The #1 overall seeded Kentucky Wildcats(37-2) play the #2 seed in the Midwest Kansas Jayhawks(32-6) for the 2012 NCAA National Championship.
The announcers for CBS this evening will be Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, and Steve Kerr. Tracy Wolfson is the sideline reporter.
Officials for tonight’s game will be Mark Whitehead, Verne Harris, and Mike Stuart.
Kentucky is favored by 6.5 points.
Gametime is at 9:23pm.
[I]Here is the background for tonight’s game:[/I]
Kentucky has 18 Final Four wins, the second most in the country.
These are the top two winningest programs in NCAA Division I college basketball with Kentucky first at 2,089 wins and Kansas second at 2,070 victories.
Kentucky coach John Calipari was an assistant coach at Kansas from 1982-85. KU head coach Bill Self was a graduate assistant under Larry Brown in 1985-86.
Anthony Davis is two blocks shy of tying the NCAA freshman record for blocks in a season (182).
This will be the second meeting between Bill Self and John Calipari this season but the first in NCAA Tournament play since April 7, 2008, when Kansas defeated Memphis 75-68 in overtime in the NCAA National Championship game.
UK is 1-0 against Kansas as the No. 1 (AP) team. That game took place in the 1977-78 season.
Both schools’ facilities are named after KU greats. Kentucky’s Rupp Arena is named after Adolph Rupp, a native of Halstead, Kan., and a KU graduate who played at Kansas in 1923 under coach F.C. “Phog” Allen.
[U][I][B]PROJECTED STARTERS*[/B][/I][/U]
[I][B]Kentucky Wildcats[/B][/I]
P # Name Pts. Rebs. Assts
F 3 [B]Terrence Jones[/B] 12.4 7.2 1.8^
• Has 7+ rebs. in seven of last eight games
G 14[B] Michael Kidd-Gilchrist [/B]11.9 7.5 1.9
• Of seven dbl-dbs, four are against top-15 teams
G 20 [B]Doron Lamb[/B] 13.5 2.7 1.5
• Averaging 15.4 ppg in NCAA Tournament
F 23 [B]Anthony Davis[/B] 14.4 10.2 4.6^
• UK Fr. record 20 double-doubles this season
G 25 [B]Marquis Teague[/B] 9.9 2.5 4.8
• Avg. 13.2 pts and 5.8 assts in NCAA Tour.
[I][B]Kansas Jayhawks[/B][/I]
P # Name Pts. Rebs. Assts
F 00 [B]Thomas Robinson[/B] 17.7 11.7 1.9
• AP First Team All-America
C 5 [B]Jeff Withey[/B] 9.1 6.3 3.6^
• Shooting 54.7 pct. from the ield
G 10 [B]Tyshawn Taylor[/B] 16.5 2.3 4.8
• Second on team in steals with 51
G 15[B] Elijah Johnson[/B] 10.1 3.3 3.6
• Team-high 66 3-pointers
F 24 [B]Travis Releford[/B] 8.6 4.3 1.8
• Shooting 50.6 pct. from the iel
