Jason Minnix - The Game that lived up to the Hype

San Antonio's Live & Local Sports Station

It is rare that games live up to the hype…but the Duke-North Carolina game Saturday night in New Orleans certainly did.

That was one of the best college basketball games I have seen in recent years. The lead changes, the runs, the injury drama and the abrupt end to Coach K’s career.

North Carolina 81…Duke 77.

In 10, 15, 30 or 50 years from now, we might not remember who won the 2022 National Championship Game (especially if it’s Kansas) but we will remember that UNC beat Duke in The Final Four in what was the last game of Mike Krzyzewski’s legendary coaching career.

For a lot of big games, I like to watch alone at home. I was at the Roo Pub on Saturday night because for this one, with no dog in the fight, I wanted to experience it with lots of people in a packed sports bar.

Surprisingly, it was a heavy UNC crowd with people wearing their gear – some Duke but heavy UNC…and for many, standing the entire time. Many were pacing the last 5 minutes and the reactions in the bar on every shot, was as if we were amongst the 70,000 plus at the Superdome.

And while UNC claimed ultimate bragging rights over Duke in their over 100 year rivalry, their reward is a Kansas team that made fairly easy work over Villanova in the forgotten semifinal game.

The Blitz will be live at the Roo Pub today starting at 4p leading up to the pregame coverage for UNC-Kansas. Come hang out and watch the game with people (or listen to it on San Antonio Sports Star)…it’s better that way.

For the record, I picked UNC to win it all in my re-bracket after that dreadful opening weekend where I had originally picked Kentucky. I will stick with that pick but Hubert Davis has his work cut out for him to get his team emotionally ready for this one.