Ncaa, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova: it will be a blue-blooded Final Four

Here they are. Finally revealed the protagonists of the US university Final Four: Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova. A parade of blue-blooded basketball programs: the sublimated tradition, the restoration, after the coup of Baylor champion in 2021, perfected. Here’s what the exciting second week of March Madness said.

THE RIVALITY

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Duke vs. (North) Carolina is a dream come true for collegiate basketball fans. An unprecedented in the history of the game, at the Tournament. The ones that separate Durham from Chapel Hill compete at least twice a season in Conference, campuses just 8 miles away, but the NCAA draw and destiny have never before confronted them when it matters most. Duke won Tar Heels at home this season, and North Carolina smug spoilsport in the Blue Devils’ lair ruining Coach K’s last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The rivalry is the most heartfelt in the history of the game, as is Michigan-Ohio State in football. A question of “territory”, the border that passes between a private (Duke) and a public (UNC) university, both elite, the difference that passes between a university rooted in the territory (Carolina) and one with a national brand (the four letters most feared in NCAA basketball). North Carolina with 21 Final Four appearances, overall record, Duke with 17, third place behind UCLA, arm in arm with Kentucky. A challenge between the titans, with the last performance of Coach K and the first at the Coach Davis Tournament, rookie as the successor of the legend Roy Williams. Match to mouth-watering. US televisions are ready to amass money and audience records …

THE INJURY

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Villanova folded Houston in the Elite 8, but in some ways it was Pyrrhic’s victory. In the sense that he lost to injury, right in the last minute of the race, guard Justin Moore, who injured his right Achilles tendon. The team’s embrace of the third year player, second for points scored and assists and third in rebounds pulled down, was felt and unanimous. The others celebrated, he got some crutches to walk. The fiercest photography of strong colors, the chiaroscuro of March Madness. The Wildcats have Collin Gillespie, senior guard, back from a knee injury suffered in March 2021, at the height of last season, as a compass. Yet another white winger for Coach Wright: Arcidiacono and DiVincenzo have recently made the fortunes of the most elegant coach in the collegiate world, George Clooney Ncaa. The dedication for Moore in case of victory over Kansas is ready.

BANCHERO

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Paolo, Duke’s long with an Italian passport, is the first name on the prospectus list of the 2022 Nba Draft. He was named best player of the Regional in the West, the one who provided Duke with the ticket to New Orleans. Among the first 4 prospects he is the only one still in the running for the national title: Holmgren (Gonzaga), Smith (Auburn) and Ivey (Purdue) are out of the game. The chance to get close to the first call is played. Duke is a breeding ground of talents: he has even 5 NBA first-rounds: AJ Griffin, the son of art, will be chosen in the Lottery, as will Mark Williams, in a dizzying rise thanks to his stopping skills. Veteran Moore and freshman Keels will be called later on June 23 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. North Carolina has long Armando Bacot and “Barbarossa” Manek long from probable second round, Kansas many good players, but no lottery phenomenon: the winger Agbaji, the most accredited, has struggled more than allowed in the Tournament so far. Nova, finally: Gillespie and muscle winger Jermaine Samuels have an NBA hopeful, but maybe we will see them in our country, stars in the European championships.

THE CALENDAR

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At the Superdome, the stadium of the Saints football, in Louisiana, the semifinals on Saturday 2 April, the final on 4 April, on Monday, as per standard format. Italian times: from midnight and ten minutes of the night between 2 and 3 April Kansas-Villanova, from 2.49 then the Duke-North Carolina derby. The Jayhawks are the only seeded number 1 still in the running, the Wildcats and the Blue Devils are a number 2, Carolina even a number 8, the “noble” surprise of the Tournament.