Final thoughts
It was the result many predicted, with Kansas taking advantage of a winded and banged-up North Carolina team to win a championship. It’s just that it took a very peculiar path to get there. The results? An incredible game, featuring a historic comeback, to put a bow on a particularly entertaining NCAA men’s tournament.
This takes us to the end of today’s liveblog. Thanks to everybody who followed along with the Guardian’s live college basketball coverage over the last two days! Be sure to stick with us in the upcoming days as we wrap up the NCAA tournament. Ciao!
Ochai Agbaji is named most outstanding player. It’s now officially net-cutting time in New Orleans!
Self deflects any talk of winning a second championship as a head coach, saying that what matters is that the Kansas men’s program has now won four. That is the correct answer in college sports-ese.
Trophy presentation time! Bill Self gets the first crack at holding it up. They ask him what exactly he said at halftime.
In summary, basically he just told his team that it was still early and they still had 20 minutes left.
There hasn’t been an obvious player of the game, but I think David McCormack, with his 15 points and 10 rebounds, has a solid case.
I’m not a big on using graphs as a narrative storytelling device, but I’ll be darned if this isn’t the tale of the game.
Kansas wins the men’s N.C.A.A. Championship. https://t.co/fdTpWQl0MA pic.twitter.com/p5f3f0tjaR
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) April 5, 2022
As per usual whenever a team wins a championship, we’re going to stay right here for all the postgame celebrations.
I am, however, going to shut off the television the second “One Shining Moment” starts playing. It’s my own March Madness tradition: avoiding the heck out of that song.
It’s difficult not to feel for North Carolina here. They had to have thought they had wrapped this up during halftime but, well, they finally did run out of gas.
They’ll always have the Coach K Retirement game, however.
Kansas wins the championship!
The Kansas Jayhawks have pulled off the biggest comeback in NCAA men’s basketball championship game history! What an ending!
North Carolina 69-72 Kansas, FINAL
North Carolina 69-72 Kansas, FINAL
Caleb Love’s three-point attempt is...
OFF! WELL OFF! KANSAS SURVIVES!
North Carolina takes a timeout with their entire season on the line. Who would have thought we would have been here circa halftime? The refs add a partial second to the clock, to give North Carolina just a tiny bit more time to pull off a miracle.
UNC 69-72 Kansas, 3.2, second half
North Carolina’s hopes aren’t dead quite yet, but it’s going to take a Kansas turnover and a quick three-pointer just to see overtime.
Oh, wow, Harris runs out of bounds! North Carolina might have a chance here!
UNC 69-72 Kansas, 4.2, second half
Awfulness. Bacot rolls his ankle here in the last minute. Kansas doesn’t take advantage of the numbers mismatch with Bacot down. It’s not a great strategic move, but McCormack hits a jumper anyways that gives Kansas a huge lead. North Carolina can’t score and ultimately throw the ball away.
UNC 69-70 Kansas, 1:21, second half
As expected, the lead doesn’t last for another possession. After a Kansas timeout, McCormack hits a jumper to put Kansas back on top.
UNC 69-68 Kansas, 1:41, second half
Somehow, the action’s getting more frantic. Martin hits a three to put Kansas on top, Love makes a layup to cut the Kansas lead to a single point.
Manek, who has mostly been quiet this half, takes advantage of an empty Kansas possession to land a layup that puts the Tar Heels just barely back on top.
UNC 65-65 Kansas, 2:46, second half
Manek gets back on the line with a chance to tie things up after a Martin foul. He makes them both! Tie game!
UNC 63-65 Kansas, 3:45, second half
McCormack has picked up his fourth foul here. Also, the report on Johnson is that he got hit in the stomach and is winded.
Bacot on the line, he makes his two free throws. Once again a two-point game.
Carolina tired. Shots that were going in during the 1st half are now short.
