Finally, the field that started at 68 is down to just two teams. The North Carolina Tar Heels will meet the Kansas Jayhawks on Monday night for the 2022 National Championship of NCAA basketball. North Carolina took out arch-rival Duke, 81-74, to earn a spot in the title game. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks come in as the only #1 seed left standing after easily taking out Villanova 81-65 to earn a title shot. This will be surprisingly just the 11th meeting all-time between two of the most storied basketball schools in NCAA history. Kansas has the second most all-time wins in NCAA history and North Carolina is just behind in 3rd. The two teams have combined for 9 national titles with UNC grabbing six, the last being in 2017, while Kansas has three, with their last coming in 2008. The schools are intertwined with their staffs as well as North Carolina legendary coach Dean Smith having played at Kansas and his successor, Roy Williams, having coached at Kansas. So after weeks of upsets and bracket busting, it will come down to two of the most legendary programs in NCAA history. The opening tip is scheduled for 9:20pm EST.
Kansas: Kansas will play in its 10th NCAA national championship game on Monday, but its first in a decade. That game, in 2012, was also in New Orleans and was also against a team that wore blue, albeit that ‘royal blue’ of Kentucky. The Wildcats won that game. Kansas won two Helms (pre-NCAA Tournament) titles in 1922 and 1923 and won three more national crowns through the NCAA Tournament in 1952, 1988 and 2008. Phog Allen presided over those first three titles, while Larry Brown led the Jayhawks to the 1988 crown. Current head coach Bill Self is seeking to join Allen in the multiple national championships club for the Jayhawks. Kansas is playing its best basketball of the season right now, and Agbaji’s and McCormack’s play have both turned a corner since halftime of the Miami game. That pair, along with Braun, Remy Martin, Harris, Wilson and Mitch Lightfoot, has Kansas in position for a sixth national championship. It’s one that these players would like to share with the 2020 team that was set to be a No. 1 tournament seed before COVID-19 canceled that postseason.
North Carolina: There are few programs more associated with the NCAA Tournament than North Carolina (we call them ‘blue bloods’ for a reason, you know?). North Carolina is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the 52nd time, the second-most tournament berths all-time. North Carolina is playing in its 21st Final Four and has six national titles. We get it. They’re good. And they have a team that, despite its seeding, has designs on winning its seventh national championship. This is Hubert Davis’ first season as head coach. He played for Dean Smith. Now, Davis will try and carry on Smith’s, and Roy Williams’ legacy, in the national title game. UNC has won five of its six titles since Smith won his first in 1982. Smith won two titles and Williams won three. Monday will be UNC’s 12th national title game, and its last since winning the title in 2017 under Williams. The Tar Heels enter this game with incredible momentum, having defeated their arch-rival, Duke, in the NCAA Tournament in their first meeting ever in March Madness.
Prediction: Under 151.5