GLENDALE, Ariz. – North Carolina won the 2017 NCAA men’s basketball championship in a 71-65 win over Gonzaga on Monday night.

The Tar Heels won its sixth men’s national title after the title eluded last year’s team.

Mobile App Users: Click here to view this story </s> GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Gonzaga and North Carolina have turned their attention toward Monday’s national championship game.

The teams are holding news conferences and a closed practice at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday afternoon after both earned tough wins in the national semifinals the night before.

The Zags beat South Carolina 77-73 in the first game. Then the Tar Heels beat Oregon 77-76 in the nightcap.

Gonzaga (37-1) is in the Final Four for the first time, while North Carolina (32-7) is in the Final Four for a record 20th time. That includes last year’s run to the national championship game, where the Tar Heels lost to Villanova on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. </s> Seldom in life do we get what we actually desperately want.

For a year now — almost exactly to the day — all these North Carolina players wanted was a chance to redeem themselves, an opportunity to erase the heartbreak from last April’s national championship game loss. They wanted this: A title of their own.

And, somehow, they got just that, beating Gonzaga, 71-65, in Monday night’s national championship game here at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

The Tar Heels became just the fourth team to come back from losing the national championship the year before to go on and win it the following year. It is the third national championship for North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who has won all three with the Tar Heels and since 2005. It also gives him one more than his mentor, the late Dean Smith.

And this one didn’t come easy.

North Carolina's big men came up in the clutch. With Gonzaga trailing by three and looking to tie, Kennedy Meeks blocked a determined Nigel Williams-Goss and the play led to a breakaway and game-securing dunk.

And Isaiah Hicks, who struggled to find an offensive rhythm in previous tournament games, came up with a huge bucket with 22 second remaining. His 13 points and nine rebounds helped offset both teams' big men hampered by foul trouble, with the 'Zags' Zach Collins fouling out at the 5:03 minute mark.

The Tar Heels were plagued by poor shooting throughout much of the first half, shooting just 30.6% from the field and a putrid 15.4% from beyond the arc. The two players who carried North Carolina to the title game — Meeks and Justin Jackson — combined to score just 10 points prior to halftime.

But, much like their national semifinal win over Oregon, weathering the opponent’s storm proved to be more important than just about anything else. North Carolina, which trailed by three at the break, burst into the second half with an 8-0 run that forced Gonzaga coach Mark Few to call a timeout — which, in turn, prompted a roar from the North Carolina bench as the team gathered for a huddle.

Gonzaga’s strength — its enormity in the post — became problematic early in the second half as well, with all three of its bigs finding themselves in serious foul trouble, though some played through it.

The second half featured two teams teetering back and forth as if on a seesaw, a tight, nerve-wracking game befitting the grandest of the sport’s stages.

© Gannett Co., Inc. 2017. All Rights Reserved </s> GLENDALE, Ariz. — Gonzaga and North Carolina have turned their attention toward Monday’s national championship game.

The teams are holding news conferences and a closed practice at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday afternoon after both earned tough wins in the national semifinals the night before.

The Zags beat South Carolina 77-73 in the first game. Then the Tar Heels beat Oregon 77-76 in the nightcap.

Gonzaga (37-1) is in the Final Four for the first time, while North Carolina (32-7) is in the Final Four for a record 20th time. That includes last year’s run to the national championship game, where the Tar Heels lost to Villanova on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. </s> GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Latest on the semifinal games in the Final Four: (all times local):

Two college basketball programs on opposite ends of the country and with much different histories will face off for the national championship on Monday.

North Carolina and Gonzaga pulled out hard-fought wins in the semifinals to set the stage for the title game. North Carolina has five national titles, and Gonzaga is making its first appearance in a championship game.

North Carolina opened as a two-point favorite over the Bulldogs, of Spokane, Washington.

North Carolina is one game away from its sixth college basketball national championship after surviving a late rally in the final seconds against Oregon.

Kennedy Meeks matched his career high with 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as North Carolina won 77-76.

Meeks’ final rebound was the most pivotal, coming after a missed free throw in the closing seconds.

North Carolina missed four straight free throws at the end of the game but got offensive rebounds in both cases to emerge victorious.

Dylan Ennis and Tyler Dorsey scored 21 and 18 points for the Ducks. Dillon Brooks had a rough night for Oregon, making 2 of 11 shots and committing five turnovers before fouling out.

North Carolina’s academic scandal was brought up on the CBS broadcast during the second half of the Tar Heels’ national semifinal against Oregon.

