Then there were two – and they are the two that have dominated all season long.
The NCAA Tournament field of 68 teams has been narrowed to a heavyweight national championship matchup between two 1-seeds: the Baylor Bears and the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
It took a miracle shot from Jalen Suggs to make it happen.
The two teams were slated to play Dec. 5, but the game was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.
Now, college basketball fans get the matchup they've all been waiting for.
With this highly anticipated national championship set for Monday (8:30 p.m. ET, CBS), here is everything you need to know to get ready.
Winning pedigree
Monday will represent a powerhouse matchup between the two programs with the highest winning percentages since the start of the 2019-20 season.
Gonzaga is 62-2 (.969) the past two seasons. Baylor is 53-6 (.898).
This will mark the first time that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Associated Press poll face off in the national championship game since No. 1 Illinois and No. 2 North Carolina squared off in 2005. It is the ninth such matchup overall, and No. 2 teams are 5-3.
These two programs faced each other in the 2019 NCAA Tournament round of 32, when Gonzaga was a 1-seed and Baylor was a 9-seed. Gonzaga won that game 83-71.
Corey Kispert is the lone remaining player from that Gonzaga squad. Baylor has Mark Vital, Jared Butler, Matthew Mayer and Flo Thamba as holdovers from that game.
This is the sixth matchup ever between these teams, and Gonzaga is a perfect 5-0 so far.
Second time's a charm
Both programs are chasing their first national championship — in their second trip to the final.
Gonzaga's first championship appearance came when the Zags fell to North Carolina in 2017.
The Bears' first was in 1948, when they lost to Kentucky.
What's at stake for Gonzaga?
History.
The Bulldogs are the first team to enter the national championship game undefeated since Indiana State in the 1978-79 season. That team was led by Larry Bird, but the Sycamores fell to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the title game.
The Bulldogs own a 35-game winning streak, which is good for 10th all time, and a national championship would make them the first team to go undefeated and win it all since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Indiana went undefeated and won the championship in the 1975-76 season, but the tournament was only 32 teams then.
Gonzaga would also be the first West Coast Conference team to win the national championship since Bill Russell's University of San Francisco team won consecutive titles in 1955 and '56. The conference was then known as the California Basketball Association.
What's at stake for Baylor?
A national championship win for Baylor would make the Bears just the second program from the state of Texas to win it all, joining 1966 Texas Western, which is now known as UTEP.
Baylor would be the first Big 12 program to win the national championship since the 2007-08 Kansas Jayhawks, with the conference currently in a 13-year title drought.
A victory would help the men's program add to the résumé of Baylor basketball as a whole. The Baylor women's basketball program has won three national championships, while the men are still seeking their first.
Super young superstars
This won't just be about super teams.
There are a few super players as well.
For the Zags, it's not all but mostly about freshman phenom Jalen Suggs and sophomore stud Drew Timme.
Suggs stuck a dagger into UCLA's heart Saturday, but it was Timme who carried the Bulldogs in overtime, scoring the first six points of the extra period and finishing the night with 25 points.
Through five tournament games, Timme is averaging 22.0 points to lead the Bulldogs, and right behind him is Suggs, who is putting up 13.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists for Gonzaga.
For Baylor, it has been juniors Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell and senior MaCio Teague, carrying the load.
Teague and Butler have each averaged 13.8 points per game in the tournament, and Mitchell – the 2020-21 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year – is at 13.2 points per game.
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