Final Four

David McCormack muscled his way to 25 points, Ochai Agbaji was nearly perfect from the field and added 21 points, and hot-shooting Kansas raced to a big ...

... Gillespie and Slater were 9 of 15 from beyond the arc; the rest of the Wildcats were 4 of 16. Kansas allowed the Wildcats to build a big early lead that night before its comeback bid fell short. That includes the triple-overtime 1957 title game won by the Tar Heels in Kansas City, Missouri. And we were just talking about dig, scrap and claw and try to steal it in the end.” And with the exception of defending the arc, I thought that we just played terrific.” And when the Wildcats made one last run, getting a three-point play from Samuels to close within 64-58 with just over 6 minutes left, McCormack and Braun answered again. “You knew Villanova would make a run and we just kind of held on and responded,” Self said, “but I thought we played great. The Jayhawks still led 50-34 early in the second half when Wright went to a smaller lineup and ramped up the pressure on defense. And they twice picked the pocket of Gillespie, a two-time Big East player of the year, leading to easy baskets and a 10-0 lead before some of the 70,000-plus fans had even found their seats. The Jayhawks earned a trip back to the national championship Saturday night with a shooting performance that will go down in history. Samuels finished with 13 points in the final game of his career. Playing without injured guard Justin Moore, the Wildcats (30-8) watched as Kansas scored the game’s first 10 points and eventually built a 19-point cushion Saturday night.

A closer look at the two Final Four games on Saturday's NCAA Tournament slate.

Maybe Caleb Daniels steps up for Nova and Jay Wright rides five or six guys for 35+ minutes with success, but I'm skeptical the injury doesn't tilt this one heavily in favor of the Jayhawks. Pick: Kansas -4.5 However, it may just be this simple: Villanova, already thin on depth, is even more razor-thin after losing second-leading scorer and minutes leader Justin Moore to an Achilles injury in the Elite Eight. KU has the depth advantage, and it's pretty close to a draw in terms of talent. TBS, March Madness Live: It's impossible to boil down any matchup to one specific injury or facet of the game ... in most cases. Likely to be a close one -- almost certainly will be a close one -- but Blue Devils by a field goal feels like the number. TBS, March Madness Live: Duke and North Carolina split the regular-season series, but UNC played spoiler in its win beyond winning on Duke's home court. And yet ... our experts are close to a consensus on who will advance into Monday's national championship game.

Mike Krzyzewski and Duke have long been synonymous with major moments in college basketball. Even in defeat, Coach K's exit produced one more colossal, ...

Duke was the betting favorite to leave New Orleans with the title but got outplayed in the final 90 seconds. The locker rooms of Duke and UNC were awkwardly positioned across the hall from each other in the arena tunnels. Colangelo's desire for his friend to go out on top mimicked the common sentiment around the country, as Krzyzewski potentially winning his last dance provided the type of red meat storyline that would have given Monday night the billing as one of the most anticipated NCAA title games in history. There was a distinct sense of a golden opportunity lost, as Duke had the game's most talented player (Banchero), a superior roster and was favored by four points. This last appearance in the arena included the type of scenes that accompany uncomfortable exits from big stages. It was a seemingly well-intentioned plan, as the specter of retirement loomed larger than any story in college basketball this season, perhaps in this generation. After 1,202 wins, 13 Final Fours and a career that redefined the bounds of coaching success in college basketball, Krzyzewski's career ended amid a frenzied loss in a storied game against his bitter rival. But, damn, I was in the arena for a long time. And when you're in the arena, you're either going to come out feeling great or you're going to feel agony, but you always will feel great about being in the arena. On Saturday night, Krzyzewski's career hung in the balance through a Dramamine-inducing 12 ties, 18 lead changes and a seven-point second-half Duke lead that it ultimately squandered. That moment unfolded in front of a Final Four mural painted on the wall that provided the backdrop of both the scene and the night for Duke and Krzyzewski: The Road Ends Here. The looming history, stakes and tension from Duke bowing to rival North Carolina 81-77 all converged for one of the most compelling showcases the sport has ever seen.

