[ad_1]
Two celebrated men’s college basketball programs will compete for the right to add another banner to the home rafters on Monday night. The No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks and No. 8 seed North Carolina Tar Heels will meet for the NCAA Division I men’s basketball national championship at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, looking to cap a magical run with one more win.
The Jayhawks, who took down Villanova in one national semifinal on Saturday night, will be vying for their fourth national championship (1952, 1988, 2008), and first since defeating Memphis for the 2008 title. Bill Self & Co. find themselves in Monday night’s championship for the first time since losing to Kentucky there in 2012.
The Tar Heels, meanwhile, are trying to lift their seventh championship trophy (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017) and first under head coach Hubert Davis. UNC, which will have to turn the page after an emotional victory over hated rival Duke in an epic national semifinal on Saturday night, is attempting to match the 1985 Villanova Wildcats as the lowest seed to win a national championship.
To prepare for Monday night’s event, ESPN’s team of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Joe Lunardi identified what to look for in this matchup of blue bloods, and made predictions for which team would come away with the title.
Kansas has played three straight dominant halves in wins over Miami and Villanova. What (or who) has impressed you most about the Jayhawks during this run?
Medcalf: I know it’s a cliché, but I think Kansas’ poise has been its most impressive trait. I was thinking about that in Saturday night’s win against Villanova. In the second half, Jay Wright put together an incredible plan to stall KU’s offense and give his short-handed squad a chance. The Jayhawks were on the biggest stage in the entire sport, a 38-19 lead had been cut to single…
[ad_2]
Source : espn
