NEWARK, N.J. — Exorcising old demons and erasing recent history has been a common theme for the Kentucky men’s basketball team during its postseason parade.Kentucky notched three consecutive victories over Ole Miss, Alabama and Florida in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, all three of which defeated UK in the regular season. Then, in the third round of the NCAA Tournament, it was West Virginia, which knocked the heavily favored Wildcats from the tournament a year ago in the Elite Eight round. On Friday, UK erased what was an 0-5 record against Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament. Now comes North Carolina.Nearly four months ago, the Tar Heels knocked off Kentucky in Chapel, Hill, N.C., erasing a six-point deficit to pull off a last-minute win. Asked to reflect on that Dec. 4 game, most of the Wildcats remember foul trouble and North Carolina’s size, particularly 7-footer Tyler Zeller (27 points, 11 rebounds), that shut the door on UK. Terrence Jones remembers a much different tale.”It was my fault,” Jones said. “I broke a team rule by going to sleep (before the game). That was a big part of the season when the team was depending on me to do a lot of the scoring. I didn’t step up.””Terrence had a tough night,” head coach John Calipari remembered, looking at Jones on the dais. “I think you were 3 for 18?”Well, 3 for 17, but close enough.”We definitely owe them one,” senior forward Josh Harrellson said. “We definitely have a grudge. We definitely want to get them back. It’s going to a tough matchup because they’re a totally different team than they were and so are we.”That, more than anything, defines the rematch in the Elite Eight on Sunday. For as much as Jones struggled in the first meeting, both teams may want to throw that game film out in this meeting. Neither bears much of a resemblance to the teams that met in snowy Chapel Hill.”We’ve both grown tremendously,” freshman guard Brandon Knight said. “Looking at them, they’ve completely turned it around. People were writing them off from the beginning saying it was going to be another bad season. They’ve gotten a lot better. All of their players have gotten a lot better. That’s the same thing with us.”For one, UK doesn’t have to count on Jones as much to do all the scoring. If he struggles, he’s shown maturity to regroup and still contribute. Even if he doesn’t score, other players such as Knight, Harrellson and Darius Miller have picked up the load.That Kentucky team also faltered in late-game situations. This one suddenly flourishes, winning two games in the NCAA Tournament run by two points or less.”There was a time where I believed in guys more than they believed in themselves,” Calipari said. “What happened the last nine games, they are starting to believe in themselves and they are starting to believe in each other. Now you are seeing a swarming team that is covering for each other.”North Carolina doesn’t even have the same personnel as it did in the first meeting. Point guard Larry Drew left the team a couple of months ago and freshman Kendall Marshall has taken the reins.Over his last 15 games, Marshall is averaging 9.1 points and 7.9 assists. North Carolina, blessed with the super size and length of Zeller and John Henson (6-10), has added a dynamic transition game thanks to Marshall. That was evident in North Carolina’s 17-point smashing of Marquette on Friday night.”It’s easier for me because (Marshall) is such a bright young man and he understands how to play the game of basketball,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “It’s been an easier transformation maybe than any point guard I (have) coached. The best thing I have with Kendall is that most of the time, I just have to say something to him once and he understand what we’re talking about.”Harrison Barnes was around during UNC’s victory in early December, but he may as well be a different player, too. Playing much more like the preseason All-American that he was touted to be, the 6-8 freshman forward is averaging 19.8 points over his last 17 games. “He was under more of a microscope than any player I ever remember at North Carolina,” Williams said. “We brought in Tyler Hansbrough and he wasn’t in that type of microscope. I was there when Michael Jordan, James Worthy (played and it was) nothing like it was for Harrison. So he is human. It bothered him some, but he is so focused and driven and disciplined, he kept at the task at hand. He is a task-oriented kid. And he went through his workouts and went through practice and listened to what we were trying to get him to do. And every week, and I really mean this, I saw him getting better every week.”Said Jones: “He was a good player in high school so it was bound to happen.”The evolution of Marshall and Barnes has been the key behind North Carolina’s 17-2 stretch. Meanwhile, as the Cats have graduated from wide-eyed freshman to steely postseason veterans, UK has won nine straight.All of that would already make for one sensational Sunday showdown in the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. But when you combine Tobacco Road with the Commonwealth, pit the country’s two winningest programs — both regular season and postseason (North Carolina has a 105-104 edge in NCAA Tournament wins) —  and put a Final Fourth berth on the line, you get a matchup for the ages.Call it a clash of the blue-blooded titans.”The name’s on the front, Kentucky-North Carolina, wow,” Calipari said. “The history of both of these programs, wow. But I don’t think they are worried about that and I am certainly not. I know they are going against terrific players and I am going against a Hall of Famer. That’s what I know.”History aside, one of these two programs will be back atop the college basketball food chain come Sunday night.