NCAA Final Four

Star players and defense have driven UConn, Louisville, South Carolina and Stanford. What will decide the Final Four? Our picks are unanimous.

"It is going to be an elite guard matchup, but I think it's going to be who's the mentally toughest to fight through the fact that these are both elite defenses and not get in their feelings about what's happening on the offensive end. They play hard, they play together, they play positionless most of the time, they shoot the ball great every year. And even beyond Friday's game, it's hard for me to see South Carolina cutting down the nets without Henderson and Cooke having really strong games in the final as well. Barnes: For the Huskies to have a chance against Stanford, the postseason version of Christyn Williams will need to show up in a big way. Barnes: South Carolina senior guard Destanni Henderson has the ability to impact the game at both ends of the floor. Voepel: Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith doesn't want the Cardinals' offense to get short-changed by the praise for their defense. And not to cheat the system by sneaking in an extra point, but after Bueckers' huge performance, she's likely to draw more defensive attention. Yet look who has led the way in scoring the past three games on the road to Minneapolis for Stanford: Hull with 36, 19 and 20 points. Hull also can match UConn for playmaking hustle, because she never stops moving and will dive to the floor after a loose ball with the kind of scrappiness that Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer loves. And if she does, she'll have the edge going up against a depleted UConn post corps that's down to just two bigs following Dorka Juhász season-ending wrist injury. All but Stanford are featured in the top eight. All four teams advanced to the Final Four behind top-tier defenses.

Wildcats meet Jayhawks Saturday at 6:09 p.m. eastern in New Orleans.

Four of the elite programs in men's college basketball will converge on New Orleans for the Final Four. Our experts predict who will reach the final.

With their balance of size and athletic ability, the Blue Devils are peaking at the right time and should cut down the nets to provide a perfect ending for Krzyzewski. This is a team of destiny and expect the Blue Devils to send off Mike Krzyzewski in style. Expect the Blue Devils’ tank to be just about empty after their semifinal encounter with the Tar Heels. It’ll be close for a half, but KU will pull away late. If it’s Duke and Kansas in the championship game, the Blue Devils’ overall talent and ability to score near the basket, on the block and from 3-point range makes them the more dynamic team. Both teams are playing their best – and are better than Kansas and Villanova. The Blue Devils aren't going to let another one get away from them against the Tar Heels. Sure, they want to win for Coach K, but they also want to win for themselves. The ultra-talented Blue Devils have been getting tougher and better with each round of the tournament. Duke's ability to drive to the basket and open up space for Paolo Banchero and Mark Williams should be the difference. UNC will look to Brady Manek and Caleb Love to continue their hot shooting in the postseason. The deeper Jayhawks had a pair of fairly easy games to get here, and that continued momentum will get them to Monday night. No two teams are playing better in the tournament than the Blue Devils and Tar Heels, which sets the stage for a memorable Final Four matchup even if you throw out all the other subplots to the game. They’ve already spoiled one of Coach K’s “lasts,” and they’ll be up to do it again in the Final Four. North Carolina 98, Duke 91. Much of the focus will be on the Wildcats missing guard Justin Moore, who was lost for the season with an injury late in the regional final.

The 2022 NCAA Tournament delivered historic upsets and millions of busted brackets, but there's nothing Cinderella about the programs and matchups in the ...

The Duke-North Carolina showdown is taking up a ton of oxygen heading into the Final Four, and Villanova's two national championships in the last five tournaments makes it easy to focus on the Wildcats and their injury concerns. When you consider the history of both of these programs in the Final Four and the gravity of where both Duke and North Carolina are in this moment -- the Blue Devils finishing out Coach K's last season while North Carolina has made the Final Four in Year 1 with Hubert Davis -- the stage could not be bigger. Now that Wright and the Wildcats are in New Orleans, the message has been clear: they've got to adjust the way they play with Moore out of the lineup. You can see why fans are so excited to watch and stream this Final Four, because that's not half of what you should be on the lookout for on Saturday night. It's a blue-blood Final Four field with programs whose reach and recognition are wide-ranging, making Saturday night one of the most-anticipated evenings in the history of college basketball. For March Madness this year the NCAA Tournament gave college basketball fans around the nation plenty of historic upsets and millions of busted brackets, but there's nothing Cinderella about the blue-blood programs programs and matchups in the Final Four on Saturday night.

