Kansas Comes Back, Wins NCAA Title Three Years in the Making
North Carolina guard Caleb Love, right, reacts to a loss as Kansas’ Jalen Wilson (10) celebrates after a college basketball game in the finals of the Men’s Final Four NCAA tournament, Monday, April 4, 2022, in New Orleans. Kansas won 72-69. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The Great Kansas Comeback is about more than just one scintillating, stifling 20-minute stretch of Jayhawks basketball.
The championship KU captured Monday night had roots back in 2020, when the Jayhawks were a team that looked headed for the program’s fourth national title.
Instead, it was KU’s come-from-behind 72-69 victory over North Carolina on Monday in New Orleans that brought that fourth championship banner back to Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks insisted they’d share it with the 2020 team, too.
Bill Self won his elusive second national title with a masterful second-half coaching job and a spicy dash of Remy Martin.
Kansas tightened up defensively to rev up its transition game and Martin provided the spark in a dazzling second half. The Jayhawks started fast and faded even faster to fall into a 15-point hole by halftime.
They roared back behind Self’s adjustments, setting a record for biggest comeback in championship game history.
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