DETROIT — Men vs. boys. Big brother vs. little brother. Future pros against a bunch of good college kids.

That summed up North Carolina's 83-69 victory over Villanova last night. The ultra-talented Tar Heels simply never gave the Wildcats a chance to breathe, let alone whip up a fresh dose of Final Four magic.

Ty Lawson scored 22 points, Wayne Ellington added 20 and the Tar Heels, with their four, five, maybe more NBA-caliber players, stayed on a path that has seemed almost certain since the season began in November.

Tyler Hansbrough had 18 points and 11 rebounds to make this a quite successful return to the Final Four after a remarkable dud last year in a semifinal loss to Kansas. Next up, North Carolina (33-4) goes for its second title in five years tomorrow night against Michigan State, an 82-73 winner over Connecticut.

"It feels good to be back here to get another shot," Carolina forward Deon Thompson said. "Now that we have an opportunity, we have to seize it."

Michigan State, located 90 miles up the road in East Lansing, will certainly have the crowd on its side. The talent gap, though? Eek. The Spartans will have to be at least 35 points better than they were in December when the teams met in this same building — a 98-63 UNC romp.

"They had a couple players that were hurt and came off a long road stretch," Lawson said. "We know they're a better team right now."

Meanwhile, Villanova (30-8) ends a successful season two wins short of its first title since 1985, when Rollie Massimino coaxed one of the greatest upsets in sports history out of his guys — 66-64 over Patrick Ewing, John Thompson and Georgetown.

Thompson was on press row doing radio and Massimino was chomping his gum nervously behind the Villanova bench, part of the record crowd of 72,456 at Ford Field — half gone and streaming toward the exits with 5 minutes left.

But James Naismith himself probably couldn't have helped 'Nova out of this one. North Carolina simply had too much talent.

"They played a great game and are playing extremely well," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "They've got all the pieces, and we have great respect for them. We've been getting better every game, and we did not get better tonight."

Carolina did.

Last season, in one of the more inexplicable performances in Final Four history, the Tar Heels trailed Kansas 40-12 midway through the first half.

This time, they led 40-23.

"I've been there. I was there a year ago," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "It feels like somebody jerks your heart out and shakes it."

Ellington made five of his first six shots, including a 3-pointer after a perfect crosscourt pass over the top from Danny Green. Nobody had an answer for Hansbrough, who once found himself bodied up with Dante Cunningham, faked left, then spun to the baseline and saw no more resistance — a way-too-easy layup.

Lawson, he of the injured toe and the successful trip to the craps table in downtown Detroit a few nights previous — well, he stayed on a roll, going 5-for-11 with eight assists and seven rebounds.

And so, what began as tournament with great potential for the Big East — three top seeds, two in the Final Four — will end with the conference on the sideline.

"Right now, Carolina proved that regardless of conference, they're playing the best basketball in the country right now," Wright said. "So did Michigan State."

No disrespect to Villanova, which did, in fact, make this interesting for a brief time. The Wildcats cut the deficit to five early in the second half. It could have been three, but Cunningham's jumper went halfway in before cruelly rimming out.

Green answered with a 3-pointer, then the Tar Heels got a steal and layup from Lawson to push the lead back to 10. That took all of 64 seconds.

"Big-time players make big-time shots in big-time games," Ellington said of the Green 3.

Though the rest of the second half was a jumbled mess for both teams — which allowed Villanova to stay in shouting distance — the Wildcats never got it back under double digits.

It was a typical no-quit effort from Wright's group of seasoned upperclassmen, who battled through the Big East and started putting it together come tournament time.

Scottie Reynolds will always have that indelible end-to-end game-winning layup against Pittsburgh last weekend that got Villanova to its Final Four since '85. His first basket in this one, however, didn't come until more than 9 minutes were gone and the deficit was in double digits. He finished with 17 points on 6-for-18 shooting.

Cunningham, the Wildcats' leading scorer and rebounder this season, had 12 and 12.