2012 NCAA National Championship Preview

After a jammed packed Saturday of Final Four basketball, there remain only two teams in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky and Kansas will face off in the 2012 NCAA National Championship on Monday April, 2nd in New Orleans. Before we get into the breakdown of this National Championship game and who will cut down the nets, I believe this National Championship has many people featuring Deja Vu. In my breakdown of the first two Final Four games, I said that this year’s Final Four reminded me of the 2008 NCAA Final Four and after Saturday’s games it begins to come full circle. In the 2008 NCAA Final Four National Championship, the Memphis Tigers met the Kansas Jayhawks. The coaches of Memphis and Kansas in 2008 were John Calipari and Bill Self. In that game, Memphis were favored to win and was lead by their star freshman out of Chicago, Derrick Rose. Instead, Kansas tied the game at the end of regulation and beat Memphis in overtime. This is the first time Kansas has been to the National Championship since 2008. The question is “Can the Kansas Jayhawks defeat the favorite again to win it all?”

Going into the 2012 National Championship, it is clear that Kentucky is the favorite. Kentucky is the only team to crack the century mark in points during this year’s NCAA Tournament. There is no doubt that the Kentucky Wildcats are monsters on the offensive side of the ball. I have said it before and I will say it again that the reason why Kentucky is so good offensively has to be because of the raw talent their players have. At any point, any of the Kentucky players can step up and make an impact on the game. In their Final Four game against Louisville, that player was Player of the Year, Anthony Davis. To me, Anthony Davis will be a key part, but cannot be the only part like he was against Louisville on Saturday. If Kentucky wants to win the National Championship, they will need a better performance out of players like Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. I want to see the same team that came out and played in the Elite Eight against Baylor.

On the other hand, Kansas has not been too stellar on the offensive side of the ball during the NCAA Tournament. In their five NCAA Tournament games, the Kansas Jayhawks have only topped the 70 point mark once. Even though Kansas is lead by their All-American Thomas Robinson and their amazing guard Tyshawn Taylor, I am looking somewhere else if Kansas wants to be successful on Monday. The place in which to look is the Kansas bench. In this year’s NCAA Tournament, the Kansas bench is a mere 12 of 50 from the field with 39 points. In my mind, that does not even sound like a NCAA Tournament team. The Kansas bench needs to play better if that want to stop John Calipari from getting his first National Championship. Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor cannot do it all and the bench will need to help.

When it is all said and done on Monday night, the Kentucky Wildcats will be cutting down the nets in New Orleans. I say this because I believe that the fast pace of the Kentucky offense will be too much for the Kansas defense. Yes, the Kansas defense has been very good in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, but they have not had to play anybody quite like the Kentucky Wildcats. I think Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will all have big games. John Calipari will earn his first National Championship because of how dynamic and talented his Kentucky Wildcats are and have been this season.

#1 Kentucky 75, #2 Kansas 68

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