April 04--Villanova advanced to the NCAA tournament championship game after a 44-point rout of Oklahoma in the Final Four. North Carolina dominated Syracuse with a 17-point victory to make it this far.
The teams meet on Monday night at NRG Stadium to decide the tournament championship.
Here are four questions that will be central to the title game.
Will North Carolina's size be the difference? The Tar Heels' length at every position presents a challenge to the Wildcats. Villanova big man Daniel Ochefu, at 6-foot-11, can't do it all, so the Wildcats guards need to continue chasing rebounds. North Carolina is outrebounding tournament opponents by 10.8 per game.
"It's not just length and athleticism, it's scheme," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "We've got to have toughness and aggressiveness to want to go get it like they do."
Can Villanova keep shooting like this? Villanova's 71.4 percent shooting against Oklahoma in the Final Four, of course, caught North Carolina players' attention.
"That's hard to do even if you're shooting by yourself," Tar Heels guard Justin Jackson said.
The Wildcats have shot 58.2 percent in the tournament with at least four players in double figures every game.
Villanova isn't planning to replicate its performance against Oklahoma. The Wildcats prefer to talk about their improved defense.
"Whenever we're hitting shots, we're an extremely tough team to beat," Ochefu said. "But we definitely don't let that be the thing that helps us win games. We try to rely on the defense and rebounds."
Can North Carolina win without 3-point shooting? No team can score in the paint like the Tar Heels. So much so that they destroyed Syracuse, even though they made only 4 of 17 3-point attempts, missing their first 12.
Williams was asked if they could win without hitting 3-pointer.
"I hope the heck we don't ever try," he joked.
Said center Kennedy Meeks: "That's always going to be our goal, to pound it inside."
What's at stake for the coaches? A North Carolina victory would put Roy Williams among the very elite. The only other coaches who have won at least three championships are UCLA's John Wooden (10), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (five), Kentucky's Adolph Rupp (four), Connecticut's Jim Calhoun (three) and Indiana's Bob Knight (three).
For Wright, a victory would be a huge boost for Villanova's national profile earn the Wildcats just their second NCAA tournament title, adding to the legendary underdog story of the 1985 championship.
sryan@tribpub.com
