1976 NCAA Division I basketball tournament

The 1976 NCAA Division I basketball tournament involved 32 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1976, and ended with the championship game on March 29 in Philadelphia. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third-place game.

1976 NCAA Division I
basketball tournament

NCAA logo from 1971 to 1979
Season	1975–76
Teams	32
Finals site	The Spectrum Philadelphia, PA
Champions	Indiana Hoosiers (3rd title, 3rd title game, 4th Final Four)
Runner-up	Michigan Wolverines (2nd title game, 3rd Final Four)
Semifinalists	Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1st Final Four) UCLA Bruins (13th Final Four)
Winning coach	Bob Knight (1st title)
MOP	Kent Benson (Indiana)
Attendance	202,502
Top scorer	Scott May (Indiana) (113 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1975 1977»

Indiana, coached by Bob Knight, won the national title with an 86–68 victory in the final game over Michigan, coached by Johnny Orr. Kent Benson of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Notably, this was the first time that two teams from the same conference (the Big Ten) played in the title game. (As of 2024, all four of the 1976 Final Four participants will be members of the Big Ten.) Also, this was the last men's Division I tournament to date to feature two unbeaten teams, as both Indiana and Rutgers entered the tournament unbeaten. To date, Indiana is the last team to go the entire season undefeated at 32–0. Both advanced to the Final Four, with Indiana winning the title and Rutgers losing to Michigan in the semifinals and UCLA in the third-place game. This had been the last tournament both Duke and Kentucky missed in the same year until 2021.^[1]

This tournament was also the first since the creation of the NCAA men's tournament in 1939 in which no regional third-place games were played. In the first two NCAA tournaments (1939 and 1940), the West Regional held a third-place game, but the East (the only other regional of that day) did not. The East began holding its own third-place game in 1941, and from that point through 1975 each regional held a third-place game. This was the second year of the 32-team field, and the NCAA announced the selections several days prior to the end of the regular season.^[2][3]

As site of the Continental Congress and signing of the Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia also served as host for the 1976 NBA All-Star Game, the 1976 National Hockey League All-Star Game, and the 1976 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at which President Ford threw out the first pitch.^[4] The 1976 Pro Bowl was an exception and was played in New Orleans, likely due to weather concerns.

Schedule and venues

Charlotte

Providence

Dayton

South Bend

Denton

Lawrence

Eugene

Tempe

1976 first round

Greensboro

Baton Rouge

Louisville

Los Angeles

Philadelphia

1976 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1976 tournament:

First round

• March 13
  • East Region
    • Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
    • Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island (Host: Providence College)
  • Mideast Region
    • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
    • Athletic & Convocation Center, South Bend, Indiana (Host: University of Notre Dame)
  • Midwest Region
    • UNT Coliseum, Denton, Texas (Host: North Texas State University)
    • Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas (Host: University of Kansas)
  • West Region
    • McArthur Court, Eugene, Oregon (Host: University of Oregon)
    • ASU Activity Center, Tempe, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 18 and 20
  • East Regional, Greensboro Memorial Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (Host: Atlantic Coast Conference)
  • Mideast Regional, LSU Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Host: Louisiana State University)
  • Midwest Regional, Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
  • West Regional, Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: UCLA)

National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 27 and 29
  • The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hosts: The Philadelphia Big 5 - Villanova University, Temple University, La Salle University, Saint Joseph's University, University of Pennsylvania)