Jim Nantz suggested that recruiting has been tough for the Tar Heels because of the scandal, noting the team has an upperclassman-dominated roster. “They’ve had to live with all of this, all the swirling innuendo with what went on there with all the academic fraud allegations,” he said.

North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham told The Associated Press earlier this week that it “would be inappropriate to try to estimate a timeline” as to when this saga might end. The NCAA’s ongoing probe of the Tar Heels is tied to irregularities in an academic department and led to five broad-based charges against the school that include lack of institutional control.

Current UNC players were years away from arriving in Chapel Hill when it began.

The Final Four brought the largest crowd to attend a sporting event at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Organizers say attendance was 77,612. That is dramatically more fans than the building typically holds for Arizona Cardinals football games. Average attendance for Cardinals games is about 64,000. The Cardinals have sold out every game since the building opened in 2006.

The stadium can hold thousands more seats for basketball in what marks the first time the Final Four has been in Arizona.

One half in, and North Carolina’s Joel Berry II is having a quiet night as he plays through two sprained ankles.

Berry hit an early 3-pointer but didn’t make another shot the rest of the half, finishing with five points on 1-for-4 shooting.

It’s unclear how much the injuries are affecting him, though some of that could be Oregon’s defense that had UNC off-balance for about 17 minutes before a late Tar Heels run.

North Carolina’s offense took a long time to get going but finally picked things up, and the Tar Heels lead Oregon 39-36 at halftime in the nightcap of Saturday’s Final Four semifinals.

Kennedy Meeks dominated play inside with 14 points and five rebounds for the Tar Heels.

North Carolina missed 17 of its first 20 shots but finished the half with a 17-6 run. Oregon had an eight-point lead at one point.

North Carolina appeared to lose its shooting touch somewhere between home and Arizona. Oregon had trouble holding onto the ball.

The start of the Tar Heels-Ducks national semifinal game was marred by offensive struggles by both teams.

North Carolina made only 5 of its first 20 shots and Oregon committed eight turnovers in the game’s first 11 minutes.

Theo Pinson briefly went out of the game, adding to North Carolina’s offensive woes.

The national semifinal contest between North Carolina and Oregon is underway, with the winner to face Gonzaga in the championship game.

North Carolina is looking to return to the title game after losing to Villanova on a last-second shot last year. North Carolina has won five national titles, most recently in 2009. Oregon’s only championship was in 1939.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs survived a furious second-half rally by South Carolina to advance to their first national championship game.

South Carolina reeled off 16 straight points to take a 67-65 lead with 7:06 to play. Zach Collins answered with a 3-pointer to put Gonzaga back on top and the Bulldogs held on from there.

Collins, a 7-foot freshman, had an impressive stat line: 14 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks in 23 minutes of play.

Gonzaga advances to Monday night’s title game against the winner of Saturday night’s Oregon-North Carolina agame.

Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 for the Bulldogs. P.J. Dozier had 17 points for the Gamecocks.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are headed to the national title game.

Gonzaga weathered a furious second-half rally by South Carolina and held on to beat the Gamecocks 77-73 at the Final Four on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs, who have lost once in 38 games this season, play the winner of the Oregon-North Carolina game for the national championship Monday night.

South Carolina is displaying more of its patented second-half magic in the NCAA tournament.

Down by 14 to Gonzaga, the Gamecocks came roaring back to take the lead with 7:06 remaining. Their run reached 16-0 at that point before Gonzaga ended its scoreless drought.

The Gamecocks scored on six straight possessions. Meanwhile, Gonzaga, so smooth on offense most of the game, went over three minutes without a score.

South Carolina has trailed at half three times in the tournament, and the Gamecocks have outscored the opposition in the second half by 54 points.

The decision by Nigel Williams-Goss to leave Seattle is turning out to be a decisive addition for Gonzaga in its bid for the school’s first national title.

The guard from Happy Valley, Oregon, played his first two seasons for Lorenzo Romar at Washington but left after the 2014-15 season.

He heated up in the second half, pushing Gonzaga’s lead to 14 points with a 3-point play with about 10 minutes to play. He reached 23 points with the 3-point play. That despite turning his ankle a few minutes earlier.

Williams-Goss is averaging about 17 points a game this year.

South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell missed a day of practice this week after coming down with a fever and headache. And the SEC player of the year’s coach acknowledged he wasn’t at full strength in the first half against Gonzaga.

Frank Martin said the Gamecocks need to find a way to help out Thornwell. “He obviously doesn’t have a lot of energy and bounce in his game right now,” Martin said.