Coach K owns 101 NCAA tournament wins, crossing over with giants of the game in a career that rose in tandem alongside the tournament itself.

On Saturday, there will almost assuredly be a camera following every one of Krzyzewski's steps from the locker room to the court as he coaches in the historic 132nd game of his NCAA tournament career. Krzyzewski's focus is to "be all-in on Saturday and accept the consequences." "I did it because I wanted to coach one more year, and I wanted to have a good succession plan for our program. "I didn't do this season to have a storybook," Krzyzewski said. He has a level in his own mind, what it takes to feel prepared and be comfortable in his preparation." Krzyzewski got criticized for not knowing some of the names and pronunciations of the Greek players after that loss, and he made sure that never happened again. "He loves to be prepared and loves to have his team prepared. "His focus and belief always went to an even higher level in the NCAA tournament. Krzyzewski turns to Brey, Amaker and Pete Gaudet on the Duke bench and says, "We're national champions." "There's a sense of urgency he shows in March based on his actions that you feel," Wojciechowski said. By the time Krzyzewski got that first NCAA win, his core of Dawkins, Tommy Amaker and Mark Alarie had begun to grow up. Over the span of his NCAA tournament life, Krzyzewski went from long-shot underdog on the brink of being fired to the coach who couldn't win the big game to winning five national titles.

After collecting four NCAA Tournament wins apiece, South Carolina, Louisville, UConn and Stanford are the only teams left hunting for a national ...

UConn's Paige Bueckers scored 14 points in the game to help top the Cardinal 63-58. UConn will now be searching for its first national title since 2016 against overall No. 1 seed South Carolina. The Gamecocks came out on top, 72-59, to reach their second national championship in the last five years.

Duke Blue Devils' Coach K will retire after college basketball season. Ahead of Final Four game vs UNC, he questions NCAA president Mark Emmert's ...

“You have got to listen to the coaches of each of these sports. And the only way you do that is to understand the people on the ground. “A company commander takes care — the general doesn’t take care of all of those things because then that general is covered with minutia. “A squad leader takes care of what’s happening in the squad,” Krzyzewski said. And it’s a new day that should have been a new day decades ago. “We’re at a place of a huge disjuncture, if you will, around college sports,” Emmert said. “That’s nerve-racking and angst-filled, but it’s also very exciting,” Emmert said Thursday. “And I think it’s going to provide some key opportunities for students. Instead, the organization is going through massive changes all at once, including NIL but also the new transfer rules which allow, in most cases, players to change schools without sitting out a season of competition. And we’re understanding that everyone cannot be treated the same. North Carolina will face Duke in the Final Four Saturday. “I think the very first one is, where are we going? And probably that’s more important than the other, but you have to do that.

South Carolina and Louisville are battling for a spot in the championship game. Later, Stanford, the reigning champion, plays Connecticut (9:30 p.m. Eastern ...

But UConn was hardly proving explosive itself, and the Huskies only held a one-possession lead heading into the final quarter. That victory in 1995 gave the Huskies and Coach Geno Auriemma an opportunity to play for their first championship. That victory in 1995 gave the Huskies and Coach Geno Auriemma an opportunity to play for their first championship. Stanford’s offense sputtered through much of the second half, at least by its standards. Stanford was 6-1 after trailing at the half. She was by far Connecticut’s best shooter early, to the delight of her hometown crowd. It’s a Final Four game and everybody is going to lay it on the line and that’s just basketball.” At halftime, the Huskies led by 1. The splashiest offense in that period, though, came from UConn’s bench. The Cardinal took more 3-point shots than the Huskies did and made fewer of them. After the game, she said she was “OK.” Stanford’s scoring was led by Haley Jones, who had 20 points and finished with a double-double thanks to her 11 rebounds.

The University of Connecticut and Stanford University — two legendary women's college basketball teams — are meeting at the NCAA women's Final Four Friday ...

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Still, there is one player in particular that WNBA fans getting ready for the 2022 Draft later this month should pay attention to: Destanni Henderson. The ...