— Ken Fang -- Get your shots!!!! (@fangsbites) April 5, 2022
I feel like as soon as Davis started dismissing the idea that his team wouldn’t have enough left in the tank to close this out, that’s exactly when this whole thing fell apart.
UNC 61-65 Kansas, 3:49, second half
Something of an icky moment, as Johnson is crouched on the floor and coughing up something. The broadcasters say he’s just winded, which is understandable since he’s been propping up his team’s offense.
On the other end, the hot-handed Remy Martin scores again to extend the Kansas lead to four. Timeout time!
UNC 61-63 Kansas, 4:50, second half
Another Johnson layup makes this a two-point game. Yeah, no one is running away with this one.
UNC 59-63 Kansas, 6:02, second half
Puff Johnson seems to be keeping North Carolina in this game now. He hits a layup but Wilson hits a three for Kansas. The Jayhawks are perfectly happy with that trade.
UNC 57-60 Kansas, 7:20, second half
Lightfoot picked up a fourth foul before our TV timeout. I’m not sure if that will be relevant, since picking up fouls has mostly been his contribution to Kansas’s efforts. North Carolina can’t do anything with their possession, instead Martin breaks the tie with a three-pointer.
I normally wouldn’t say this at 11:00 pm, but I’m totally down for this one heading to overtime. This has gone from a ho-hum potential blowout to a barn burner.
UNC 57-57 Kansas, 8:05, second half
Puffy ties it up with a three! Plus, Kansas gets called for an ill-timed turnover.
UNC 54-57 Kansas, 8:49, second half
McCormack gets to the line and makes one of two free throws making it a three-point game. It feels like this could end up going down to the wire.
UNC 54-56 Kansas, 10:08, second half
Breakdowns come and breakdowns go. What are you going to do about it? That’s what I want to know. North Carolina’s answer? Get the ball to Davis for two quick baskets to cut the Kansas lead to two points.
UNC 50-56 Kansas, 10:08, second half
Remy Martin hits a three-pointer to give the Jayhawks the lead. Then Harris steals the ball and gets it to Wilson to extend the lead. Also, he was fouled by Bacot. He hits another free throw and it’s a six-point lead. A complete and total collapse by North Carolina here.
UNC 50-50 Kansas, 10:53, second half
Agbaji hits a layup, gets fouled and hits the most important free throw of his season to tie up the championship game.
UNC 50-47 Kansas, 11:01, second half
Kansas has the ball and a chance to take the lead. They almost do, in fact, on an Agbaji three that spins out of the basket. On the other end, Puff “Daddy” Johnson dunks to give North Carolina some breathing room.
UNC 48-47 Kansas, 11:36, second half
North Carolina comes out of the timeout with a badly-needed bucket from Caleb Love. In the first half, this would start another Tar Heels run. In this half, Braun just immediately answers with a layup.
We take a TV timeout and the broadcasters are audibly excited that they’re not covering a blowout. I mean, I get it.
I guess, UNC and Kansas traded gameplans at the half? Did they not know that April Fools was three days ago?
UNC 46-45 Kansas, 12:41, second half
Amazing Manek block here, although it’s a bit risky considering his three fouls. McCormack, however, hits a jumper here and improbably this is a one-possession game.
Oh wow, a Harris steal and a Braun layup makes this a one-point game. It’s a virtual tie in New Orleans and the place is going wild!
UNC 46-41 Kansas, 13:41, second half
Bacot gets fouled and goes to the line where he makes one of two free throws. Almost immediately afterward, Black picks up his fourth foul. Agbaji is on the line again and his shots are just not falling: he misses both free throws.
UNC 45-41 Kansas, 14:12, second half
Harris hits a jumper. North Carolina are officially getting into trouble here.
UNC 45-39 Kansas, 14:28, second half
Leaky Black fouls Agbaji from beyond the three-point line. He only makes one of three, but it cuts the UNC lead to six. The Tar Heels need to get back into an offensive rhythm here or they are going to get into trouble.
