Until November, College Basketball: Kansas Cuts Down The Nets In New Orleans
It really is crazy how the college basketball schedule works. From November until right now, there is non-stop action. You have the Champions Classic on opening night, there are numerous Feast Week tournaments, and then conference play rolls around. Before you know it, Champ Week arrives, and we have a bracket a few days later.
It all led up to last night - the 2022 National Championship Game. Kansas vs. North Carolina. Blue blood vs. blue blood. I was fortunate enough to be credentialed for the final game of the college basketball season, where 40 minutes stood in between the crowning of a champion.
Just two days removed from a historical win in the Final Four over Duke, the North Carolina student section did not miss a beat. They were amped up for another shot at glory.
There were plenty of familiar faces in the crowd on both sides. For North Carolina, Tyler Hansbrough joined Barstool Live at Walk-Ons a few hours before tip. As for Kansas, Paul Pierce was one of 69,423 people to witness last night's classic. I caught up with The Truth to get his prediction just a few minutes before tip.
As for the game itself, you already know what happened. But it was awesome to witness and the Jayhawks ended up winning it all after being down by 15 points at the half. Let the confetti fly!
I made my way back to the court for the postgame ceremony and first got a quick chat in with sixth year player and Stoolie Mitch Lightfoot.
What a moment for Mitch. Six years of hard work, and a dream ending to his college career. My next mission was to try and get a quick question in with Bill Self. He now joins a very elite category of coaches who have won two NCAA Tournaments, but how different does this one feel compared to his first in 2008?
I was denied after my first attempt.
Tough moment, but that's how it goes sometimes in this business. But I knew that Coach Self would be heading back to the media room a few minutes after that for his press conference. I waited right in front of the media room to try and catch him before he went in to talk with the other Big J's at the Ca*sars Superdome.
Mission complete.
Never give up, folks! That was a great way to wrap up the night, the tournament and the season. Thank you to everyone who followed along during this college basketball season, hopefully you enjoyed our coverage on Bench Mob this season (I KNOW you did over the weekend when Duke lost just to see Marty's face).
Until November, college hoops…