1977 NCAA Division I basketball tournament
The 1977 NCAA Division I basketball tournament involved 32 American schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the National Champion of Men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on Saturday, March 12, 1977, and ended with the championship game on Monday, March 28 in Atlanta. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third-place game. This was the final tournament in which teams were not seeded.
Season | 1976–77 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Teams | 32 | ||||
Finals site | The Omni Atlanta | ||||
Champions | Marquette Warriors (1st title, 2nd title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | North Carolina Tar Heels (4th title game, 7th Final Four) | ||||
Semifinalists |
| ||||
Winning coach | Al McGuire (1st title) | ||||
MOP | Butch Lee (Marquette) | ||||
Attendance | 241,610 | ||||
Top scorer | Cedric Maxwell (Charlotte) (123 points) | ||||
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Marquette, coached by Al McGuire, won the national title with a 67–59 victory in the final game over North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith. Butch Lee of Marquette was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Publicly announcing his retirement during the middle of the season, McGuire retired as head coach immediately after the game.[1] UNLV and UNC Charlotte were third and fourth place, respectively.[2] Marquette's seven losses were a record at the time for the most losses in a season by a national champion, exceeded four years later in 1981 by Indiana with nine.
Schedule and venues
The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1977 tournament:
First round
- March 12
- East Region
- Midwest Region
- West Region
- March 13
- Mideast Region
Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 17 and 19
- East Regional, Cole Field House, College Park, Maryland (Host: University of Maryland, College Park)
- Mideast Regional, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)
- Midwest Regional, Myriad Convention Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Host: Big 8 Conference)
- West Regional, Marriott Center, Provo, Utah (Host: Brigham Young University)
National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)
- March 26 and 28
- The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Tech)
Teams
Region | Team | Coach | Conference | Finished | Final opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East | ||||||
East | Duquesne | John Cinicola | Eastern | Round of 32 | VMI | L 73–66 |
East | Hofstra | Roger Gaeckler | East Coast | Round of 32 | Notre Dame | L 90–83 |
East | Kentucky | Joe B. Hall | Southeastern | Regional Runner-up | North Carolina | L 79–72 |
East | North Carolina | Dean Smith | Atlantic Coast | Runner Up | Marquette | L 67–59 |
East | Notre Dame | Digger Phelps | Independent | Sweet Sixteen | North Carolina | L 79–77 |
East | Princeton | Pete Carril | Ivy League | Round of 32 | Kentucky | L 72–58 |
East | Purdue | Fred Schaus | Big Ten | Round of 32 | North Carolina | L 69–66 |
East | VMI | Charlie Schmaus | Southern | Sweet Sixteen | Kentucky | L 93–78 |
Mideast | ||||||
Mideast | Central Michigan | Dick Parfitt | Mid-American | Round of 32 | UNC Charlotte | L 91–86 |
Mideast | UNC Charlotte | Lee Rose | Sun Belt | Fourth Place | UNLV | L 106–94 |
Mideast | Detroit | Dick Vitale | Independent | Sweet Sixteen | Michigan | L 86–81 |
Mideast | Holy Cross | George Blaney | Independent | Round of 32 | Michigan | L 92–81 |
Mideast | Michigan | Johnny Orr | Big Ten | Regional Runner-up | UNC Charlotte | L 75–68 |
Mideast | Middle Tennessee State | Jimmy Earle | Ohio Valley | Round of 32 | Detroit | L 93–76 |
Mideast | Syracuse | Jim Boeheim | Independent | Sweet Sixteen | UNC Charlotte | L 81–59 |
Mideast | Tennessee | Ray Mears | Southeastern | Round of 32 | Syracuse | L 93–88 |
Midwest | ||||||
Midwest | Arizona | Fred Snowden | Western Athletic | Round of 32 | Southern Illinois | L 81–77 |
Midwest | Arkansas | Eddie Sutton | Southwest | Round of 32 | Wake Forest | L 86–80 |
Midwest | Cincinnati | Gale Catlett | Metropolitan | Round of 32 | Marquette | L 66–51 |
Midwest | Kansas State | Jack Hartman | Big Eight | Sweet Sixteen | Marquette | L 67–66 |
Midwest | Marquette | Al McGuire | Independent | Champion | North Carolina | W 67–59 |
Midwest | Providence | Dave Gavitt | Independent | Round of 32 | Kansas State | L 87–80 |
Midwest | Southern Illinois | Paul Lambert | Missouri Valley | Sweet Sixteen | Wake Forest | L 86–81 |
Midwest | Wake Forest | Carl Tacy | Atlantic Coast | Regional Runner-up | Marquette | L 82–68 |
West | ||||||
West | Idaho State | Jim Killingsworth | Big Sky | Regional Runner-up | UNLV | L 107–90 |
West | Long Beach State | Dwight Jones | Pacific Coast | Round of 32 | Idaho State | L 83–72 |
West | Louisville | Denny Crum | Metropolitan | Round of 32 | UCLA | L 87–79 |
West | San Francisco | Bob Gaillard | West Coast | Round of 32 | UNLV | L 121–95 |
West | St. John's | Lou Carnesecca | Independent | Round of 32 | Utah | L 72–68 |
West | UCLA | Gene Bartow | Pacific-8 | Sweet Sixteen | Idaho State | L 76–75 |