Teams

Region	Team	Coach	Conference	Finished	Final opponent	Score
East
East	Connecticut	Dee Rowe	Yankee	Sweet Sixteen	Rutgers	L 93–79
East	DePaul	Ray Meyer	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	VMI	L 71–66
East	Hofstra	Roger Gaeckler	East Coast	Round of 32	Connecticut	L 80–78
East	Princeton	Pete Carril	Ivy League	Round of 32	Rutgers	L 54–53
East	Rutgers	Tom Young	Independent	Fourth Place	UCLA	L 106–92
East	Tennessee	Ray Mears	Southeastern	Round of 32	VMI	L 81–75
East	Virginia	Terry Holland	Atlantic Coast	Round of 32	DePaul	L 69–60
East	VMI	Bill Blair	Southern	Regional Runner-up	Rutgers	L 91–75
Mideast
Mideast	Alabama	C. M. Newton	Southeastern	Sweet Sixteen	Indiana	L 74–69
Mideast	Indiana	Bob Knight	Big Ten	Champion	Michigan	W 86–68
Mideast	Marquette	Al McGuire	Independent	Regional Runner-up	Indiana	L 65–56
Mideast	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Atlantic Coast	Round of 32	Alabama	L 79–64
Mideast	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Independent	Round of 32	Indiana	L 90–70
Mideast	Virginia Tech	Don DeVoe	Independent	Round of 32	Western Michigan	L 77–67
Mideast	Western Kentucky	Jim Richards	Ohio Valley	Round of 32	Marquette	L 79–60
Mideast	Western Michigan	Eldon Miller	Mid-American	Sweet Sixteen	Marquette	L 62–57
Midwest
Midwest	Cincinnati	Gale Catlett	Metropolitan	Round of 32	Notre Dame	L 79–78
Midwest	Michigan	Johnny Orr	Big Ten	Runner Up	Indiana	L 86–68
Midwest	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Big Eight	Regional Runner-up	Michigan	L 95–88
Midwest	Notre Dame	Digger Phelps	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	Michigan	L 80–76
Midwest	Syracuse	Roy Danforth	Independent	Round of 32	Texas Tech	L 69–56
Midwest	Texas Tech	Gerald Myers	Southwest	Sweet Sixteen	Missouri	L 86–75
Midwest	Washington	Marv Harshman	Pacific-8	Round of 32	Missouri	L 69–67
Midwest	Wichita State	Harry Miller	Missouri Valley	Round of 32	Michigan	L 74–73
West
West	Arizona	Fred Snowden	Western Athletic	Regional Runner-up	UCLA	L 82–66
West	Boise State	Bus Connor	Big Sky	Round of 32	UNLV	L 103–78
West	Georgetown	John Thompson	Independent	Round of 32	Arizona	L 83–76
West	Memphis State	Wayne Yates	Metropolitan	Round of 32	Pepperdine	L 87–77
West	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	Independent	Sweet Sixteen	Arizona	L 114–109
West	Pepperdine	Gary Colson	West Coast	Sweet Sixteen	UCLA	L 70–61
West	San Diego State	Tim Vezie	Pacific Coast	Round of 32	UCLA	L 74–64
West	UCLA	Gene Bartow	Pacific-8	Third Place	Rutgers	W 106–92

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region – Greensboro, North Carolina

Quarterfinals

Regional semifinals

Regional Finals

DePaul

69

Virginia

60

DePaul

66*

Charlotte

VMI

71

VMI

82

Tennessee

75

VMI

75

Rutgers

91

Rutgers

54

Princeton

53

Rutgers

93

Providence

Connecticut

79

Connecticut

80

Hofstra

78*

Midwest region – Louisville, Kentucky

	Quarterfinals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	Michigan		74
	Wichita State		73
						Michigan		80
	Lawrence
						Notre Dame		76
	Notre Dame		79
	Cincinnati		78
											Michigan		95
											Missouri		88
	Missouri		69
	Washington		67
						Missouri		86
	Denton
						Texas Tech		75
	Texas Tech		69
	Syracuse		56

Mideast region – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Quarterfinals

Regional semifinals

Regional Finals

Alabama

79

North Carolina

64

Alabama

69

Notre Dame

Indiana

74

Indiana

90

St. John's

70

Indiana

65

Marquette

56

Marquette

79

Western Kentucky

60

Marquette

62

Dayton

Western Michigan

57

Western Michigan

77

Virginia Tech

67*

West region – Los Angeles

Quarterfinals

Regional semifinals

Regional Finals

Pepperdine

87

Memphis State

77

Pepperdine

61

Eugene

UCLA

70

UCLA

74

San Diego State

64

UCLA

82

Arizona

66

UNLV

103

Boise State

78

UNLV

109*

Tempe

Arizona

114

Arizona

83

Georgetown

76

Final Four – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

	National semifinals Saturday, March 27					National Championship Game Monday, March 29
	E	Rutgers	70
	MW	Michigan	86
						MW	Michigan	68
						ME	Indiana	86
	ME	Indiana	65
	W	UCLA	51			National third-place game
						E	Rutgers	92
						W	UCLA	106

Announcers

Curt Gowdy, Dick Enberg, and Billy Packer - Final Four at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Dick Enberg and Billy Packer called the first game while Packer teamed with Curt Gowdy for the second game. For the Championship Game, Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy called it while NBC used Billy Packer as a studio analyst.

• Dick Enberg and Billy Packer - First Round at Lawrence, Kansas (Notre Dame-Cincinnati); Mideast Regional Final at Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Curt Gowdy and John Wooden - First Round at South Bend, Indiana (Indiana-St. John's); West Regional Final at Los Angeles, California
• Jim Simpson (sportscaster) and Tom Hawkins (basketball)- First Round at Dayton, Ohio (Alabama-North Carolina); Midwest Regional Final at Louisville, Kentucky

See also

• 1976 NCAA Division II basketball tournament
• 1976 NCAA Division III basketball tournament
• 1976 National Invitation Tournament
• 1976 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1976 National Women's Invitation Tournament

References

1. @TribSports (March 15, 2021). "It is the first time since 1976 all..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
2. "Huskies get NCAA berth". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 5, 1976. p. 28.
3. "NCAA picture". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). UPI. March 5, 1976. p. 2D.
4. Lyon, Bill (March 17, 2009). "Sports helped Philly celebrate Bicentennial". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on March 30, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2009.