Kansas, North Carolina set for Roy Williams special in title game

The Final Four opened Saturday night in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The building never looked better.

On the biggest stage, two big programs tied together by one coach emerged victorious. The college basketball superpowers will square off for the national title Monday night.

Kansas was simply too big and too talented for Villanova, rolling over the Wildcats 81-65.

The Jayhawks jumped all over the Wildcats early and Villanova was never able to recover.

David McCormack, in particular, was too big and too much for Villanova to handle.

McCormack had a season high 25 points on 10 of 12 shooting from the field and he added nine rebounds. Ochai Agbaji had 21 points and Jalen Wilson had 11 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Kansas shot the ball very well, dispelling the poor shooting in football stadium mentality and theory. The Jayhawks shot 54 percent from the field and 54 percent from 3-point range. Kansas also shot 83 percent from the free throw line.

When you shoot like that, you are going to win.

Villanova shot just 39 percent from the field. Caleb Daniels of St. Augustine scored 13 points with five rebounds.

Kansas won the battle of the boards 35-28.

After Villanova cut the deficit to six at 64-58, the Jayhawks responded with a 17-7 run to put the game away.

Kansas will play for its fourth national championship Monday night and will play for the title for the second time in New Orleans.

Kentucky downed the Jayhawks 67-59 in the 2012 national championship game in New Orleans.

As the only top seed to make it to the Final Four, Kansas was my pick to win it coming in.

I saw nothing Saturday night to change that opinion.

If Kansas is going to win Monday night, the Jayhawks will have to slow down a quick, hot opponent.

In the second game, something had to give.

Duke blew out North Carolina in Chapel Hill. North Carolina whipped Duke in Durham.

This time, in New Orleans, it only figured that this one would be close. It was simply a law of averages situation.

In the end, the man who replaced a legend ended the career of an even bigger legend as North Carolina slipped past Duke 81-77 in a thriller worthy of the pregame hype.

Hubert Davis replaced Roy Williams and North Carolina and in his first season on the job, Davis and his team were actually teetering on the bubble to make the tournament not too long ago. Some Tar Heel faithful were even questioning the hire.

That is not the case now.

Davis, whom Williams hired in 2012 as an assistant, proved he is ready for the big stage.

Now, Davis and the Tar Heels are in the national championship game.

In the process, North Carolina ended the career of Mike Krzyzewski.

In a game that featured 18 lead changes, the Tar Heels made all the shots that mattered.

The game was tied 65-65 with 5:18 to play in the game when Armando Bacot sprained his ankle with 5:18 to play when he landed on a teammate’s foot and turned it.

It looked bad but Bacot would return just over a minute later. He would foul out with 46.7 seconds left and North Carolina leading 75-74.

Mark Williams missed two free throws on the foul, crucial misses for Duke.

Caleb Love then nailed a 3-pointer and made three of four free throws in the final minute to secure the win. Love scored 28 points, including 22 in the second half in a brilliant performance.

Amazingly, Duke outscored North Carolina 25-2 off the bench but the Tar Heel starters were simply better. North Carolina made ten 3-pointers to just five for the Blue Devils. North Carolina dominated the boards 50-41 as well.

Paolo Banchero led Duke with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Now, the championship game is set and is a Roy Williams classic.

Williams coached Kansas to a pair of title games in 14 seasons before departing Lawrence to take the job at North Carolina, where he led the Tar Heels to three national championships.

Now, Williams, who was in the stands watching and cheering, will watch the two programs he guided for such a long period of time while Krzyzewski watches from home, if he watches at all.