The game is finally here.

A new champion will be crowned this year. With half of the Final Four being a surprise, the fans get the matchup that most of them probably expected.

Gonzaga, in their first national championship game appearance, will take on last year’s runner-up North Carolina in Phoenix on Monday night.

Will Gonzaga finish their nearly perfect season with a national championship or will North Carolina claim what they just fell short of last year against Villanova? We will find out but first, let’s find out how they match up.

Gonzaga

The Gonzaga Bulldogs ran through the regular season with a 36-1 record and won the WCC conference title. Going through the tournament, they had some close calls against West Virginia and Northwestern before taking on South Carolina in the Final Four. Thanks to a strong defensive stance at the end, the Bulldogs were able to hold on against them charging Gamecocks.

High-scoring guard, junior Nigel William-Goss, who scored 23 points against the Gamecocks and has averaged 17 points per game during the tournament so far, leads the Bulldogs in scoring. He transferred from the University of Washington after the previous season and as they say, “one team’s trash is another team’s treasure.” The Tar Heels will have to stop him if they are going to win at all.

But the Bulldogs’ big, and I mean big, front court of senior Przemek Karnowski and freshman Zack Collins will give them a huge advantage down low and help William-Goss if North Carolina tries to shut him down.

Both of them are 7-footers and can block shots pretty well with Collins having six blocks in the game against South Carolina. North Carolina will have some matchup problems with those two and it could be key to a Bulldogs victory.

North Carolina

Whew! That was a close one. After just squeaking out a last-second victory over Oregon, the Tar Heels are back in the national championship game one year after Kris Jenkins of Villanova drove the dagger into their hearts in Houston.

The Tar Heels have been on a mission since that loss and will look to claim the national championship that slipped away last year.

Senior forward Kennedy Meeks once again leads the Tar Heels after scoring 25 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in the win over Oregon. He hauled in 17 in their game against Kentucky and proved to be the difference maker. Going up against Karnowski and Collins for Gonzaga will be no easy task but he looks up to the challenge.

Junior Justin Jackson is another scoring option for the Tar Heels to go to. He scored 22 points against Oregon and was the Tar Heels’ leading scorer during the regular season, averaging 18.3 points a game. If Meeks or any of the other scorers can’t get going, he will need to come up big for the Tar Heels if they are to win this game.

Prediction

I predict another hard fought battle that will come down to the last few possessions, much like last year’s championship game and the Final Four games. In the end, Gonzaga will finish off its tremendous season by celebrating its first national championship.