While Duke-UNC is stealing all the headlines (rightfully so), this battle of blue bloods is quite the appetizer. I would argue this may be the best Final Four of all time in terms of name brand recognizability. Kansas and Villanova enter Saturday with two of the best coaches in the country and two rosters that could easily be the ones cutting down the nets on Monday.
Path to the Final Four: Villanova
The Wildcats have definitely taken the tougher of the two routes to get here in March. After an easy win over Delaware in round one, Nova ran through the gauntlet of Ohio State, Michigan, and Houston. They have done it with an impressive display of defense, with Ohio State being the only team to reach 61 points on their run. The Wildcats feature an array of veterans, starting with senior G Collin Gillespie, who it feels like has been playing under Jay Wright for the last decade. The big loss comes with fellow starting G Justin Moore injuring his achilles and missing the remainder of the tournament. Nova runs a group of just six players regularly, seeing a significant drop-off in minutes after those six. Those six players average at least 25 MPG, followed by Chris Archidiacono at 9.6 MPG. Villanova will need one of their young guys to step up in a major way this weekend. They especially need to avoid fouling early, as their short bench is even shorter without Moore.
Path to the Final Four: Kansas
Villanova will be the third Big East team the Jayhawks will look to tackle on this run. Kansas struggled with a Creighton team that was extremely banged up and a Providence team that had been among the luckiest in the nation going into March. The first time Kansas looked like a legit title contender this tournament was in the second half against Miami in the Elite 8, outscoring the Canes 47-15. None of the above paragraph was made in a way to slight Kansas. It’s hard to win games in the tournament and you can only play the teams in front of you. And, this entire season Kansas has been one of the best teams in the country. Ochai Agbaji is a PROBLEM for any defense and an absolute matchup nightmare. The Jayhawks also found their groove from deep, a place they’ve struggled from this tournament. When Kansas is on, they’re arguably the best team in the country. However, they can’t afford a lackluster half against a team as good and experienced as Villanova.
Final Thoughts
Both of these head coaches have been here before. Villanova has won two titles under Jay Wright and seem to always be making deep tournament runs. He also has the edge 2-1 over Bill Self in tournament games. It feels like too many people have completely written off Villanova with the loss of Moore. While it will be a big loss to overcome, Wright will have the Cats ready to compete. 4.5 is too many points for the team with the better coach.
