No. 1 North Carolina (32-4) at No. 1 Illinois (37-1) 9:21 pm EDT

ST LOUIS (Ticker) -- In a tournament that prides itself on unpredictability, the championship game will feature the two teams most expected to be there.

Illinois, the No. 1 team in the country for most of the 2004-05 season, will face North Carolina on Monday night in the NCAA Tournament championship game at the Edward Jones Dome.

The Fighting Illini and the Tar Heels, who were seeded first in the Chicago and Syracuse Regions, respectively, posted emphatic victories Saturday in the national semifinals.

The last title game to feature two No. 1 seeds occurred in 1999 when Connecticut beat Duke.

Illinois is playing in its first final. North Carolina has won the national championship three times, with the most recent coming in 1993 under Dean Smith.

Roy Williams went to four Final Fours as the coach at Kansas and lost in the championship game to Duke in 1991 and Syracuse in 2003. He left the Jayhawks after the loss to the Orange to coach his alma mater.

Illinois coach Bruce Weber also is in his second year.

Williams' departure from Kansas turned into Weber's big break. After Williams departed for Carolina, Bill Self left Illinois to take the Kansas job, paving the way for Weber to inherit a strong Illini team.

A victory in the title game would give Illinois the all-time single-season record for wins.

The Fighting Illini tied the record with a 72-57 victory over Louisville on Saturday. Roger Powell Jr. scored 18 of his 20 points and Luther Head added 14 of his 20 in the second half for Illinois.

Duke in 1986 and 1999 and Nevada-Las Vegas in 1987 were the only other schools to win 37 games in a season.

North Carolina trailed Michigan State by five points at halftime, but stormed back for an 87-71 victory in Saturday's second semifinal.

Sean May scored 18 of his 22 points and Raymond Felton 14 of his 16 in the second half, when the Tar Heels made 20-of-35 shots.