Rocio Robles
With just hours to go before the big NCAA National Championship game for the 2022 edition of the March Madness, the university of North Carolina and Kansas University are two of the most renowned teams in the competition, and this final match it’s no piece of cake for either squad. At the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans tonight, we will undoubtedly see a major matchup between the best teams in the nation, which will bring historic implications for both of them.
In this list, we present you with three potential accomplishments that may be achieved by either team by winning (or not winning) the national title and which will go down in the college basketball history books.
Armando Bacot could match David Robinson’s all-time record
So far there has been no doubt that Armando Bacot, the Tar Heels’ inside linebacker, has been the best rebounder in all of March Madness, posting a double-double in every game he has played so far in the competition and topping 20 rebounds in the last two games.
By achieving another double-double in the national finals, the 22-year-old will equal the record once set by the legendary David Robinson with 30 double-decades in a college basketball season. Despite a possible injury suffered in the game against Duke University, the player himself confirmed his presence for tonight’s game.
Kansas goes for revenge after March Madness 2020 incident
During the 2019-2020 NCAA campaign, Kansas was undoubtedly the favorite for the title, having 16 consecutive victories to finish the regular season. However, due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, the 2020 March Madness was completely cancelled and the national title was never contested: the team led by Bill Self suffered terribly about this since it was the most prepared team to win the title.
In turn, the Jayhawks would move up the national title standings if they win this championship, matching the University of Connecticut for sixth overall with four wins, behind Indiana, Duke (five titles), North Carolina (six titles), Kentucky (eight titles) and UCLA (11 titles).
North Carolina and Hubert Davis could match legendary records
Both the entire North Carolina basketball program and its head coach, Hubert Davis, have an incredible opportunity to go down in the history books. Davis, for starters, is in his first season with the team, which in itself would cap off the best rookie season with his team in NCAA history if he were to win the title tonight. But at the same time, he could be only the second coach to accomplish this feat since Steve Fisher did it with the University of Michigan in 1989.
For the Tar Heels, they could become the lowest seed in tournament history to win a national championship since Villanova University did it in 1985 (the eighth seed in that tournament); so far, no other program has repeated the feat since. Neither of them will be an easy task, having the top seed in the Midwest region (and only top seed to survive this tournament).
