The Gonzaga Bulldogs will be out to secure their first-ever national title on Monday night when the West region’s top seed collides with the South region No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels who will be gunning for the program’s sixth national title. These were two of the best teams in the country over the course of the regular season, so it only makes perfect sense that each is the last two standing.
Don't miss this National Championship showdown from the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ at 9:20 ET on Monday, April 3. Catch every moment of the game live on CBS.
Final Four Odds at BookMaker.eu
Gonzaga Bulldogs +1.5
North Carolina Tar Heels -1.5
Over/Under 153.5
Odds Analysis
North Carolina has been the odds on favorite to cut the nets down since the NCAA Tournament first tipped off back on March 16. With that, Roy Williams’ kids opened as short 2 point favorites to come out on top of Monday night’s matchup. That’s a scary number for Heels’ backers considering UNC already failed to cover a 2 point spread versus Kentucky in this tournament, and checks in just 1-2 straight up the last three times they were favored by a bucket.
The Zags have gotten 59 percent of the early action lowering the betting line to -1.5 in favor of UNC only hours after first opening. The total has seen absolutely no movement staying put at 153.5 with 52 percent of the early wagers supporting the over. Both Gonzaga and North Carolina played to high scorers in their respective Final Four matchups.
How They Got Here
Mark Few’s troops punched their ticket to the Final Four by getting past South Dakota State, Northwestern, West Virginia and Xavier. They only managed to cover the closing pointspread in one of those games with the lone pointspread win coming versus Xavier whom they pounded 83-59 as 8.5 point favorites. Nigel Williams-Goss and his mates looked well on their way towards cashing another ticket on Saturday night up nine over the Gamecocks at the break, but like South Carolina has done all tourney long, they didn’t give up and made a game of it.
The Cocks outscored Gonzaga 37-32 in the second half to ultimately fall by a 77-73 final count and cover the closing 6.5 point spread. While Frank Martin’s kids gave it their all, it just wasn’t enough to unseat the ultra-efficient Bulldogs. Goss led all scorers with 23 points in knocking down 9 of 16 shots en route to leading the Zags to a stellar 48.3 percent showing from the field. They also won the rebounding battle 37-35, but it was the shooting from the field, from beyond the arc, and from the charity stripe that ultimately propelled the Zags to their first-ever title game appearance.
The Tar Heels are back in the National Championship Game for the second straight season. They got here by destroying Texas Southern in the first-round, and then surviving a scare from Arkansas in the second-round by closing the game on a 12-0 run to pull out the 72-65 win and non-cover. From there, they dominated Butler to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight for the second straight season. Many stated that their match-up with Kentucky was for the title. If not for a last second make by Luke Maye, UNC might have fallen in overtime with the Wildcats seizing all the momentum in the game.
After stealing the 75-73 win, the Tar Heels found themselves decided favorites against Oregon who they simply just couldn’t shake. The Ducks had numerous opportunities to extend their season to Monday, but in the end, offensive rebounds proved to be their undoing allowing North Carolina to pull out the 77-76 win and non-cover as 4 point closing favorites. Kennedy Meeks had a monster game pulling down 14 rebounds to go along with 25 points, and each of those boards were sorely needed with the Ducks playing even with the nation’s No. 1 rebounding team. It’s not often a team finds itself in the championship game in back-to-back seasons, but that’s exactly where Justin Jackson and company find themselves right now.
Comparable Games of Note
This is unchartered territory for Gonzaga who until this tournament had never made it to the Final Four. Still, they would tie the Division I record for most wins in a season with a win on Monday night. Along with UNC, history is also in the opposite corner. Gonzaga is the fourth team to make it to the national championship game with one or fewer losses dating back to 1985. The other three schools all failed to cut the nets down.
The Tar Heels find themselves in this exact same scenario almost a year ago to the day when they fell to Villanova at the buzzer in one of the greatest season concluders ever played in the Big Dance. Not only does UNC own the advantage in the experience department with it the eighth team to reach the title game after finishing runner-up the prior season, but so too does Roy Williams. He will be making his sixth title game appearance which is the third most behind John Wooden and Mike Krzyzewski.
The Zags and Heels only played one similar opponent this season; the Tennessee Volunteers. Gonzaga went into Rocky Top and secured the 86-76 win and cover as 8 point road favorites. They shot a blistering 54.3 percent from the field and won the battle of the boards 40-35. They also found a way to get to the charity stripe 33 times in hostile territory. They ended up making 27 of them.
UNC had a much tougher time against Tennessee. Most surprising was that the game took place at home. However, Joel Berry II missed the game due to a sprained ankle, and his absence really showed with the Tar Heels shooting less than 40 percent from the field. Still, North Carolina owned the glass 37-28 and only gave up six offensive rebounds to the Vols while the Zags gave up a whopping 18.
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