Tales of two college basketball championships that took place over a two-night period:
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kansas 72, North Carolina 69
Held in New Orleans, this game was historic for the Jayhawks overcoming a 16-point halftime deficit to defeat the Tar Heels at the buzzer, the most ever in the NCAA men's tournament. This was coach Bill Self's second title (the other was in 2008), and the school's fourth.
North Carolina, which has won a few national titles themselves, will have to settle for being the school that ended the career of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after beating the Blue Devils on Saturday in the semifinals, which is what this tournament will end up being known for.
Coach K (as everyone likes to call him) ends his 40+ year sojourn through college basketball with a 1202-368 record with stints spanning West Point (1975-80) and Duke (1980-2022). He led the Blue Devils to five national titles and 13 Final Four appearances. He can also count three Olympic gold medals, coaching the United States men's basketball team in the 2008, '12 and '16 Games. Whether you liked him or not, Mike Krzyzewski certainly put Duke on the college basketball map.
As for Kansas, enjoy your title. Reports are that the Jayhawks basketball program might get a major slap down by the NCAA for alleged recruitment violations, some of which have attracted the federal government's attention. The world of college basketball is filled with a few people and programs like that. Only a few get caught.
NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: South Carolina 64, Connecticut 49
At Minneapolis' Target Center, the Gamecocks rode Aliyah Boston's 11 points and 16 rebounds to dominate the Huskies Sunday night. This was the second title for coach Dawn Staley, who last won in 2017. Coach Geno Auriemma's team hasn't won one since 2016.
In Minnesota, you would be forgiven if all you heard about was UConn's Paige Bueckers returning home to win a championship. She played her high school ball in nearby Hopkins, who would have won a title in 2020 if a pandemic hadn't stopped her. Bueckers was part of a vanguard of Minnesota athletes who took off for outstate universities to find fame and fortune instead of staying home and helping the University of Minnesota teams out of mediocrity, but you can't really blame them for that.
All this local focus on Bueckers has blinded us to the fact that there were better players on the court during the tournament. Boston was named the outstanding player of the Women's Final Four, along with several national player of the year trophies including the 2022 Wooden Award.
Bueckers and Boston have more time to add to their legacies before moving on to "the next level", as college TV commentators like to say. Women's basketball has a bright future, too, so long as outside forces don't conspire to take them down. Being able to use the name "March Madness" for your tournament is just the start.
