1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

See also: 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game

The 1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1991, and ended with the championship game on April 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana. A total of 63 games were played.

1991 NCAA Division I
men's basketball tournament

Season	1990–91
Teams	64
Finals site	Hoosier Dome Indianapolis, Indiana
Champions	Duke Blue Devils (1st title, 5th title game, 9th Final Four)
Runner-up	Kansas Jayhawks (6th title game, 9th Final Four)
Semifinalists	North Carolina Tar Heels (10th Final Four) UNLV Runnin' Rebels (4th Final Four)
Winning coach	Mike Krzyzewski (1st title)
MOP	Christian Laettner (Duke)
Attendance	665,707
Top scorer	Christian Laettner (Duke) (125 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments «1990 1992»

Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski, won a rematch of the previous year's national final matchup against undefeated UNLV 79–77 in the semifinal,^[1] then won the national title with a 72–65 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Roy Williams.^[2] This was the first national championship game for Williams as a head coach. Kansas defeated Williams' mentor Dean Smith and North Carolina (where Williams later coached) in the semifinal. Kansas made its second trip to the national championship game in four seasons, the prior appearance being 1988 when they defeated Oklahoma. Christian Laettner of Duke was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

This tournament marked the first time a #15 seed upset a #2 seed since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, when Richmond accomplished against Syracuse in the East region. In addition, for the first time ever, at least one team seeded #9 through #15 won a first-round game. This feat would be followed in 2013, 2016, and 2021.

This tournament adopted the NBA's 10ths-second timer during the final minute of each period in all arenas.

Schedule and venues

Atlanta

College Park

Louisville

Dayton

Syracuse

Minneapolis

Tucson

Salt Lake City

1991 first and second rounds

Seattle

Charlotte

Pontiac

E. Rutherford

Indianapolis

1991 Regionals (blue) and Final Four (red)

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1991 tournament:

First and Second Rounds

• March 14 and 16
  • East Region
    • Cole Field House, College Park, Maryland (Host: University of Maryland, College Park)
  • Midwest Region
    • Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota)
  • Southeast Region
    • Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
  • West Region
    • Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah (Host: University of Utah)
• March 15 and 17
  • East Region
    • Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York (Host: Syracuse University)
  • Midwest Region
    • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
  • Southeast Region
    • Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Tech)
  • West Region
    • McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)

Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 21 and 23
  • Southeast Regional, Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina (Host: University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
  • West Regional, Kingdome, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)
• March 22 and 24
  • East Regional, Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey (Hosts: Seton Hall University, Big East Conference)
  • Midwest Regional, Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan (Host: University of Detroit Mercy)

National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship)

• March 30 and April 1
  • Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Butler University, Midwestern Collegiate Conference)

Teams

There were 26 automatic bids awarded to the tournament - of these, 23 were given to the winners of their conference's tournament, while three were awarded to the team with the best regular-season record in their conference (Big Ten, Ivy League and Pac-10). Another 35 bids were awarded by the NCAA tournament committee at-large to the best teams in the nation not already qualified.

The Big Eight was eligible for an automatic bid to the tournament, but their conference tournament was won by Missouri, who were on probation and ineligible for the NCAA tournament.^[3] No automatic bid was awarded to the Big Eight.

Play-in Games

The remaining three bids were decided by play-in games between the six lowest-rated conferences in the nation. These matchups, which were decided prior to the season, paired the tournament champions of the six lowest-rated conferences in the nation in games played at campus sites:^[4]

• The winner of the NEC tournament, Saint Francis (PA), hosted the winner of the Patriot League tournament, Fordham.^[5]
• The winner of the Southland tournament, Northeast Louisiana, hosted the winner of the MEAC tournament, Florida A&M.^[6]
• The winner of the SWAC tournament, Jackson State, hosted the winner of the Big South tournament, Coastal Carolina.^[7]

Unlike the later Opening Round and First Four games, the play-in games were not considered part of the NCAA tournament. This meant that the winners of these games were not credited with an NCAA tournament win, and only the teams that advanced to the field of 64 were credited with an NCAA tournament appearance.

All three games were played on March 6, 1991.

