Kansas, the team that complains it doesn't get any respect, moved to within on victory of its second national championship in four years Saturday, beating North Carolina 79-73 in the NCAA Tournament semifinal game that included the ejection of North Carolina Coach Dean Smith.

The victory, KU's third in a row over a team ranked in the top four, moves the Jayhawks into Monday's championship game against Duke, a surprise 79-77 winner over defending champion Nevada-Las Vegas.

"I put the number two on the bulletin board after the game," KU Coach Roy Williams said.

"That means there are only two teams left in the tournament and we're one of them."

Appropriately, considering the Jayhawks' lament throughout the tourney, even the victory that got them into the final was overshadowed by the other team.

Or in this case, the team's coach.

Smith was ejected with 35 seconds remaining after picking up his second technical foul.

The winningest active Division I coach in the nation and a 1953 KU grad, Smith said ref Pete Pavia's call was ridiculous, but emphasized, "I don't want to take anything away from Kansas' great victory."

But, of course, it did.

"It spoils it now because that's all you guys want to talk about," Williams said of the stuffing ejection of his long-time former boss. "It was not a significant factor in the game."

Smith agreed.

"The game was not poorly officiated," Smith said.

The ejection "had no bearing on the game."

What had bearing was KU's defense and a surprising 46-38 rebounding edge over the taller Tar Heels.

That combination overcame a litany of woes on the offensive end.

For instance, the Jayhawks didn't exactly burn up the Hoosier Dome nets (Adonis Jordan said the rims were hard) themselves. They shot a season-low 40.9 percent.

Leading scorer Terry Brown had three points on 1-of-10 shooting and spent most of the second half on the bench.

"We've done that before," Williams said about not playing the 16.4 scorer. "I may not be a nuclear physicist, but (1-of-10) is not very good."

Neither was KU's free-throw shooting. The Jayhawks kept Carolina breathing down the stretch, missing 10 of their last 20 as they made only 58 percent for the game.

"The game wasn't real pretty, was it?" Smith noted.

It was if you think good defense is a thing of beauty. And Williams thought it was the prettiest thing he's seen after KU wiped out a quick 24-15 Carolina lead.

"At about the eight minute mark, I told (the KU players) not to give Carolina too much respect," Williams said. "That's when we picked up our intensity defensively."

That's's about the time Richard Scott came off the bench, too. Questionable because of an ankle injury, Scott looked awfully healthy, scoring 10 points in five minutes and seeming to inspire his teammates.

KU then went on a 20-3 run, taking the lead for good, as it turned out, on Browns only basket, a 3-pointer with 4:22 left.

The Jayhawks were up by nine (43-34) at halftime and by as much as 53-43 before the fourth-ranked Tar Heels made their move, a move that coincided with KU forward Alonzo Jamison picking up his fourth foul at the 15:23 mark.

Sparked by Hubert Davis and George Lynch, Carolina fought back to within 58-57. But with three opportunities to lead, the Heels couldn't do it.

Rick Fox, the team's leading scorer with a 17.0 average, missed shots on all three possessions, the lowlights of his 5-of-22 goodbye to college basketball.

Given the reprieve, KU reeled off nine points in a row, ignited by Sean Tunstall's 3-pointer -- his only basket -- and then barely hung on at the shaky free-throw line.