NEW ORLEANS — Kansas, ranked No. 1 within the nation and rolling into the center of March, had its nationwide championship hopes dashed two years in the past by an unbeatable foe — the pandemic, which worn out the N.C.A.A. event.
The perpetually snakebit Jayhawks, who’ve a prolonged historical past of N.C.A.A. event disappointments, put these regrets behind them on Monday night time, rallying from a 16-point deficit to show again North Carolina, 72-69, earlier than a crowd of about 70,000 on the Superdome.
David McCormack, their bullish senior middle whose profession has mirrored the up-and-down arc of the Jayhawks’ event fortunes, scored the go-ahead bucket by following his personal miss after which — after Armando Bacot, enjoying on a gimpy proper ankle, injured it on a drive to the basket — McCormack scored once more within the submit to place Kansas forward by 72-69.
Kansas then needed to survive a pair of 3-pointers by Caleb Love and Puff Johnson — and after a turnover gave North Carolina one final shot — one other by Love, their clutch marksman, that didn’t come shut.
When the buzzer sounded, the Jayhawks stormed the court docket with McCormack operating over to shout on the Kansas radio broadcaster as confetti started to tumble down from the roof.
The victory was the primary championship for the Jayhawks since 2008, once they scrambled previous Memphis in additional time — despatched there by Mario Chalmers’s late 3-pointer, a shot that lives among the many college’s wealthy basketball lore. It additionally marks the fifth consecutive event by which a No. 1 seed has received the crown.