UNC 45-38 Kansas, 14:50, second half
Manek was called for a foul on that Wilson layup, his third, so Wilson is at the line where he makes his free throw to cut the North Carolina lead to seven. Whatever Self said in halftime seems to have been effective, Kansas is playing at a different level.
UNC 45-37 Kansas, 15:40, second half
Love hits a jumper for UNC, Braun responds with a layup. Jalen Wilson then gets in on the action for Kansas and it’s now just an eight-point Tar Heels lead. This is a game once more! Time for another TV timeout.
UNC 43-31 Kansas, 16:28, second half
A goaltending call gives two points to Kansas, and now the lead is just ten points.
UNC 43-31 Kansas, 17:23, second half
And another Braun layup! They have a chance to cut this into single-digits… until they don’t after a Love three-pointer.
UNC 40-29 Kansas, 18:14, second half
McCormack picks up his third foul, which could be significant as the game goes on. Braun makes a layup to start cutting into the Tar Heel lead.
UNC 40-27 Kansas, 18:37, second half
McCormack with a dunk to start the second half scoring. Kansas very much needed that.
Second half begins
UNC 40-25 Kansas, 19:32, second half
North Carolina has the ball to start the second half. Kansas manages to keep them from scoring on the opening possession, which is a start.
Given the context, this is an all-time sporting event sign.
One of the North Carolina fans is holding up a "Birds Aren't Real" sign against the Jayhawks and I must admit: the joke good. The joke good here. pic.twitter.com/Byqjx6T85O
— Brock Wilbur (@brockwilbur) April 5, 2022
Okay here’s a question that I cannot answer as someone whose expertise is in the pro game: would this be the greatest season in North Carolina men’s basketball history? I feel like it would be if this score holds up.
For the record, this is going to take the biggest comeback in championship game history for Kansas to foil UNC’s plans.
The halftime guys are emphasizing the physicality of North Carolina. They’re basically bullying Kansas while also winning the battle of free throw attempts (16 over Kansas’s four). That’s a recipe to win games.
Meanwhile, even on one and a half feet, Bacot has still managed a double-double in the first half and leads all scorers with 12 points. Imagine if he were fully healthy.
So, let’s look at Kansas. They say everybody has a plan before they get hit in the mouth, and Kansas has been in the mouth over and over and over again.
So, what can the Jayhawks do in the second half to get back into this game? You know what: that’s Bill Self’s job and entirely above my pay grade. I suggest starting with, scoring more often and then coming up with stops, but without putting North Carolina on the line.
Basically: they just have to be better at literally every part of the game to have a shot at mounting a comeback here.
It appears that this is my fault. Davis calls out those of us who thought that North Carolina would be satisfied with beating Duke.
He points out that it’s utterly absurd to think that his team would not be eager to win a championship. I’ll admit, given the domination we just witnessed, it does sound a little silly.
Halftime!
UNC 40-25 Kansas, end of the first half
Davis takes out some of his starters at the end of the half to avoid them picking up meaningless fouls. Kansas does finally get a field goal, an Agbaji jumper, but Puff Johnson answers for North Carolina, who take a 15 point lead into halftime.
UNC 38-23 Kansas, :59, first half
It’s now been over four minutes since the Jayhawks have hit a field goal. This is astounding. They at least play a solid defensive clinic in forcing a hopeless UNC three-point attempt, but it doesn’t really matter since they once again can’t put the ball in the basket. North Carolina takes a timeout.
UNC 38-23 Kansas, 2:11, first half
Hey, Kansas scores! It’s just a single Agbaji free throw, but it’s a start.
UNC 38-22 Kansas, 2:23, first half
Another Kansas turnover. It takes all of Kansas’s defensive energy to keep the Tar Heels from scoring and still it just ends with two more Bacot free throws after another foul call goes against the Jayhawks.
UNC 34-22 Kansas, 2:40, first half
We return to action and immediately get a “Manek Monday” pun from the booth. That’s bad even by my standards (and I adore bad puns).