He displayed no emotion when he shook the hand of North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis. Nor when Duke fans in the stands applauded reverentially and shouted “ ...

Yahoo Sports' Krysten peek recaps the Jayhawks' win over the Wildcats in the Final Four, making their first national championship game appearance since 2012.

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North Carolina's twitter account said goodbye to Mike Krzyzewski with a short and sweet message.

For Krzyzewski, despite this run being over, he is proud of how Duke fought to the end. Love finished with 28 points in the game to lead all scorers, including North Carolina’s final six points. After a week of hype, North Carolina vs.

The Tar Heels end Mike Krzyzewski's career and advance to the national championship game.

(North Carolina, 73-71.) At 1:20, Moore made a three from the top. (North Carolina, 69-68.) At 2:07, Keels drained a three from the left. They passed that too, and when Wendell Moore Jr. got a steal and a galloping layup for a 51-49 lead, the game went into a phase of frantic wonder. (Duke, 71-70.) At 1:41, Manek stuck a three from the left with a hand in his face. Love, returning to the shooting semiconsciousness that makes him alluring, launched a three from the right of the top that nudged in. The people of a mad land had paid large sums to travel here and see missed shots, with the sums a factor in the misses. He sent a three from the left that drained in. Banchero missed twice inside, and Manek went to the right corner to turn around a make a three that looked sure-thing from release. By the time it finally started amid the kind of noise that makes neck hairs salute, it had become the game in which each shot seemed bigger than a shot, each rebound seemed an achievement and each turnover seemed totally understandable. There will always be the fact that Krzyzewski’s farewell tour ended with a grown-up No. 8 seed North Carolina (29-9) felling Duke (32-7) to reach a most unlikely national title game with Kansas. They saw North Carolina inch ahead from a 67-67 tie with 4:36 left to snare a game bloated with bigness, a game of excess in a city of excess, a game that doubled as an excuse to wet one’s shorts. It will carry the sound of 70,602 in the Superdome, where winning sometimes seemed less paramount than not losing, and it will end every time with the eternal Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski walking off one last time after an 81-77 loss to the bitterest rival.

Villanova plays Kansas for a spot in the N.C.A.A. tournament championship game (6:09 p.m. Eastern, TBS). The winner will play the victor of a rivalry game ...

“It was all about putting it together.” It’s something that I’ll definitely remember forever. North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis could become the first coach to win a national championship in his first season as a head coach.

NEW ORLEANS — North Carolina has won six national championships and reached more Final Fours than any program in college basketball.

“Our program, without question, it’s one of the top programs in the country,” Kansas coach Bill Self said, “and nobody can debate that at all. “A blueblood is a really successful program that was built from the ground up,” the Wildcats’ Jermaine Samuels said. One of them is Allen Fieldhouse, where Kansas plays on a floor named for the inventor of the game — it doesn’t get much more historic than that. The Tar Heels easily check off every box: Michael Jordan and Tyler Hansbrough were among their many stars on the court, and Frank McGuire, Dean Smith and Roy Williams led them to titles spanning six decades. We try to be the best Villanova we can be. But the three elements that came up most often were history, culture and consistency.

North Carolina will face Duke for the first time in the NCAA tournament as famed Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski hopes to end his career on a high note.

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While a Final Four involving four blue-blood men's teams should spell huge ratings for Turner Sports, there won't be an instant payoff.

