= In the end we have four Blue Bloods, granted one of them is an 8th seed. I struggle to think of bluer set of Final Four teams ever. This is royalty - we're either getting UNC win again (as an 8 seed), Jay Wright getting his third title in 6 years (five tournaments), Bill Self getting an overdue second, or of course Duke winning again. There is a great storyline no matter the winner, and that is about all you can ask for. It was a wild tournament at times, with some great stories and great runs - and all with the three 1-seeds losing before the Elite 8 - but in the end you want top teams remaining.
= Kansas is a silent killer, a quiet 1-seed that just even more quietly navigated to the Final 4. They weren't always dominant, but that second half against Miami, outscoring them 47-15, was terrifying if you're everyone else. They have balance, with four or five different dependable scoring options; they play great defense without fouling. They have moxie, don't get pressed and nervous (so different than so many different Self teams). While they are the lone #1 seed, I actually think they are seen as something of an outsider here - similar to Self's only title team when Kansas was the quieter top seed of the All-1-seed Final Four in 2008.
= While I hate everything about the mythologizing of Coach K, and this run just adding to it, I will admit getting a Duke v UNC Final Four game is really great. I was surprised to realize that they've never met in the tournament, though I guess I understand why since for years they would get overseeded and therefore set apart in different regions. It would have been better if UNC was stronger, or at least better than a quasi-Cinderella 8-seed, but even then the prospect of the team that beat Duke in Coach K's last game in Cameron, ending his career to be good is a tantalizing prospect.
= Look, I hate Coach K and Duke as much as anyone that has no real reason to do so, but still it is a bit cool that they've made this run. The man has made 12 Final Fours now, and even if that rate did drop-off in his last twenty years (this is just his fourth since 2004), he's made a good deal recently of winning when he gets there (2010, 2015). This team also has no obvious hateable classic Duke frat white guy - no Grayson Allen', or Plumlee's, or Jon Scheyer. I don't even know who even comes close to that. On the whole, I want them gone well before we even get to Monday's title game, but assuming I get my wish, I do find it a nice outcome that they made a Final Four here.
= College Basketball has an offense problem - this year was more glaring than most. There were just so few well played games offensively, and while there is an annual round of hagiography on how much college teams cares about defense, generally it is just shitty offense. So many games ending with teams scraping through couch cushions to find even 50 points. Every know and then we get a game like Duke v Texas Tech that was well played and exciting offensively, but for whatever reason the scales are tipping way too far into poor offense right now
= In the end, this Final Four is mouthwatering, but I do really hope we break out long standing tendency to never have good, memorable Final 4 games - even in years that we end up having great Title Games. The only great one I can even recall by memory is 2015 with Wisconsin's upset of the to that point unbeaten Kentucky team. Few others even come to mind. But these two seem great - you just have to think Duke and UNC will play a close game. And honestly, in a vacuum you can make the argument that Villanova and Kansas are the two best teams - and get to complete a Pt. 3 of recent matches with a well played 2016 Elite 8 game, and a blowout in 2018 (again - bad Final 4 games). Let's hope we avoid that curse and can get what on paper seems to be two incredible games.