Complicating matters for the senior guard is the fact that the Zags guarded him with the 6-foot-9 Johnathan Williams. Long arms and a 4-inch height advantage have helped make things tough for Thornwell.

Thornwell had five points in the first half after averaging 25.8 points through the first four games of the tournament.

North Carolina will have starting point guard Joel Berry II for Saturday’s semifinal against Oregon.

Berry was included on the pregame list of starters. There had been some question about his status this week due to a pair of sprained ankles suffered during the NCAA Tournament, the second coming during the Elite Eight win against Kentucky. The junior had sounded confident about his chances in pregame interviews and pronounced himself “85 percent” on Friday.

The question now is whether — or how much — the injuries affect his play against the Ducks.

Gonzaga scored the final seven points of the first half to build a 45-36 lead over South Carolina in the Final Four.

The Bulldogs came close to going into halftime with a double-digit lead and on a 10-0 run, but Silas Melson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was waved off.

Nigel Williams-Goss had 12 points to lead Gonzaga, whose surge came without their massive center.

Przemek Karnowski — 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds — took a hand to the face and went down hard under the Gonzaga basket. He stayed down for several minutes before making to the bench and going to the locker room.

South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC player of the year, had just five points on 1-for-5 shooting.

Gonzaga suffered a setback late in the first half against South Carolina when big man Przemek Karnowski took a hand to the face and was taken to the locker room to be checked out.

Karnowski was led off the court by trainers after getting hit by South Carolina Chris Silva. He is expected to return.

South Carolina coach Frank Martin walked out on to the court to check on Karnowski. Martin bent over and said, “Are you all right?” An Gonzaga athletic trainer then attended to Karnowski.

The 7-foot-1 center from Poland had six points and four rebounds when he left.

Sindarius Thornwell has been red hot for South Carolina in the NCAA tournament. Not so much in the first half against Gonzaga.

The SEC player of the year was scoreless through the first 12 minutes of the game. And his backcourt mate Rakym Felder drew the wrath of South Carolina coach Frank Martin, who came onto the court midway through the first half to give a piece of his mind to the freshman guard.

Thornwell averaged 25.8 points through the first four games of the tournament.

South Carolina is taking a rare approach against Gonzaga by not double teaming Przemek Karnowski.

Previous teams in the NCAA Tournament have sent double teams at the Polish big man and he picked them apart with his deft passing. The Zags made 12 of 24 from 3-point in last week’s win over Xavier, many of those coming on kick-outs by Karnowski.

South Carolina has no one who can match the size of the 7-foot-1, 300-pound center, but the Gamecocks have held their ground so far.

The official who received death threats from Kentucky fans after the Elite Eight is the crew chief for the Final Four game between South Carolina and Gonzaga.

John Higgins worked last weekend’s game between North Carolina and Kentucky, which the Tar Heels won 75-73. Kentucky coach John Calipari began his post-game news conference talking about fouls and Kentucky fans began harassing Higgins, who runs a roofing company in Nebraska.

The Sarpy County Sheriff’s office in Nebraska said Higgins’ roofing company received about 3,000 harassing emails and an unknown number of phone calls, some including death threats. The Facebook page for Higgins’ company also was inundated with negative comments.

Gonzaga and South Carolina, both in their first Final Four, tipped off as fans poured in to cavernous University of Phoenix Stadium. Gonzaga brought an especially vocal fan contingent to cheer on the basketball-crazy school from Spokane, Washington.

The teams emerged from clouds of artificial smoke to take the court for final pre-game warmups.

The national anthem was performed by female athletes from each of the schools in the Final Four.

The game is being played in a retractable roof stadium, but the roof will be closed for the Final Four matchups.

For more AP college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 </s> (AP) – The Latest on the semifinal games in the Final Four: (all times local):

Two college basketball programs on opposite ends of the country and with much different histories will face off for the national championship on Monday.

North Carolina and Gonzaga pulled out hard-fought wins in the semifinals to set the stage for the title game. North Carolina has five national titles, and Gonzaga is making its first appearance in a championship game.

North Carolina opened as a two-point favorite over the Bulldogs, of Spokane, Washington.

North Carolina is one game away from its sixth college basketball national championship after surviving a late rally in the final seconds against Oregon.

Kennedy Meeks matched his career high with 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as North Carolina won 77-76.

Meeks’ final rebound was the most pivotal, coming after a missed free throw in the closing seconds.

