In late January, North Carolina sat at 12-6 and had lost consecutive games by at least 22 points to Miami and Wake Forest. To say that first-year head coach Hubert Davis turned things around from that point is an understatement. The Tar Heels enter Monday's game winners of 17 of 20 and look to match the 1985 Villanova Wildcats as the lowest seed (No. 8 seed) to win a National Championship.
Kansas makes its sixth appearance in the National Championship in school history and head coach Bill Self's third. The Jayhawks have been favored in the National Championship only one other time in the last 60 years (-5 versus Syracuse in 2003) but lost that game outright. This would be the Jayhawks' first championship since 2008, and they are looking to avenge a loss to Kentucky in New Orleans in the title game 10 years ago.
Here are my picks and predictions for Monday's National Championship game between North Carolina and Kansas (odds via BetMGM; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).