Villanova’s seventh trip to the Men’s Final Four doesn’t quite measure up to the appearances made by the other three schools — Kansas, Duke and North Carolina — in New Orleans, but for some Kansas fans, the Wildcats’ recent championship runs still sting.
Villanova knocked off the Jayhawks twice in a three-year stretch from 2016 to ’18, either in a regional final or at the Final Four. Added to ‘Nova’s upset win over the powerful Georgetown Hoyas in 1985, the Wildcats and Jayhawks are tied with three NCAA championships.
For KU head coach Bill Self, that 2018 meeting in San Antonio was especially disheartening. KU lost by 16 points (95-79) and were blown off the court by a Wildcat team that attempted 40 three-pointers and made 18, each marking the most by a KU opponent in the NCAA tournament.
“The way that they played that game certainly has played a role in my mind,” Self said Friday.
Mike Humberd, a Jayhawks fan from the Black Forest area of Colorado outside Colorado Springs, remembers that game, too. Humberd customarily travels to Boulder, named informally “Allen Fieldhose West” when KU plays road games at the University of Colorado. But he also tries to find a way to the Final Four when the Jayhawks make it.
To Humberd, the only thing worse than the result in ‘18 was missing KU’s most recent NCAA championship back in 2008, also in San Antonio.
“A little misunderstanding with my wife that I don’t know if we’ve ever forgiven at this point,” said Humberd who strolled down Bourbon St. in the French Quarter alone on Thursday before the rest of his family joins him for Saturday’s semifinal.
Still, Self says he doesn’t classify this rematch as a “revenge” game. He pointed out only one current player -- Mitch Lightfoot -- was around in 2018.
This season, Villanova averages 9.1 three-point field goals per game.
This is KU’s 16th trip to the Final Four, the fifth most in NCAA history. North Carolina has the most with 21 and Duke, the Tar Heels’ opponent in the second semi, is at the Final Four for the 17th time. Kentucky and UCLA are the other two schools with more appearances than KU.
