FOR the first time ever, the Desert City will play host to the championship game of a U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men’s basketball tournament.
The nationally second-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs (37-1) and nationally fifth-rated North Carolina Tar Heels (32-7) slug it out for the national crown today, April 4 (Manila time), in the finals of the 79th renewal of the NCAA men’s basketball competitions at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Phoenix.
It will be the first-ever NCAA title appearance in the program history of Gonzaga, whose most famous alum is John Stockton, the all-time leader in assists and steals in National Basketball Association history. Another Gonzaga product is French native and NBA journeyman Ronny Turiaf.
North Carolina, which reached the finals for the second straight year (having dropped a 77-74 decision to Villanova in the 2016 championship game on a buzzer-beating triple by Kris Jenkins, is bidding for its sixth national crown.
The Tar Heels, the pre-tournament choice of former U.S. president Barack Obama to win it all, last copped the NCAA title in 2009.
Gonzaga and North Carolina were the top seeds in the West and South Regionals, respectively.
During the Final Four (or national semifinals) last Sunday (Manila time), the Zags defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks, 77-73, and the Tar Heels edged the Oregon Ducks, 77-76.
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How important is it to qualify for the Big Dance?
Of the 351 teams in NCAA Division I college basketball, only 35 of them have ever captured a national title since the games became official in 1939. That means only less than 10 percent of those basketball programs have ever romped away with the championship hardware.
The 35 schools are Oregon (1939), Wisconsin (1941), Stanford (1942), Wyoming (1943), Utah (1944), Holy Cross (1947), City College of New York (1950), La Salle (1954), California (1959), Ohio State (1960 – behind two-time NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player Jerry Lucas and John “Hondo” Havlicek), Loyola-Chicago (1963), Texas Western – now Texas-El Paso (1966 – the first team with an all-African American starting five), Marquette (1977), Georgetown (1984 – behind Final 4 MOP Patrick Ewing), Michigan (1989 – behind Final Four MOP and recent Manila visitor Glen Rice), and Nevada-Las Vegas (1990 – behind future Charlotte Hornet and New York Knick Larry Johnson) and Arkansas (1994);
Arizona (1997), Maryland (2002), Syracuse (2003 – behind Final Four MOP Carmelo Anthony), Villanova (1985, 2016), Oklahoma A&M – now Oklahoma State University (1945, 1946), San Francisco (1955, 1956 – both behind 1955 Final Four MOP and a record 11-time NBA title winner Bill Russell), Cincinnati (1961, 1962), North Carolina State (1974, 1983 – the first title behind Final Four MOP and one-time 73-point NBA scorer (the most by any guard in NBA history) David Thompson), Michigan State (1979, 2000 – the first behind Final Four MOP and newly-minted president of basketball operations of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers’ Earvin “Magic” Johnson), Florida (2006, 2007 – the first behind Final Four MOP and current New York Knicks center Joakim Noah and the second behind Final Four MOP and current LA Laker Corey Brewer plus Al Horford, now with the Boston Celtics, on both squads), Kansas (1952, 1988, 2008 – the second behind Final Four MOP Danny Manning and the third behind Final Four MOP Mario Chalmers), Louisville (1980, 1986, 2013 – the first behind Final Four MOP Darrell “Dr. Dunkenstein” Griffith), and Connecticut (1999, 2004, 2011, 2014 – the first behind Final Four MOP Richard Hamilton, the second behind Final Four MOP Emeka Okafor, the third behind Final Four MOP Kemba Walker);
Duke, five titles (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015 – the first two title teams were bannered by 1991 Final Four MOP Christian Laettner, 1992 Final Four MOP, all-time NCAA assists leader and current Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley and College Basketball Hall of Famer Grant Hill); Indiana, five titles (1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987 – the third title behind Final Four MOP and 1977 NBA No. 1 overall draft choice Kent Benson, the fourth behind Final Four MOP, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and current president and part-owner of the WNBA team New York Liberty Isiah Thomas, and the most recent crown behind former Philippine Basketball Association import Keith Smart); North Carolina, five titles (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009 – the second behind Final Four MOP James Worthy and then-freshman Michael Jordan and the third behind Final Four MOP and one-time PBA import Donald Williams), Kentucky, eight titles (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012 – the most recent behind Final Four MOP and current New Orleans Pelican Anthony Davis), and University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), 11 titles (1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995 – the first behind 1964 Final Four MOP Walt Hazzard (now known as Mahdi Abdul-Rahman and the first two behind the LA Lakers’ 1972 NBA championship star and Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich, and 1967-69 behind NCAA record-setting three-time Final Four MOP Lew Alcindor who later as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also won an NBA record-setting six MVP trophies, 1972 and 1973 behind Bill Walton).
The UCLA Bruins, who own an all-time NCAA Division I men’s record of seven consecutive titles from 1967 to 1973, lost to the Kentucky Wildcats, who have the second-winningest school program in NCAA annals, during their Sweet 16 duel this season.
Kentucky, on the other hand, fell to North Carolina in the South Regional finals.