This is the final weekend of the college basketball 2021-22 season as the Final Four takes place on Saturday night in New Orleans. After a wild NCAA men’s basketball tournament, fans will see four blue bloods of college basketball battle for the national championship — Kansas, Villanova, Duke and North Carolina. The action will start at 6 p.m. ET, and both games will air on TBS.
The first game will be Kansas vs. Villanova and will tip-off at 6:09 p.m. ET. Kansas has won three national championships, and 2008 was the last time the Jayhawks cut down the final net. Since that championship win, Kansas has reached the Final Four three times including Saturday and played in the national championship game in 2012. Villanova has also won three national championships, with the most previous one being in 2018. The Wildcats also won the title in 2016 and have appeared in a total of seven Final Fours.
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“It’s funny how that happens, Villanova coach Jay Wright told reporters this week when talking about facing Kansas, per 247 Sports. “We had a Big Eight run. We just had a Big Ten run and they just had a Big East run. It does help. It’s one thing to see them against other conference’s opponents, but when you see them against your own, you know how certain things that Providence and Creighton do, you know it so well as they know ours. So when you see Kansas defend it or go up against it, it gives you a unique perspective and it definitely helpful.”
The second game of the night is Duke vs. North Carolina with a tip-off time of 8:49 p.m. ET. These two are bitter rivals and go at it twice a year. But Saturday will be the first time that Duke and North Carolina will face each other in the tournament. Duke is playing for head coach Mike Krzyzewski who is coaching his final season. Under his tenure, the Blue Devils have won five national championships and have reached 13 Final Fours. North Carolina has won six national championships and has reached the Final Four 21 times. Three of those national championships were won by former head coach Dean Smith while the other three were won by former head coach Roy Williams. Hurbert Davis took over as head coach this season after being Williamns’ assistant since 2012.
