by (Indianapolis) – The men’s NCAA Division I Final Four championship will take place tonight on CBS after 8:00 PM Central Time and it will feature two No. 1 seeds in Wisconsin and Duke.
It will be a rematch from earlier this season when Duke defeated Wisconsin 80-70 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. A lot has changed since that game for both teams, at the time, Indian Country’s Bronson Koenig (Ho-Chunk Nation) wasn’t the court general for the Badgers but he is now and the team has just one loss since he took over the guard duties. He has also increased his scoring average to double-digits to give Wisconsin an additional scoring threat.
Most of the talk ahead of the game has been the matchup talk between All-Award everything Frank Kaminsky (Wisconsin) and freshman sensation Jahilil Okafor (Duke) who will be two post players that will be playing at the next level for sure. For Bronson Koenig, his matchups will be against Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook from the Duke lineup.
We asked our NDNSPORTS.COM contributing writers to give us their thoughts on the game and who they will pick for the winner, but ahead of those comments here are some quick facts that might be of interest to our readers from around Indian Country:
- Bronson Koenig will be the first Native American athlete to play and start in a NCAA Division 1 National Championship game. **
(Note: Derek Willis (Inuit) from Kentucky was a member of Kentucky’s 2014 runner-up team but did not play. In 2008, Jeremy Case (Muscogee Creek) was a member of Kansas National Title team but did not play either.) **Also, Dee Ketchum (Deleware tribe) started play for Kansas in 1958 but he was not a member of the 1957 Kansas Championship team. - There are 24 possible career NCAA Tournament games (assuming teams advance) and Bronson Koenig will be playing in the 11th game of his career as a Sophomore. (Christian Laettner/Duke has the record of 23 NCAA Tournament games played)
- Bronson is the only Native American athlete to play in consecutive Final Fours.
(Note: Other Native Athletes to play in Final Fours include Russel Archambault (although games stricken from NCAA records, 1997 Minnesota), Ron Baker (Citizen Band Potawatomi) played in the 2014 Final Four with Wichita State)
OUR CONTRIBUTING WRITER PICKS
Charlie Perry, @CharlieHPerry, (Prairie Band Potawatomi) – The Badgers will win their second national basketball championship on the backs of AP Player of the Year Frank “The Tank” Kaminsky and sharpshooter Sam Dekker. The Badger’s duo are the two leading scorers in the NCAA tournament with 22.2 points and 20.6 points respectively. Wisconsin proved that they can play with the big boys when they went toe to toe with No. 1 overall seed Kentucky and came out on top. The Badgers hold the height advantage as well in this contest. This will play a key role as Wisconsin looks to limit second chance opportunities from a Duke team that will look to play a long range game.
Koenig has gone against some stellar guards in this tournament including Joseph Young of Oregon who plays a very similar style of basketball as Tyus Jones. The first ever Native American to make the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball championship game, Koenig is a true team player with superb fundamentals that can step up from long range when called on as well.
It’s a good feeling to see Koenig play in this championship game. He’s a great representative for Indian country, showing young people that if they work hard and stay disciplined they can do anything. Much like Shoni Schimmel, Bronson has taken the support of his people and used it to give back to the community. Win or lose Koenig has shown Native Americans everywhere that anything is possible.
Tyler Jones, @TylerJonesLive, (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) – The National Championship is not the title we all expected by any means, but it is the one we all wanted, a title game without Kentucky. I think these two teams have had an incredible tournament run to get to this point.
For the game though, I like Duke over Wisconsin based on the matchup. The two teams met back in December, with the Blue Devils winning in Madison 70-60. Although these two teams are completely different then when they faced back in earlier in the year, Duke still has the edge over this Wisconsin team.
For the season, Duke had four players in double-figures points wise and beat their five tournament opponents by an average of 17.6 points per game. Led by big man Jahill Okafor, Duke has held tournament opponents to an average of just 55 points a game. One of the best tournaments defensively for one team in NCAA Tournament history. I like Duke 78-75.
The impact of Bronson Koenig is incredible. In February, I labeled him the most notable Native American in Men’s College Basketball. He has stepped up since he became a starter for the Badgers and I believe the Badgers would not be in this position to win a title without his performance in the postseason. He is a great kid, I enjoyed the time I spent getting to interview him and cover him. He embraces his heritage and has not forgot where he came from. A wise man beyond his years.
Eric Bailey, @EricBaileyTW, (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) – We have the making of a great championship game on Monday night. Both teams are outstanding and definitely earned their way into the title contest.
Duke has Coach K, history and a determined will about them. It’s difficult to pick against the Blue Devils, especially after they went to Wisconsin and defeated the Badgers earlier this season. But Wisconsin is a team of destiny. It doesn’t matter what you do during the regular season (cough, Kentucky, cough). The Badgers are played at an extremely high level.
The last time a team of destiny was knocked out, it was in 1991. Unbeaten UNLV was considered unbeatable and who took them out of the tournament? Duke did in a national semifinal game. The big question at that time was if the Blue Devils had the focus to turn around 48 hours following an emotional victory and win a national championship.
They did and so will Wisconsin. The top-seeded Badgers have had the most difficult journey possible to the title game – beating No. 16 seed Coastal Carolina, No. 8 Oregon, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 2 Arizona and No. 1 Kentucky.
They’ve answered the call in those games and will again on Monday night.
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Let us know your picks by tweeting us @ndnsports and follow Charlie (@CharlieHperry) and Tyler (@TylerJonesLive) who will be following the game for us tonight
