The 2022 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball National Championship is here! I will be breaking down the 2 teams’ journeys to this spot, and make predictions for the game. Let’s start out with the first team, the Kansas Jayhawks.
The Jayhawks were the top seed in the Midwest Region. In the 1st round they slaughtered Texas Southern 83-56. In round 2 they defeated Creighton 79-72. In the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, they beat Providence and Miami (FL), respectively , and then last night they beat Villanova (my favorite team) 81-65 to reach the National Championship against…..the North Carolina Tar Heels.
North Carolina was the #8 seed in the East Region. They defeated Marquette 95-63 in Round 1, shocked the reigning champion Baylor 93-86 in overtime in Round 2, knocked out UCLA 73-66 in the Sweet 16, ended the Cinderella story of Saint Peter’s in the Elite Eight, and then defeated archrival Duke 81-77 in the Final Four, and ended the career of legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Now here we go. This is going to be pretty tough to predict because Kansas is a #1 seed, and you should never count out those. But on the other hand, North Carolina has shocked people all tournament long. UNC coach Hubert Davis is a first-year coach and had some very tough shoes to fill, because their previous coach was the legendary Roy Williams. However, Kansas’s coach has coached for a long time and his name is Bill Self. Self has 4 Final 4 appearances and led the Jayhawks to the national title in 2008. And for those reasons, I will pick Kansas to win 83-75.
I am really hoping my predictions are right. I will have an article out about this game and the Women’s National Championship. But that will have to wait.
