North Carolina Advanced To Final Four In New Orleans With 79-49 Win Over St. Peter's In Elite 8 In Philadelphia Sunday
North Carolina who was an 8 seed in the East Region advanced to final four in in New Orleans with 79-49 over St. Peter’s in Philadelphia Sunday.
In North Carolina’s 79-49 win over St. Peters Armando Bacot scored 20 points 22 rebounds.
North Carolina is now going to prepare to face their tobacco road rival Duke in National Semifinal in New Orleans on Saturday at Ceasers Superdome that is home to the NFL’s New Orleans Saints.
Why?
Because Duke who was the 2 seed in the West Region Arkansas in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament 78-69 at the Chase Center home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
In Duke’s 78-69 win over Arkansas in the Elite 8 (32-6) used a 10-0 second half run to pull away and send Hall of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski to his NCAA-record 13th Final Four, surpassing the legendary John Wooden (12). Duke emerged as champions of the West Region for the first time and will head to New Orleans to take on the winner of North Carolina and Saint Peter's on Saturday, April 2 at the Caesars Superdome.
After the Razorbacks (28-9) cut the Duke lead to four with 3:14 left in the first half, the Blue Devils closed the period on an 8-0 run, capped by a deep Trevor Keels three-pointer at the buzzer, to go into the break ahead by 12. Arkansas started the second half strong, closing the gap to five with just over 13 minutes left before Duke's 10-0 spurt shut the door.
Freshman Paolo Banchero scored 16 points with seven rebounds and four assists, earning West Regional Most Outstanding Player honors. Classmate AJ Griffin netted a team-high 18, going 7-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-3 from behind the arc, while sophomore Mark Williams registered a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double. Ten of Williams' points came in the opening half to help Duke establish an early lead.
Wendell Moore Jr., playing in his first career Elite Eight, also scored in double figures with 14 points while helping Duke hold Arkansas' high-scoring guard, JD Notae, to 5-of-14 from the floor.
Duke maintained a double-digit lead from the 11:29 mark of the second half all the way until the final minute, never letting Arkansas make a lengthy run.
“according to an article on goduke.com”
Duke, North Carolina met twice during the regular season because they are both members of the Atlantic Coast Conference!
Duke, North Carolina split the regular season match ups!
Duke, North Carolina split regular season because each team won on the opponents court!
Duke won in Chapel Hill 87-67 in Chapel Hill on Saturday February 5, 2022!
Why?
AJ Griffin scored a career high 27 points. Duke shot 58% and took all drama out of the renewal of the famed rivalry early in both halves, both in building a big lead and then stretching it back out after the Tar Heels had made a run to climb back in it. Paolo Banchero had a double double with 13 points, 10 rebounds! Wendell Moore Jr. like Paolo Banchero scored 13 points but unlike Paolo Banchero Wendell Moore Jr contributed 8 boards 5 assists.
“according to an article on goduke.com”
Then on Saturday March 5, 2022 North Carolina won 94-81 spoiled Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game inside Cameron Indoor Stadium as the Head Coach of Duke because he is retiring after the 2021-2022 season.
Why?
Mike Krzyzewski had this to say about his decision!
You might ask, 'Why are you doing this right now?' Look, this is not about health. Mickie and I, whether we look it or not -- she does -- whether I look healthy ... I am. It's not about COVID or saying, 'Boy, that year was so bad.' It's not about that. It's certainly not about what's going on with college basketball. 'Boy, the game is changing.' All right. I've been in it for 46 years. You think the game has never changed?"
He later added: "Those aren't the reasons. ... The reason we're doing this is because Mickie and I have decided the journey is going to be over in a year. And we're going to go after it as hard as we possibly can."
“according to an article on espn.com by Myron Medcalf”
And Jon Scheyer who currently is Mike Krzyzewski’s Associate Head Coach is going to be the Head Coach of Duke beginning in April 2023 while Chris Carrawell is going to be an Associate Head Coach while Nolan Smith is going to be his assistant while Amile Jefferson is also on the coaching staff as Director of player development.
In North Carolina’s spoiling of Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game as Duke’s Head Coach Armando Bacot scored 23 points while his teammate Caleb Love overcame an 0-8 start to shooting started to score 15 of his 22 points after halftime.
Mike Krzyzewski had this to say about his teams loss to North Carolina in his final home game as the Head Coach of Duke!
“They played much better than we did, I thought we played like we had already won the regular season - we didn’t play hungry. We have to learn from this, we’re 0-0 now, there are no second chances in March.”
Mike Krzyzewski had this to say to the crowd during his post game speech after Duke’s 81-94 loss to North Carolina on the night he was coaching his final home game as the Head Coach of Duke!
Today was unacceptable, but the season is very acceptable - and the season isn’t over.”
“according to Stephen Wiseman’s article on newsobserver.com”
Hubert Davis had this to say about North Carolina’s 94-81 win at Duke!
It was important for us to win, but it was really important for us to play well. The times we played ranked opponents Tennessee, Purdue , good teams like Wake Forest and Miami , Kentucky not only did we lose we lost big . And I think it was important for us to be good against a good team.
“according to CL Brown’s article on newsobserver.com”
Tip off is set for 8:49 pm from Caesars Superdome the home of the New Orleans Saints of the NFL!
The game is going to be televised on TBS!