Some analysts are saying the NCAA men’s basketball championship game should be Saturday’s Final Four semifinal between the only two No. 1 seeds remaining in the tournament  Kansas University and Maryland.

“I don’t know about that,” KU junior forward Nick Collison said, asked if it was unfair that the Jayhawks (33-3) and Terrapins (30-4) were to meet in one Final Four semifinal with No. 2 seed Oklahoma (31-4) and No. 5 seed Indiana (24-11) tangling in the other.

“We didn’t get an easy draw. It’s just the way it worked out. All the teams there are playing consistent and as well as any teams in the country. Oklahoma beat us. All four teams have proven they are great teams by making it this far. They are all deserving.”

Indiana and OU will meet in the first semifinal at 5:07 p.m. Saturday in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome with KU and Maryland to follow 40 minutes after the final buzzer or about 7:47 p.m.

KU’s semifinal foe, Maryland, figures to provide a formidable test. The Terps put together the best overall record in school history and best regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference mark (15-1) in school history.

The Terps’ only losses came to Arizona (71-57) in the season opener in New York, at Oklahoma (72-56), at Duke (99-78) and against North Carolina State (86-82) in the ACC tournament finals.

Maryland beat Siena (85-70), Wisconsin (87-57), Kentucky (78-68) and Connecticut (90-82) in the NCAAs thus far.

Center Lonny Baxter and guard Juan Dixon, two of three senior starters, provide a strong inside-outside combination. Junior point guard Steve Blake is one of the ACC’s top playmakers, while forwards Chris Wilcox and Byron Mouton are both double-figure scorers.

“Steve Robinson (former KU assistant who coached at Florida State of the ACC before being fired earlier this month) told me he felt Juan Dixon should have been player of the year in the conference (instead of Duke’s Jason Williams),” KU coach Roy Williams said.

A defensive whiz, Dixon also is the Terps’ leading scorer at 20.1 ppg.

“Lonnie Baxter (6-foot-8, 260 pounds) up front gives them a powerful inside presence. Wilcox (6-10, 220) is as athletic a big man as there is in the country. Steve Blake (6-3, 160) represented the United States the past three or four summers in international competition,” Williams stated.

“Mouton (6-6, 215) gives them a great shooter. They are balanced and also like an up-tempo game. Hopefully it’ll be a great game for people to watch and we are up one at the end,” he added.

The Terrapins, who squandered a 22-point first-half lead in losing to Duke, 95-84, in last year’s Final Four semis, are led by 13th-year coach Gary Williams, who’s gone 272-143 at his alma mater.

“Gary Williams is a good friend and a great coach,” KU’s Williams said. “He is a relentless kind of guy, a competitive guy.”

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Quite a feat for Jayhawks: KU coach Williams realizes it’s not easy to make the Final Four. The Jayhawks have advanced for the third time in his 14 years, first time since 1993.

“We talked to the team in the locker room last night, then the staff went upstairs,” Williams said. “I said something about the last time we went we did this and that and I looked around and none of my assistants had ever been to the Final Four. That made me again realize how tough it is to get there and how long it has been.

“It’s been since ’93. There’s a great feeling of satisfaction and appreciation, yet also a hunger there. We want to play well when we get down there, there’s no question.”

KU will depart for Atlanta from Topeka’s Forbes Field at approximately 7 p.m. Wednesday. KU is slated to arrive in Atlanta around 10 p.m. Eastern time.

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No pressure: Talk shows continue to call Williams the “best coach to never have won a national championship.”

Williams, who says his biggest goal in life is to coach his grandkids in Little League, can deal with that, but he doesn’t want it to pressure his Jayhawks.

“It gets so much talk, ‘Roy hasn’t won the big one.’ I don’t want to put any extra pressure on the kids. I want them to have fun in what we’re doing. I preached all year enjoy the journey and have fun while you are going,” Williams said.

“I don’t want the kids to try to do something for me. The biggest reason is they are the ones doing something they’ll remember the rest of their lives. They are the ones out there sweating and doing the work.”