	NEC-Patriot Play-in Loretto, Pennsylvania
	Fordham	64
	Saint Francis (PA)	70

	Southland-MEAC Play-in Monroe, Louisiana
	Florida A&M	63
	Northeast Louisiana	87

	SWAC-Big South Play-in Jackson, Mississippi
	Coastal Carolina	78
	Jackson State	59

Automatic qualifiers

Five conference champions made their first NCAA tournament appearances: Coastal Carolina (Big South), Georgia State (TAAC), Green Bay (Mid-Continent), Saint Francis (PA) (NEC), and Saint Peter's (MAAC).

Automatic qualifiers

Conference	Team	Appearance	Last bid
ACC	North Carolina	25th	1990
American South	Louisiana Tech	5th	1989
Atlantic 10	Penn State	6th	1965
Big East	Seton Hall	3rd	1989
Big Sky	Montana	2nd	1975
Big Ten	Ohio State	17th	1990
Big West	UNLV	12th	1990
CAA	Richmond	5th	1990
East Coast	Towson State	2nd	1990
Ivy League	Princeton	17th	1990
MAAC	Saint Peter's	1st	Never
MAC	Eastern Michigan	2nd	1988
MCC	Xavier	8th	1990
Metro	Florida State	7th	1989
Mid-Continent	Green Bay	1st	Never
Missouri Valley	Creighton	9th	1989
NAC	Northeastern	7th	1987
Ohio Valley	Murray State	5th	1990
Pac-10	Arizona	10th	1990
SEC	Alabama	10th	1990
Southern	East Tennessee State	4th	1990
Sun Belt	South Alabama	4th	1989
SWC	Arkansas	17th	1990
TAAC	Georgia State	1st	Never
WAC	BYU	15th	1990
West Coast	Pepperdine	9th	1986
Big South–SWAC Play-in	Coastal Carolina	1st	Never
MEAC–Southland Play-in	Northeast Louisiana	4th	1990
Patriot–NEC Play-in	Saint Francis (PA)	1st	Never

Tournament seeds

East Regional – Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 North Carolina ACC 25–5 Automatic 2 Syracuse Big East 26–5 At-Large 3 Oklahoma State Big Eight 22–7 At-Large 4 UCLA Pac-10 23–8 At-Large 5 Mississippi State SEC 20–8 At-Large 6 NC State ACC 19–10 At-Large 7 Purdue Big Ten 17–11 At-Large 8 Princeton Ivy League 24–2 Automatic 9 Villanova Big East 16–14 At-Large 10 Temple Atlantic 10 21–9 At-Large 11 Southern Miss Metro 21–7 At-Large 12 Eastern Michigan MAC 24–6 Automatic 13 Penn State Atlantic 10 20–10 Automatic 14 New Mexico WAC 20–9 At-Large 15 Richmond CAA 21–9 Automatic 16 Northeastern NAC 22–10 Automatic

Midwest Regional – Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Ohio State Big Ten 25–3 Automatic 2 Duke ACC 26–7 At-Large 3 Nebraska Big Eight 26–7 At-Large 4 St. John's Big East 20–8 At-Large 5 Texas SWC 22–8 At-Large 6 LSU SEC 20–9 At-Large 7 Iowa Big Ten 20–10 At-Large 8 Georgia Tech ACC 16–12 At-Large 9 DePaul Independent 20–8 At-Large 10 East Tennessee State Southern 28–4 Automatic 11 Connecticut Big East 18–10 At-Large 12 Saint Peter's MAAC 24–6 Automatic 13 Northern Illinois Mid-Continent 25–5 At-Large 14 Xavier MCC 21–9 Automatic 15 Northeast Louisiana Southland 25–7 Play-in Winner 16 Towson State East Coast 19–10 Automatic

Southeast Regional – Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Arkansas SWC 31–3 Automatic 2 Indiana Big Ten 27–4 At-Large 3 Kansas Big Eight 22–7 At-Large 4 Alabama SEC 21–9 Automatic 5 Wake Forest ACC 18–10 At-Large 6 Pittsburgh Big East 20–11 At-Large 7 Florida State Metro 20–10 Automatic 8 Arizona State Pac-10 19–9 At-Large 9 Rutgers Atlantic 10 19–9 At-Large 10 USC Pac-10 19–9 At-Large 11 Georgia SEC 17–12 At-Large 12 Louisiana Tech American South 21–9 Automatic 13 Murray State Ohio Valley 24–8 Automatic 14 New Orleans American South 23–7 At-Large 15 Coastal Carolina Big South 24–7 Play-in Winner 16 Georgia State TAAC 16–14 Automatic

