Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Two of college basketball's storied teams face off tonight

Left to right: Caleb Love and David McCormack
Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Left to right: Caleb Love and David McCormack

It all comes down to one last game.

The men's NCAA Championship reaches its conclusion tonight as two of college basketballs storied programs face off at 9:20p.m. at the Superdome in New Orleans.

And whether you're wearing baby blue or royal blue, one of these blue-blooded teams will emerge victorious, as the University of North Carolina takes on Kansas for the season finale of this year's March Madness.

Kansas isn't messing around

The last standing one-seed Kansas looked dominant in their Final Four victory over two-seed Villanova on Saturday.

The team's top-scorers Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack will hope to have a repeat performance as the team chases its fourth national championship, and first appearance since losing to Kentucky in 2012.

Kansas has played in 10 national title games. But it hasn't won a national championship since head coach Bill Self led the team to a 75-68 overtime win over Memphis in 2008.

This will be the fifth time both UNC and Kansas have faced off in either a national championship or a Final Four game. The first time was in 1957 when the two went to triple overtime in the Final Four, with North Carolina coming out on top 57-56.

UNC is coming off an epic win

Speaking of North Carolina, how about that epic Duke vs UNC game over the weekend?

Although the matchup was the 257th meeting between the two teams, it was the first ever in the NCAA tournament leading many to dub the game 'The First Dance.'

Tar Heels fans were surely dancing through Chapel Hill as the eighth-seeded UNC spoiled a storybook ending for legendary Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, not once, but twice this year. Not only did UNC beat Duke in Coach K's final home game but they've now knocked his team out of the tournament.

Krzyzewski announced that this would be his final season as head coach, ending a storied 47-year career.

Although UNC defeating Duke in Coach K's final home game turned some heads, how many could have predicted this run to the national championship in Tar Heel's head coach Hubert Davis' first season at the helm?

He becomes only the fifth head coach to ever take his team to a title game in a first season.

Davis will hope to keep the team's improbable run going as they chase the school's seventh NCAA championship, having last won it all in 2017.

In order to lift the trophy tonight, the Tar Heels will look for repeat performances from Caleb Love and Armando Bacot. Love's clutch three-pointer with 24 seconds left in the game, and subsequent free-throws, all but sealed it for UNC — sending them to the national championship.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jeff Dean
Jeff Dean is the 2021 Military Veterans in Journalism intern for NPR reporting for the Business Desk and Newsdesk teams.