A day after Loyola-Chicago and Michigan pulled off victories that would catapult them into the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four, Villanova and Kansas proved to be the next pair of competitors to join them.
In Kansas’s case, the victory was 85-81 as Malik Newman dropped 32 points in Sunday’s matchup against Duke, 13 of which were the only points scored in Kansas’s overtime period, nabbing the Jayhawks their first place in the Final Four since 2012.
For the Villanova Wildcats, the game was a bit less intense as Villy glided past Texas Tech in a 71-59 score in what seemed like an effortless win backed by a calm squad of athletes. The leader among them arrived in the form of point guard Jalen Brunson.
"He has a great temperament as a point guard," teammate Phil Booth said. "He's very composed at all times. Up 20, down 20, he's the same guy. You need your point guard to be that way. That's something you can rely on, trust on. He's going to make the right play, whether up 10, down 10. That's what he did tonight. Whenever he had to take a shot, he shot it. Whenever he had to make a pass, he passed it. That's just kind of how he plays."
Next week, the Wildcats and Jayhawks, both seeded at No. 1 will face off as a No. 3 Michigan and No. 11 Loyola will battle it out for a chance at the championship title. Naturally, most brackets have been practically destroyed but that won’t keep anyone from throwing in their predictions anyway. Check out a handful of the Final Four predictions down below and comment with your thoughts on how this year’s tournament will play out.
https://twitter.com/_/status/978123731661975552
https://twitter.com/_/status/978060096856043522
https://twitter.com/_/status/978058044239204355
https://twitter.com/_/status/978125451502612482
https://twitter.com/_/status/978125129225003009
https://twitter.com/_/status/978126031931478016
https://twitter.com/_/status/978125922380406784
https://twitter.com/_/status/978125740293218304
https://twitter.com/_/status/978124621781192705
https://twitter.com/_/status/978126240015159296
