[4] North Carolina was playing in its second consecutive title game (and eleventh overall), after losing to Villanova at the buzzer the previous year.

[10] Gonzaga won the game 7271 as Iowa State missed a potential three-point shot as time expired to leave.

[13] In the first round of the tournament, after a tightly contested first half against South Dakota State, Jordan Mathews' 16 points and Przemek Karnowski's three consecutive baskets built a 20-point lead with 5 minutes left, helping Gonzaga to come away with a 66–46 win.

[16] In the Elite Eight, led by Nigel Williams-Goss' 23-point performance, Gonzaga routed Xavier 83–59 to reach the Final Four for the first time in school history.

[6] A Josh Perkins foul preventing Sindarius Thornwell's game-tying three-pointer with 3.5 seconds left enabled the Bulldogs to advance to the championship game.

[6] After a 26–6 regular season, North Carolina beat Miami (FL) in the ACC tournament before losing to Duke in the semifinals.

[20] In the first round of the tournament, Justin Jackson broke out of a shooting slump and led North Carolina with 21 points to a 103–64 win over Texas Southern.

[21] In the second round against Arkansas, after blowing a 17-point first half lead and trailing 65–60 with under three minutes remaining, Kennedy Meeks led a North Carolina comeback with 16 points and a huge tip-in with 44.2 seconds remaining to put UNC ahead 68–65 as they survived to win 72–65, and advance to the Sweet 16.

[22] In the Sweet 16, Joel Berry II and Jackson led North Carolina to a 92–80 win over Butler with 26 and 24 points, respectively, to advance to the Elite Eight for the 26th time in program history.

[3] In contrast to the positive reaction[38] to the previous year's title game—in which UNC lost to Villanova at the buzzer—many criticized the quality of play in the 2017 championship.

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams did so as well, commenting during the trophy presentation ceremony that "neither team played very well.

"[40] Myron Medcalf, writing for ESPN, wrote that the game was blighted with "an abundance of foul calls, poor offense and a sleep-inducing rhythm.