As the past few weeks have shown, talent is not a concern with Williams. She's an efficient scorer who can create her own looks, makes a solid percentage from 3-point land and is willing and able to take on challenges defensively. While things can change over the course of the next 10 days, Hull is not currently projected as a first-round pick, and will most likely go at some point in the second round. If the answer is yes, she can easily have a long, productive WNBA career. Her 3-point shooting – 40.4 percent this season and over 37 percent in three of her four years at Stanford – is clearly pro-quality and she plays hard. And while most of the headlines have understandably focused on Paige Buckers, UConn wouldn't be here without Christyn Williams. On offense, there are stretches and even full games where she can fade into the background, though South Carolina's depth of talent and their preference to work the ball inside has a lot to do with that. They did so in large part thanks to senior forward Lexie Hull, who scored a game-high 20 points and had eight of Stanford's 14 in the fourth quarter. She can struggle to finish in the paint, but her 3-point shooting provides important spacing and she makes good decisions with the ball. She doesn't need the ball on offense, shot 37.6 percent from 3-point land and will be able to guard multiple positions right away. As always, when we get to this stage, there will be plenty of talent on display, and multiple players from each team have a future at the next level. There is an incredible amount of talent on this South Carolina team, which has won its four tournament games by an average of 28 points, but many of the key players are not draft eligible. After a few weeks of exciting action in the 2022 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, the Final Four has arrived.

The women's NCAA Tournament's field has been whittled down to the Final Four: No. 1 South Carolina, No. 1 Louisville, No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 UConn.

No. 2 Connecticut will follow in the same arena at 9:30 p.m. ET. The first Final Four game, featuring No. 1 South Carolina vs. The nation's best women's basketball teams are in Minneapolis this week, ready to claim a national title. No. 1 Louisville, starts at 7 p.m. ET from the Target Center in Minneapolis. No. 1 Stanford vs. The reigning national champion Stanford Cardinal, who emerged from the Spokane Region, will battle the Connecticut Huskies, who edged NC State in a dramatic double-overtime thriller in the Bridgeport Regional final to their 14th consecutive appearance in the Final Four. With three No. 1 seeds and one No. 2 seed left in NCAA Tournament play, Final Four action will be nothing shy of intense.

The 2022 Final Four is less than 24 hours away, and NCAA.com's Mike Lopresti outlines what each team is thinking prior to the action in New Orleans.

“I don’t think I’m going to wear a suit because I don’t have one,” he says. The head coach is not as good using the phone, seeing what I’m supposed to wear.” “And I was thinking to myself, do I need to talk to them about this?” Wright says. He is renowned for being one of the classiest dressers in the profession, but with coaches now going mostly causal, he’s wearing school apparel with the rest of his staff. I said this is the first and only time I want you to bring your phones,” he says. “I’m going to cherish these memories for the rest of my life. “I watched it to see when they backed their guards down, did they have the same action off the ball, stuff like that. Brady Manek for instance: “If you never shot outside in the driveway with the wind blowing and you miss it and it rolls down the street, you haven’t really shot a basketball. `OK, I just want to make sure because I need you to make some buckets.’” “At 75, it’s nice to be excited about something.” “It’s got to be mind-blowing,” Villanova’s Jay Wright says. What’s on the minds of the field — or as Kansas’ Remy Martin called them, “heavy-hitter teams with great coaches?”

Here are the starting lineups for tonight's game: Stanford Cardinal: Cameron Brink; Haley Jones; Lexi Hull; Anna Wilson; Lacie Hull. UConn Huskies: Paige ...

After losing Dorka Juhasz to a wrist injury in the Elite Eight, the Huskies seemed to be outmatched going in against a very lengthy Stanford team. While UConn led for over 36 minutes in the contest, its lead was never safe. No. 2 UConn took down No. 1 Stanford in a hard-nosed game to close out Friday night’s Final Four matchups.

The matchup was a true clash of giants, as both teams came into the contest having won all but one of their tournament games by double-digits. The Gamecocks ...

UConn's Paige Bueckers scored 14 points in the game to help top the Cardinal 63-58. UConn will now be searching for its first national title since 2016 against overall No. 1 seed South Carolina. The Gamecocks came out on top, 72-59, to reach their second national championship in the last five years.

This weekend, the three most successful NCAA college basketball coaches take to the sidelines hoping to guide their teams to a championship.

