A fantastic season of college basketball was followed by a March Madness tournament with plenty of excitement and huge upsets, including the bracket-busting Saint Peter’s Peacocks, who went on to become the first 15-seed in NCAA tournament history to make the Elite 8. After all the madness, there are just four teams left out of the pool of 68: 

• The Duke Blue Devils, the 2-seed out of the West region
• The North Carolina Tar Heels, the 8-seed out of the East region
• The Villanova Wildcats, the 2-seed out of the South region
• The Kansas Jayhawks, the 1-seed out of the Midwest region

Here’s who The Torch’s co-sports editors Brayden Schultz and Mason Silverstein believe will be cutting down the nets in New Orleans on April 4.

Brayden: After a bumpy first half of the season, UNC has figured it out, turned it around, and rallied behind first-year head coach Hubert Davis. In their last meeting with Duke, the Tar Heels upset the Blue Devils in legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. It was that game that Coach Davis believes “flipped the switch” for his team, and sparked a fire that has carried them all the way to the Final Four. UNC isn’t a very deep team, but their starters have settled into their roles, and have been playing off the charts in the tournament. Armando Bacot averages a double-double, and has one in every tournament game thus far. Oklahoma graduate transfer Brady Manek has been shooting lights out from the perimeter, and the guard duo of R.J. Davis and Caleb Love have stepped up when the team needed them the most. Davis had 30 points in their overtime win against Baylor in the round of 32 and Love had 30 points in their sweet 16 game against UCLA. The Tar Heels believe they have what it takes to go the distance, and what a story that would be for a team that was a first-round exit just a year ago.

Kyrie Irving, Brandon Ingram, and Jayson Tatum. What do all of these players have in common? They are all NBA superstars who were once coached by Krzyzewski. Now, in his last dance as Duke’s head man, Coach K leads a projected lottery pick in Paolo Banchero into the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. The 6’10” Banchero is likely the most puzzling player in the tournament for opposing teams to figure out. He leads Duke in rebounds per game with 7.7, while also shooting 8 for 15 from beyond the arc in the tournament. If #5 is on the floor, he’s going to beat you. The Blue Devils are very well rounded, and Banchero has a strong supporting cast led by Jeremy Roach, AJ Griffin, Trevor Keels, Wendell Moore Jr., and Mark Williams. Duke will meet historic archrival UNC in the NCAA tournament for the first time ever, this time with added motivation after the Tar Heels beat them in the aforementioned game just under a month ago. The Blue Devils are looking to send Coach K into the sunsets of retirement with six national titles, because five is apparently not enough.

Both Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels sat on the bench and watched when the Villanova Wildcats routed the Kansas Jayhawks 95-79 in the 2018 Final Four, then went on to beat Michigan in the national championship. This year, it’s up to them to make history repeat itself. Gillespie leads the Wildcats in points per game and assists per game, while Samuels is their leading rebounder. The Wildcats are the best free throw shooting team in the nation, and one of the best shooting teams overall, but they’ll be without one of their best shooters on Saturday. Justin Moore tore his achilles in their Elite Eight matchup vs. Houston, meaning Caleb Daniels will start at shooting guard and Chris Arcidiacono will see increased minutes off the bench. Teams who suffer injuries in the tournament have a poor track record, but Villanova fans should have no fear. This is a talented and well-coached basketball team that cannot be taken lightly or counted out.

ESPN staff writer Myron Medcalf described the Kansas Jayhawks as “the least sexy storyline in the field.” That story being the Midwest region’s #1 seed simply did their job. While the Duke-UNC matchup and Justin Moore’s injury take over the headlines, Kansas has quietly been one of, if not the most dominant team in this year’s tournament. Kansas is led by Wooden Award finalist Ochai Agbaji, who averages just under 19 points per game, and Remy Martin has been the most pleasant of surprises off the bench. After not once eclipsing the 20-point threshold in the regular season, Martin has done it twice thus far in the postseason. Kansas is a team that thrives on momentum and going on big scoring runs. In the round of 64, they led Texas Southern 47-19 at halftime. In the Sweet 16, the Jayhawks started the game up 24-12, then went on a 12-5 run in the second half after Providence got out to an early lead. In the Elite Eight, they outscored Miami 47-15 in the second half en route to a 26-point dismantling of the Hurricanes. The moral of this story is: Do not let Kansas get hot. 

Brayden’s Predictions:

Final Four: Duke over North Carolina 81-76;  Kansas over Villanova 70-62

National Championship:  Duke over Kansas 83-75

Mason: Starting off with the 8-seed out of the East region, there are only two words to describe how the Tarheels reached this point. Brady Manek. Averaging 15.2 points a game, the 6’9’’ Forward clearly made the right decision transferring from Oklahoma. Not to mention, Armando Bacot has been leading the team in rebounds and points this season. Bacot has recorded a double-double in every postseason game. Head coach Hubert Davis was able to pick up the pieces that Roy Williams left at the beginning of the season, leading them to a hot March Madness start that brought them all the way to the Final Four. Caleb Love and R.J. Davis are arguably two of the best guards in the country, making it very difficult for opposing teams to figure out who the ball is going to. Facing their rival Duke in the Final Four, the blue-bloods will go out for the third time this season. The first time they faced off resulted in a Duke win 87-67. But in the last home game of Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career, his team fell to North Carolina 94-81. To win this game, Bacot must get rebounds and they will need to figure out how to slow down Paolo Banchero and Mark Williams. 

Moving on to the South Region winner, Villanova fought through difficult matchups to reach the Final Four this year. Winning two national championships since the 2015-2016 season, Coach Jay Wright has put the Wildcats and the Big East Conference on top. The Big East player of the year, Collin Gillespie, has led the team this season to the Final Four once again. He is averaging 15.6 points per game, along with 3.3 assists per game. Justin Moore ended the Elite Eight game with an achilles injury, being a major loss for the team as he will not play in the game against Kansas. He averages 14.8 points per game, which is the second highest scoring player for the Wildcats. This could lead to them having a hard time getting the ball around, as other players will have to step up against a tough Jayhawks Defense. 

The Duke Blue Devils will have another National Championship opportunity in their last year with Coach K. The Blue Devils came away with huge wins against arguably the best defense in the country, Texas Tech, along with beating the Arkansas Razorbacks 78-69. Forward Paolo Banchero is averaging 17.1 points and 7.7 rebounds a game. Some are calling it the game of the year, as they will match up against the Tarheels for the third time this season. This game will be very high scoring, but people are not giving UNC enough credit. Although they might be an 8-seed in the tournament, the Tarheels have shown exactly why they can beat any team in the country. To win this game, Duke will have to be able to get boards over Bacot and need to limit giving Caleb Love, R.J. Davis, and Brady Manek chances to shoot from behind the arc. 

The last team to round up the Final Four is the Kansas Jayhawks, the only #1-seed remaining in the bracket. Their offense might have starpower, but this is nothing compared to their stellar defense. Four players all record an average of over five rebounds per game. Guards Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun have run the offense all season, being the only two players to see the court for an average of over 30 minutes a game. If the rotation of these players continues in the game against Villinova, they could continue this streak. The loss of Justin Moore might give the Jayhawks more breathing room to limit the amount of points put up by the Wildcats. So far in the tournament, Kansas has only allowed 59.8 points per game. But, Kansas will have to limit fouls as Villanova leads the nation with an 83 percent shooting percentage from the free throw line

Mason’s Predictions:

Final Four: North Carolina over Duke 87-83;  Kansas over Villanova 74-65

National Championship:  Kansas over North Carolina 77-72