Rosenstein suggested Turner Sports and CBS Sports will find a way to collect extra cash from the Final Four bonanza. That’s sort of the hallmark of sports is that you never quite know what will happen, and that’s part of the fun." He said a blockbuster Final Four is part of the larger property, the NCAA Tournament, that helps increase the networks’ value with distributors. Turner Sports declined to provide the estimates it used, but it’s unlikely the network accounted for such marquee Final Four matchups before estimating the ratings it used to negotiate with advertisers. But it’s part of the overall benefit of being involved in sports because you get a Super Bowl that goes down to the last few seconds, you get a great Final Four matchup. Can you expand the postgame for us? So with the value of those 30-second and 60-second spots for commercials now worth significantly more than the original price, Turner Sports has little to sell. “You’re always going to want to over project," said Seth Winter, who has nearly 40 years of advertising sales experience and recently retired as an executive at Fox Sports. “We would call it gapping the ratings. The networks are paying about $1 billion a year for those rights through 2032, and their accountants surely will figure out they left some advertising money on the table this year. Generally speaking, the blue bloods generate bigger ratings and, as a result, make that advertising time more valuable. That play involves multi-year deals with cable distributors and annual deals with more than dozens of advertisers. And you have the Coach K thing.

Bob Fishman is retiring as a director for CBS Sports after this year's Final Four. Kentucky has played in nine Final Fours in his four decades of working ...

Of the 10 shots ranked, five came in the final seconds of overtime. By the time I called him, he had already talked to some of the former guys. “I remember Kentucky was down, like, 10 points at halftime,” he said of UK’s 78-69 victory over Utah in the title game. Tim Chartier, a professor of mathematics and computer science at Davidson, also participated. Other factors included how much time remained and if the score was tied or the shooter’s team trailed. Kentucky has played in nine Final Fours since Fishman became the lead director of CBS’s coverage of college basketball in 1982. Fishman relishes having a camera capture Georgetown coach John Thompson hugging guard Fred Brown after the Hoyas beat Houston in the championship game. “All standing around and watching that and all wishing, oh my God, why didn’t we have that game?” he said. Pitino, (Tom) Izzo and Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski).” He is directing the TBS telecasts of this year’s Final Four games. “My 40th Final Four,” he said. It promised to be remarkable no matter which marquee program — Duke, Kansas, North Carolina or Villanova — wins the championship.

Combined, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova are responsible for 17 NCAA championships, including nine since the turn of the century. It's hard to ...

DUKE Maybe Caleb Daniels steps up for Nova and Jay Wright rides five or six guys for 35+ minutes with success, but I'm skeptical the injury doesn't tilt this one heavily in favor of the Jayhawks. Pick: Kansas -4.5 DUKE DUKE DUKE TBS, March Madness Live: Duke and North Carolina split the regular-season series, but UNC played spoiler in its win beyond winning on Duke's home court.

You know the teams well, but the storylines of Saturday's national semifinals are unlike anything college basketball has seen.

Don't be fooled by the nine-point outing against Miami in a game that Kansas had well in hand for the balance of the second half. But if we can acknowledge that this North Carolina team is not the same team from a month ago, then I also think it's prudent to recognize the same reality for Duke. The current version of the Blue Devils are confident and they know their roles. Medcalf: I think North Carolina's decision to play like the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors in the second half of that game is the simple answer. The Cats somehow won their Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games with an offensive average of 56.5 PPG. I just don't see a scenario in which that is enough to beat the current iteration of Kansas. But give me the biggest brands in the sport, the biggest coaches in the sport, the best players in the sport on the final weekend of the season. In other words, "historic" is a pretty high bar, and, personally, I want to see the game first before I toss that label around. The college basketball history books will say either "Mike Krzyzewski won his last game" or "lost his last game," not that he won his "next to last" game. Medcalf: I think it's one of the top five moments in the history of the sport. Part of the magic of the NCAA tournament is the idea of Cinderella, the potential for anyone to have a chance to cut down the nets on Monday night. Duke and North Carolina have never squared off in the NCAA tournament, with a chapter set for Saturday that will add another dimension to this most historic of rivalries. I understand the argument about wanting new, fresh teams in the Final Four, but the boredom argument and the "it's basically college football" argument don't make a ton of sense to me. The men's version of the 2022 Final Four brings a heavy dose of the familiar, with just a touch of the unique.

