NCAA Tournament: Final Four Kansas Vs Villanova Preview 

By: Mike Rifkin

In the 2018 Final Four Villanova defeated Kansas 95-79, on Saturday four years later they will meet again. In that game both teams entered as a one seed this time Kansas is a one seed and Villanova a second seed. The last three times these two teams have played in the NCAA Tournament the winner has won the National Championship. 

Villanova enters this game after defeating Houston 50-44 in the Elite Eight. In that game the Wildcats held the Cougars to 29.8 percent from the field including 1-20 from three. The Wildcats shot the ball at 28.8 percent from the field and were 5-21 from three. Jermaine Samuels had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats. Samuels has scored in double figures in every game this tournament thus far, and the Wildcats are going to need him to step up even more in the absence of Justin Moore who tore his Achilles. Moore was second on the team in scoring averaging 14.8 points per game. The Wildcats will also need leading scorer Collin Gillespie to shoot better. In the last two games Gillespie has 18 points on 5-20 from the field. 

Kansas is coming off of their best half of the tournament. In their 76-50 win over the Miami Hurricanes, the Jayhawks held the Hurricanes to 15 points in the second half. Kansas held the Hurricanes to shoot 34.5 percent from the field and 3-21 from three. The Jayhawks defense also forced 14 Miami turnovers. Kansas was also +13 rebounding the basketball, but if Kansas wants to play for the national championship they have to make their free throws, against Miami they were 13-26 from the free throw line. Ochai Agbaji had his best game of the tournament going 8-12 from the field including 2-2 from three, for 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. 

The last three times these two teams have played in the tournament the winner has won the National Title. These are two tremendous programs with two hall of fame head coaches and this should be a great game. I think the Moore injury is huge and Kansas will take advantage of their depth and move onto the National Title Game.