“I think we are going to be dealing with Kentucky,’’ said Calhoun, predicting the winner of yesterday’s East Regional final between the Wildcats and North Carolina.

Eight hours later, Calhoun’s prediction came true as Kentucky squeezed out a 76-69 victory to advance to the Final Four for the first time since it won the national championship in San Antonio in 1998.

Saturday’s meeting will be a rematch of a November game in Maui, which UConn won easily, 84-67.

Of Kentucky’s eight losses, the one to UConn is the lone by double digits. Kentucky coach John Calipari now has taken three schools to the Final Four (UMass in 1996 and Memphis in 2008, although those results were vacated because of NCAA violations).

“I hope my legacy as a coach is about what happened for my players and individual players,’’ said Calipari.

On Saturday, Kentucky will resume the quest for something Calipari does not have, a national championship.

Finding the range Kentucky hit 12 of 22 attempts from 3-point range, North Carolina just 3 of 16 . . . Kentucky beat North Carolina for the first time in an NCAA Tournament . . . The Tar Heels lost for only the second time in their last 20 tournament games . . . For the first time since the tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there will be no No. 1 or No. 2 seeds participating in the Final Four. UConn is the highest seed at No. 3, followed by No. 4 Kentucky, No. 8 Butler, and No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth.

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.