2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game

See also: 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

2017 NCAA Tournament Championship Game
National Championship Game
Gonzaga Bulldogs North Carolina Tar Heels (37–1) (32–7) 65 71 Head coach:  Mark Few Head coach:  Roy Williams AP Coaches 2 2 AP Coaches 5 8 1 2 Total Gonzaga 35 30 65 North Carolina 32 39 71
Date	April 3, 2017
Arena	University of Phoenix Stadium
Location	Glendale, Arizona
MVP	Joel Berry II, North Carolina
Favorite	North Carolina by 2
Referee	Verne Harris, Michael Stephens, Mike Eades
Attendance	76,168
United States TV coverage
Network	CBS
Announcers	Jim Nantz (play-by-play) Bill Raftery and Grant Hill  (color) Tracy Wolfson (sideline)
Nielsen Ratings	14.5/24 (22.998 million viewers)

The 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game was the final game of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. It determined the national champion for the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The game was played on April 3, 2017, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the North Carolina Tar Heels. This was the first national championship game to be played in a Western state since the 1995 game, which was held at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington. North Carolina was playing in its second consecutive title game (and eleventh overall), after losing to Villanova at the buzzer the previous year, while Gonzaga was playing in its first ever title game. North Carolina defeated Gonzaga, 71–65, to win its sixth men's national basketball championship.

It was the second national title game in the last three years, and the eighth overall, to be played between two number 1 seeds.

Participants

Gonzaga

Main article: 2016–17 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team

After a 29–1 regular season and winning the 2017 West Coast Conference regular season championship, Gonzaga beat Pacific and Santa Clara en route to the 2017 West Coast Conference Tournament Finals, where they defeated Saint Mary's. They were the #1 seed in the West Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

In the 1st round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, after a tightly contested first half against South Dakota State, Jordan Mathews' 16 points and Przemek Karnowski's three consecutive baskets built a 20-point lead with 5 minutes left, helping Gonzaga to come away with a 66–46 win. In their 2nd-round game, Northwestern head coach Chris Collins, trailing by 5 with 5 minutes left after trailing by as many as 22 in the second half, stomped onto the court when a goal-tending call was missed, thus drawing a technical foul, ending Northwestern's chances of winning the game, as Gonzaga would prevail to win 79–73. In their Sweet 16 game against West Virginia, Jordan Mathews hit a go-ahead three-pointer with less than a minute remaining to give Gonzaga a 60–58 lead as Gonzaga would prevail to win 61–58 and advance to the Elite Eight. In the Elite Eight, led by Nigel Williams-Goss with 23 points, Gonzaga routed Xavier 83–59 to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history. Gonzaga defeated South Carolina 77–73 in the Final Four led by 23 points from Nigel Williams-Goss, 27 points from Gonzaga's big men, and a Josh Perkins foul preventing Sindarius Thornwell's game-tying three-pointer with 3.5 seconds left, to advance to the championship game.

North Carolina

Main article: 2016–17 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

After a 26–6 regular season, North Carolina beat Miami (FL) in the ACC Tournament before losing to Duke in the semifinals. Despite the loss, North Carolina was selected as the top seed in the South regional as an at-large.

University of Phoenix Stadium, the site of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game

In the 1st round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, Justin Jackson broke out of a shooting slump and led North Carolina with 21 points to a 103–64 win over Texas Southern. In the 2nd round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament against Arkansas, after blowing a 17-point 1st half lead and trailing 65–60 with under three minutes remaining, Kennedy Meeks led a North Carolina comeback with 16 points and a huge tip-in with 44.2 seconds remaining to put UNC ahead 68–65 as they survived to win 72–65, and advance to the Sweet 16. In the Sweet 16, Joel Berry II and Justin Jackson led North Carolina to a 92–80 win over Butler with 26 and 24 points, respectively, to advance to the Elite Eight for the 26th time in program history. In an Elite Eight showdown between two college basketball blue bloods, North Carolina beat Kentucky 75-73 on a jump shot by Luke Maye with 0.3 seconds left, advancing to its second consecutive Final Four appearance, and its record-setting 20th appearance in the Final Four. Maye's shot is additionally remarkable for its similarities to Duke player Christian Laettner's shot against Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight, 25 years earlier. Both Maye and Laettner wore the number 32; both games involved a No. 1 seed blue-wearing team from North Carolina playing against No. 2 seed Kentucky in the Elite Eight; and both scored a long two-pointer at or near the buzzer to win the game. Laettner himself noted the similarities in a tweet. After this, North Carolina defeated Oregon 77–76 in the Final Four, led by Kennedy Meeks, who had a double-double career-high 25 points and 14 rebounds as well as an offensive rebound off of a Joel Berry II missed free throw with 4.0 seconds left, to advance to the championship game.

Game summary

CBS

Monday, April 3 6:20 pm MST

Box score

#1 Gonzaga Bulldogs 65, #1 North Carolina Tar Heels 71
Scoring by half: 35–32, 30–39
Pts: N. Williams-Goss – 15 Rebs: N. Williams-Goss – 9 Asts: N. Williams-Goss – 6		Pts: J. Berry II – 22 Rebs: K. Meeks – 10 Asts: J. Berry II – 6

University of Phoenix Stadium – Glendale, AZ Attendance: 76,168 Referees: Verne Harris, Michael Stephens, Mike Eades

Gonzaga led North Carolina at the half, 35–32. North Carolina outscored Gonzaga in the second half, 39–30, to win the championship. Gonzaga were 2 points up with 1:52 remaining, but North Carolina were able to clinch victory in the closing minutes.

North Carolina won despite a poor (4 for 27) conversion rate of 3-point shots, and made more points from free-throw conversions (15 for 26). The game included a total of 44 fouls. Overall, there were 26 free-throws for each side, leading the Associated Press report to deride the game as being a free-throw contest.

Criticism

In contrast to the positive reaction to the previous year's title game—in which Carolina lost to Villanova at the buzzer—many criticized the quality of play in the 2017 championship. Carolina head coach Roy Williams did so as well, commenting during the trophy presentation ceremony that "neither team played very well." The media generally blamed officiating for the game's low quality. Both teams were in the bonus eight minutes into the second half. The Associated Press labeled the game "unwatchable". Mark Tracy of the New York Times declared it a "sluggish slog of a national title game". Myron Medcalf, writing for ESPN, wrote that the game was blighted with "an abundance of foul calls, poor offense and a sleep-inducing rhythm". Chris Chase of Fox Sports lamented how the referees had "ruined" the contest through a combination of incorrect foul calls, missed calls, and superfluous use of instant replay. Tom Ley of Deadspin condemned the game as "memorably disgusting".

Multiple prominent current and former basketball players vocalized their distaste for the game's quality of officiating on social media, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, James Worthy, and Jay Williams.

Media coverage

The game was televised in the United States by CBS. ESPN International had the media rights outside of the United States.

Radio coverage in the United States was provided by Westwood One.

External links

• Men's Final Four Championship