The four teams chasing the men’s national basketball championship arrived in San Antonio on Tuesday for closed practices and media availability, three days before semifinal tipoffs at the Alamodome and five days before Monday night’s title game.

Top-seeded Connecticut, chasing what would be its third championship in four seasons, opened as a 4.5-point favorite over fifth-seeded Tennessee in the early semifinal Saturday. The nightcap pairs second-seeded Michigan against second-seeded Duke, a matchup oddsmakers have called the closest line of the round, with the Wolverines listed as a one-point favorite at most books.

“You don’t take anything for granted at this stage,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley told reporters at a packed Alamodome news conference Tuesday afternoon. “We’ve been here before, and that experience matters, but Tennessee is the most physical team we’ve seen all year. They are going to try to make this a street fight, and we have to be ready for that.”

The Huskies advanced past Houston in the Elite Eight on Sunday in a 71-66 grind that hinged on a late three-pointer from senior guard Stephon Castle. Castle, who left briefly in the second half after rolling an ankle, practiced fully Tuesday, according to a team spokesperson, and is expected to start.

Tennessee reached its first Final Four since 1992 by knocking off top-seeded Auburn in the South Region final, a result that head coach Rick Barnes has called “the proudest moment of my coaching life.” The Volunteers, led by senior guard Zakai Zeigler and 6-foot-11 sophomore center Felix Okpara, have allowed fewer than 60 points in three of their four tournament games and rank first nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency.

“We aren’t sneaking up on anybody,” Zeigler said in the team’s open locker room session. “Everyone here belongs here. We just want to play our game and see if it’s good enough.”

The Michigan-Duke semifinal carries its own storylines. The Wolverines, under second-year head coach Dusty May, have used a five-out offense to torch zones across the tournament and shot 42 percent from three-point range in the East Region. Junior forward Tarris Reed Jr. has emerged as a matchup nightmare on the offensive glass, averaging 14 rebounds across the four wins.

Duke, meanwhile, leans heavily on freshman wing Cameron Boozer, the projected top pick in this summer’s NBA draft, who is averaging 23.4 points in tournament play. Head coach Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils survived a double-overtime quarterfinal against Florida and are the only team in the field that has trailed at halftime in three of its four games.

“Cam has been everything we hoped, but this is a team that has gotten here because of our defense in the second half of close games,” Scheyer said. “Michigan presents a problem we haven’t really seen this year — five shooters on the floor at the same time, every possession. We have to make them uncomfortable.”

CBS and TBS, which are splitting tournament coverage, are projecting a combined audience of nearly 18 million for Saturday’s doubleheader, on pace to match last year’s figures despite the strain of competing programming. Network executives privately acknowledged this week that war coverage out of the Middle East has fragmented evening viewership across the spring, though they expect sports to remain a relative haven.

San Antonio officials said the city was prepared for an influx of roughly 75,000 visitors over the weekend. Local hotel occupancy was projected at 96 percent, and the convention bureau estimated an economic impact of $250 million across the four-day footprint. Security around the Alamodome has been tightened compared with the 2018 Final Four staged in the same building, with NCAA security director Mark Coleman citing “the general heightened threat posture” reflected in federal guidance issued last month.

The semifinals tip Saturday at 6:09 p.m. and 8:49 p.m. Central. The championship is set for Monday at 8:20 p.m. Central. Selection committee chair Charles McClelland, in a Tuesday briefing, called the field “the most parity-driven in recent memory,” noting that all four programs entered the tournament ranked in the top 12 of the NCAA’s NET rankings but none was the consensus preseason favorite.

For UConn, the prize is a chance to join Duke and Florida as the only programs in the modern era to win three titles in four seasons. For Tennessee, it is a long-awaited shot at the school’s first men’s basketball championship. For Michigan, it is validation of a rapid rebuild under May. And for Duke, it is the possibility of sending Boozer to the NBA with a banner.

Major League Baseball’s Opening Day on Thursday will briefly pull the national spotlight away — the Yankees host the Red Sox in the marquee matinee, and 14 other games are scheduled — but by Saturday evening, the country’s attention will return to the Alamodome. Hurley, asked Tuesday whether the pressure of repeating felt different from a year ago, smiled and shook his head. “Pressure is what you make of it,” he said. “We came here to win two games.”

Ticket resale prices on the secondary market for the championship game ranged from $580 in the upper bowl to more than $4,200 courtside as of Tuesday evening, according to data from StubHub. Tournament organizers said additional logistical updates, including parking and transit details, would be released to credentialed media Wednesday morning.