The Virginia Cavaliers and Texas Tech Red Raiders are the final two teams remaining, battling it out for the National Championship on Monday night.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders submitted a dominant Final Four performance in their first-ever appearance at this stage of the NCAA Tournament to punch a ticket to the National Championship. Meanwhile, the Virginia Cavaliers needed a late foul call and made free throws to ultimately punch their ticket. But now they’re set to meet in Minneapolis on Monday night with the title on the line.
These two teams are perhaps the best defensive teams in college basketball, thriving on slowing the game down and dominating the action with their defense. Thus, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this is the lowest over/under (119 points) total that we’ve ever seen for a title game. However, that shouldn’t lessen the excitement for this one.
Virginia has arguably been the best team in college basketball all season long. Not only is Tony Bennett’s pack-line defense still strong, but he has bonafide playmakers like Kyle Guy, De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome that can carry the load better than any team Bennett has previously coached.
As for Texas Tech, they may have had some stumbles in the regular season, but they’ve been lights out in March Madness. Chris Beard’s defense is suffocating and he has a star in Jarrett Culver, but what’s been impressive has been the ancillary pieces, such as Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens, stepping up and carrying the load when necessary.
Details for Virginia vs. Texas Tech in the National Championship are below:
Date: Monday, April 8, 2019
Start Time: 9:20 p.m. ET
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Venue: U.S. Bank Stadium
TV Info: CBS
Live Stream: FuboTV, CBS All-Access
These two teams may not deliver a fast-paced National Championship matchup, but they have definitively been deserving of this opportunity. No matter if it’s Virginia or Texas Tech cutting down the nets in Minneapolis and ending the “One Shining Moment” montage, they’ll have earned their hardware in a big, big way.