Inside the Numbers of the 2017 NCAA Basketball Championship

Sixty-eight college basketball teams realized the dream of having an opportunity to win the 2017 NCAA national championship, but only two—the Gonzaga Bulldogs and North Carolina Tar Heels—have reached the final stage.

When the programs take the floor Monday, April 3, the only numbers that matter will be on the scoreboard. That was the case Saturday night when both schools earned nail-biting wins over South Carolina and Oregon, sending us to the national championship in style.

Before the showdown tips off, though, let's browse a collection of numbers that are either notable background information or significant for the national title.

Morry Gash/Associated Press

77,612: Fans who attended the semifinals at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, according to Andrew Carter of the News & Observer. The basketball-specific number is about 14,000 more than the NFL's Arizona Cardinals can host.

2009: The last year North Carolina won the national championship. Six notable future NBA players graced the roster, including Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Ty Lawson, Tyler Zeller, Ed Davis and Wayne Ellington.

$153: The lowest current price for a ticket to the national championship, according to ScoreBig.com. The cost rose from $137 during Saturday night's semifinal games.

86.6: Gonzaga's adjusted defensive efficiency this season, per KenPom.com. That leads the country by a slim margin over Virginia (87.9), a program that is regularly praised for its defensive execution under head coach Tony Bennett and his pack-line philosophy.

77: Points both teams scored to advance to the national championship. Gonzaga edged South Carolina by four, and North Carolina clipped Oregon by a single point.

66: Seasons it took Gonzaga to reach the Final Four. The Bulldogs first appeared in March Madness in 1995, and their 19-year active streak started with an Elite Eight berth. Current coach Mark Few took over the next season. Under Few, prior to 2017, Gonzaga had bowed out in the Sweet 16 five times and Elite Eight once.

37: Season wins for Gonzaga, which is a school record. The Bulldogs won the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, then defeated South Dakota State, Northwestern, West Virginia, Xavier and South Carolina on the way to the national championship.

32: Wins by North Carolina in 2016-17. Roy Williams' team claimed the ACC regular-season crown before toppling Texas Southern, Arkansas, Butler, Kentucky and Oregon to earn a place in the title game for a second straight year.

30.8: Defensive rebounds per game for Gonzaga, only trailing BYU for the nation's No. 1 spot. No team has grabbed more total defensive boards than the Bulldogs and their 1,172.

20: Points the Tar Heels scored off Oregon's 16 turnovers. Gonzaga, on the other hand, managed just five takeaways and failed to score after any of them against South Carolina.

15.8: Offensive rebounds per contest by the Tar Heels, who lead the country in that category. Kennedy Meeks, who snatched the game-sealing offensive board against Oregon, ranks seventh nationally with a 3.8-rebound average on that end.

14: The latest first-round slot B/R's Jonathan Wasserman has slated UNC star Justin Jackson to be selected in during the 2017 NBA draft. A 6'8" wing, Jackson was this season's ACC Player of the Year and is averaging a career-best 18.3 points per game. He's the only first-round projection for either team.

12.2: North Carolina's average margin of victory in the 2017 NCAA tournament, though it's buoyed by a 39-point beatdown of No. 16 Texas Southern in the first round. Otherwise, the Tar Heels aren't strangers to close finishes. They needed a late comeback to beat Arkansas and survived late against both Kentucky and Oregon.

11.4: Average margin of victory for Gonzaga in March Madness. Three of the Bulldogs' five games have been decided by six points or fewer. Impressively, Gonzaga faced just two regular-season contests inside that margin, winning both.

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

5: NCAA championships won by North Carolina, which is tied with rival Duke and Indiana for the third-most all-time. Williams has orchestrated two of those celebrations, with those coming in 2005 (vs. Illinois) and 2009 (vs. Michigan State).

4: Free throws the Tar Heels missed in the closing seconds yet still managed to edge Oregon. North Carolina has shot a disappointing 70.1 percent from the charity stripe during March Madness, but Gonzaga's 60.5 percent clip is the worst among tournament teams that played at least two games.

3: Transfers in the starting lineup for the Bulldogs. Nigel Williams-Goss (Washington), Johnathan Williams (Missouri) and Jordan Mathews (Cal) are each in their first—and for Mathews, only—year of eligibility with Gonzaga.

2: Career-high marks Gonzaga freshman Zach Collins set in the national semifinal. The sixth man snatched 13 rebounds and blocked six shots while scoring 14 points.

1: Prior matchup in history between the programs. It happened in 2009 during the Sweet 16, and North Carolina earned a 98-77 victory en route to the national championship.

Follow Bleacher Report writer David Kenyon on Twitter: @Kenyon19_BR.