2017 NCAA Tournament Championship Game | |||||||||||||
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National Championship Game | |||||||||||||
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Date | April 3, 2017 | ||||||||||||
Arena | University of Phoenix Stadium | ||||||||||||
Location | Glendale, Arizona | ||||||||||||
MVP | Joel Berry II, North Carolina | ||||||||||||
Favorite | North Carolina by 2 | ||||||||||||
Referee(s) | 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) |
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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 defeated Gonzaga, 71–65, to win its sixth collegiate mens' 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.
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.