North Carolina missed four straight free throws at the end of the game but got offensive rebounds in both cases to emerge victorious.

Dylan Ennis and Tyler Dorsey scored 21 and 18 points for the Ducks. Dillon Brooks had a rough night for Oregon, making 2 of 11 shots and committing five turnovers before fouling out.

North Carolina’s academic scandal was brought up on the CBS broadcast during the second half of the Tar Heels’ national semifinal against Oregon.

Jim Nantz suggested that recruiting has been tough for the Tar Heels because of the scandal, noting the team has an upperclassman-dominated roster. “They’ve had to live with all of this, all the swirling innuendo with what went on there with all the academic fraud allegations,” he said.

North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham told The Associated Press earlier this week that it “would be inappropriate to try to estimate a timeline” as to when this saga might end. The NCAA’s ongoing probe of the Tar Heels is tied to irregularities in an academic department and led to five broad-based charges against the school that include lack of institutional control.

Current UNC players were years away from arriving in Chapel Hill when it began.

The Final Four brought the largest crowd to attend a sporting event at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Organizers say attendance was 77,612. That is dramatically more fans than the building typically holds for Arizona Cardinals football games. Average attendance for Cardinals games is about 64,000. The Cardinals have sold out every game since the building opened in 2006.

The stadium can hold thousands more seats for basketball in what marks the first time the Final Four has been in Arizona.

One half in, and North Carolina’s Joel Berry II is having a quiet night as he plays through two sprained ankles.

Berry hit an early 3-pointer but didn’t make another shot the rest of the half, finishing with five points on 1-for-4 shooting.

It’s unclear how much the injuries are affecting him, though some of that could be Oregon’s defense that had UNC off-balance for about 17 minutes before a late Tar Heels run.

North Carolina’s offense took a long time to get going but finally picked things up, and the Tar Heels lead Oregon 39-36 at halftime in the nightcap of Saturday’s Final Four semifinals.

Kennedy Meeks dominated play inside with 14 points and five rebounds for the Tar Heels.

North Carolina missed 17 of its first 20 shots but finished the half with a 17-6 run. Oregon had an eight-point lead at one point.

North Carolina appeared to lose its shooting touch somewhere between home and Arizona. Oregon had trouble holding onto the ball.

The start of the Tar Heels-Ducks national semifinal game was marred by offensive struggles by both teams.

North Carolina made only 5 of its first 20 shots and Oregon committed eight turnovers in the game’s first 11 minutes.

Theo Pinson briefly went out of the game, adding to North Carolina’s offensive woes.

The national semifinal contest between North Carolina and Oregon is underway, with the winner to face Gonzaga in the championship game.

North Carolina is looking to return to the title game after losing to Villanova on a last-second shot last year. North Carolina has won five national titles, most recently in 2009. Oregon’s only championship was in 1939.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs survived a furious second-half rally by South Carolina to advance to their first national championship game.

South Carolina reeled off 16 straight points to take a 67-65 lead with 7:06 to play. Zach Collins answered with a 3-pointer to put Gonzaga back on top and the Bulldogs held on from there.

Collins, a 7-foot freshman, had an impressive stat line: 14 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks in 23 minutes of play.

Gonzaga advances to Monday night’s title game against the winner of Saturday night’s Oregon-North Carolina agame.

Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 for the Bulldogs. P.J. Dozier had 17 points for the Gamecocks.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are headed to the national title game.

Gonzaga weathered a furious second-half rally by South Carolina and held on to beat the Gamecocks 77-73 at the Final Four on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs, who have lost once in 38 games this season, play the winner of the Oregon-North Carolina game for the national championship Monday night.

South Carolina is displaying more of its patented second-half magic in the NCAA tournament.

Down by 14 to Gonzaga, the Gamecocks came roaring back to take the lead with 7:06 remaining. Their run reached 16-0 at that point before Gonzaga ended its scoreless drought.

The Gamecocks scored on six straight possessions. Meanwhile, Gonzaga, so smooth on offense most of the game, went over three minutes without a score.

South Carolina has trailed at half three times in the tournament, and the Gamecocks have outscored the opposition in the second half by 54 points.

The decision by Nigel Williams-Goss to leave Seattle is turning out to be a decisive addition for Gonzaga in its bid for the school’s first national title.

The guard from Happy Valley, Oregon, played his first two seasons for Lorenzo Romar at Washington but left after the 2014-15 season.

He heated up in the second half, pushing Gonzaga’s lead to 14 points with a 3-point play with about 10 minutes to play. He reached 23 points with the 3-point play. That despite turning his ankle a few minutes earlier.

