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This weekend in the Bayou State of Louisiana’s famous Superdome, four men’s college basketball teams – all wearing blue as their primary color – will take to the hardwood in pursuit of the national championship.
If you picked your NCAA March Madness Final Four solely based on the team’s primary uniform color (I worked with someone who used to do that), then the chances are pretty good that your tournament picks are in fine shape right now. For the rest of us, this tournament has represented the ultimate in March Madness with brackets busted everywhere.
It’s been u-g-l-y (and I don’t have an alibi)!
This Saturday in New Orleans, four of college basketball’s “blue bloods” will square off in a battle royale for hoops supremacy in 2022.
The four blue-clad combatants are:
Midwest Region #1 seed – Kansas Jayhawks
Vs. South Region #2 seed – Villanova Wildcats
West Region #2 seed – Duke Blue Devils
Vs. East Region #8 seed – North Carolina Tar Heels
Of those blue teams, North Carolina’s baby blue (called “Carolina Blue”, of course) is the lightest hue. Villanova’s blue combines both navy blue and light blue in their logo’s traditional “V” symbol. The Duke and Kansas blues are your basic everyday blue color.
After this NCAA men’s basketball championship has dealt out so many improbable outcomes, the “Elite Eight” games played Saturday and Sunday brought a screeching halt to the previous three rounds of upsets. The weekend favorites went 4-0 to sweep into the Final Four in New Orleans this coming Saturday evening.
Each of this year’s Final Four teams has survived a series of close calls on their way to winning their first four games of the tournament.
Kansas Jayhawks:
The Midwest Region’s #1 seed has barreled through the Big 12 basketball tournament and was awarded a top seed in this year’s NCAA March Madness field. The Jayhawks are now a gaudy 32-6 this season rolling into New Orleans.
KU’s four wins in the NCAA tournament have shown both their strengths and weaknesses. After an easy 83-56 win over #16 seed Texas Southern, the Jayhawks led by just three points with a minute to go in their 79-72 win over the Creighton Blue Jays. Transfer player Remy Martin emerged off the bench to score 20 points and spark Kansas to the win.
In the Sweet Sixteen, the Rock Chalk Jayhawks again rode a spirited performance by guard Remy Martin to win a 66-61 squeaker over Providence. Martin scored a career-high 23 points in the win. With the victory, Kansas pulled ahead of Kentucky for the most wins in men’s Division 1 basketball history (2,354).
Kansas (whose last NCAA men’s title came back in 2008) then raced past #10 seed Miami 76-50 in the second half Sunday to make it into this year’s Final Four. Long-time coach Bill Self is hoping to earn his second championship ring next weekend in New Orleans.
Villanova Wildcats:
The South Region #2 seed from the Big East Conference and Philadelphia (now 30-6 on the season) won all nine games which they played in the month of March. The Wildcats survived a series of close calls in the Big East tournament and have now won four in a row in this year’s NCAA tournament. The team has yet to allow more than 61 points in any of those games, so Villanova’s defense has kept them close all season.
Coach Jay Wright’s teams have won two of the previous five NCAA titles, so this team is not a stranger to March Madness. The Wildcats dusted-off #15 seed Delaware 80-60 in Round 1. Villanova then eliminated the Big Ten in consecutive games by dropping #7 seed Ohio State 71-61 and sending #11 Michigan home 63-55 in the Sweet 16. On Saturday, Villanova went toe-to-toe with a red-hot Houston Cougars team and emerged with an ugly 50-44 win as Houston went a woeful 1-20 from three-point territory.
Villanova’s vaunted defense will match-up against the high-powered Kansas offense (averaging near 79 points per game) in Saturday’s first Final Four game (5PM – on cable channel TBS). Sadly, Nova will be without their second-leading scorer, Justin Moore, after he suffered a torn Achilles tendon and is out for the remainder of this season.
Duke Blue Devils:
The West Region’s #2 seed was the recipient of a key upset which assisted the Blue Devils into this year’s Final Four. In the Sweet Sixteen, #1 overall seed Gonzaga was eliminated by #4 seed Arkansas. Duke (now 32-6 on the year) struggled in games against first round foe, #15 seed Cal State Fullerton, and second round opponent Michigan State (the #7 seed). The Blue Devils rallied down the stretch to put away #3 seed Texas Tech 78-73 in the Sweet Sixteen and then steamrolled the SEC’s final hope, Arkansas, 78-69 in the West Regional championship game.
Duke’s offense continues to be on a roll as the team has scored 78 points in three wins and 85 in the other. The Blue Devils’ talented trees under the basket (6’10” Paulo Banchero and 7’center Mark Williams) score nearly 30 points per game and grab 15 rebounds per game. It’s the “other guys” at Duke who have been making a big difference during the past few games. Duke’s guard play has shown great improvement during the NCAA tournament.
The guards remain the key for the Blue Devils if this team wishes to bring 75-year old retiring coach Mike Krzyzewski his sixth national championship trophy home to the school. However, the Blue Devils must face a bitter rival one more time.
North Carolina Tar Heels:
The East Region’s #8 seed is going to get a chance to play the ultimate villain again this Saturday night in the second national semifinal (8PM tip-off on TBS) against ACC arch-rival Duke. These two schools are located less than nine miles away from each other in the Research Triangle of North Carolina. To say that the fans of each school don’t like each other would be an understatement.
In the final regular season game (which also happened to be Duke Coach K’s final home game), North Carolina blossomed into a contender as the Tar Heels scored 55 points in the second half to disappoint thousands of Duke fans in a 94-81 blowout win at Duke. Revenge will certainly be on the Blue Devils mind this Saturday night in the national semifinal.
North Carolina (led by rookie head coach and former UNC star Hubert Davis) clobbered #9 seed Marquette 95-63 in the NCAA’s opening round. Carolina then jumped out to a 25 point second half lead against East Region #1 seed Baylor and then watched the entire lead melt in the final ten minutes of play. The Tar Heels won the game in overtime, 93-86, to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. This weekend, North Carolina took down #4 seed UCLA 73-66 and then crushed America’s favorite team, #15 seed St. Peter’s, 69-49 in the Elite Eight game played Sunday.
The Tar Heels have one of America’s top big men, Armando Bacot, scoring 17 points and grabbing 13 rebounds per game. To go along with him, transfer forward Brady Manek is a 3-point shooting machine while guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis chip-in 16 and 13 points per game respectively. North Carolina’s “kryptonite” is a relatively weak bench, but Duke has the same issue.
If this national semifinal game comes down to coaching in pressure situations, Duke should have an edge with Coach K having the most wins in the history of NCAA Division 1 and also in the history of the NCAA March Madness tournament (101). He’s been there, done that.
Recap:
Four teams dressed in blue will compete for the NCAA men’s national championship in New Orleans beginning Saturday evening. Despite all of the upsets along the road to this year’s Final Four, any of these four teams is capable of winning the title. Sadly, that means that three of these blue-clad teams will go home without the trophy as their fans cry “Blue hoo!”
The only prediction which I’ll make is that I need to buy some more popcorn prior to the tip-off of this Saturday’s doubleheader …on Blue Bayou.