On Monday, April 4, the Kansas Jayhawks faced the North Carolina Rams in the NCAA March Madness Men’s National Championship game. The matchup made history, considering that the last time an eighth seed and a first seed met for the National Championship was in 1985. The Jayhawks pulled out a close win, making the final score 72-69. The first seed winning it all may seem predictable, but 2022’s March Madness tournament was anything but that.

Eighth seed North Carolina came out strong from the start this year, beating the Marquette Golden Eagles by 32 points in the first round of the tournament. They went on to beat the defending national champions and first seed, the Baylor Bears, during the overtime of what was an incredibly intense second-round matchup. Game after game, the Rams fought their way to the National Championship. Placed as an eighth seed this year, North Carolina contributed to March Madness history as the lowest ranked team to make it to the National Championship. The Rams surely made a lasting impression this year, an impression that busted brackets all around the country. 

The Kansas Jayhawks, seeded first in this year’s tournament, have a repetitive history of dominating March Madness. Their recent win has added to their impressive collection of four National Champion titles. This year, they made their way through the tournament destroying team after team, and doing it with style. The Jayhawks were given a tough bracket this year, yet they managed to make it all the way to the top despite intimidating matchups and several close games against high seeds.

Kansas scored the first points of the game, hitting an impressive 3-pointer to start the game off well. Despite a strong start from Kansas, North Carolina saw their first lead of the game at the 13-minute mark of the first half. The Jayhawks faced a five-minute scoring drought during the first half, allowing North Carolina to rack up an impressive 28 points. The game went back and forth for the majority of the first half, leaving the halftime score at 40-25. North Carolina was beginning to get a taste of what winning the National Championship would be like. 

Kansas scored the first points of the second half, hoping to set themselves on a better track for the rest of the game. Sure enough, the Jayhawks made an amazing comeback and regained the lead from the Rams at around the ten-minute mark of the second half. Despite their impressive scoring run, the game was neck-and-neck for the rest of the half, with neither team being up by more than five points at a time. One of the Jayhawks’ forwards, David McCormack, scored two points with under 30 seconds left on the clock and set the Jayhawks on their final and winning lead. Down by a mere three points, North Carolina received possession of the ball from an out-of-bounds call against Kansas. With five seconds remaining, the Rams had a chance to score and tie up the game. Caleb Love, North Carolina’s point guard, attempted to score a buzzer-beater but missed the shot, causing the team’s last hopes of winning the game to be crushed. This concluded the game and solidified the Kansas Jayhawks’ fourth National Championship title.