The NCAA Tournament's field of 68 teams has been whittled down to the Final Four: No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Villanova, No. 2 Duke and No. 8 North Carolina.

Duke is a 3.5-point favorite over North Carolina, and the over-under is 150.5 points. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Both national semifinal games will be livestreamed at TBS.com and the TBS app. Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. No. 2 Villanova, starts at 6:09 p.m. ET from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. No. 2 Duke vs. No. 8 North Carolina will follow in the same stadium at 8:49 p.m. ET.

It's the culmination of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, with four "March Madness" teams remaining. The "Final Four" takes place in New ...

March Madness Final Four: Here's what you need to knowThe Men's Basketball Division 1 National Championship Trophy, on display ahead of the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in New Orleans, Louisiana. It's the culmination of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, with four "March Madness" teams remaining. But if you can't make it to Louisiana, don't worry: the remaining men's games will be broadcast on TBS. You can stream the games via the official March Madness website or the NCAA March Madness Live app. With this season -- his final before retiring -- he has set the record for the most Final Four appearances in NCAA history.

The Jayhawks and the Wildcats are underway in the first national semifinal. The Blue Devils and Tar Heels will play in the second game of the night.

Villanova needs to keep him from establishing post position so close to the basket when he returns in the second half. The game changed when McCormack picked up his second foul. But the Jayhawks didn’t force the ball to him, allowing them to find open three-point shooters and make seven of their first 10 from outside the arc.

Between the Kansas Jayhawks, Villanova Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels, the schools have combined to win 17 NCAA championships and ...

The GOAT gets another game to coach ! ⁦@ESPNPR⁩ pic.twitter.com/QZs4eLyuZd— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) April 2, 2022 On the court, Duke should have the talent advantage. The Blue Devils have two of the top eight draft prospects in this year's class. The No. 2 seed Wildcats face the No. 1 seed Jayhawks to start the night. Then the Tobacco Road rivalry between Duke and UNC takes on new stakes. These schools, separated by about eight miles, meet for the first time in the Final Four. It will be UNC coach Hubert Davis' first Final Four as a coach and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's last.

The Jayhawks face the Wildcats in the national semifinals on Saturday.

About the Jayhawks: The loss of the 2020 NCAA Tournament is not a primary motivation for Kansas, but it's not lost on anyone around the program that Self and the Jayhawks had the best team in the country at the time that the tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The loss of Justin Moore is undeniably going to change the math on how Villanova takes care of business, but Jay Wright has all week to put in a new game plan specifically for this weekend and there's not another team I trust more to receive and implement such changes than the Wildcats.  -- Patterson The 2022 Final Four is underway on Saturday, and at halftime of the first game in New Orleans between No. 1 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed Villanova, it's the Jayhawks who take a commanding 40-29 lead into the half.

It's a blockbuster that CBS Sports and Turner Sports could only dream of. At the 2022 Men's Final Four, March Madness comes to an epic conclusion ...

A big part of that normalization is engaging with the fan directly on site. Turner and CBS have their standard set position in the Superdome bowl immediately behind one of the student sections. In addition to the elite level matchups, this Final Four is bolstered by the return of live fans, following the cancelation of the tournament in 2020 and an attendance-limited event in 2021. You can add technology, you can build storylines, but [the atmosphere] was the one large differentiator for us that we really felt was going to push us back to normalization.” “[Duke-North Carolina], Barry continues, “is, historically, one of the biggest match ups in Final Four history. It doesn’t always determine the drama of the event, but it definitely helps determine the dramatic impact of an event.

That victory to close the regular season helped North Carolina get on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, and the Tar Heels have not relinquished the ...