Halley's Comet comes once every 75 years, but it took 102 years for this. Duke and North Carolina's men's basketball teams have been meeting on the hardwood ...

It's going to be a good game, so you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. I guess that was kind of a stupid moment for me not knowing exactly who he was but now when I see him, I'll definitely show him some love and I mean I'm thankful of his support." I was like, 'Oh, OK. That's who that dude is,' and then a lot of my friends in Chapel Hill was telling me like how famous he was but I didn't know because I don't listen to country music. "I mean, I don't even know what to say," Keels said. Church, a Granite Falls, North Carolina native who attended Appalachian State University, was forced to make amends with his fans, but amends you'll make when you can't miss a matchup so rare. It flashed an assemblage of Duke's "D" logo, the national championship trophy and an argyle background.

The Jayhawks are the only No. 1 seed still alive, but recent March Madness disappointments are fresh on their mind.

"Last year, it wasn't the same," Self said. "It's not going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it," Lightfoot said when asked how his current self would address his younger self. "Ochai has a chance to have the best year anybody's had at Kansas since Danny Manning," the coach said. "Och will make the big show [NBA]," Self said. That was about the highlight of that particular game." David McCormack and Tristan Enaruna (since transferred to Iowa State) were out with the virus the week before. "I get tics whenever I think about it," Self said of that 95-79 national semifinal loss at the hands of the Wildcats, who went on to win the title two days later. Everybody on the team, nobody looked around saying, 'This guy is shooting all the shots.' " The Jayhawks must defeat Nova's post-up guards to win but as of this writing there has been no answer. Self had somehow nursed a team to the Final Four that was defensively deficient for much of the season – by his standards. He hasn't ruled the court lately (13 points, 41% shooting his last five games) but all of it can be wrapped around Self's coaching job. For the short 10-minute ride to the Caesars Superdome, the boys – in this case Kansas basketball – had time to contemplate what they had accomplished.

Combined, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova are responsible for 17 NCAA championships, including nine since the turn of the century. It's hard to ...

DUKE Maybe Caleb Daniels steps up for Nova and Jay Wright rides five or six guys for 35+ minutes with success, but I'm skeptical the injury doesn't tilt this one heavily in favor of the Jayhawks. Pick: Kansas -4.5 DUKE DUKE DUKE TBS, March Madness Live: Duke and North Carolina split the regular-season series, but UNC played spoiler in its win beyond winning on Duke's home court.

The Cardinals are two wins away from the program's first national title. First up is the Gamecocks on Friday night. Follow along here for updates!

The Cardinals (28-4, 16-2 ACC) clinched the trip to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a 62-50 win over No. 3-seed Michigan on Monday. Hours after sending Louisville to its fourth Final Four in his 15 years in charge, the winningest coach in program history was unloading his own luggage. He’s the same person who still cuts his own grass and does most of the maintenance on his house. Everybody talks about her 20 points per game, but the thing I told her was, ‘Your leadership is what I think is most outstanding.’” Louisville has improved its field goal percentage to 44% after a difficult start. He was smiling from ear to ear despite how early it was and not sleeping at all that night. One quarter has been completed in this Final Four matchup. Aliyah Boston is leading South Carolina with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kianna Smith has contributed 8 points. The Cardinals beat Michigan 62-50 on Monday for their first Final Four trip since 2018. Both Olivia Cochran and Kianna Smith had 14 points each. With three quarters done, Louisville trails by 9 points.

No. 1 seed Kansas faces No. 2 seed Villanova in the first national semifinal, followed by the first game Duke and North Carolina have ever played in the ...

Sophomore center Mark Williams added, “I think regardless of who we play on Saturday, we have the same mind-set. North Carolina spoiled Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 5 when it beat up on the Blue Devils, 94-81. Yet they have never met in the N. C.A.A. tournament.

South Carolina beat Louisville, and UConn beat Stanford on Friday in the women's Final Four. Here's how the Gamecocks and Huskies did it.