North Carolina continues to have their way with the Kansas defense. Bacot and Davis make layups to make it a 14-0 Tar Heels run. Kansas calls another timeout.
UNC 32-22 Kansas, 3:46, first half
More North Carolina free throws. Kansas is just completely undisciplined right now, surprisingly. Davis was fouled beyond the arc by McCormack and he makes all three. Another TV timeout. So much for my theory that the Tar Heels wouldn’t have anything in the tank.
UNC 29-22 Kansas, 4:17, first half
Kansas pick up another foul, it’s the third on Lightfoot. Bacot goes to the line, missing the first free throw but getting a fortunate bounce on the second.
I just ran through my own apartment wall after that Hubert Davis interview. And I’d do it again.
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) April 5, 2022
He’s a persuasive coach and he clearly has a team that listens to him.
UNC 28-22 Kansas, 5:05, first half
Kansas gets a huge fast break where Wilson rebounds a Dajuan Harris Jr miss and tips it in. No matter, Manek simply hits back-to-back three pointers to force Kansas to take a timeout to regroup. What a dramatic first half turnaround.
UNC 22-18 Kansas, 6:36, first half
Tar Heels are on an 8-0 run. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Manek got hit in the head once again. Also not great news, McCormack promptly ends the NC run with a layup.
Hubert Davis is on the sidelines and he’s almost lost his voice. Which is understandable.
UNC 22-18 Kansas, 7:53, first half
Davis hits a very long two before another TV timeout. Kansas has to realize now that this is not going to be as easy as the Villanova game. This UNC team took their best shot and responded in kind.
UNC 20-18 Kansas, 8:36, first half
Lightfoot picks up a second foul that puts Bacot on the line with a chance to untie it, which he does by making both of his freebies.
UNC 18-18 Kansas, 9:04, first half
Back-to-back buckets from North Carolina courtesy of Davis and Love! We have a tied game!
UNC 14-18 Kansas, 10:28, first half
Christian Braun was called for a foul that puts Davis on the free throw line. Davis, nigh-automatic at the line, gets both to make it a one-point game.
Briefly.
Kansas’s Remy Martin immediately hits a three-pointer to increase the distance between the two teams.
We’re at an official TV timeout which gives me a chance to remark that I find it amusing that the announcers have to pause calling the game to promote something called, “Rat in the Kitchen.”
UNC 12-15 Kansas, 10:45, first half
After a scoreless back-and-forth, Mitch Lightfoot (who is now in the game) makes a basket for Kansas.
UNC 12-13 Kansas, 12:04, first half
Christian Braun with a layup gives Kansas the lead. A massive Agbaji block then gives them the ball right back, but they can’t convert.
UNC 12-11 Kansas, 13:30, first half
Davis misses a three but Bacot gets a layup on the miss and an “and one” at the line to give North Carolina their first lead on an old fashioned three point play.
UNC 9-11 Kansas, 14:06, first half
McCormack fouls Caleb Love, who started out cold, and he hits both of his free throws to make this a one-possession game.
UNC 7-11 Kansas, 14:06, first half
Okay, the Tar Heels are starting to chip into the lead as the wonderfully named Leaky Black hits a layup following a Bacot pass.
UNC 5-11 Kansas, 15:35, first half
Bacot hits a jumper, which UNC desperately needed but it’s immediately answered on the other end with an Agbaji layup.
UNC 3-9 Kansas, 15:56, first half
We hit the TV timeout. Science Teacher Roommate says that Manek looked concussed after that hit from McCormack. I’m not sure he should still be playing.
UNC 3-9 Kansas, 16:54, first half
David McCormack makes a jumper to increase the Kansas lead. Then things get worse for North Carolina as Manek gets hit at the head and he doesn’t look like he’s mentally recovered. It’s called a legal basketball play.
UNC 3-7 Kansas, 18:30, first half
This is pretty much how Kansas started against Villanova, which is an extremely bad omen for NC. The Tar Heels do finally get their first shot off, a three-pointer courtesy of Manek.
