The University of North Carolina’s sixth NCAA basketball championship will be remembered for many things.

Let’s start with redemption.

With the Tar Heels defeating Gonzaga University 71-65 on Monday night in Glendale, Ariz., it was the fourth time a team has won the title after losing in the championship game the previous year.

UNC was a “second-chance champ” also in 1982. Other second-chance champs are Duke University in 1990 and the University of Kentucky in 1998.

UNC lost the NCAA title in 2016 to Villanova University on a long shot at the buzzer by Villanova’s Kris Jenkins.

For the record: UNC finishes 33-7 (6-0 in the tournament) while Gonzaga, from Spokane, Wash., closes 37-2. With its 37 victories, the Zags fall one win short of the all-time mark of 38 set by Kentucky in 2012 and 2015.

The University of Memphis won 38 games on the floor in 2008, but then forfeited those victories when star player Derrick Rose was ruled academically ineligible.  

Drought continues: Gonzaga was bidding to become the first non-football playing school to win the NCAA basketball title since Marquette University in 1977.

At least Gonzaga got to play in a football stadium. Monday’s title game drew 76,168 fans at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, which is used by the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.

No pain, no gain: Playing on two wobbly sprained ankles, UNC guard Joel Berry II scored 22 points, earning the Most Outstanding Player award.

Gritting his teeth for 37 minutes, Berry added six assists and hit four 3-pointers.

Back and forth: The epic matchup of No. 1 seeds resulted in 11 ties and 12 lead changes during the title game. UNC put it away with a 9-2 run during the game’s final 2 minutes. Gonzaga’s last-gasp hopes faded with UNC star Justin Jackson’s breakaway dunk following a blocked shot by Kennedy Meeks in the closing seconds.

Foul smell: Sharp-eyed officials called 44 fouls resulting in 52 free throws. However, the three-man crew may have swallowed their whistles with 50 seconds left and UNC up 66-65. CBS television cameras clearly showed UNC’s 6-foot-10 Meeks had a hand touching out of bounds while scrapping for a loose ball with the Zags’ Silas Melson.

No call was made, play continued and Gonzaga was called for a foul seconds after.

Perhaps worse for Gonzaga was the game-long foul trouble of 7-foot star freshman Zack Collins. After performing brilliantly in the Zags’ semifinal win Saturday, April 1, over the University of South Carolina, Collins was limited to 14 minutes against UNC. Collins is viewed as a potential lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

All-time champs: With its six crowns, UNC trails only UCLA with 11 titles and Kentucky with 8 NCAA championships.

The Tar Heels have prevailed under three different coaches — Frank McGuire (1957), Dean Smith (1982 and 1993) and now Roy Williams (2005, 2009 and 2017).

Bird is the word: UNC won in the postseason without sophomore guard Kenny Williams from L.C. Bird High School in Chesterfield County.

Before suffering a season-ending leg injury in February, Williams was averaging 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds through 26 games. He also had 56 assists, 23 steals and had made 27 3-pointers.

Williams isn’t the first area athlete to shine in baby blue togs. In winning the title in 2009, a key man for UNC was Ed Davis out of Richmond’s Benedictine High.

A cloud: While the celebration continues, UNC continues to be under NCAA investigation for alleged academic fraud between 2002 and 2011 during the tenure of coaches Smith and Williams.

Among the charges are failure to keep institutional control. The alleged offenses stem from activity within UNC’s Department of African, African-American and Diaspora Studies. While the NCAA’s hammer hasn’t fallen on Chapel Hill yet, it doesn’t mean it won’t.