After two consecutive Elite Eight appearances, anything less than the Final Four wasn't going to be enough for the Tigers. They had a point to prove, a need to show the rest of the college basketball world they truly belonged.

The Tigers proved that point with two impressive performances in Houston, a 92-74 South Regional semifinal win over fifth-seeded Michigan State followed by an 85-67 Regional final victory over second-seeded Texas.

Now Memphis finds itself on the way to the Final Four in San Antonio, where it becomes one of four No. 1 seeds to advance to the national semifinals. The Tigers play UCLA on Saturday for a trip to the national championship game.

"I'm not sure if we'll get the respect we deserve, but if we don't, it doesn't matter," said junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts, a first-team All-American. "It's four teams left now."

Douglas-Roberts drew a laugh from the assembled media with that comment, but it's the Tigers who are laughing now. Between their membership in Conference USA, their poor free-throw shooting and their inconsistent 3-point shooting, the Tigers became a popular choice to be the tournament's biggest upset victim.

After a lackluster first-round win over tournament newcomer Texas-Arlington and an uncertain second-round win over Mississippi State, Memphis appeared to be vulnerable. Instead, the Tigers responded with two of their best games of the season.

Against both Michigan State and Texas, they seemed to contest most every shot, crashed the boards hard, ran down more than their share of loose balls, forced the Spartans and Longhorns out of their offensive rhythm and did an effective job executing their offense.

"This is how we play. We've played this way that you've seen all year. People just haven't seen us," Memphis coach John Calipari said. "They want to say, the league. Our league is way better than it was three years ago with the break up (five teams left for the Big East). Way better. Next year, my prediction is we'll get three teams in the NCAA Tournament -- three.

"So our league is not the issue. The issue is we are really good. We are really good. And for someone that doesn't study the game, to watch us play, you're not going to -- it's hard to figure out. Looks like there's no rhyme or reason to what we do, and that's okay. That's okay. All I'm trying to do is put these young men in the best position to have success to do the things that they do well, and get them to compete and feel unleashed. I don't want them to feel restricted at all. I want them to be unleashed. Go for it, go."

The Tigers even made their free throws after being questioned and criticized regarding their free-throw struggles throughout the season.

"Yeah, we always say, they don't think we can make them," Douglas-Roberts said. "Every time we huddle up at the line, we say, they don't think we can make them. But we're making them. We're making them now. So now we'll see what the next knock is. But we're making them now. We shot 80-something percent today, so I don't know what else there is to say."

The next question is a legitimate query: can the Tigers (37-1) beat top-seeded UCLA? The Bruins have won 14 consecutive games, including a 76-57 win over third-seeded Xavier in the West Region final. The Bruins beat the Tigers in the 2006 Elite Eight as well as the 1973 national title game. The Tigers also returned to the Final Four in 1985 but they haven't been back since.

In a Final Four that includes North Carolina, Kansas and UCLA, three of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball, Memphis is crashing the party.

"Everybody's been doubting us all year," reserve guard Willie Kemp said. "We just constantly prove people wrong. I know they're going to say that we won't win this game against UCLA."

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