NCAA title game 2017: North Carolina beats Gonzaga to win 6th national championship

More than its now six national championships, the hallmark of North Carolina’s basketball excellence has been its consistent contention. The Tar Heels have missed the NCAA tournament just three times since 1974, and they’ve finished ranked in the vast majority of those seasons. They’ve been kings of the hill more than almost everybody, but titles aren’t the only standard of greatness. After all, even Michael Jordan only won one national title in Chapel Hill.

The Heels are champions again now, fresh off a win against Gonzaga on Monday night. They’re going to lose tons of production from this title-winning team, and yet, in standard UNC fashion, they’re going to be fine. It’s not likely that they’ll win the national title again in 2018 — but then again, winning a title isn’t “likely” for any one team.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Through 37 wins this season, things broke the right way for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. They avoided injury, and made a rotation filled with three high-level transfers work to near perfection.

They weren’t fazed by their lone loss of the regular season, and took advantage of a path to the national championship that featured a matchup with an 11 seed in the Elite Eight and a seven seed in the Final Four.

The Tar Heels won the national championship, and the NCAA didn’t waste any time promoting their gear.

Jay Bilas had some feelings about it. Johnny Manziel had some more.

Monday marked the second time in the last year that Kris Jenkins has been at floor level for a national title basketball game involving North Carolina.

You’ll recall last year’s title game, when Jenkins was playing for Villanova. Jenkins is the player who hit the buzzer-beating three-pointer that ripped out UNC’s collective heart, just seconds after Marcus Paige had tied the game with a prayer three-pointer of his own. It was one of the great shots in college basketball history.

Congratulations to North Carolina, the 2017 men’s Division I basketball champions!

Surely you’ve been hearing plenty about the Tar Heels during their tournament run, but here we’ve gathered some good, hard numbers to share with you.

The first week of April is great for sports fans, because you’ve got MLB’s opening day coinciding with the end of the NCAA tournament.

Why not enjoy both?

The Gonzaga Bulldogs treated us to some elementary school recess-type basketball in the NCAA tournament’s national championship game on Monday.

After North Carolina’s Theo Pinson dove to save a ball on the baseline, the ball was loose in the paint. Gonzaga’s Killian Tillie dove to the floor, came up with the ball, and delivered a sharp post pass to big center Przemek Karnowski. With the ball in his hands, Karnowski moved toward the basket and finished an and-1 bucket.

Michael Phelps is taking in the NCAA title game, as famous swimmers living in Phoenix are wont to do.

If Phelps lives in Paradise Valley, one would think he knew how to prepare for the aggressive sun.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are 7-2 straight up and against the spread in their last nine games as a favorite of 1.5 points or less. If the Tar Heels can earn a win as a small favorite on Monday over the Gonzaga Bulldogs, they will be the 2017 NCAA basketball champions.

North Carolina is a 1.5-point favorite in Glendale, Arizona at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Tar Heels are 1-2-1 ATS over their last four tournament games.

The championship game of this year’s NCAA tournament features a familiar team in the North Carolina Tar Heels and an unfamiliar one in the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

But before dissecting the matchup between these two teams, there’s one really important question to consider: Where even is Gonzaga University?

Kennedy Meeks had the best game of his college career on Saturday. The North Carolina Tar Heels senior center totaled 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting. He had 14 rebounds, eight of them on offense. His on-court plus-minus was plus-8, the best for any player on either of the two teams on the court in Glendale, Ariz.

He is usually good, but this game was abnormally great for Meeks. His career highs entering the night were 25 points and 17 boards. Forgive me for this highly unscientific way of measuring production, but Meeks’ highest total of points and rebounds in a single game entering the night had been 36. Against power conference teams, it was 31, against Duke in this year’s ACC tournament. His new career high: 39.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs and North Carolina Tar Heels will play for college basketball’s national championship on Monday night. The Zags beat South Carolina in one national semifinal on Saturday, and the Heels beat Oregon in the other. That sets the stage for what seems like an outstanding final chapter to this season.

Monday, April 3 at 9 p.m. ET