Hello College Basketball Fans
In March 2020, Kansas Jayhawks Coach Bill Self was looking to guide his team into the NCAA March Madness Tournament as the prognostic favourite, based on most of the College Basketball experts and Coach Self, who thought they had the best team in the country at that time. As we now know, Covid put a pause on the world at that moment and the tournament was one of the first large competitions cancelled, due to the virus. There were six players from that team looking to avenge that lost opportunity in last night’s game. Ochai Agbaji, David McCormack, Christian Braun, Jalen Wilson, Chris Teahan and Michael Jankovich who all suited up ready to take on North Carolina Tar Heels this year.
North Carolina’s path to the finals started in the East bracket. As the eight seed, they beat ninth seed Marquette (95-63) in the first round, number one seed Baylor (93-86) in the second round, fourth seed UCLA (73-66) in the third round, surprising fifteenth seed Saint Peters (69-49) in the great eight and in one of the best games of the tournament defeating rival Duke in what would be Coach K’s final game (81-77) in the final four (semis) to make it to the finals.
Kansas’s journey started in the Midwest bracket as the number one seed. Due to their higher-ranking the Jayhawks had a much easier path to the finals. They defeated sixteenth seed Texas Southern (83-56) in round one, ninth seed Creighton (79-72) in round two, number four Providence (66-61) in round three, tenth seed Miami (76-50) in round four and Villanova the number two seed and toughest opponent (81-65) in their final four match up.
Kansas had a bit of an express route to the finals based on their overall level of competition and North Carolina was forced to take a more scenic journey to the Championship Game. The tougher competition seemed to help the Tar Heels in the first half. After quickly going down (7-0) North Carolina kept their composure and started to slow down the game and play at their preferred pace. The game was tied (22-22) with about five minutes remaining in the half when North Carolina went on a (18-3) run to close out and take a fifteen-point lead (40-25) going into halftime.
The second half was a totally different story. Coach Bill Self used halftime to adjust the defence and settle his troops. These changes led to more defensive stops and allowed Kansas to get out in transition, scoring on fast breaks, picking up the pace and not allowing North Carolina to get their defence set up in the half-court. Taking advantage of their faster more athletic squad and ultimately changed the flow of the game to Kansas Jayhawks favour. The Jayhawks offensive flow was much smoother, and they erased at its highest point, a sixteen-point deficit. Which is the largest come from behind victory in the NCAA Championship.
Ultimately Kansas Jayhawks edged out North Carolina Tar Heels (72-69) winning their fourth National Championship and second under the leadership of Coach Self. He is now tied with Villanova’s Head Coach Jay Wright for the most amongst active coaches. The four Kansas titles have been spaced out. This one coming fourteen years after Coach Bill’s first one in 2008. The other two were in 1952 and 1988, respectively.
This puts a cap on one of the most exciting sporting events on the calendar. The NCAA March Madness tournament always provides great stories. Upsets, buzzer beaters, unknown student athletes who make the most of their last time in the spotlight to emerging stars looking to take that next step into the NBA.
This year’s tournament did not let us down. For those young men taking that next step, NBA combines will begin in the coming months, giving them a chance to showcase their talents to pro scouts and only about 1% of these athletes will continue their journey in their Basketball careers.
What makes this tournament special is how much heart, determination, and effort is put in by these amateur players, who are not making millions of dollars like their professional counterparts. School pride and playing for the love of the game is real and for the other 99% of Basketball players who play, and this is their last hurrah, their last moment in the sunshine, salute to your grind. Life lessons have been learned and the experience has molded you and made you strong for your next endeavours.
Congratulations Kansas Jayhawks on winning the National Championship!
