Villanova and Kansas are meeting in the first semi-final battle.
- Date: Saturday, April 2, 2022
- Matchup: No. 2 vs. No. 1
- Venue: Caesars Superdome
- Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
- TV-Time: TBS – 6:09 p.m. ET
It’s the Jayhawks’ ‘Sweet 16’ in the Final Four, as in the program’s 16th Final Four appearance. Kansas is looking for its sixth national championship and its second under head coach Bill Self, who is making his fourth Final Four appearance and his first since the 2018 tournament. Kansas has looked great at times and has looked sluggish at times. But, in the second half against Miami, Kansas put it all together. The Jayhawks outscored 47-15 in the second half, started the half on an 18-5 run and held Miami to 34 percent shooting for the game (right at the Jayhawks’ tournament average).
December when a healthy Baylor team absolutely owned Villanova in the Big 12-Big EAST Battle, 57-36? At the time, one could argue that there were worries about Villanova, especially after the Wildcats lost their Big EAST opener against Creighton a few days later. But, since then the Wildcats have lost three games, won the Big EAST Tournament with relative ease and run through the NCAA Tournament to reach the Final Four for the fourth time under head coach Jay Wright and for the third time since 2016. The last two times the Wildcats were here they won the whole thing. This has turned into one of Wright’s better coaching jobs. His bench isn’t deep, and the leg injury to Justin Moore likely robs the Wildcats of a starter in the Final Four.
Loosing the main superstar Moore will be a deciding factor for this game as most of the world believes that there is no capability in another player from the bench to replace this guy who got injured with torn Achilles during the Great 8 round.
Prediction: Kansas -4