Detroit ? They’re not quite who we thought they were.

North Carolina isn’t exactly that group of kids who just couldn’t resist banding together to take another shot at winning the national title.

Villanova isn’t exactly that lovable little underdog looking for the perfect game, a la the 1985 title team led by Rollie Massimino.

They meet today in the Final Four, each a win away from playing for the national title, and each still waiting to write the final chapter on how they’ll be remembered.

“There’s no question it would have been a huge disappointment if we hadn’t gotten back to the Final Four,” Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said.

Such is life when all four NBA prospects decide to stick around another year.

But other than Tyler Hansbrough, last year’s player of the year who really likes college, the return of this talented group had more to do with the realities of the NBA than with any pact they made among themselves — say, the way Florida’s players did before they won their second straight championship in 2007.

Wayne Ellington and Danny Green went through workouts and weren’t projected as first-round draft picks. Ty Lawson got mixed feedback.

“I talked to 24 teams and every team I talked to about Ty said, ‘I think he’s going to be a No. 1 draft choice,”‘ Williams said. “But none of those teams said they were going to take him. The teams in the top 20 told me they would not. So I gave Ty and his family that information.”

Oddly enough, though, instead of having to re-recruit the players, as so many coaches often do, Williams almost tried to unrecruit them. He welcomed them back but only with conditions.

“Please understand, if you decide to come back, it’s not going to be about you,” Williams said of his conversations with the players. “I’m not going to get you 30 shots. I’m not going to figure out how to make you the leading scorer.”

Rather, he was going to try to put together a team that could get back to the Final Four and a chance to fashion a better ending than last year. North Carolina fell behind 40-12 to Kansas in the first half and a furious rally fell short.

“It was our first Final Four,” Hansbrough explained. “Now, I guess we’ll be more prepared.”

Connecticut-Michigan State

Detroit — Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet attended the Final Four in San Antonio last year to collect a national defensive player of the year award. As he accepted the award, Thabeet made a prediction.

“When I was at the podium, I said, ‘See you in Detroit next year,'” Thabeet recalled on Friday. “And I made it happen. This time, I’ve got my guys with me.”

This time Thabeet is hoping to take home a bigger prize — UConn’s third national championship trophy.

The junior from Tanzania was co-player of the year and the defensive player of the year in the Big East, widely acknowledged as the mightiest conference in the nation this season. Now he’ll try to dominate an even bigger stage — 72,000-seat Ford Field.

“Thabeet is a monster inside,” Michigan State center Goran Suton said.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo joked that the Spartans had trouble watching film of Thabeet.

“Right now we’re adding a screen to our video room so we can get him on the whole thing,” Izzo said. “The one we had, he doesn’t fit.”