West Regional – Kingdome, Seattle, Washington Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 UNLV Big West 30–0 Automatic 2 Arizona Pac-10 26–6 Automatic 3 Seton Hall Big East 22–8 Automatic 4 Utah WAC 28–3 At-Large 5 Michigan State Big Ten 18–10 At-Large 6 New Mexico State Big West 23–5 At-Large 7 Virginia ACC 21–11 At-Large 8 Georgetown Big East 18–12 At-Large 9 Vanderbilt SEC 17–12 At-Large 10 BYU WAC 20–12 Automatic 11 Creighton Missouri Valley 23–7 Automatic 12 Green Bay Mid-Continent 24–6 Automatic 13 South Alabama Sun Belt 22–8 Automatic 14 Pepperdine West Coast 22–8 Automatic 15 Saint Francis (PA) NEC 24–7 Play-in Winner 16 Montana Big Sky 23–7 Automatic

Bracket

East Regional – East Rutherford, New Jersey

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	North Carolina	101
	16	Northeastern	66
						1	North Carolina	84
	Syracuse
						9	Villanova	69
	8	Princeton	48
	9	Villanova	50
											1	North Carolina	93
											12	Eastern Michigan	67
	5	Mississippi State	56
	12	Eastern Michigan	76
						12	Eastern Michigan	71OT
	Syracuse
						13	Penn State	68
	4	UCLA	69
	13	Penn State	74
																1	North Carolina	75
																10	Temple	72
	6	NC State	114
	11	Southern Miss	85
						6	NC State	64
	College Park
						3	Oklahoma State	73
	3	Oklahoma State	67
	14	New Mexico	54
											3	Oklahoma State	63
											10	Temple	72OT
	7	Purdue	63
	10	Temple	80
						10	Temple	77
	College Park
						15	Richmond	64
	2	Syracuse	69
	15	Richmond	73

Southeast Regional – Charlotte, North Carolina

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Arkansas	117
	16	Georgia State	76
						1	Arkansas	97
	Atlanta
						8	Arizona State	90
	8	Arizona State	79
	9	Rutgers	76
											1	Arkansas	93
											4	Alabama	70
	5	Wake Forest	71
	12	Louisiana Tech	65
						5	Wake Forest	88
	Atlanta
						4	Alabama	96
	4	Alabama	89
	13	Murray State	79
																1	Arkansas	81
																3	Kansas	93
	6	Pittsburgh	76OT
	11	Georgia	68
						6	Pittsburgh	66
	Louisville
						3	Kansas	77
	3	Kansas	55
	14	New Orleans	49
											3	Kansas	83
											2	Indiana	65
	7	Florida State	75
	10	USC	72
						7	Florida State	60
	Louisville
						2	Indiana	82
	2	Indiana	79
	15	Coastal Carolina	69

Midwest Regional – Pontiac, Michigan

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	Ohio State	97
	16	Towson State	86
						1	Ohio State	65
	Dayton
						8	Georgia Tech	61
	8	Georgia Tech	87
	9	DePaul	70
											1	Ohio State	74
											4	St. John's	91
	5	Texas	73
	12	Saint Peter's	65
						5	Texas	76
	Dayton
						4	St. John's	84
	4	St. John's	75
	13	Northern Illinois	68
																4	St. John's	61
																2	Duke	78
	6	LSU	62
	11	Connecticut	79
						11	Connecticut	66
	Minneapolis
						14	Xavier	50
	3	Nebraska	84
	14	Xavier	89
											11	Connecticut	67
											2	Duke	81
	7	Iowa	76
	10	East Tennessee State	73
						7	Iowa	70
	Minneapolis
						2	Duke	85
	2	Duke	102
	15	Northeast Louisiana	73

