North Carolina vs Kansas: Tom Collins previews the NCAA basketball championship game

Tom Collins

4 April 2022

It’s finally here - the NCAA basketball championship game. Five months after the 2022 regular season got underway and just two teams remain: North Carolina Tar Heels and Kansas Jayhawks.

The hotly-anticipated encounter will tip off at 2.20am on Tuesday morning, so make sure you prepare a selection of energy drinks for the pinnacle of college sport.

North Carolina Tar Heels (+3.5) vs Kansas Jayhawks (-3.5)

Money Line: UNC 2.64 | KU 1.56

Tip-off time: 2:20am (GMT), Tuesday April 5

Despite numerous match-ups between the two historic franchises, including a 2008 semi-final tussle that saw Kansas come out on top en route to winning the title, they have only met once in the national championship.

However, that 1957 encounter remains one of the most memorable games in college basketball to this day as the unbeaten and irrepressible 31-0 North Carolina squad survived three overtimes to beat Kansas 54-53. A similar high-intensity brawl in this heated rivalry would be warmly welcomed 65 years later, although another Tar Heels victory would be somewhat surprising.

The eighth-seeds enter the Caesars Superdrome in New Orleans on the back of a five-game post-season winning streak with victories over Marquette (95-63), Baylor (93-86 OT), UCLA (73-66), Saint Peter’s (69-49) and, most recently, Duke (81-77).

Denying ACC rivals Duke the chance at a sixth national title represented the best game that North Carolina has put together all year and coach Hubert Davis, who replaced the legendary Roy Williams in 2021, now has his eyes on a first championship.

In order to achieve greatness, the Davis-led Tar Heels will have to beat the Big 12 champions - the Kansas Jayhawks. With a record of 33-6 compared to North Carolina’s 29-9 this season, Kansas seemingly has fewer holes in their armour, and their impressive 81-66 Final Four victory over Villanova indicated their intent of achieving a fourth national championship.

Coached by Bill Self, who won the title with the Jayhawks in his first season coaching in 2008, has the Jayhawks firing on all cylinders and there’s little doubt they will put points on board with Big 12 Player of the Year, Ochai Agbaji, able to make plays around the rim and from the three-point line.

Experience is key in finals and Kansas’ starting line-up has that in abundance. Tipped for glory in 2020 before the tournament was scrapped due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Jayhawks have been building up to this moment ever since with four seniors, a junior and two sophomores in their rotation.

They shot 53.7% from the floor and 54.2% from the three-point line against Villanova, and when you couple that with aggressive rebounding from 6’6 forward Jalen Wilson, they are pretty difficult to beat.

Providing Kansas gets off to a good start, they are fancied to not only cover the spread (-3.5), but win their fourth national championship by double figures. As a result, -7.5 at 2.46 looks the value play.