SAN ANTONIO — Inside a converted ballroom at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on Friday afternoon, the four men’s basketball programs still alive in this year’s NCAA tournament rotated through podiums, locker rooms and breakout tables for the annual Final Four media day, a ritual that produces equal parts cliche and clue ahead of Saturday’s national semifinals at the Alamodome.

The Huskies of Connecticut, the tournament’s last remaining No. 1 seed, drew the largest scrum. Coach Dan Hurley, his voice already raspy after a week of post-Elite Eight obligations, sat next to senior guard Marcus Greene and forward Tyrese Caldwell and made clear his program was leaning into the role of favorite rather than running from it.

“We’ve been the team people are chasing since November,” Hurley said. “If our guys aren’t comfortable with that by April, we’ve done something wrong.”

UConn (34-3) faces Tennessee in the second semifinal at roughly 8:49 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. The opener pits Michigan against Duke, the bracket’s most surprising survivor after the Blue Devils’ upset of overall No. 1 seed Purdue in the Midwest Regional final last weekend.

Greene, the All-American who returned for a fifth season after the Huskies’ Sweet 16 exit a year ago, said the staff had not changed much about preparation. “Same shootaround, same scout, same group text from coach at 6 a.m.,” he said. “The only thing different is the building’s bigger.”

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, working his second Final Four and his first since 2003 at Texas, struck a more philosophical tone at his own session a half-hour later. The Volunteers (31-6) earned their spot in San Antonio with a grinding Elite Eight win over Houston, a game decided in the final 12 seconds.

“What we’ve tried to tell our group is that the moment doesn’t change you, but it does reveal you,” Barnes said. “You find out who’s been preparing and who’s been performing.”

Junior guard Jalen Robinson, Tennessee’s leading scorer, brushed aside questions about UConn’s championship pedigree. “We’ve watched the tape. They’re really good. They’re also human,” Robinson said. “We’re not coming here to take pictures.”

The afternoon’s most spirited session belonged to Michigan, whose run to San Antonio under second-year coach Dusty May has been the bracket’s slower-burning story. The Wolverines (29-7) entered the tournament as a No. 4 seed and dispatched Auburn, Iowa State and Gonzaga to reach the program’s first Final Four since 2018.

May, asked whether the program felt the weight of that history, smiled briefly. “Our guys weren’t born for most of the Michigan basketball moments people want me to reference,” he said. “They’re writing their own thing. I’m trying to stay out of the way.”

Wolverines senior center Will Tschetter, who has carried the post load since starter Aiden Reyes went down with a foot injury in February, said the team had spent Thursday night watching film of UConn’s regional games rather than scouting Duke. “Coach’s idea,” Tschetter said. “He wanted us thinking about Monday before Saturday. Whether that’s smart or crazy, ask us in 48 hours.”

Duke’s session, held last, was the briefest. Coach Jon Scheyer, in his fourth season succeeding Mike Krzyzewski, kept his remarks tight and steered most questions toward freshman wing Cameron Boozer, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and the consensus projected No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA draft.

Boozer, asked whether the Final Four felt like the culmination of a one-and-done season he had publicly described as a “checklist,” paused before answering. “It’s not a checklist anymore,” he said. “Once you get here, you realize it’s two games. That’s it. Two games for something nobody can take back.”

Scheyer pushed back, gently, on the prevailing narrative that Duke had peaked in beating Purdue. “We’re not a one-game team,” he said. “If we were, we wouldn’t have gotten through Houston’s region. We came out of the toughest road in the bracket. I think people forget that.”

The semifinals tip Saturday under unusual circumstances. CBS and TBS confirmed Friday that broadcast windows have been adjusted slightly to accommodate a presidential address scheduled for Saturday evening regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, though network executives said neither game would be delayed. Alamodome officials said security postures had been raised at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, a now-standard step for major public gatherings since hostilities with Iran began in early March.

Several players were asked, gingerly, about the broader national mood. Greene, the UConn senior, answered for many of them. “We’ve got friends who have family deployed,” he said. “We’re not pretending this is the most important thing happening in the country this weekend. But for a few hours, maybe it can be a thing people enjoy. That’s the only part we control.”

Media day closed shortly after 4 p.m. local time. The teams will hold closed practices Saturday morning before tipoff, with Michigan and Duke first at 6:09 p.m. Eastern. Officials said open shootarounds, originally planned for Sunday, had been cancelled in favor of additional security sweeps, with championship-Monday logistics to be announced after Saturday’s results.