The Final Four experience is all about experience.

What Kansas proved with its dramatic win over Carolina is that experience counts in college basketball. Despite all the hype and hoopla of one-and-dones, the Jayhawks and Tar Heels played for the national championship without a freshman on the court.

Kansas won because it was older and a little tougher in a second-half comeback that set an NCAA championship game record, and UNC was unlucky with injuries and poor shooting by its heralded backcourt that had advanced Carolina this far.

Behind 21 points and 14 rebounds from super senior Brady Manek and junior All-ACC forward Armando Bacot, the Heels had built a seemingly insurmountable 15-point lead at halftime. But anyone who saw the Jayhawks rally to blow away athletic Miami in the Elite 8 had to know their answer was coming on this night, too.

With their veterans turning up the pace of the game, the Kansas fast break got rolling and its defense tightened; Carolina’s five turnovers grew to 13 in the second half, off which KU scored 14 points. Helped by senior Leaky Black benched with his fourth foul, the Big 12 champions shot 58 percent in the half that included 4-of-10 from outside.

Still, the Tar Heel upperclassmen erased a six-point deficit quickly and got the game to the final seconds without an injured Bacot. It was acceptable to expect R.J. Davis and Caleb Love, who had done it all tourney, to get hot and finish shooting better than 10-of-41 from the field, including 1-of-13 from the 3-point line.

With 1:41 left, Manek’s follow basket gave the underdog Tar Heels their last lead. And with Bacot sidelined by his reinjured ankle, Kansas senior center David McCormack scored twice in the paint and the Jayhawks held on to end Carolina’s storybook March Madness run.

Bacot set the NCAA record for double-doubles in all six tournament games and tied the major college mark for 31 over the course of a season. AB might have done even more than 15 points and 15 rebounds had he not been hurt late in the win over Duke Saturday and again in the last two minutes of the final.

Despite the heartbreak, Hubert Davis’ first season remains a model for building a winning team, but it may take the now second-year coach time to restock his roster and gain that essential experience. Clearly, he has shown how to go deeper in the Big Dance.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet

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