By The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Latest on the national championship game between Baylor and Gonzaga (all times EDT):
8:50 p.m.
Among the first through the door for Baylor’s first national title shot since 1948 were Homer Drew and Bryce Drew.
Homer, the longtime coach of Valparaiso, is the father of Bears coach Scott Drew, who got his start as his dad’s assistant with the Crusaders. Bryce is the younger brother that hit one of the most memorable shots in NCAA Tournament history, a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave No. 13 seed Valpo a win over Ole Miss in the 1998 tourney.
Bryce, whose Grand Canyon team lost in the opening round of this year’s tournament, was repping Baylor with a black shirt bearing the Bears’ logo. Homer went with a Valpo-yellow collared shirt and black jacket.
The Bears and overall No. 1 seed Gonzaga were set to tip off at 9:20 p.m.
___
8:20 p.m.
Fans are beginning to trickle into Lucas Oil Stadium for the national championship game between Baylor and Gonzaga, the overall No. 1 seed of an NCAA Tournament that has been played entirely in Indianapolis and the surrounding area.
The teams were supposed to meet four months ago to the day in Indianapolis. But their highly anticipated showdown between teams ranked No. 1 and 2 in the country was canceled about two hours before tip, when an outbreak of COVID-19 within the Bulldogs program forced them to halt all team activities.
Fortunately, there have been no COVID-19 issues since an early positive test caused VCU to withdraw before the tournament began. And that leaves basketball fans with a matchup of two teams that spent the entire season ranked in the top three in the AP Top 25. The Bulldogs went wire-to-wire at No. 1 and Baylor was right behind all but a couple weeks.
___
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/College-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25