Last Updated on April 2, 2017 5:01 pm by admin
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) The Latest on the NCAA championship game (all times local):
1:30 p.m.
This Final Four appearance by Gonzaga has allowed coach Mark Few to spend some time with former Bulldogs coaches who helped build the program into a national power. He doesn’t want their contributions to be forgotten.
At his news conference Sunday, Few recognized Dan Monson, the head coach he replaced at Gonzaga, along with former Gonzaga assistants Leon Rice, Bill Grier and Ray Giacoletti.
Monson was an assistant at Gonzaga for more than a decade before spending two seasons (1997-99) as head coach.
The Bulldogs’ first big NCAA Tournament run to the Elite Eight came with Monson as head coach.
When he left for Minnesota, Few was promoted.
”It would never have happened without them. I never would have been coaching without Dan Monson giving me a job and believing in me and letting me grow,” Few said.
Monson is the now the head coach at Long Beach State. Rice is head coach at Boise State after spending 12 years at Gonzaga as an assistant. Grier was a Gonzaga assistant for 16 years before leaving to become the head coach at San Diego. He now is an assistant at Colorado.
Giacoletti did six years as an assistant at Gonzaga in between stints as a head coach. He is now at Drake.
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1:05 p.m.
Saturday’s Final Four on CBS drew 44 percent more viewers than it did last year when it was aired on TBS.
CBS Sports and Turner Sports announced Sunday that the national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament averaged 16.8 million viewers, making it the second-most watched in the last 19 years. Only the 2015 Final Four that featured Wisconsin beating undefeated Kentucky drew more viewers.
CBS benefited Saturday from two close games. Gonzaga beat South Carolina 77-73 in the first game and North Carolina beat Oregon 77-76 in the nightcap. Last year’s national semifinals were both blowouts, with a combined 61-point margin.
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12:19 p.m.
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.
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