Van Lith couldn't really get into the paint; she couldn't get a pull-up jumper going; and she attempted three 3-point shots all game (all coming late in the fourth quarter). Van Lith competed hard until she was pulled from the game, but South Carolina successfully frustrated her early, and she never recovered. In addition to the turnovers, there were stretches when the guards just looked careless with the ball -- throwing skip passes that hung in the air or trying to thread one too many needles. The Gamecocks improved to 34-2, matching their single-season record for wins in a season. If that happens, this game will look similar to the one in November. South Carolina will have a second national championship and hand UConn its first loss in a national title game. But with the game and the season on the line, they stepped up to get the Huskies to their first national championship game since 2016. The consensus national player of the year led the Gamecocks to the national championship game a year after a heartbreaking one-point loss in the semifinals. Creme: Boston. Whenever South Carolina needs something big, it's always Boston. The Gamecocks were in complete control with a 15-point lead in the third quarter, then got loose with the ball. Creme: The Gamecocks and Huskies were supposed to play a second time this season, on Jan. 27. They will be the key against South Carolina. When the two teams met in November, the two totaled just 12 points and six rebounds, and the Huskies got pounded on the glass, 42-25. Barnes: Westbrook came off the bench in the second quarter and kept the Huskies afloat with a small lead by draining three 3s. The Huskies mixed up their defensive looks early on with a zone, and matched up with the Cardinal for most of the game. It's UConn's 12th appearance in the title game; the 11-time national champion Huskies have never lost in the championship.

Stanford's Lexie Hull and UConn's Paige Bueckers go after a loose ball during the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the ...

UConn's Christyn Williams grabs a rebound in front of Stanford's Lacie Hull during the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Friday, April 1, 2022, in Minneapolis. The Stanford bench reacts during the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Friday, April 1, 2022, in Minneapolis. Stanford's Haley Jones grabs a rebound during the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Friday, April 1, 2022, in Minneapolis. shc= watches during the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Friday, April 1, 2022, in Minneapolis. UConn's Olivia Nelson-Ododa grabs a ball in front of Stanford's Lacie Hull during the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Friday, April 1, 2022, in Minneapolis. UConn's Paige Bueckers reacts during the second half of a college basketball game in the semifinal round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament Friday, April 1, 2022, in Minneapolis.

The national championship matchup locked in after UConn beat Stanford, the reigning national champion. UConn's Paige Bueckers scored 14 points in the game to ...

UConn's Paige Bueckers scored 14 points in the game to help top the Cardinal 63-58. UConn will now be searching for its first national title since 2016 against overall No. 1 seed South Carolina. The Gamecocks came out on top, 72-59, to reach their second national championship in the last five years.

The Huskies, searching for their 12th national title but first since 2016, will face South Carolina in Sunday's championship game after the Gamecocks held off ...

Cameron Brink leads Stanford (32-3) in both scoring and rebounding with 13.4 points and 8.1 boards, respectively. Cameron Brink leads Stanford (32-3) in both scoring and rebounding with 13.4 points and 8.1 boards, respectively. She caught fire in the second half and overtime, finishing with 27 points (15 in the OTs) and seemingly willed the Huskies to win.

No. 2 UConn took down defending champions Stanford in a 63-58 win. The Huskies will face top-seeded South Carolina for the national championship title on ...

Paige Bueckers led the Huskies with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds. Evina Westbrook provided a spark off the bench with 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep. Aliyah Boston led the five starters, who all averaged double-digits, by scoring 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting with 18 rebounds and four assists.

Tonight is the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four in New Orleans. First game up will be Villanova out of Pennsyl...

More attention is being paid to this game as this is the final season for Coach Mike K’s last season as the head coach of Duke. First game up will be Villanova out of Pennsylvania taking on the Jayhawks of Kansas University.  That will be followed by one of the most highly-anticipated Men’s Basketball Semi-final with #2 Duke University and #8 UNC.  In this latest edition of College Basketball’s most heated rivalry, UNC topped Duke the last time the two teams met in the regular season finale,  and neither team met during the ACC playoffs.

How many times has UNC won a national championship? North Carolina has won six national championships, with victories in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017.

He went 1-3 to start in the Final Four, won three straight, then went 1-3 to finish his career (he retired following a loss to surging Arizona in the 1997 Final Four). UNC is 11-9 (.550) in Final Four games to date. Here, Williams has a clear distinction over each of his predecessors, claiming a sterling 3-1 record in the NCAA Tournament championship game. Davis is on the cusp of claiming a Final Four victory in just his first season leading the Tar Heels as their head coach. Those two make up the majority of Carolina's Final Four berths, but are by no means comprehensive. With that, The Sporting News breaks down the illustrious Final Four history, from Davis all the way back to the Tar Heels' first entrant in 1946:

Jeremy Roach lost his spot in Duke's starting lineup -- twice -- until a resurgence at just the right time has made him a crucial piece of the Blue Devils' ...

