Written by Tristan Rhee’17

March Madness concludes Monday, 9:18 pm, with the Men’s Basketball Title Game.  The Final Four games concluded yesterday, setting up a matchup of heavyweights in the championship.  Number one seed, Wisconsin will meet number one seeded Duke in a game that features two of the best players in the country. And while this championship game does feature two of the tournament’s best teams, the matchup comes as a slight surprise.

These two teams took different paths to the title game. On one hand, Duke dominated Michigan State 81-61 in the first semifinal game of the performance of National Player of the Year runner up Jahlil Okafor. Michigan State was a somewhat surprising Final Four participant, making the semifinals as a 7 seed. Wisconsin, however, was matched up with top-seeded Kentucky, who sported a 38-0 unbeaten record heading into the game.

Wisconsin ended up pulling out the victory 71-64, leaving Kentucky 38-1. Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky, the National Player of the Year, helped end the dreams of Kentucky, who were overwhelming favorites to win the tournament.

This sets up a final with plenty of firepower, although it is perhaps not the one everyone expected. This matchup pits Kaminsky against Okafor, the top two players in the country.

The game also features two of the game’s best coaches: Mike Krzyzewski is pursuing his fifth national title and Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan was up for Hall of Fame election following his back-to-back Final Four appearances.

And if Kentucky vs. Wisconsin wasn’t close enough, this game is expected to be even closer.

Vegas already has this game as a tossup-in what will surely be a classic championship.