(NewsNation) — Three and a half weeks of March Madness basketball will end Monday night, culminating in a match for the national championship at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Betters made Duke the favorite to win, but after a thrilling game Saturday, their arch-rival North Carolina sent the team home and Mike Krzyzewski into retirement with a Final 4 loss.

“Tonight was a battle, it was a game that the winner was going to joyous and the loser was going to be in agony,” Krzyzewski said.

It was a Final 4 for the ages — a back and forth battle in the first-ever matchup of the two teams in the NCAA tournament.

Krzyzewski’s remarkable career came to a gut-wrenching close after North Carolina point guard Caleb Love made a key 3-pointer and three late free throws to lift the Tar Heels to their thrill-a-minute victory.

“Just one game away from a national championship,” Love said. “What else could you can you say?”

Caught in a Tar Heel celebration was Blue Devil sorrow. Coach K heads into retirement after 42 years on the Duke sideline. Immediately after the game, his thoughts were focused on his team.

“You get used to taking care of the emotions of the people you love and that you’re responsible for,” he said. “That’s where I’m at. I’m sure at some time I’ll deal with this in my own way. But for right now we need to deal with our family, we’ve developed a family.”

Krzyzewski said he had a locker room full of crying players when it was over.

“I’ve said my entire career, or when I knew what the hell I was doing that I wanted my seasons to end where my team was either crying tears of joy or tears of sorrow.” he said. “Because then you knew that they gave everything and I had a locker room filled with guys who were crying.”

His storied career ends short of a 2022 championship goal but it’s a career that is unlike any other.

“And I’m sure that’s the thing, when I look back, that I’ll miss. I won’t be in the arena anymore,” he told reporters. “But damn I was in the arena for a long time, and these kids made my last time in the arena an amazing one.”

As he left the post-game press conference for the final time, Coach K was quick with a joke and gratitude as only the greatest of all time could, telling videographers “maybe you could superimpose a sunset. Thank you all.”

Instead of Krzyzewski going for his sixth title, on Monday, Carolina will try to win its seventh as No. 8 seed North Carolina will play No. 1 seed Kansas in the 2022 national championship on Monday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.