Monday, April 4
Villanova vs. North Carolina | 9:19 p.m. Eastern | tbs | | |
National Championship pregame coverage Begins at 7 p.m. ET on TBS
Turner Sports and CBS Sports’ exclusive coverage of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship on Monday, April 4 – North Carolina vs. Villanova – will tip off at 9:19 p.m. ET on TBS. Jim Nantz will call the game with analysts Grant Hill and Bill Raftery and reporter Tracy Wolfson.
“Team Stream by Bleacher Report” or team-specific coverage will include the North Carolina Team Stream on TNT and the Villanova Team Stream on truTV. North Carolina Team Stream commentators will include Wes Durham calling the game with analyst Brendan Haywood and reporter Dwayne Ballen. The Villanova Team Stream will be called by Scott Graham with analyst Brian Finneran and reporter Kacie McDonnell. Team Stream coverage on TNT and truTV will begin at 9 p.m.
National Championship coverage on TBS will begin with the Capital One Championship Central pregame show at 7 p.m. Ernie Johnson will host studio coverage with analysts Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg and Kenny Smith. They will be joined by Greg Gumbel with analysts Steve Smith, Reggie Miller and Seth Davis.
Pregame coverage will include guest appearances by Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo and Connecticut Head Coach Kevin Ollie. Monday’s coverage will include taped performances from Sunday’s NCAA March Madness Music Festival featuring Maroon 5 and Pitbull, airing as part of the pregame show.
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Here's a preview of the national championship game:
Villanova vs. North Carolina
It was an anticlimactic Final Four in a lot of ways, as both teams won by double-digit margins. Second-seeded Villanova buried Oklahoma by a record 44-point margin, while top-seeded North Carolina stemmed the tide late in a big win over Cinderella story Syracuse.
Players to watch: Josh Hart was tremendous in the Final Four win for the Wildcats, sinking 10-of-12 shots for a game-high 23 points. He also added eight rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals. Joel Berry II did a bit of everything for the Tar Heels on Saturday night, scoring 8 points with 10 assists and seven rebounds. Berry was 4-of-9 from the field.
Key stats: Villanova’s 44-point win over Oklahoma in the Final Four is the largest in national semifinal history. The largest previous margin of victory before Villanova’s over Oklahoma on Saturday was a 34-point win for Cincinnati over Oregon State in 1962 and Michigan State over Pennsylvania in 1979. The Wildcats won the national title in 1984-85; the Wildcats lost the title game in 1970-71. The Wildcats went on a 25-0 run to blow the Final Four game against Oklahoma wide open. Villanova held star Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield to just 9 points -- his second-lowest total of the season in his final collegiate game. Villanova is 1-1 all-time in title games; North Carolina is 5-4. North Carolina has won five national titles; the Tar Heels beat Villanova in three of those tournaments. This is North Carolina’s third trip to the title game under head coach Roy Williams; The Tar Heels are 11-4 in the all-time series dating back to 1949-50. North Carolina missed 11 straight 3-pointers in the Final Four matchup with Syracuse. The Tar Heels beat the Orange for the third time this season in Saturday night’s Final Four win.