UNC 0-7 Kansas, 18:30, first half
David McCormack hits a jumper and the Jayhawks go on an 0-5 lead. North Carolina can’t answer. Brady Manek, in fact, fouls Jalen Wilson who drains two free throws.
Opening tip
UNC 0-3 Kansas, 19:46, first half
Kansas strikes first! Ochai Agbaji makes a three-pointer and our game has officially begun.
We’re almost to Opening Tip. This has been the longest build-up to a college basketball game I can ever remember. It’s brutal here on the East Coast.
The teams are being announced now. It’s immediately obvious by his gait that Bacot’s ankle is definitely going to be an issue here.
University of Kansas Starting Lineup
Christian Braun, G
DeJuan Harris Jr, G
Jalen Wilson, F
Ochai Agbaji, G
David McCormack, F
National anthem
Tarriona ‘Tank” Ball and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band do an astounding swing version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Amazing, excellent, wonderful. The best version I’ve heard in my decade of liveblogging. 10/10. Have them play this arrangement every championship game.
University of North Carolina Starting Lineup
RJ Davis, G
Caleb Love, G
Leaky Black, F
Brady Manek, F
Armando Bacot, C/F
Bacot is not “100%” thanks to the ankle injury he suffered on Saturday, according to broadcasters.
Alright, the actual broadcast is now beginning. We already have one bad pun on “The Big Easy” since the game is being played in New Orleans. I will let you imagine what it was.
I’m going to point out that the men’s championship game gets an entire evening of its own and the women’s championship game had to compete with the Grammys and the second night of Wrestlemania. Just an observation, I’m not drawing any conclusions on that.
In fact, we’re finally at the end of two hours of pregame chatter before the men’s championship game which is... I mean, if you thought that this liveblog sometimes gets caught biding time before the start of games, imagine watching that for all two hours.
Predictions
As usual, I think I already gave away my prediction in the preamble. In a tournament where all the other top seeds faltered (it was another bad year to be The Guy Who Always Picks Gonzaga), Kansas has not blinked once. They’re a better team than North Carolina, who almost certainly are still recovering from their win over Duke.
I think this is going to be a double-digit North Carolina loss and I honestly think that they’d take that win over the Blue Devils over a mere championship. There’s always another chance to win a title. (Also, a Kansas win is my last hope at salvaging my predictions, but that’s besides the point.)
I could be wrong. Goodness knows I have been in the past. Send us your predictions either to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com or tweet them at @HunterFelt.
Women’s Tournament
I’m not going to go into detail about South Carolina’s wire-to-wire win over UConn, especially since we were just here going through it moment-by-moment no less that 24 hours ago (feel free to relive the game here).
I will say this: South Carolina’s Dawn Staley has established herself as one of the premiere basketball coaches currently working today anywhere. Keep an eye on her career.
Watching the pregame coverage on TBS, I will forever find it amusing that they hire Charles Barkley for their most important college basketball games despite the fact that he is so clearly mainly a NBA guy.
Then again, I guess I am also mainly a NBA guy so maybe I am throwing stones in the glassiest of houses.
OH GOD WE HAVE AN IMAGINE DRAGONS PERFORMANCE. WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS?
Preamble
Let’s be honest: it feels like we’ve just watched the men’s championship game. For once, a big game lived up to its hype, as North Carolina won a wild back-and-forth game against arch-rival Duke, sending legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski into early retirement. If today’s game between UNC and Kansas is half as good, we’re in for a treat.
In a very real sense, North Carolina is playing with house money. This will go down as one of the greatest seasons in school history even if they get absolutely crushed by Kansas today. Yet, much like the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” where the US men’s hockey team still had to beat Finland to win the gold medal, there’s still one more game for the North Carolina Tar Heels to win if they want to capture the actual championship.
