NCAA title game winners, losers
Kansas climbed out of the largest halftime deficit in men’s championship game history and beat North Carolina 72-69 to claim the program’s first national title since 2008.
Down 15 at the break, the Jayhawks quickly chipped away at the Tar Heels’ lead to tie the game at 50 just over nine minutes into the second half. UNC would retake the lead at 69-68 with 1:41 remaining, but KU went ahead for good on a second-chance layup from forward David McCormack.
The comeback will rewrite the postseason narrative around coach Bill Self, who came into the Final Four with that one previous national championship with the Jayhawks but had otherwise seen his tenure defined by tournament collapses and painful losses.
After spending most of the regular season on the tournament bubble before making a memorable push to the championship game, the Tar Heels’ second-half collapse may be a byproduct of the emotional win against Duke in the semifinals.
The final winners and losers of the college basketball season includes both teams and both head coaches from Monday night.
Winners
Kansas: The winningest program in college basketball now owns four national championships, with Monday’s win joining 2008, 1988 and 1952.
As in 2008, when KU needed a late 3-pointer to force overtime against Memphis, this one seemed well in doubt: UNC was up big at points in the first half and again at the break before a smaller lineup and quick pace keyed the comeback in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Then KU made the small plays that meant the difference between another heartbreaking tournament loss and another banner in Allen Fieldhouse.
Bill Self: In 12 tournaments between that 2008 championship and 2022, KU was knocked out in the second round five times, in the Sweet 16 twice, in the Elite Eight three times, once in the national semifinals and once in the championship game.
It had been a long and typically painful process to get back on top for the Jayhawks and for Self, who took the lion’s share of blame for the program’s postseason struggles. The feeling of relief from Self after KU held on to win was palpable.
Big 12: It’s a big moment for the Big 12, which celebrates a second straight national championship (Baylor in 2021). The Big 12 has been on quite a tournament run: Kansas made the Final Four in 2018 and Texas Tech reached the national championship game a year later before these back-to-back wins for the conference.
Duke: The Blue Devils had to watch the rival Tar Heels play for the national championship after losing in one of the most memorable games in tournament history. The silver lining: UNC didn’t win the whole thing.
That’s a small victory for Duke after an awful defeat.
Losers
North Carolina: Losing after owning such a huge halftime lead takes a bit of luster off what had been an amazing tournament run.
In fact, this had been a remarkable run dating to the midpoint of the regular season, when the Tar Heels were just 12-6 and sinking down the ACC standings. To get here under first-year coach Hubert Davis speaks to the program’s potential for another championship run in the near future.
Caleb Love: His hot hand didn’t last to Monday night.
One of the stars of the tournament after unloading three 20-point games, most recently against the Blue Devils, Love scored just 13 points on 5-of-23 shooting, making just one of his seven tries from 3-point range, and committed a team-high four turnovers.
Mark Emmert: As president of the NCAA, Emmert had the joy of presenting the national championship trophy to Self and Kansas, which has spent the last three seasons under a cloud of NCAA investigations into recruiting violations. As if it couldn’t get any more awkward, Emmert introduced KU as “the Kansas City Jayhawks.”