NCAA BASKETBALL NEWS AND NOTES FOR APRIL 5

After 67 amazing games spaced over three weeks, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament came to a close Monday night with an instant classic between Kansas and North Carolina.

While the rollercoaster that is the NCAA basketball season may be coming to an end, there is still plenty of news. Let’s take a look at the tournament results and other major stories from around the country this week.

Jayhawks Win Historic Championship

It took 14 years, but Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks finally got another National Championship. For the first time since 2008, Kansas won it all, taking down the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels 72-69.

The most impressive aspect of the game may not be that Kansas won, but how they won. They made history by overcoming the largest deficit in championship history as they came back from down 16 in the first half (15 at halftime).

Despite starting slowly, North Carolina played the majority of the first half flawlessly and went into halftime up 40-25. In the second half, it was all Kansas. They outscored the Tar Heels 47-29 en route to the victory.

In the win, David McCormack and Jalen Wilson tied a game-high with 15 points apiece. McCormack had a double-double as he also added ten rebounds. In total, the Jayhawks had five players score in double digits.

In the loss, Armando Bacot made history as well. He tied David Robinson for the all-time lead in a season for double-doubles with a total of 31. Despite struggling with an ankle injury suffered in the semifinal win over Duke, Bacot still put up 15 points and 15 boards over 38 minutes in the defeat.

While No. 8 UNC could not hold onto the lead, they tied three other teams as the lowest seed to ever play in a National Championship game. Only Villanova, back in 1985, has won an NCAA tourney as the No. 8 seed.

For Bill Self and the Jayhawks, they certainly will celebrate the championship; however, they still have an investigation pending for major rule violations from 2019.

For now, though, the Jayhawks aren’t worried about that as they celebrate their tournament victory.

Butler Finds New Coach

On Friday, the Butler Bulldogs decided that it was time to move on from head coach LaVall Jordan. After five years, Butler just could not find sustained success with Butler, as they only made the NCAA Tournament in the 2018 season.

This year, Butler finished 14-19 overall and just 6-14 in the Big East. For athletic director Barry Collier, that was enough of a reason for the change.

It did not take long for Butler to find their replacement, though. On Sunday, the school announced that it was bringing back Thad Matta to be its next head coach.

Prior to a long and successful 13 years at Ohio State, where he went 337-123, Matta started his career at Butler. As his alma mater, Matta went 24-8 at Butler in 2000 before moving onto Xavier, and eventually Ohio State.

He will certainly have his work cut out for him as he returns to the Bulldogs, but for Butler, at this point in the hiring cycle, there may not have been a better and more prestigious choice than Matta available.

Tshiebwe Wins Naismith Award

On Sunday, Oscar Tshiebwe became the second player in Kentucky history to win the Naismith Player of the Year award. Joining Anthony Davis as the only other Wildcat recipient, Tshiebwe beat out Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), Johnny Davis (Wisconsin), and Keegan Murray (Iowa).

This season, the junior forward Tshiebwe averaged 17.4 points on 60.6 percent shooting. He also averaged 15.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 1.8 steals per game.

This is not the first award that he has won, as he was also named the CBS Sports Player of the Year, amongst other awards.

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