2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Blu-ray Movie Review

"I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred, and when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead!"

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 17, 2017

The University of North Carolina is no stranger to college basketball greatness. The school's six national championships ranks it third all-time, second only to the legendary programs at UCLA (11) and Kentucky (8). The school can also boast that the most famous basketball player to ever live -- Michael Jordon -- laced them up and put on the baby blue jersey for his college career, leading the school to a title in 1982 in the much-celebrated Dean Smith era. "But what have you done for me lately?" Those are always the words on sports fans' tongues, even fans of some of the most accomplished franchises of all-time. Remembering the past is fine, enjoying long-term success is great, but it's always about that next one, about building towards and sustaining success that culminates in the biggest prize in any given sport. The Roy Williams era, already boasting titles in 2005 and 2009 and equalling Smith's pair, has enjoyed that sustained success and brought home the titles, and 2017 would prove to be another banner year -- literally -- for the storied coach and program with another championship run through the field of 64.

North Carolina's regular-season 33–7 mark, which included a 14–4 record in conference play, secured the team a coveted top seed in the March Madness tournament, despite losing to Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals. The club's opening-round game against Texas Southern broke nobody's brackets as the Heels crushed the opponent and cruised to the expected blowout win, topping the Tigers by a comfortable 39-point margin. The games would grow closer with better competition. North Carolina matched up with the eighth-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks in the round of 32, topping the team from Carolina's geographical west by a score of 72-65. The sweet sixteen round matched the Tar Heels against the upset-minded and fourth-seeded Butler Bulldogs. Joel Berry II and Justin Jackson led the team in scoring, while Luke Maye contributed 16 off the bench en route to a 92-80 win. North Carolina would match up with longtime rival Kentucky in the Elite Eight round, squeezing out a 75-73 win in regulation thanks to a last-second game-winning shot by Luke Maye and, Kentucky fans might argue, iffy officiating. In the final four, North Carolina would square off against the third-seed Oregon Ducks and win an ugly but close game, 77-76. The Heels matched up with top-ranked Gonzaga in the finals, securing the title and cutting down the nets with a 71-65 win, a close game down to the wire that saw North Carolina's offense score eight unanswered to close out the game and the season.

North Carolina's run through the tournament certainly wasn't one for the ages. Some questionable play and some questionable officiating will certainly be remembered through the years, but so too will be the team play, the big moments, stepping up when it absolutely mattered on both sides of the ball. A tournament run and win is never perfect and not often consistently pretty. But with the team's play, fueled by Most Outstanding Player Joel Berry II, it was enough to grind through the tournament, cut the nets, and next season, hoist the banner. A deserving champ and with one of the all-time great coaches and programs, it always feels right when it's Tar Heel Blue at the top of the basketball world, and the team's 2017 run through the tournament will be one fans will cherish for a lifetime.

Unfortunately, this Blu-ray release is limited to the final game; Team Marketing has not seen fit to release a multi-disc set featuring all of the team's games throughout the tournament (though whether the Oregon game is worth reliving is up for debate). There's also no documentary-style reflection on the season. It's a crude reproduction of the game, sans commercials, as it was aired on CBS. Even the supplements are limited to the aired halftime and postgame segments (some of the pre-game coverage would have been welcome, too). It could have been more, and the only way it could have been less would be if it didn't exist at all. It'll make a fine memento and clear up some coveted space on the DVR, but this is otherwise a nuts-and-bolts sports release is there ever was one.

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship features a 1080i, 1.78:1-framed image. For the most part, it satisfies. It's essentially the same quality one would expect from the TV broadcast. Colors, generally the Carolina blue (Gonzaga wears mostly black uniforms), are nicely saturated and vibrant. Details are adequate. Uniforms are sharp and well detailed in close-up. Skin and facial hair are likewise well defined when the camera closes in tight on a player, a coach, or the fans, and the court's glossy wooden textures reveal a pleasing level of raw detail. Some of the lines on the floor shimmer with regularity, but it's not excessively distracting. A bit of macroblocking is evident along the way, and some darker spots back up in the depths of the arena look more purple than black, but this is a very watchable image on the whole. Expect the TV broadcast, maybe a tick more stable.

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is sound and solid. Jim Nantz introduces the players prior to the start of the game -- the disc begins with the intros -- and there's some surprisingly good reverberation along the front, the main vocals centered fairly well and the echoes drifting out to the edges. Crowd cheers are adequately clear and detailed as well, including general background din. Buzzers, sneaker squeaks, on-court yells, and other sounds of the game are additionally well defined. Play-by-play and color commentary, like the player intros, can't quite reach the center, imaged, it seems, somewhere in no-man's land between the center and the sides, but clarity and prioritization are certainly fine, even against the biggest crowd cheers. It's not a remarkable track by any means, but it's adequately balanced and presented in good working order.

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship ships in a DVD case but does contain a Blu-ray copy in addition to the DVD. The main menu gives the score right up front, so it'll be next to impossible to watch the game spoiler-free. Two extras are included.

• Halftime Report (1080i, 10:27): Includes an interview with Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few and the CBS panel featuring Ernie Johnson, Clark Kellogg, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkely breaking down the first half. They are followed by Greg Gumbel and Seth Davis offering additional commentary while courtside.
• Post-Game Ceremonies (1080i, 8:58): Jim Nantz hosts the trophy celebration on the court, interviewing Roy Williams and Joel Berry II. Also included is commentary from the Johnson-Kellog-Smith-Barkley quartet with game highlights.

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship is a bread-and-butter Blu-ray release that's essentially a conveniently packaged and presented reproduction of the final as it aired on CBS, minus commercials. The game is enjoyable, the video and audio qualities are fair, but the disappointment comes in the relative dearth of extras beyond halftime and postgame CBS footage. A companion documentary or all of the Tar Heels' tournament games would have been nice, but fans will nevertheless want to make room in their collection for this, even as simple as it may be.