North Carolina may not be the absolute No. 1 team in the country right now, but it's been playing as well as the best teams in the country since the calendar turned from February to March. The Tar Heels are a No. 8 seed in the tournament but the quality of play represents a team that does not check in as the No. 29 to No. 32 team in the field of 68. Beating two of the best defensive teams in the NCAA Tournament eliminates the idea that there's some secret to stopping Duke's success, which means the onus is on the coaches and players to be in position to make history. Likely to be a close one -- almost certainly will be a close one -- but Blue Devils by a field goal feels like the number. Duke's expectation is to compete at a high level and be in a position to win two games in the Final Four and do so, and there's plenty of evidence to suggest they've got what it takes. That victory to close the regular season helped North Carolina get on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, and the Tar Heels have not relinquished the momentum. After the Tar Heels spoiled Coach K's final home game with a 94-81 victory on March 5, there will also be an element of revenge at stake.

The junior who was the Wildcats' second-leading scorer this season wore a brand new white Nike basketball shoe on his left foot. The right was bare, except for ...

“I’ll be on the bench for the game,” he said. I’m confident,” he said. “It was great for me personally,” he said. “I was in the hospital, still a little bit on the medicine. “It was pretty nerve-wracking,” he said. The “it” in question was a torn Achilles tendon. Hearing those encouraging words, about how they loved me and cared for me and had my back, it really helped.” “That right there shows you,” he said. Maybe longer,” he said. “We’re winning the game. We’re going into the Final Four. I had no idea this was going to happen. The right was bare, except for several layers of gauze bandage wrapped around it and presumably running up his leg.

The Arizona Wildcats weren't able to make it back to the Final Four for the first time since 2001, falling to Houston last week in the Sweet 16.

For many UA fans, that takes away any reason to watch this year’s national semifinals in New Orleans. Kansas features former ASU guard Remy Martin, in case Wildcats fans are looking for someone to root for or against. The Arizona Wildcats weren’t able to make it back to the Final Four for the first time since 2001, falling to Houston last week in the Sweet 16.

The Blue Devils and Tar Heels are set to square off in one of the biggest college basketball games of all-time and have never met in the NCAA tournament.

Television ratings for the game are expected to be massive. Saturday night’s matchup between the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels will now tip off at 8:51 pm ET. It will be the second game of this year's Final Four—the first being a Kansas victory over Villanova. Duke and North Carolina are set to do battle for the first time in the NCAA tournament, but fans will have to wait just a little longer to see the two squads tip off against one another.

After Kansas's center stuck out like a sore thumb in last year's second-round shellacking by USC, he was unstoppable against Villanova on Saturday.

And now, he’ll get the chance to end that story with a national championship. But in the biggest game of his college career, the veteran had perhaps his finest game. The Wildcats’ biggest run of the game came in the final six minutes of the first half after Self sent McCormack to the bench with two fouls. But Self’s confidence in his senior center never wavered, and that confidence paid off in a big way in New Orleans. His loudest moment came with just over 10 minutes to play, when he slammed home a thunderous poster dunk in the face of Villanova’s Jermaine Samuels. But McCormack’s most important play of the night, and perhaps the most important play by anyone in the game, was a timely offensive rebound and subsequent hook shot after Villanova had trimmed the deficit to six with less than six minutes to play. Kansas did make some additions via the transfer portal, but all five starters in Saturday’s game were on the floor for that drubbing a season ago.

Duke and North Carolina battling in the NCAA Tournament for the first time? In Mike Krzyzewski's final season? With a spot in the championship game on the ...

9:25 p.m. — And now Theo John has three fouls. Duke and North Carolina battling in the NCAA Tournament for the first time? Here's one of the makes, courtesy of Leaky Black: Duke and North Carolina have missed 11 of their first 14 field goal attempts. Villanova on Saturday. Mike Krzyzewski clearly wanted an offensive foul to be called on Armando Bacot, but John appeared to make contact with Bacot first. Duke has won six of its last seven games since that tough loss, including a 78-69 win over Arkansas in the Elite Eight. College basketball fans can watch Duke vs. UNC is hoping it can end the Coach K retirement tour after impressively navigating its way through the East Region of the NCAA Tournament bracket. He didn't put much weight on that foot initially, but he's moving a little bit better now. Theo John picks up his fourth foul. In Mike Krzyzewski's final season?