. (ESPN, WTIC 1080, and WHUS 91.7). The UConn Alumni Association will host UCAA Chapter Game Watch events at various locations around the country on Saturday, and a Women’s Game Watch on Sunday in Houston. For more information, go to the Alumni Association website.

When Jim Calhoun’s team won the EA Sports Maui Invitational title in November by defeating Kentucky 84-67, the victory signaled the possibility that a young Husky squad led by junior Kemba Walker, known primarily as a role player in his sophomore year, might deserve a second look as a contender later in the season. Meanwhile, John Calipari’s young Wildcats seemed shaken by their first loss of the season, which was followed by a second loss two games later, and then five losses during the Southeast Conference schedule. In the other Final Four bracket Butler University faces this season’s Cinderella team, Virginia Commonwealth. The winners of the semi-finals play for the championship Monday night.

The question surrounding Geno Auriemma’s team centered on whether Maya Moore could lead the Huskies to a third consecutive NCAA title, following the graduation of center Tina Charles and a supporting cast of largely unproven freshmen. Notre Dame, UConn’s toughest Big East rival in recent years, regrouped after the Big East Championships and its third loss of the year to the Huskies, 73-64, to storm through the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, beating Tennessee 73-59 to set up Sunday’s game. The winner will face the victor in the other bracket, either Texas A&M, which after three losses won its fourth game of the year against Baylor, or Stanford. The semi-final winners play for the women’s championship Tuesday night.

This is the third time both UConn teams have reached the Final Four together. In 2004, Connecticut became the first NCAA team to win both NCAA Basketball Championships in the same year. In 2009, the women’s team began its historic consecutive winning streak with a 39-0 season and the first of two back-to-back national championships, while the men’s team advanced to the Final Four, losing to Michigan State in the semi-finals. It also marks the first time any collegiate athletic program has placed both basketball teams in the Final Four in the same year its football team played in a Bowl Championship Series game. The Huskies played in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl in January.

Kemba & Company

The unquestioned leader of the Huskies is Walker, a First Team All-America selection who has averaged 26.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.8 assists in the NCAA tournament, after winning a bruising Big East Tournament by playing an unprecedented five games in five days. Calhoun has praised his leadership with his young teammates since before the season started. Walker continues to lead in both words and actions, as the team prepares for the Final Four.

“I think guys go into the game thinking it’s a whole different ball game when they shouldn’t,” Walker said earlier this week. “We should go into the game thinking it’s a regular game. We know what the stakes are, but we have to go in with the same mindset that got us there. I’ll definitely preach that to my team.”

He said he and senior Donnell Beverly will wait until the Huskies are in Houston to talk with their teammates about the game and help them through the increased media frenzy they will face. “It’s just going to be so much when we get out there,” he said. “We want everybody to keep their heads and stay mentally tough.”

During the 2011 NCAA tournament, Walker has continued to increase his scoring, averaging nearly 30 points per game during the last three games. Freshman forward Jeremy Lamb continues to improve, averaging 19 points and 4 rebounds. Sophomore center Alex Oriakhi is scoring 9 points and pulling down 9.8 rebounds, while freshman point guard Shabazz Napier is scoring 5.5 points and dishing 3.5 assists per game.

Kentucky is led by guard Brandon Knight (17.3 points, 3.9 rebounds), forward Terrence Jones (15.7, 8.6), and guard Doron Lamb (12.3, 2), all freshmen, and junior forward Darius Miller (11, 4.5).

“Not only is this a very interesting Final Four, it’s a very competitive Final Four,” Calhoun said. “Quite frankly, I don’t know who the best team is. Someone will be on Monday night. The teams that are there now are the best four teams in this tournament. I don’t know if they’re the best four teams for the year, but that’s the way our tournament runs. I think it’s a terrific system. Parity has fully hit this year more than any other year. I don’t remember a team giving me as much joy as this team has. Quite frankly, what gray hair – or the lack thereof – gives you is perspective. Perspective simply is [that] you don’t know if you’re ever going to get back [to the Final Four] ever again.”

A third national title for Calhoun would further enhance a Hall of Fame career that is already mentioned together with the handful of coaches who have multiple NCAA Championships: the legendary John Wooden (10 NCAA titles) and Adolph Rupp (4); Mike Krzyzewski (4), who is still coaching at Duke; and former Indiana coach, now an ESPN analyst, Bob Knight (3). The only other active coaches with two titles are Roy Williams of North Carolina and Billy Donovan of Florida.

More of Maya

Only the second player to be an Associated Press First Team All-American four times (the other was Courtney Paris of Oklahoma), Moore shares a 150-3 record with her roommate, point guard Lorin Dixon, the best senior class record posted in the NCAA. Dixon was named to the Sweet 16 All-Tournament Team. The Huskies hope to win a third consecutive NCAA Championship, matching the 2002-2004 three-peat, and provide Auriemma with an eighth title.

Noting the pre-season injury to junior guard Caroline Doty and the transfer of freshman Samarie Walker, which left the Huskies with only Dixon as an experienced reserve, Auriemma said after the Huskies’ 75-40 win over Duke: “I think what this team did in its own way with the schedule we played was an incredible accomplishment. There’s something special about this group and what we’ve had to deal with all year long and what they were able to persevere through.”

With the exception of the loss to Stanford, the Huskies have found a way to win, even when trying to come from behind, as they did against the Fighting Irish in January. In that game, they trailed in South Bend, Ind., with 4:24 left in the game, before leaving with a 79-76 victory.

“We’ve played each other so many times, we know each other so well,” Moore said. “It’s going to be a battle to just grind it out and see who wants it more. It should be fun.”

UConn has four starters averaging scores in double figures – Moore (22.5), junior guard Tiffany Hayes (13.9), freshman guard Bria Hartley (12.5), and freshman center Stefanie Dolson (10.2). Sophomore guard Kelly Faris, a native of Indiana, is the fifth starter and averages 7.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Faris had her highest scoring game of the year in South Bend, scoring 20 points.

Muffet McGraw’s Fighting Irish are led by junior guard Natalie Novosel (14.9 points, 4 rebounds), sophomore guard Skylar Diggins (14.4, 4), senior forward Deveraux Peters (11.3, 7.4), and senior forward Becca Bruszewski (9.2, 5.5).