West Regional – Seattle, Washington

	First round					Quarter-finals					Regional semifinals					Regional Finals
	1	UNLV	99
	16	Montana	65
						1	UNLV	62
	Tucson
						8	Georgetown	54
	8	Georgetown	70
	9	Vanderbilt	60
											1	UNLV	83
											4	Utah	66
	5	Michigan State	60
	12	Wisconsin–Green Bay	58
						5	Michigan State	84
	Tucson
						4	Utah	852OT
	4	Utah	82
	13	South Alabama	72
																1	UNLV	77
																3	Seton Hall	65
	6	New Mexico State	56
	11	Creighton	64
						11	Creighton	69
	Salt Lake City
						3	Seton Hall	81
	3	Seton Hall	71
	14	Pepperdine	51
											3	Seton Hall	81
											2	Arizona	77
	7	Virginia	48
	10	BYU	61
						10	BYU	61
	Salt Lake City
						2	Arizona	76
	2	Arizona	93
	15	Saint Francis (PA)	80

Final Four – Indianapolis, Indiana

	National semifinals					National championship game
	E1	North Carolina	73
	SE3	Kansas	79
						SE3	Kansas	65
						MW2	Duke	72
	MW2	Duke	79
	W1	UNLV	77

Broadcast information

For the first time, CBS Sports showed all 63 tournament games. In the first three rounds, games were shown on a regional basis, except for one game each on Saturday and Sunday in the second round. Usual start times were noon and 7:30 or 8 p.m. Eastern time on each of the Thursdays and Fridays. During the weekend of the second round, the national telecast began at noon, with the regional windows (three on Saturday, two on Sunday) following. Although the times would be adjusted, the same basic format was in place until 2010. As of 2011, the regional broadcasts have been replaced by simulcast feeds on non-broadcast networks owned by Turner Sports.

Announcers

• Jim Nantz and Billy Packer – Midwest Regional at Pontiac, Michigan; Final Four at Indianapolis, Indiana
• Dick Stockton and Billy Cunningham – First and Second Rounds at Minneapolis, Minnesota; West Regional at Seattle, Washington
• James Brown and Bill Raftery – First and Second Rounds at Dayton, Ohio; East Regional at East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Greg Gumbel and Quinn Buckner – First and Second Rounds at Tucson, Arizona; Southeast Regional at Charlotte, North Carolina
• Verne Lundquist and Len Elmore – First and Second Rounds at College Park, Maryland
• Brad Nessler and Mimi Griffin – First and Second Rounds at Atlanta, Georgia
• Tim Ryan/Jim Henderson and Dan Bonner – First and Second Rounds at Syracuse, New York
• Sean McDonough and Bill Walton – First and Second Rounds at Louisville, Kentucky
• Mel Proctor and Jack Givens – First and Second Rounds at Salt Lake City, Utah

