The Gonzaga Bulldogs and North Carolina Tar Heels will battle it out on Monday night in the National Championship Game. Here is when the action starts.
On Monday night, the Gonzaga Bulldogs and North Carolina Tar Heels will play in the biggest game of the college basketball season, as they will matchup in the 2017 National Championship Game. The Bulldogs are making their first appearance in the big game, having navigated their way at the No. 1 seed in the West Region. North Carolina, the No. 1 seed in the South Region, barely got by Oregon in the national semifinal, and have had to claw their way to this point this tournament.
The Bulldogs are led by their big man, Przemek Karnowski, who was nearly decapitated during the team’s national semifinal win against South Carolina on Saturday. Karnowski took a shot to the head, more specifically the eye, and it was feared he would not be able to return. Well, return he did, leading his Zags teammates to a 77-73 win against a team who was having a Cinderella NCAA Tournament.
North Carolina has had to come back from some serious defecits during the tournament, but head coach Roy Williams has his team back in the title game for the second straight year. The Tar Heels lost a heartbreaker to Villanova in the finale last year, and will be looking to avenge that loss. Seniors Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks proved to be too big down low against the Ducks, and Carolina is going to need every bit of their rebounding prowess against a Gonzaga team that not only has seven-footer Karnowski, but also another seven-footer in Freshman phenom Zach Collins.
Nigel Williams-Goss of Gonzaga, and Joel Berry II of North Carolina, are two of the best point guards in college basketball. That is going to be an interesting matchup considering Berry has been hobbled with ankle issues the entire tournament. North Carolina forward Justin Jackson is the best player left in the tournament, and he can do it all on both sides of the floor. The Zags may not have a player talented enough to cover him on Monday night, which could prove to be the X-factor between the two teams.
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The action will tip off at 9:20pm ET, and it will be televised nationally on CBS. Both teams have had incredible seasons, and while they had to rally back to win in the national semifinal, they are the two best teams in college basketball this season. Will Mark Few and Gonzaga cut down the nets for the first time, or will Roy Williams get back on the ladder for the third time in his illustrious career.