The Final Four of the 2017 NCAA tournament is set as Gonzaga, Oregon, South Carolina and North Carolina have each punched their tickets to Phoenix for next weekend's festivities.
As the last steps of the Big Dance near, there are several questions to consider regarding the remaining teams and players.
Just 657 out of 18,797,085 ESPN Tournament Challenge brackets correctly predicted the current Final Four. That's a miniscule 0.003 percent, which means plenty of unexpected storylines have unfolded throughout the past few weeks.
Inspired play from different players has made these deep tournament runs possible for their respective schools. For some, it has been a coming-out party on a national stage while others have simply solidified what was already high NBA draft stock.
No. 1 seed Gonzaga will face No. 7 seed South Carolina in the first semifinal matchup next Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs are appearing in their first-ever Final Four while the Gamecocks are on a roll that has seen them upset No. 2 seed Duke, No. 3 seed Baylor and No. 4 seed Florida in successive games.
The second matchup pits No. 1 seed North Carolina against No. 3 seed Oregon at 8:49 p.m. ET. The Tar Heels are a deep and experienced team. The Ducks are younger and have not appeared in a Final Four since 1939. However, they may have a stronger fan backing next weekend considering Phoenix is geographically closer to Oregon than North Carolina by about 1,000 miles.
CBS will broadcast both games next Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium. The championship game is scheduled for Monday, April 3.