The NCAA Final Four this year will have a distinct Northwest flavor.

Gonzaga and Oregon became the first teams to advance to the semifinals with convincing victories on Saturday.

The Zags blasted Xavier, 83-59, in the West Regional in San Jose, while the Ducks upended Midwest top-seeded Kansas, 74-60, in Kansas City.

Overrated no more, Gonzaga is finally headed to the Final Four for the first time in school history.

The Zags took the pressure of history head on with a performance worthy of their No. 1 seed, rolling to a dominating 83-59 win over Xavier in the West Region final on Saturday that should silence those critics.

”Just an incredible feeling of elation and satisfaction,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. ”It’s been a long, hard journey to get this program here.”

Few and the Zags have won the West Coast Conference Tournament 16 times, been regulars in the NCAA Tournament since 1999, reached the Sweet 16 eight times.

The Final Four was the only missing piece to their resume.

The Zags (36-1) claimed their spot in Arizona and history with a superb all-around game, showing off their usual offensive efficiency while flexing the smothering type of defense that had previously been the chink in their armor.

Gonzaga made 12 of 24 shots from 3-point range after struggling the first three NCAA Tournament games. The Zags were No. 1 in defensive efficiency during the regular season and shut down the underdog and 11th-seeded Musketeers (24-14) to become the first WCC team to reach the Final Four in 60 years.

Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 points while orchestrating Gonzaga’s efficient offense after struggling against West Virginia. Johnathan Williams added 19 points and center Przemek Karnowski, who was still recovering from back surgery a year ago, created open perimeter looks with his deft passing out of the post.

Now the Zags are headed to the desert, where they’ll play the winner between South Carolina and Florida in next week’s Final Four.

After hitting 29 percent of its 3-point shots its first three NCAA games, Gonzaga found the range against Xavier, hitting 8 of 13 from the arc in the first half, mostly against the Musketeers’ zone or on kick-outs from Karnowski .

Xavier had a good offensive start, only to hit a dry spell as Gonzaga stretched to lead to 49-39 by halftime.

Halftime did little to slow the Zags, who pushed the lead to 59-42 on 3-pointers by Williams-Goss and Jordan Mathews. Gonzaga kept the machine rolling in the second half, continuing to make shots while its defense prevented the Musketeers from making any kind of run.

Oregon is headed headed back to the Final Four for the first time since 1939 after the Ducks stunned the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks. The Ducks will face the winner of Sunday’s North Carolina-Kentucky showdown.

Jordan Bell and Tyler Dorsey led the way for the Ducks, coming up with big play after big play to fuel a fast Oregon start and a strong finish.

Dorsey knocked down 6 of 10 three-pointers and finished with 27 points. Bell nearly notched a triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks.

Oregon now awaits its Final Four opponent in Phoenix next Saturday. The Ducks will play the winner of Sunday’s game between North Carolina and Kentucky.

The Ducks jumped out to a 44-33 halftime lead, with Dorsey banking in a three-pointer just before the buzzer. It was that kind of night for Oregon. Even when the Ducks’ offense sputtered in the latter stages of the second half, they played solid defense to hold the Jayhawks at bay.

And after Kansas cut it to 66-60 on Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk’s three-pointer, the Ducks closed the game on an 8-0 run to punch its ticket to Phoenix.