Men’s Basketball Final Four: Then There Were Two

Kansas and North Carolina advance to the National Championship Game; Coach K’s journey comes to an end.

© Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

For two weeks, March Madness lived up to its name. We saw bracket-busting upsets, buzzer-beating wins, and drama-producing storylines. What started as 68 teams was reduced to the Final Four – four of basketball’s blue bloods. Gone were the Cinderella double-digit seeds like St. Peter’s.

On Saturday night, the four teams gathered in New Orleans to see which two would advance to Monday’s National Championship Game. Kansas easily took down Villanova to earn their spot. Then in the marquis game of the night, actually of the tournament, Duke met North Carolina in an epic matchup that saw Duke’s head coach Mike Krzyzewski exit the stage and head into retirement.

The Big 12, the toughest basketball conference in the nation, versus the ACC, a legendary basketball conference, for the national championship. Monday night should be a great night

Here's a recap of the two games that set up the national championship game:

(2) Villanova (30-8) vs. (1) Kansas (33-6)

Kansas wins 81-65

Kansas, the only 1-seed to make the Final Four, had an offensive performance to show why they are a top seed. They came out strong with a 10-0 run to start the first three minutes of the game and didn’t look back after that. Villanova came to within six and seven points a few times in the second half, but the Jayhawks went on a run at the end to put an exclamation point on the win.

The last three times Kansas and Villanova met in the NCAA Tournament, the winner of that game has gone on to win the Natty. Fans in Lawrence are certainly looking to four-peat on that stat.

David McCormack and Ochai Agbaji were the offensive stars for Kansas, with both scoring over 20 points – McCormack had 25 points, and Agbaji had 21. Agbaji also went 6-of-7 from the 3-point line. Jalen Wilson added 11 points for Kansas, and Christian Braun had ten points.

(8) North Carolina (29-9) vs. Duke (32-7)

North Carolina wins 81-77

This was the most heralded game of the tournament. The two arch-rivals had never met in the NCAA Tournament. Duke won at North Carolina in the regular season. North Carolina returned the favor in the last home game for Coach K. Would the legendary coach get one more game? Or would this be it for his 42-year career at Duke?

The game was epic. The two teams were meeting for the 258th time and the 98th time under Coach K. This was a back-and-forth game all night long. Neither team ever had a lead of more than seven points. Duke had a three-point lead at the half, 37-34. There were 18 lead changes and 12 ties in this game. In the end, North Carolina was able to pull away and get the win. Coach K ends with a career record against the Tar Heels of 50-48.

For North Carolina, four starters ended in double-digit scoring – Caleb Love (28), RJ Davis (18), Brady Manek (14), and Armando Bacot (11). For Duke, Paolo Banchero was the leading scorer with 20 points. Trevor Keels came off the bench to add 19 points, and Wendell Moore, Jr. added ten more points.

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Next up: Kansas and North Carolina will meet for the National Championship game on Monday. The game will be played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Tip-off is set for 8:20 p.m. and can be seen on TBS. The only other time these two legendary basketball teams met for the title was in 1957. 

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