Miscellaneous

• Duke's 79–77 win over UNLV in the Final Four became one of the biggest upsets in tournament history. Duke was an 8-point underdog in the game. UNLV's juggernaut 1990–91 squad ranked #2 on ESPN Classic's Who's #1? for Best Teams Not To Win a Title. UNLV was undefeated entering the 1991 tournament, which was unmatched until Wichita State in 2014 and Kentucky in 2015. (Saint Joseph's went unbeaten in the 2004 regular season, finishing 27–0, but lost in their conference tournament before the NCAAs. Alcorn State went unbeaten in the 1979 regular season, but got invited to the NIT since the Southwestern Athletic Conference did not have an automatic bid to the NCAAs, and lost to eventual winner Indiana in the 2nd round. Indiana is the last team to win the championship undefeated in 1976).
• This was Duke's fourth (of five) consecutive Final Four trip, the first team to achieve such a feat since UCLA. Since freshmen were not eligible at the time of UCLA's run, Duke's Greg Koubek became the first player to play in four Final Fours, a record matched by Duke teammates Christian Laettner and Brian Davis the next year when the team repeated as national champions.
• For the first time in tournament history a 15-seed defeated a 2-seed. Richmond defeated Syracuse 73–69. Since then this has happened ten additional times: in 1993, Santa Clara defeated Arizona 64–61; in 1997, Coppin State defeated South Carolina 78–65; in 2001, Hampton defeated Iowa State 58–57; on the same day in 2012 Norfolk State defeated Missouri 86–84 and Lehigh defeated Duke 75–70; in 2013 Florida Gulf Coast defeated Georgetown 78–68;^[8] in 2016, Middle Tennessee defeated Michigan State 90–81; in 2021, Oral Roberts defeated Ohio State 75–72; in 2022, Saint Peter's defeated Kentucky 85–79; and in 2023, Princeton defeated Arizona 59–55.
• In the Final Four against Kansas, legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith was ejected from the game for leaving the coach's box.^[9]
• For bracketologists, this tournament is notable for several reasons. The first is the upset-heavy opening round, which led to every seed number except 16 being represented by at least one team in the second round. The East region, in particular, featured first round victories by seeds 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15. Two 11's and a 14-seed advanced in the other regions. The second round is equally remarkable because there were no upsets in this round whatsoever. The combination of these two anomalies led to an unprecedented occurrence in which a 10 (Temple), an 11 (Connecticut), and a 12-seed (Eastern Michigan) advanced to the Sweet Sixteen without any of the teams pulling off consecutive upsets. The reason for this was that the first round successes of 15-seed Richmond, 14-seed Xavier, and 13-seed Penn State led to Temple, Connecticut, and Eastern Michigan (respectively) being considered favorites for their second round matchups.
• This was the first NCAA Tournament to feature all four of the North Carolina–based Atlantic Coast Conference teams, also known as the Tobacco Road or Big Four teams: North Carolina, NC State, Duke and Wake Forest.
• The Final Four was also the first to include both halves of the North Carolina–Duke rivalry. Had both teams won, they would have faced each other for the national championship, but to this day, the teams have only faced each other once each in the NCAA tournament and the NIT – the 1971 NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden, which North Carolina won 73–67 and the 2022 Final Four at the Caesars Superdome, which the 8th-seeded Tar Heels won 81–77 in the last game of Mike Krzyzewski's coaching career.
• This tournament featured three play-in games before the tournament field was announced, featuring the champions of the six conferences with the lowest computer ratings the previous season.^[10] The results were: Saint Francis, Pennsylvania (NEC) defeated Fordham (Patriot) 70–64,^[11] Coastal Carolina (Big South) over Jackson State (SWAC) 78–59,^[12] and NE Louisiana (Southland) over Florida A&M (MEAC) 87–63.^[12] These are not opening round games and the losers are not credited with an NCAA tournament appearance.
• UNLV's semi-final loss in the NCAA tournament brought an end to their astounding 45-game win streak. That is the fourth-longest consecutive-game win streak in NCAA Division 1 basketball history, and the longest win streak since the longest one ever (by UCLA) ended in 1974.^[13]
• DePaul's appearance is, as of 2023, the last appearance of an independent team in the tournament. The Blue Demons would join the Great Midwest Conference in 1991; Notre Dame, the last prominent independent, would join the Big East in 1995. Though there have been independent teams since, most have been minor programs, or programs in transition between conference affiliations and divisions. It was also the last tournament to feature an East Coast Conference team; the conference, which was born in 1974 from former Middle Atlantic Conference teams, would cease operations in 1994 after most of the teams joined larger conferences.

See also

• 1991 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament
• 1991 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament
• 1991 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament
• 1991 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament
• 1991 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament
• 1991 National Invitation Tournament
• 1991 National Women's Invitation Tournament
• 1991 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 1991 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament

References

1. 1991 1991 NCAA Basketball Semifinal Game on YouTube
2. 1991 NCAA basketball national championship game on YouTube
3. "Doug Smith rules Big Eight Tournament". UPI Archives. March 10, 1991. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
4. McCann, Gary (May 17, 1990). "Despite losing automatic bid, MEAC will get money". Greensboro News & Record. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
5. Moran, Malcolm (March 7, 1991). "BASKETBALL; Fordham's Road to N.C.A.A. Blocked by St. Francis, 70-64". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
6. "Northeast Louisiana 87, Florida A&M 63". UPI Archives. March 6, 1991. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
7. "Coastal Carolina 78, Jackson State 59". Greensboro News & Record. March 6, 1991. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
8. "Florida Gulf Coast vs. Georgetown – Game Recap – March 22, 2013 – ESPN".
9. Smith, Timothy W. (March 31, 1991). "College Basketball; Smith Ejected on 2 Technicals". The New York Times.
10. Moran, Malcolm (March 6, 1991). "Fordham takes aim at an NCAA berth". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
11. Moran, Malcolm (March 7, 1991). "Fordham's road to NCAA blocked by St. Francis, 70–64". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
12. "Northeast Louisiana wins NCAA bid". The New York Times. March 7, 1991. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
13. "The longest winning streaks in college basketball history | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com.