It’s going to be tough. Hubert Davis, who succeeded the legendary Roy Williams as North Carolina’s head coach, now has to face the legendary Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks. (Yes, there are a lot of legendary coaches in college basketball, it’s a side product of the fact that they keep getting older while the players stay the same age.) If he can somehow take his eighth-seeded squad and pull out a victory of the only No 1 that made it to the Final Four, he will already have established himself as a minor deity in Chapel Hill in the span of a year.
He’s going to have a devil of a time, even with such players as Caleb Love and big man Armando Bacot (who will be playing hurt with an ankle injury). While it took the Tar Heels everything they had to survive and advance in what will go down as one of the most-watched college basketball games in history, the Jayhawks just quietly and methodically took care of business. The Jayhawks beat No 2 Villanova 81-65 and the Wildcats barely even made a game out of it.
So, can North Carolina ride the momentum of their momentous win, or did the team empty its tank on its road to the championship game? Common sense tells us that it’s probably the latter, but sometimes the Sports Gods don’t give a bleep about the most likely result.
So, let’s see how this all shakes out over the course of the next few hours. As always, we will share your thoughts throughout today’s game. Send us your questions, comments and whatnot via email to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com or tweet them out to @HunterFelt. It’s the North Carolina Tar Heels vs the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game at Caesars Superdome! The opening tip is scheduled at 9:20 pm EST, but we’ll be back well before then!
Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how the women’s tournament ended on Sunday night:
Dawn Staley and South Carolina buttoned up on defense and won their second national championship, stifling UConn for a 64-49 victory on Sunday night that ended the Huskies’ undefeated streak in title games.
Destanni Henderson scored a career-high 26 points, Aliyah Boston added 11 points and 16 rebounds, and the Gamecocks handed Geno Auriemma’s Huskies their first loss in 12 NCAA title games.
With Staley calling the shots, South Carolina took UConn to school on the boards and capped a wire-to-wire run as the No 1 team in the country in The Associated Press poll. The Gamecocks also won the championship in 2017 with A’ja Wilson leading the way.
This time it was Boston, the AP Player of the Year, and her fellow South Carolina post players who dominated on the game’s biggest stage. The Gamecocks outrebounded UConn by 25, including a 21-6 advantage on offensive boards. They also clamped down on star Paige Bueckers and the Huskies on defense, just like they did all season long.
It was South Carolina’s night from the start. The Gamecocks (35-2) jumped out to an 11-2 lead, grabbing nearly every rebound on both ends of the court. They led 22-8 after one quarter much to the delight of their faithful fans, who made the trip to Minneapolis to be part of the sellout crowd.
UConn (30-6) trailed by 16 in the second quarter before Bueckers, a Minnesota native, got going. After having just one shot in the first quarter, she scored nine points in the second to get the Huskies within 35-27 at the half. She finished with 14.
An 8-2 run to start the third quarter put South Carolina up 43-29 before the Huskies finally started connecting from behind the arc. UConn missed their first eight three-point attempts until Caroline Ducharme made one from the wing and Evina Westbrook followed with another to get the Huskies within 43-37.
That’s as close as they could get because of Henderson.
The senior guard had a three-point play to close the third quarter and then had the team’s first four points in the fourth to restore the double-digit lead, and the Huskies couldn’t recover.
This was UConn’s first trip to the championship game since 2016, when the Huskies won the last of four straight titles. Since then, the team have suffered heartbreaking defeats in the national semifinals, losing twice in overtime, before holding off Stanford on Friday night. The Huskies were trying to win their 12th title in the same city they won their first one in 1995.
Auriemma said on Saturday that when his team had won each of their 11 titles, the Huskies entered the game as the better team. They certainly weren’t on Sunday.
It had been one of the most challenging seasons of Auriemma’s Hall of Fame career. UConn overcame losing eight players for at least two games with injury or illness, including Bueckers, who missed nearly three months with a knee injury. She came back in late February but wasn’t at the same level that earned her AP Player of the Year as a freshman last season.