Williams-Goss is averaging about 17 points a game this year.

South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell missed a day of practice this week after coming down with a fever and headache. And the SEC player of the year’s coach acknowledged he wasn’t at full strength in the first half against Gonzaga.

Frank Martin said the Gamecocks need to find a way to help out Thornwell. “He obviously doesn’t have a lot of energy and bounce in his game right now,” Martin said.

Complicating matters for the senior guard is the fact that the Zags guarded him with the 6-foot-9 Johnathan Williams. Long arms and a 4-inch height advantage have helped make things tough for Thornwell.

Thornwell had five points in the first half after averaging 25.8 points through the first four games of the tournament.

North Carolina will have starting point guard Joel Berry II for Saturday’s semifinal against Oregon.

Berry was included on the pregame list of starters. There had been some question about his status this week due to a pair of sprained ankles suffered during the NCAA Tournament, the second coming during the Elite Eight win against Kentucky. The junior had sounded confident about his chances in pregame interviews and pronounced himself “85 percent” on Friday.

The question now is whether – or how much – the injuries affect his play against the Ducks.

Gonzaga scored the final seven points of the first half to build a 45-36 lead over South Carolina in the Final Four.

The Bulldogs came close to going into halftime with a double-digit lead and on a 10-0 run, but Silas Melson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was waved off.

Nigel Williams-Goss had 12 points to lead Gonzaga, whose surge came without their massive center.

Przemek Karnowski – 7-foot-1 and 300 pounds – took a hand to the face and went down hard under the Gonzaga basket. He stayed down for several minutes before making to the bench and going to the locker room.

South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC player of the year, had just five points on 1-for-5 shooting.

Gonzaga suffered a setback late in the first half against South Carolina when big man Przemek Karnowski took a hand to the face and was taken to the locker room to be checked out.

Karnowski was led off the court by trainers after getting hit by South Carolina Chris Silva. He is expected to return.

South Carolina coach Frank Martin walked out on to the court to check on Karnowski. Martin bent over and said, “Are you all right?” An Gonzaga athletic trainer then attended to Karnowski.

The 7-foot-1 center from Poland had six points and four rebounds when he left.

Sindarius Thornwell has been red hot for South Carolina in the NCAA tournament. Not so much in the first half against Gonzaga.

The SEC player of the year was scoreless through the first 12 minutes of the game. And his backcourt mate Rakym Felder drew the wrath of South Carolina coach Frank Martin, who came onto the court midway through the first half to give a piece of his mind to the freshman guard.

Thornwell averaged 25.8 points through the first four games of the tournament.

South Carolina is taking a rare approach against Gonzaga by not double teaming Przemek Karnowski.

Previous teams in the NCAA Tournament have sent double teams at the Polish big man and he picked them apart with his deft passing. The Zags made 12 of 24 from 3-point in last week’s win over Xavier, many of those coming on kick-outs by Karnowski.

South Carolina has no one who can match the size of the 7-foot-1, 300-pound center, but the Gamecocks have held their ground so far.

The official who received death threats from Kentucky fans after the Elite Eight is the crew chief for the Final Four game between South Carolina and Gonzaga.

John Higgins worked last weekend’s game between North Carolina and Kentucky, which the Tar Heels won 75-73. Kentucky coach John Calipari began his post-game news conference talking about fouls and Kentucky fans began harassing Higgins, who runs a roofing company in Nebraska.

The Sarpy County Sheriff’s office in Nebraska said Higgins’ roofing company received about 3,000 harassing emails and an unknown number of phone calls, some including death threats. The Facebook page for Higgins’ company also was inundated with negative comments.

Gonzaga and South Carolina, both in their first Final Four, tipped off as fans poured in to cavernous University of Phoenix Stadium. Gonzaga brought an especially vocal fan contingent to cheer on the basketball-crazy school from Spokane, Washington.

The teams emerged from clouds of artificial smoke to take the court for final pre-game warmups.

The national anthem was performed by female athletes from each of the schools in the Final Four.

The game is being played in a retractable roof stadium, but the roof will be closed for the Final Four matchups. </s> If your bracket is in shambles, you can blame these teams.

If your bracket is in shambles, you can blame these teams.

If your bracket is in shambles, you can blame these teams.

If your bracket is in shambles, you can blame these teams.

The champs are here! After defeating SEC rivals Mississippi State 67-55 in Dallas, the women Gamecocks basketball team returned home to Columbia in stormy weather.

