Mark Moody was a 6-3 forward at Chisago Lakes High School. He graduated in 1976. He spent four years at Gustavus Adolphus, four years at Georgetown in medical school and five years in an orthopedic residency in Phoenix.

Moody and Mary Hedberg had known one another since childhood in Center City. They were married in 1982.

Once the training was finished, the Moodys moved to Asheville, N.C., where Mark has been in a practice as an orthopedic spine surgeon for 15 years.

Sons Christian and Patrick turned out to be good players at T.C. Roberson. That was the high school of Roy Williams, now the North Carolina coach.

Williams was at Kansas when Christian, then 6-6, graduated from high school. The Roberson coaches called Williams and put in a word for Christian. Williams watched a tape and invited Christian to walk on.

Christian scored seven total points as a freshman in 2002-03, a season when the Jayhawks lost 81-78 to Syracuse in the NCAA title game. Williams left after that game for North Carolina.

New coach Bill Self came in and decided to keep Moody around. Christian played in 25 games and average seven minutes. Then, as a junior, the Jayhawks had some injuries, Moody -- now 6-9 -- moved into the starting lineup, and they couldn't get him out of there.

CBS' Billy Packer was covering a Kansas game that winter and referred to Moody as the "best walk-on in college basketball history." The Jayhawks were rated No. 1 for part of that season but wound up being upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Bucknell.

As a senior, Moody was a part-time starter. His college career ended with another first-round loss -- to Bradley.

Christian was admitted to Kansas' medical school. He's currently on a one-year leave, playing pro basketball in Australia. He plans to also play a season in Europe before re- entering medical school.

Five years later, there's another Moody in the Final Four -- Patrick -- and with Williams as his coach. Patrick, a 6-4 forward, is a junior who played two years on Carolina's junior varsity team. He was one of the J.V. players Williams allowed to join the Tar Heels this season.

"Patrick doesn't get a lot of playing time, but he loves being part of this," father Mark said. "His No. 1 task this winter has been going against Tyler Hansbrough in practice. That's been interesting for him."

North Carolina will play in Saturday night's second semifinal at the Final Four. The opponent? Kansas, of course.

"Roy Williams has been great to our family -- giving both of our sons a chance to be part of great basketball programs," Mark said.