This Final Four is back to normal – and much more

NEW ORLEANS – There hasn’t been a normal Final Four since 2019.

In 2020 the entire NCAA Tournament was canceled because of COVID-19.

The entire 2021 NCAA Tournament was played in the state of Indiana, allowing for a complete post-season but attendance restrictions due to COVID prevented a normal experience for fans.

Though this season has included periodic COVID hic-ups along the way, the NCAA Tournament has returned to normal and the Final Four has arrived in New Orleans for a typical climax to the season.

The return to normalcy is nice, but as lagniappe this Final Four might even be special.

The field of Villanova, Kansas, North Carolina and Duke has won a combined 17 national championships in a combined 60 Final Four appearances.

And these particular teams offer elements that transcend the historical success of the programs.

This Final Four features the conclusion of the career of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has won more games than any other coach in college basketball history. His record 13th Final Four appearance will get under way in Saturday’s night-cap when the Blue Devils play their biggest rival, North Carolina.

The Blue Devils and the Tar Heels have met 257 times, but the long-time Atlantic Coast Conference rivals have never met before in the NCAA Tournament, let alone the Final Four.

“It’s a great storyline,” Duke freshman forward Paolo Banchero said.

Either UNC will end Coach K’s career – or provide a launching pad for an opportunity for him to win his sixth national title in his final game.

“The rivalry is real,” said UNC first-year head coach Hubert Davis, a former Tar Heel player and assistant coach. “You have two elite programs seven miles apart, same conference, consistently putting out great teams and great programs on and off the court and in the classroom and in the community.”

The first semifinal in the Caesars Superdome features two other elite programs in Villanova and Kansas.

Though it is seen as a preliminary bout in some quarters, it features a Villanova program that has two championships since 2016 under head coach Jay Wright and a Kansas program that has the second-most wins in NCAA history.

Jayhawks coach Bill Self acknowledged that the UNC-Duke game will attract “the majority of the attention” and “rightfully so” because it’s Krzyzewski’s last season and the two rivals’ first meeting in the Final Four.

“(But) I don’t think anybody in this field is flying under any radar or anything like that,” Self added.

Only Kentucky has won more games than Kansas and UNC is No. 3 and Duke is No. 4. Villanova is No. 19.

The Kansas basketball program dates to 1898 when Dr. Naismith, the inventor of the game, became the Jayhawks’ first coach.

“I think the players feel it after they’ve been there,” Self said of Kansas’ history. “I’m not sure they feel it before they get there. We talk about there’s only one place you could ever play for where the inventor of the game was your first coach. That’s pretty strong. I’m not sure it really resonates with the players until they’ve been there and can feel it and all the videos and all the things we show them and all the stories, I think they feel it.”

Self began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Jayhawks in the 1985-86 season and they went to the Final Four.

“I had very little responsibilities, but I saw first hand just what it can be like there,” Self said. “I mean, I take it very seriously, and I’m the caretaker of the most historic program that’s ever been.

“I know that’s my perspective, but that’s how I look at it, and I’m very proud to carry that because it does mean something extra when you stop and think about Naismith and (Phog) Allen and (Adolph) Rupp and (Wilt) Chamberlain, (Danny) Manning, and you go down the list. It’s pretty special to be in charge and be a caretaker in the brief moment in time that we actually are.”

The players might not recognize all the legendary names associated with these programs over the last century of so, but they recognize the recent success.

“Ever since I started watching basketball, all you see is Carolina, Duke or Kansas making it to the Final Four,” Villanova forward Jermaine Samuels said. “Being part of it makes it that much (more) special.”

Wright said Villanova has “great respect” for the other three programs though the Wildcats “never aspire to be one of those programs.”

“We have great respect for their tradition, their history and for the teams that they are right now,” Wright said, “(but) as a matter of fact, we fight the urge to try to be like them because we’re just so different.

“We just try to be the best Villanova we can be. But when people on the outside connect us to them or count us as part of their legacy and tradition, we love it because we have so much respect for them.”