In spite of some historic bracket-busting upsets and nail-biting finishes, the cream still managed to rise to the top in Indianapolis.
The unquestioned best two teams in the country, No. 1 seeds Gonzaga and Baylor, will face each other in the national championship game on Monday night (9:20 p.m. ET tip-off) at Lucas Oil Stadium. And this heavyweight bout defies the season's overall improbability, as both the Bulldogs and Bears ranked atop the Associated Press' preseason poll back in November.
No matter the final score, Monday's game will be special -- neither program has ever won a national title. But the stakes couldn't possibly be any higher for Gonzaga. With a win over Baylor, the Bulldogs (31-0) would become just the eighth undefeated champion in Division I men's history, and the first team to accomplish the feat since 1976.
Not too shabby for mid-major conference team turned national powerhouse.
"Whatever eras you want to talk about in college basketball, I think decades, decades, decades from now -- maybe even a century from now -- this is going to be one of the most remarkable stories in all of basketball," Fox Sports college hoops analyst Vin Parise told The DA Show on Monday. "Because when you talk about a small school out on the West Coast in Spokane, Washington in a mid-major league -- yes, they go on that little Cinderella run and get their names out there on the map -- but then to stay at this elite level...
"We're not talking about a mid-major that is competitive every year. We're talking about now competing with bluebloods... It is just remarkable -- and really there's no explanation for it -- what [head coach] Mark Few has been able to accomplish there."
Gonzaga, which traveled the road to the Final Four on cruise control, nearly had its hopes of a perfect season stripped away against No. 11 seed UCLA in the national semifinals on Saturday. But, in dramatic fashion, the Bulldogs prevailed, defeating the Bruins in overtime, 93-90, on a half-court buzzer-beater by freshman guard Jalen Suggs.
As for Baylor, they didn't face any adversity in their Final Four matchup. The Bears dominated No. 2 seed Houston, 78-59, on Saturday to reach their first time game since 1948, and in four of their five NCAA Tournament games, they've had at least three double-digit scorers.
This is the first time since 2001 that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams from the preseason AP Top 25 will face each other in the title game, and the first time since 2005 that the top two seeds in the entire tournament will play for a chance to cut down the nets.
"The basketball fan in me wants to see history and wants to see this undefeated, epic season from Gonzaga," Parise said. "However, the basketball analyst side, tells my eyes that Baylor has as good a chance of winning this basketball game. I mean, we get to see the top two teams in the land, and we don't get to say that quite often. I look at how UCLA controlled tempo at times. Even though the game was high scoring, it wasn't sloppy. I think Baylor can do that. I look at how UCLA scored on the perimeter against Gonzaga's excellent defense. Baylor's better on the perimeter, offensively, than UCLA is...
"I think that Baylor has an excellent chance at winning this national championship. For me, what it comes down to is the x-factor inside. See, they have [6-foot-10 forward] Drew Timme, the Zags, and Baylor does not. And think about how often in this tournament we've seen Timme inside be an x-factor."
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Gonzaga and Baylor have combined for a .967 win percentage this season, which ranks third-highest in any NCAA Tournament game all-time.
The entire Final Four conversation between Parise and DA can be accessed in the video and audio players above.
You can follow The DA Show on Twitter @DAonCBS and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.