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Coach K's career ends with North Carolina loss
Mike Krzyzewski’s 42-year tenure at Duke is over after the Blue Devils fell to North Carolina 81-77 in one of the better college basketball games of the year.
The game had so much significance within the sport, both because two hated rivals were playing each other for the first time in the NCAA Tournament and Coach K's impending retirement that it may be one of the rare moments where fans remember the Final Four game more than who won the actual championship years down the road.
Not everyone will remember if Kansas or North Carolina won the national championship 10 years from now. Mostly everyone will remember Coach K's final go-around ended with him losing to North Carolina at his final Duke home game and in his last game ever in the Final Four. Tough way to end what will otherwise be considered a legendary career.
42 incredible seasons
— Duke Athletics (@DukeATHLETICS) April 3, 2022
Thank you, #CoachK, for all you've meant to @DukeU pic.twitter.com/Luyp8O1DkW
After the loss, Coach K tried to deflect from his last game and focus on the hurt his players were feeling.
“As a coach, I'm just concerned about these guys,” Krzyzewski said after the loss. “I mean, they're already crying on the court. 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 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.”
National title game set for Monday
Oh yeah, there's still one more game to play.
Kansas and North Carolina will face off for all the marbles at 9:20 p.m. Monday on TBS. The No. 1 seeded Jayhawks played a much less interesting game than the Tar Heels in Saturday’s semifinals, beating Villanova 81-65.
The Jayhawks have opened as a four-point favorite over No. 8 seeded North Carolina.
Fun fact: Point guards from both teams, Caleb Love (North Carolina) and Dajuan Harris (Kansas), played against each other for a Missouri high school state championship in 2019. Harris' team got the last laugh. Will we have a repeat of Harris besting Love when the two play for the national championship?
LSU loses its entire roster
LSU men’s basketball will literally have a brand new roster next season.
Eleven (!!!) players have entered the transfer portal, meaning not one player that played on LSU's roster in the 2021-2022 season will return next year after Will Wade was fired following an NCAA notice of allegations.
It's officially happened.
— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) April 1, 2022
With Mwani Wilkinson entering the transfer portal, #LSU basketball has zero remaining players from this year's LSU team. Eleven guys to the portal.
Sanctions are coming, and Matt McMahon will be building completely from scratch.
It's only a matter of time before the NCAA punishes LSU. Godspeed, Matt McMahon.
ICYMI
Student Appreciation Day Provides First Real Look at Buckeyes’ 2022 Offense and Defense
Normally practice observations can be hit or miss considering there's only so much Ohio State allows members of the media to watch. But Saturday's spring football practice provided a lot of early insight into Ohio State's offense and defense.
Cade Stover Needed One More Stint on Defense to Feel Comfortable Continuing to Play Tight End at Ohio State
By the time you read this, Cade Stover may have changed positions again. Kidding aside, Dan Hope takes an in-depth look about why Stover decided to move back to tight end despite playing linebacker in the Rose Bowl and starting the spring on defense.
Jack Sawyer, Mitchell Melton Among Top Candidates to Play Jack Position on Jim Knowles’ Ohio State Defense
Perhaps no position in Jim Knowles' defense has been talked about as much than the vaunted Leo position. Knowles has begun introducing that concept in spring ball little by little, but for now, it's called a Jack.
Griffin Strom delves into what both Knowles and OSU players have said about the position in the spring thus far.
