If North Carolina Can Slay Mike Krzyzewski, Duke And Destiny, Kansas Doesn’t Have A Chance

In the end, Mike Krzyzewski went from squirming much of Saturday night on the little stool he used near the Duke bench at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans during the second game of the Final Four to rising without a word, walking over to North Carolina coach Hubert Davis and shaking his hand.

Then after Krzyzewski congratulated the rest of the Tar Heels in the traditional post-game ritual, he departed.

Quietly, gracefully.

End of Coach K’s fairy tale.

That doesn’t mean Mother Goose stuff is over during this college basketball season, which is why Kansas is in trouble.

Even though Duke is eliminated — despite the Blue Devils giving the impression for the longest time they would reward Krzyzewski with a sixth national championship as a going away present after he announced from the start this would be his 42nd and last season at Duke — it’s still Kansas against destiny now that the Final Four has become the Final Two.

Never bet against destiny.

In case you don’t know about the latest college basketball game for the ages, North Carolina is “destiny” this season.

Which means it was nice Kansas looked national championship worthy after the Jayhawks smashed Villanova 81-65 during the earlier of the two games, but what North Carolina did was more impressive. The same Tar Heels who reeked against rugged competition earlier in the season (Tennessee, Purdue, Kentucky, Miami) snatched the pixie dust from Duke and its retiring legend during the most incredible 81-77 victory you’ll ever see.

While I sat on press row near court side, there was a who’s who of former and present college basketball coaches (John Calipari, Jim Calhoun, Bob Huggins, Tubby Smith, Lon Kruger, among others) in the seats behind me. We rubbed our eyes literally or figuratively with others among the 70,602 during the 18 lead changes, 12 ties and numerous clutch moments involving nearly everything and everybody from the two programs separated by 12 miles on Tobacco Road.

“Tonight was a battle,” Krzyzewski said after he finished his career with an NCAA record 1,202 victories between Duke and Army. “It was a game that the winner was going to be joyous, and the loser was going to be in agony.

“It’s not about me right now, especially right now. As a coach, I’m just concerned about these guys. They’re already crying on the floor, and I mean, that’s the only thing you can think about. And then going into the locker room, I’ve said my entire career — or when I knew what the hell I was doing — that I wanted my seasons to end where my team was either crying tears of joy or tears of sorrow because then you knew that they gave everything.”

North Carolina gave everything.

There were the 21 rebounds from Armando Bacot, and there were the three blocked shots from Brady Manek, but “everything” began and ended with Caleb Love, North Carolina’s 6-foot-4 sophomore guard. His three-pointer inside the final minute pushed the Tar Heels ahead for good at 78-74, and he finished with a game-high 28 points. He said this about North Carolina’s ability as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA men’s tournament to knock off its biggest rival and a No 2 seed: “It was a team effort. We’re one game away from a national championship. What else can you say?”

You could say the winner of this Final Four so far is the NCAA. According to Wallethub.com, much of the $1.16 billion the organization earned in 2021 came from March Madness, and courtesy of North Carolina and Duke as blue bloods and Saint Peter’s as new blood, the 2022 men’s basketball tournament should privide the NCAA with more than a few pennies.

New Orleans is another winner. The city could watch the NCAA men’s basketball tournament boost the local economy by $170 million.

Then you’ll have North Carolina as winners Monday on the court from the momentum of Love and his teammates producing “tears of sorrow” around Durham instead of Chapel Hill.

Actually, here’s the biggest winners: College hoops fans.