The champs are here! After defeating SEC rivals Mississippi State 67-55 in Dallas, the women Gamecocks basketball team returned home to Columbia in stormy weather.

South Carolina forward A'ja Wilson (22) holds the trophy as she and teammates celebrate their win over Mississippi State in the final of NCAA women's Final Four college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 2, 2017, in Dallas. (Source: AP Photo/Eric Gay)

South Carolina forward A'ja Wilson (22) holds the trophy as she and teammates celebrate their win over Mississippi State in the final of NCAA women's Final Four college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 2, 2017, in Dallas. (Source: AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Gonzaga's Johnathan Williams (3) reacts during the first half in the finals of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament against North Carolina, Monday, April 3, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

North Carolina's Theo Pinson (1) dunks during the first half in the finals of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament against Gonzaga, Monday, April 3, 2017, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

GLENDALE, AZ (RNN) - North Carolina has won the 2017 NCAA basketball championship with a 71-65 victory over the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Joel Berry II lead the game in scoring with 22 points, he played and gave heroic efforts through injuries to both ankles during the tournament.

Nigel Williams-Goss finished with 15 points, and a strong second half.

Locked in a defensive struggle, Gonzaga and North Carolina battled in a game full of poor shooting and a load of foul calls, with neither team shooting over 36 percent from the field.

North Carolina shot a dreadful percentage from three-point line, converting on less than 15 percent of their shots from behind the arc.

Gonzaga’s Przemek Karnowski had a tough game as he struggled with foul trouble and horrid shooting. He finished with only 9 points and shot 13 percent from the field, with most of his missed shots coming right at the rim.

Gonzaga held a slim 35-32 lead over North Carolina at the end of the first half.

North Carolina gave coach Roy Williams his third national championship after titles in 2005 and 2009 and a loss at the buzzer in last year’s championship game against Villanova. This will mark the 100th NCAA tournament game for Williams.

UNC’s return visit to the championship game for a consecutive year is a rare one in the history of the NCAA tournament.

Teams have only accomplished the feat six times before, including a Dean Smith-coached UNC team that won the title in 1982, after falling short in 1981.

The Tar Heels are basketball aristocracy, but Gonzaga has been a small-school challenger for years.

Gonzaga first burst onto the national scene in 1999 when the unknown mid-major made it to the Elite Eight. But the Bulldogs have never gone further until now. Coach Mark Few was an assistant that first year, took over as head coach the next season, and has taken the team to the tournament each of his 18 years.

Before this year’s tournament, Gonzaga had a history of not being able to defeat the nation’s top ranked teams.

With a core group of seniors and juniors, this year’s team has proven to be a formidable opponent for the Tar Heels, along with touting a record of 37-1.

Gonzaga's only loss came to Brigham Young in the final game of the regular season.

North Carolina is 32-7 against a tougher schedule, but both teams have been dominant this year. Both are No. 1 seeds and both have been ranked No. 1 in the nation during the regular season.

Both had to dispatch tough opponents on the way to the finals.

Big man Kennedy Meeks saved the Tar Heels with 25 points and 14 rebounds in Saturday’s 77-76 win over Oregon.

Guard Nigel Williams-Goss led the Zags’ 77-73 win over South Carolina with 23 points, five rebounds and six assists. </s> North Carolina And Gonzaga Face Off For NCAA Men's Basketball Title

The University of North Carolina is up for its sixth overall title, while Gonzaga is going for its first, in Monday night's championship game. </s> North Carolina, whose heartbreaking loss in the N.C.A.A. tournament championship game a year ago provided one of the game’s indelible moments — the buzzer-beating shot by Villanova’s Kris Jenkins — avenged that defeat with a win over Gonzaga, 71-65, on Monday to claim its sixth national title.

The No. 1-seeded Tar Heels returned many of the players who left the court in Houston devastated a year ago. But at University of Phoenix Stadium, they could finally bask in the confetti that rained down from the rafters.

They beat Gonzaga, another No. 1 seed, which was making its first appearance in the Final Four. The Bulldogs (37-2), representatives of a small Jesuit school in Spokane, Wash., have never won an N.C.A.A. championship in any team sport. The men’s basketball team has been a constant presence in the N.C.A.A. tournament for nearly two decades, but this year — with only one loss coming into Monday — was arguably their strongest team to date.

It was a sloppily played game, and at times poorly officiated, as the referees seemed to miss several calls in the second half.
North Carolina defeats Gonzaga, 71-65, for the 2017 men's basketball national title.