NEW ORLEANS — The Kansas Jayhawks got the 2022 Final Four off to a smoking start on Saturday night, going 10-0 up and keeping the Villanova Wildcats at bay in an 81-65 win at Caesars Superdome. The win puts KU in Monday night’s title game for the first time since 2012, with a chance to lift the NCAA trophy for the first time since defeating Memphis for the 2008 championship.
The competition provided a prelude to Saturday’s highly anticipated second matchup between the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels — the first NCAA tournament meeting between Tobacco Road rivals and the possible final act for Duke head coach and Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski on the final weekend of his legendary college basketball career.
ESPN’s team of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Joe Lunardi discussed what went right for Kansas on Saturday, what went wrong for Villanova and the implications of Kansas’ victory over an ACC school in Monday night’s finals would have.
What was the key to Kansas beating Villanova?
Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack: the Jayhawks’ star and their season-long (career-long?) X-factor.
Agbaji bounced back from a brief slump in the second half of the Elite Eight win over Miami and that momentum continued on Saturday night. He came firing out of the gates, hitting two 3s in the first three minutes and going 4-on-4 from the deep for the first more than eight minutes. Collin Gillespie, who joined him, slowed Agbaji down a bit towards the end of the first half but two more game-changing 3s to keep Villanova at bay in the second half were huge.
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McCormack was always key against Villanova. The Wildcats just didn’t have the size to handle him, so it all came down to whether he could stay out of bad trouble, stay grounded and be effective. And it wasn’t long before Kansas announced its intentions. The Jayhawks put McCormack into the post early and often; He scored two baskets in the first two minutes and touched almost every possession. He had 13 points in the first 11 minutes. When Villanova started causing some problems for Kansas defensively by attacking McCormack with smaller players, the big man responded by going to work at the other end. Agbaji and McCormack finished with 46 points combined. – Borcello
What surprised you most about the Jayhawks’ performance?
If you could tell KU fans in November that the hero of their national semifinals would be McCormack, they would be more than surprised. Stunned is perhaps a better word. There was long debate all season about whether the Jayhawks should go small. For one night, at least, McCormack really went big on Villanova. The surprise within the surprise was that it was about to start. The opening minutes of the game were a blizzard of Agbaji 3s and post feeds for McCormack, which was just too much for the Wildcats. The poster dunk with 25 points on 10 of 12 shooting – it all added up to a great performance. – gas path
How does Kansas fit in with Duke and North Carolina?
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Not surprisingly, the Jayhawks are probably a better match for North Carolina than they are for Duke. Part of that comes from Mark Williams defensive dominance around the perimeter for the Blue Devils. He’s capable of neutralizing McCormack on his own — and given how well McCormack has played in Kansas’ wins over the past few seasons, that would pose a problem for the Jayhawks. Duke is also vulnerable to teams who can pull Williams out of the basket and force the Blue Devils to protect themselves in space for extended stretches.
Personnel-wise, the Jayhawks have seen big men in the Depression with McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot going after North Carolina’s Armando Bacot. You’ve got Jalen Wilson, who’s tall enough and versatile enough to take on Brady Manek on the pick-and-pops that North Carolina loves to run. However, I think the aggressiveness of the tar heels on the wings with Caleb Love and Leaky Black Agbaji and Christian Braun could cause problems. None of this is to say that Kansas can’t beat Duke. It’s just potentially a tougher matchup than North Carolina. – Borcello
What will be the legacy of this Villanova team?
The Wildcats continue to demonstrate the rarity of basketball excellence without great football. Villanova and Gonzaga are the only truly elite programs in this category.
Regardless of that Final Four result, the legacy of Jay Wright and the Wildcats is safe. In what was arguably the smallest team of his four to reach the national semifinals, Wright did another masterful job by winning the Big East tournament and the NCAA South Regional.
The 2021-22 Cats should and will be celebrated among the most popular teams in program history. And if they do build a statue for Wright one day, Gillespie will join Scottie Reynolds, Ryan Arcidiacono and Jalen Brunson as the coach’s personal Mount Rushmore. – Lunardi
What would be the historic implications of a win in Kansas Monday night?
Bill Self did whatever he had to do in Kansas, but knows that the lone national championship in 2008, with 15 Big 12 titles and a staggering nine NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds, doesn’t compare. The cutting of the nets in New Orleans permanently changes that narrative.
The list of multiple NCAA championship coaches is short. And a fourth trophy for the Kansas program would place the Jayhawks behind just five other schools on the all-time list, one of which — North Carolina (6) or Duke (5) — would be their victim on Monday.
It says here the Jayhawks are due. They were the best team in the country two years ago when COVID-19 wiped out their tournament chances and they could very well be the best remaining team in 2022. – Lunardi