His effort in San Francisco also reminded Farello of a conversation he had with Krzyzewski on his February trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium. "The resolve of Jeremy Roach was incredible," Krzyzewski said after the Sweet 16 game. For Duke, Roach was the catalyst in San Francisco. A fist bump from Steph Curry prior to the Texas Tech win boosted his spirits. It was clear that the joy Roach had fought to regain this season had returned. Where was the relentless player who had once led his high school team to a 130-128 victory in a seven-overtime affair after it was down by 15 points with five minutes to play in regulation? I just thought he needed one of those pep talks and a reminder of what he's been through." When Glenn Farello -- who had coached Roach at St. Paul VI in Chantilly, Virginia -- traveled to watch Duke face Florida State on Feb. 19, he didn't recognize his former player, who scored zero points in 17 minutes off the bench. A Class of 2020 recruit, he had five stars next to his name in high school just like his blue-chip peers. "It gave us great size," Duke assistant Jon Scheyer said then about the team's new starting lineup, which replaced Roach with Griffin and won 76-64 against Wake Forest in the very next game. It also proved he could be a clutch performer and an integral part of a lineup that includes projected 2022 lottery picks Paolo Banchero, AJ Griffin, Trevor Keels, Moore Jr. and Mark Williams. At the most critical moment of his final season, coach Mike Krzyzewski picked Roach to lead his starting lineup. A Final Four matchup in New Orleans on Saturday against North Carolina -- the first meeting between the two longtime rivals in NCAA tournament history, coming nearly a month after the Tar Heels spoiled Coach K's final home game of the regular season with a win -- will also offer a chance for redemption. After helping Duke rally from a four-point deficit at halftime, Jeremy Roach burst toward the rim in the final minutes of the Sweet 16 game against Texas Tech, only to be grabbed in midair by the Red Raiders' Bryson Williams. Roach angrily slapped Williams' arm, then stood his ground as players came together, his teammates flanking him.

You know the teams well, but the storylines of Saturday's national semifinals are unlike anything college basketball has seen.

Don't be fooled by the nine-point outing against Miami in a game that Kansas had well in hand for the balance of the second half. But if we can acknowledge that this North Carolina team is not the same team from a month ago, then I also think it's prudent to recognize the same reality for Duke. The current version of the Blue Devils are confident and they know their roles. Medcalf: I think North Carolina's decision to play like the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors in the second half of that game is the simple answer. The Cats somehow won their Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games with an offensive average of 56.5 PPG. I just don't see a scenario in which that is enough to beat the current iteration of Kansas. But give me the biggest brands in the sport, the biggest coaches in the sport, the best players in the sport on the final weekend of the season. In other words, "historic" is a pretty high bar, and, personally, I want to see the game first before I toss that label around. The college basketball history books will say either "Mike Krzyzewski won his last game" or "lost his last game," not that he won his "next to last" game. Medcalf: I think it's one of the top five moments in the history of the sport. Part of the magic of the NCAA tournament is the idea of Cinderella, the potential for anyone to have a chance to cut down the nets on Monday night. Duke and North Carolina have never squared off in the NCAA tournament, with a chapter set for Saturday that will add another dimension to this most historic of rivalries. I understand the argument about wanting new, fresh teams in the Final Four, but the boredom argument and the "it's basically college football" argument don't make a ton of sense to me. The men's version of the 2022 Final Four brings a heavy dose of the familiar, with just a touch of the unique.

The NCAA Tournament's field of 68 teams has been whittled down to the Final Four: No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Villanova, No. 2 Duke and No. 8 North Carolina.

Duke is a 3.5-point favorite over North Carolina, and the over-under is 150.5 points. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Both national semifinal games will be livestreamed at TBS.com and the TBS app. Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. No. 2 Villanova, starts at 6:09 p.m. ET from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. No. 2 Duke vs. No. 8 North Carolina will follow in the same stadium at 8:49 p.m. ET.