Kansas Jayhawks 84, North Carolina Tar Heels 66
This game can really be divided into three different games. Kansas shocked everyone by blasting out of the gates to a 28-point lead. UNC battled back to get within four midway through the 2nd, but Kansas would close on a furious run to win by 18. It was some roller coaster ride, but the Jayhawks beat their old coach to reach the title game.
Because of my respect for North Carolina and their great leader Tyler Hansbrough, I never counted them out. But when Billy Packer said the game was over with 25 minutes still to play, I knew a big run was to follow. It just had to at that point. How can an announcer say that? Had UNC completed the comeback, I would have sent him a big bag of... yeah. When the Tar Heels cut the deficit to four, who didn't think that they were going to win? The Jayhawks were extremely tight and turning the ball over at will. I thought the whole comeback wasn't so much UNC, but Kansas beating themselves being tight and sloppy. To Kansas's credit though, they really hung together and made some big plays to pull away late. Bill Self called two timeouts that proved to be huge in settling his team down between the 16 and 12 minute TV timeouts.
I thought the biggest key to this game was Kansas's dominance down low. When things were really going well for them, they got easy basket after easy basket. Kansas was able to pull away because they really ate away at the UNC half court press which allowed them to regain their offensive dominance down low. Their defense on Hansbrough was also terrific. They were able to be aggressive on him because of their depth. Foul trouble is not an issue when you have four bigs that have an allowance of 20 fouls between them. Hansbrough still made some big plays, but he was limited and that is all you can ask for. Obviously the star for Kansas was Brandon Rush, but my unsung hero was Cole Aldrich. He was simply outstanding defensively. Sherron Collins hit the biggest basket of the game with five minutes to go. His three put Kansas up eight and so the run was on.
My question is now is will Kansas have enough in the tank to beat a Memphis team in 48 hours? Memphis has been destroying everyone in their path since their scare in the 2nd Round. Kansas beat a tremendous UNC team tonight though. One who I thought had become the best team in the nation over the last month. I picked UCLA, but only because I didn't want to pick North Carolina. They will be back though. I think after this, Tyler Hansbrough will come back for his senior season. After all he is the quintessential college player. So with that said, it should be a fun game Monday night.
Pat Morgan
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