This is one of the best competitions in the sport, ready to play with everything in the end.
Duke University and the University of North Carolina – two men’s basketball behemoths – are about 10 miles off Tobacco Road.
The Blue Devils and Tar Hill have clashed 257 times, but never under the bright light of the NCAA Tournament.
What’s more, this unprecedented turnout clash will take place in the Final Four in front of a full football stadium at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The North Carolina governor, running, explained what his state meant for the Hoops landscape.
Country music star and North Carolina superfan Eric Church Cancel a sell-out show Saturday in San Antonio so he can take part in the game.
If you’re a hockey fan, we’re gonna get a good seat for the Carolina Hurricanes home game against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.
As if the North Carolina-Duke match is not likely to be Coach K’s last game, two more Bluebloods join them in the Final Four – the Kansas Jehaks and Villanova Wildcats.
The four schools together have won 17 national titles – and this is the first time each university in the final four has at least three NCAA crowns.
In fact, we ended up with a familiar four —Although the No. 8 seed with the UNC – the brackets were broken before the tournament.
Here’s a capsule look over the weekend up front.
Index
Saturday
Semifinals: No. 1 Kansas (32-6) vs. No. 2 Villanova (30-7), 6:09 p.m. ETS Semifinals: No. 2 Duke (32-6) vs. No. 8 North Carolina (28-9), 8:49 pm ET
Monday
Final, 9:20 pm
The teams
Duke, who also failed to qualify for last year’s tournament, is back in the final four for the first time since winning everything in 2015. The Blue Devils are scoring arbitrarily, including impressive wins of the country’s top 78-73 – ranked Texas Tech Defense in the third round.
North Carolina was a bubble team most of the season, but heated up at the right time – qualifying for a record 21st Final Four. Ter Hills ended the regular season in a five-game winning streak with a 94-81 win over Duke in the much-anticipated final home game of legendary Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski at the Cameron Indoor Stadium. The UNC and the Duke are here for what everyone called a low year for their ACC conference.
Kansas recently won the national title in 2008. Jehoks has won the most number of NCAA Division I programs. The team defense is excellent, allowing the opponent to shoot only 34.1 percent during the tournament.
Villanova is looking to win his third national title in six years since being crowned in 2016 and ’18. The following year, the Philadelphia School lost to Kansas in the national semifinals on the way to the crown. However, in their win over Houston in the Wildcats Elite 8, they lost a key player to Justin Moore in a torn ACL.
Star players
Duke’s Paolo Banchero is expected to be the top three pick in the NBA Draft. The six-foot-10 new forward averaged 18.5 points and seven rebounds in the tournament. He is not afraid to handle the ball.
Kansas senior guard Ochai Agbaji is still the only finalist for the National Player of the Year award. The six-foot-five-Kansas City local average this season is 18.9 points and 5.2 rebounds.
North Carolina junior forward Armando Bucket is third in the country in rebounding (12.8) and averages 16.5 points this season. The six-foot-10 bucket had a rare 20-20 game (20 points, 22 rebounds) as Tar Hills crushed No. 15 seed St. Peters in Elite 8.
Villanova guard Colin Gillespie from the Philadelphia area (just like a famous former Wildcats guard named Kyle Lori). A torn MCL ended its senior season early last year, but the epidemic allowed Gillespie to return for a fifth season. With Moore out, the Big East’s Player of the Year will have to step up after just nine points on average in two games last weekend.
Coach
All eyes are on Duke Krzyzewski, who announced years ago that this would be his final season. He entered his 13th final four, two wins away from his sixth national title. The winning coach of college basketball history gave an emotional speech after the loss to UNC in his final home game: “Let me just say, this is unacceptable. Today was unacceptable, but the season has been very acceptable. And I’ll tell you, this season isn’t over, is it? ”
Good call, coach.
North Carolina’s Hubert Davis is the first rookie bench boss to lead his team to the Final Four since 1998. The former Tar Hills (and Toronto Raptors) player and UNC assistant coach was promoted to the top post this season after the retirement of another legendary figure. – Roy Williams. Surprisingly, Davis is the only coach in this year’s Final Four at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bill Self of Kansas in his fourth final four. She has been at the school since 2003, working in Illinois. Self’s only national title came in 2008 with an overtime win over Memphis.
Like the shelf, Villanover J. Wright is in his fourth final four. She was part of the 2021 Hall of Fame class. Villanova got the job in 2001 after a race at Wright Hofstra and never looked back. He is a two-time national champion and two-time national coach.
Canadians
Surprisingly, there is no one there. A record 30 Canadians started the tournament, but five of the Suite 16s lost, with three key players in their respective regions’ top picks – Arizona’s Benedict Mathurin, Gonzaga Andrew Nambard and Purdue Zach Eddy. Only five Canadians have won national titles and this has not happened since 2012.
The scene
After playing all the games in the Indianapolis area last year due to COVID-19, this year’s tournament has returned to multiple venues – the New Orleans Superdome hosted the final weekend for the first time since 2012 when Kentucky beat Kansas in the final. Some of the most memorable finals were at the home of the NFL Saints – Michael Jordan’s win over Georgetown against North Carolina in 1982, Michigan’s Fab Five defeat to UNC due to the infamous deadline violation in 1993 and Syracuse’s only national title led by Carmelo Anthony. Jim Boheim’s Orange Over Kansas in 2003 (Roy coached Jehoaks before Williams last season before moving to UNC). The following year Houston hosted the Final Four.