NCAA Men's Tournament: Blue bloods cruise to Final Four
By Andy Katz
FOX Sports College Basketball Analyst
Well, after a month of Madness, the Final Four features four blue bloods.
And yes, Villanova is a blue blood. If you want to get into the semantics of new versus old blue blood, you can. But all I know is Villanova has won two titles in the past five NCAA tournaments.
Kansas, North Carolina and Duke don’t have to defend their preseason reputations.
The Jayhawks are the only No. 1 seed remaining, but Duke and Nova were No. 2 seeds, and Carolina was seeded eighth based on its record — not its talent.
Now, the Tar Heels are playing to their talent.
Oh, and this just happens to be Mike Krzyzewski’s swan song, and all he has done is get Duke within two wins of ending his 42-year run with his sixth national title after earning a record 13th Final Four appearance, breaking a tie with John Wooden.
Coach K is already the greatest of all time, and he just might go out with the most historic, amazing exit of any head coach in the modern era.
Final Four: Duke, North Carolina to face off in NCAA Tournament for first time
Let’s look back at the second weekend of the NCAA Men’s Tournament.
Best game: Duke 78, Texas Tech 73. The Blue Devils trailed 33-29 at the half before finding a second gear late in the game. This game was physical and delivered on late-game drama. Paolo Banchero was sensational, with three 3s and 22 points. Mark Williams used his size, strength and overall presence to disrupt the Red Raiders with 16 points, eight boards and three blocks. But the difference was the play of Jeremy Roach, who was the leader the Blue Devils needed at the point, with 15 points and five assists.
Best individual performance: Caleb Love, North Carolina. Love went off for 30 points in the Tar Heels’ 73-66 win over UCLA in the Sweet 16. He had a bit of an erratic season and tournament, scoring only six in the overtime win against Baylor in the second round. But Love was the difference for the Tar Heels against UCLA, adding four assists with just one turnover. North Carolina needed Love to beat the Bruins' perimeter.
Best interview/soundbite: Doug Edert, Saint Peter’s. Edert stood on the scorer’s table in Philadelphia after the Peacocks upset Purdue. In the postgame, the mustached Edert said rather calmly, "Well, we’re happy. We’re happy, but don’t mistake, we’re not satisfied. We’re not satisfied at all." The Peacocks' guard didn’t hold back in his confidence.
Best storyline: Coach K’s pursuit of his sixth national title and 13th Final Four in his final season as head coach. Sure, the easy answer would be the Saint Peter’s run to the Elite Eight, but Coach K has captivated the nation. After Duke lost to North Carolina in the final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and then fell badly to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament title game, it looked like Coach K wasn’t going to get a proper NCAA Tournament exit. Instead, his team survived a challenge from Michigan State in the second round, handled the physicality of Texas Tech and then ran away from Arkansas to get to his record-setting 13th Final Four.
Duke advances to Elite Eight
Best play: The dagger from Caleb Love. Love hit a 3-pointer with 1:06 left to snap a 64-64 tie and give the Tar Heels a three-point lead and ultimately a Sweet 16 victory over UCLA.
Best moment: It was incredibly sad for Justin Moore and Villanova, but the friendship and empathy shown by the entire Wildcats team toward Moore was the moment of the Elite Eight/Sweet 16 weekend. Moore went down with an injury that was determined Sunday to be a tear in his right Achilles tendon. He scored eight points in 37 minutes.
On Sunday, coach Jay Wright said in a statement, "This is a tough blow for all of us — not just because of the great player Justin is but because of what he means to us as teammates and coaches. As one of our captains, Justin has been an integral part of our success. He helps our team in so many ways. Every game, he guards the opponent’s best scorer and is one of the toughest rebounding guards we have had in our time at Villanova. Justin’s work ethic and dedication will help bring him through this recovery, and we look forward to the day where we see him back on the court fully healthy."
Biggest surprise: Saint Peter’s. The Peacocks’ 67-64 win over Purdue in the Sweet 16 will go down as one of the most stunning upsets of this tournament — maybe even more so than the 15th-seeded Peacocks' win over No. 2 Kentucky in the first round. Purdue had five days to prepare for Saint Peter’s and still wasn’t able to take advantage of their post dominance, playing into the Peacocks’ perimeter pressure.
Best coaching job: Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K, the Hall of Fame legend, did a marvelous job getting the Blue Devils reset for their Final Four run. Roach was reinvigorated as the lead guard, Banchero assumed his role as a go-to scorer, Williams’ defensive prowess was empowered, and the switching defenses were all key to Duke’s advancement. Coach K's motivating and pushing the right buttons with this crew after losing two key late games are the real reasons Duke is in New Orleans.
What went wrong in Purdue's loss to Saint Peter's
Biggest disappointment: Purdue. The East bracket opened up for the Boilermakers after No. 1 Baylor lost to North Carolina and No. 2 Kentucky fell to Saint Peter’s. Purdue had already beaten North Carolina earlier in the season — and taken the Tar Heels down handily — so the assumption would have been that the Boilermakers could have advanced from the Elite Eight. And a matchup against UCLA should have favored Purdue, but Jaden Ivey’s nine points, Purdue’s overall 5-of-21 outing on 3s and the Peacocks going 19-of-21 at the line were all contributors to the shocking loss.
Final Four sneak peek: The chaos of the early rounds led to a blue blood Final Four. Never before has there been a Duke-North Carolina NCAA Tournament matchup, let alone in the Final Four. The two teams split games during the regular season, winning on each other’s home court. Yet they are both playing their best basketball of the season at the right time. The matchups on the perimeter, with Jeremy Roach and Wendell Moore Jr. against RJ Davis and Caleb Love, will be delightful, as will Paolo Banchero and Mark Williams against Brady Manek and Armando Bacot. North Carolina has a chance to keep Coach K from a historic moment for the second time and could end his quest for his fifth national title.
Kansas and Villanova met in 2018, and the Wildcats crushed the Jayhawks in the semifinal 95-79. This should be a different outcome, with Kansas the favorite behind Naismith candidate Ochai Agbaji and a reenergized Remy Martin. The Wildcats have the Big East player of the year in Collin Gillespie but will be without Moore.
Coach K is seeking his fifth title, Jay Wright his third, Bill Self his second and Hubert Davis his first. This was the best outcome that could have come from a chaotic tournament.
Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball writer, analyst and host. He can be seen on FOX Sports and Big Ten Network platforms, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast "March Madness 365." Katz worked at ESPN for nearly two decades and, prior to that, in newspapers for nine years.
