Kentucky/Kansas Preview

Traditional college basketball powers, Kentucky and Kansas Universities will meet in the NCAA Basketball Title game on Monday night April 2nd. Kentucky is coached by John Calipari, who is seeking his first national title in this his 4th “Final Four” appearance. Kentucky has won 7 titles while Kansas has won 3, the last under current coach Bill Self in 2008. In that game, Kansas got a late regulation time 3 point shot from Mario Chalmers to force overtime. Then Kansas eased in the overtime winning vs Memphis which was coached by John Calipari.

Kansas is (3-5) in championship games: the most famous a 3 overtime loss to North Carolina in 1957. That Kansas team featured Wilt Chamberlain and it was the first of many painful losses for a Chamberlain team. Kentucky is (7-3) in Title games, winning 3 Titles in 4 seasons from (1948-1951) and also losing to UCLA in John Wooden’s last game in 1975. That was Wooden’s 10th Title all within 12 seasons (1964-1975) and that is by far the most titles for any coach. Kentucky’s legendary coach Adolf “Baron” Rupp and current Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski are tied for second with 4 titles each. All 3 previous Kansas titles came in presidential election years, (1952, 1988 and 2008). This is,NCAA Basketball,  of course, a presidential election year. Kentucky is favored by 6 points in this the first title tilt between these two basketball giants.

Bill Self

John Calipari