NCAA Championship: Joel Berry II named Most Outstanding Player

North Carolina wins National Championship Game, and Joel Berry II is named Most Outstanding Player

On Monday night, the North Carolina Tar Heels beat the Gonzaga Bulldogs 71-65 to claim their sixth NCAA Tournament championship.

Neither team played particularly well, but in the end, it was the Tar Heels who made key plays down the stretch to create separation and come away with the win.

The player who stood out the most for the Tar Heels on Monday night? Junior point guard Joel Berry II.

Apr 3, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Joel Berry II (2) celebrates beating the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the championship game of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /

Berry’s 22 points were a game-high and his clutch play down the stretch helped the Tar Heels seal the victory over Gonzaga.

And although he didn’t have his best shooting night, going just 7-of-19 from the floor and 4-of-13 from three-point range, his six assists, three rebounds, two steals and one block were paramount to the Tar Heels’ victory over the Zags.

Couple that with the fact that Berry has been playing on two bad ankles for the last two weeks, and his performance will go down in history as nothing short of heroic.

After the game, Berry was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, one of a handful of honors that automatically makes a North Carolina player eligible to have their jersey retired in the rafters of the Dean Smith Center.

Berry will have a decision to make now that the season is over. His return to North Carolina next season would almost guarantee that the Tar Heels enter the season as a top 25 team. If he chooses to try his luck in the NBA Draft, North Carolina will have a much less experienced back court next season.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for continued coverage of the 2017 National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels.

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