Kansas and North Carolina Advance to NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament’s only remaining #1 seed advanced with an easy victory, while two rivals played in a coaching legend’s final game in the national semifinals.
David McCormick scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead top seeded Kansas to an 81-65 victory over #2 seeded Villanova. The Jayhawks led 40-29 at the half, and the Wildcats couldn’t catch up. It didn’t help that Villanova’s second leading scorer, guard Justin Moore, was out with an Achilles injury suffered in the Wildcat’s Elite Eight win over Houston. Bur Kansas was dominant, again showing that the Jayhawks deserved the top seed in their region.
In the other semifinal, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski led his Duke Blue Devils against ACC rival North Carolina. The two teams had never faced each other in the NCAA tournament, and the Tar Heels, seeded #8 have been one of the surprise teams. Duke had a three point halftime lead, but North Carolina was not to be denied in this exciting game, going on to an 81-77 win. Caleb Love led the Tar Heels with 28 points, one of four North Carolina players in double figures. Love hit a three point basket with 28 seconds left to give the Tar Heels a two possession lead at 78-74, then made three of four free throws the rest of the way to clinch it.
Coach K had announced that this would be his last season, and he came within two games of winning his sixth national championship at Duke. Instead, we will see two other elite programs, Kansas and North Carolina, battle in out in the championship game on April 4th.
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Mark, Duke & UNC played a game that probably had everyone’s attention span. I was trying to picture Michael Jordan watching that game. I had no favorite team in that particular matchup but enjoyed every minute. My team Gonzaga got eliminated early. I’m positive no one had a perfect bracket. I hope tomorrow night will be as exciting as this entire March Madness has been. On the female side tonight’s final should be exciting. No favorites there. I was cheering on Stanford to no avail. C’est la vie.