West | UNLV | Jerry Tarkanian | Independent | Third Place | UNC Charlotte | W 106–94 |
West | Utah | Jerry Pimm | Western Athletic | Sweet Sixteen | UNLV | L 83–88 |
Bracket
* – Denotes overtime period
East region
Cole Field House – College Park, Maryland[3][4]
First round games were played at Raleigh, North Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday, March 12.[5]
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
VMI | 73 | |||||||||||||
Duquesne | 66 | |||||||||||||
VMI | 78 | |||||||||||||
Kentucky | 93 | |||||||||||||
Kentucky | 72 | |||||||||||||
Princeton | 58 | |||||||||||||
Kentucky | 72 | |||||||||||||
North Carolina | 79 | |||||||||||||
Notre Dame | 90 | |||||||||||||
Hofstra | 83 | |||||||||||||
Notre Dame | 77 | |||||||||||||
North Carolina | 79 | |||||||||||||
North Carolina | 69 | |||||||||||||
Purdue | 66 |
West region
Most of the excitement surrounding the Western Regional was the anticipated matchup between top-five-ranked teams UCLA and UNLV. Jerry Tarkanian had lost three times in the tournament to UCLA while he was at Long Beach State, including a heartbreaking 57–55 loss in the 1971 West Regional final in which Long Beach led by eleven in the second half. Many felt this UNLV team gave him the best opportunity to beat his longtime nemesis. But he never got the chance as UCLA was stunned in the regional semi final by unranked Idaho State of the Big Sky Conference.[6][7][8] This was the first time since 1963 that UCLA made the tournament but failed to get to the Final Four. Down by a point at halftime, UNLV went on to easily beat Idaho State 107–90.[9]
Marriott Center – Provo, Utah[3][4]
First round games were played at Pocatello, Idaho and Tucson, Arizona on Saturday, March 12.[5]
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
UCLA | 87 | |||||||||||||
Louisville | 79 | |||||||||||||
UCLA | 75 | |||||||||||||
Idaho State | 76 | |||||||||||||
Idaho State | 83 | |||||||||||||
Long Beach State | 72 | |||||||||||||
Idaho State | 90 | |||||||||||||
UNLV | 107 | |||||||||||||
Utah | 72 | |||||||||||||
St. John's | 68 | |||||||||||||
Utah | 83 | |||||||||||||
UNLV | 88 | |||||||||||||
UNLV | 121 | |||||||||||||
San Francisco | 95 |
Mideast region
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Kentucky[3][4]
First round games were played at Bloomington, Indiana and Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Sunday, March 13.[5]
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
Michigan | 92 | |||||||||||||
Holy Cross | 81 | |||||||||||||
Michigan | 86 | |||||||||||||
Detroit | 81 | |||||||||||||
Detroit | 93 | |||||||||||||
Middle Tennessee State | 76 | |||||||||||||
Michigan | 68 | |||||||||||||
UNC Charlotte | 75 | |||||||||||||
UNC Charlotte | 91 | |||||||||||||
Central Michigan | 86* | |||||||||||||
UNC Charlotte | 81 | |||||||||||||
Syracuse | 59 | |||||||||||||
Syracuse | 93 | |||||||||||||
Tennessee | 88* |
Midwest region
Myriad Convention Center – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma[3][4]
First round games were played at Omaha, Nebraska and Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday, March 12.[5]
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
Marquette | 66 | |||||||||||||
Cincinnati | 51 | |||||||||||||
Marquette | 67 | |||||||||||||
Kansas State | 66 | |||||||||||||
Kansas State | 87 | |||||||||||||
Providence | 80 | |||||||||||||
Marquette | 82 | |||||||||||||
Wake Forest | 68 | |||||||||||||
Wake Forest | 86 | |||||||||||||
Arkansas | 80 | |||||||||||||
Wake Forest | 86 | |||||||||||||
Southern Illinois | 81 | |||||||||||||
Southern Illinois | 81 | |||||||||||||
Arizona | 77 |
Final Four
Omni Coliseum – Atlanta, Georgia
National semifinals | National Championship Game | ||||||||
E | North Carolina | 84 | |||||||
W | UNLV | 83 | |||||||
E | North Carolina | 59 | |||||||
MW | Marquette | 67 | |||||||
ME | UNC Charlotte | 49 | |||||||
MW | Marquette | 51 | National third-place game | ||||||
W | UNLV | 106 | |||||||
ME | UNC Charlotte | 94 |
See also
Notes
- All four regionals were played on Thursday and Saturday.[3][4] The opening round the preceding weekend played twelve games on Saturday and four on Sunday.[5]
- The tournament saw only two teams making their NCAA Tournament debut, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Southern Illinois University. Interestingly, both teams had hosted tournament games in their arenas before playing in the tournament; SIU Arena hosted first-round games in the 1969 tournament, and Charlotte Coliseum, which the 49ers had just moved to in 1976 after previously playing on campus at Belk Gymnasium, had hosted games seven previous years (including 1976) and would host five more times before the opening of the second Charlotte Coliseum in 1988.
- This tournament marked the most recent appearances of Duquesne and VMI; their 45-year drought is, as of 2022, the sixth-longest active drought in the NCAA and ninth all-time.
- As of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, this was the last time the six Division I college basketball-playing schools in the Philadelphia metropolitan area: Drexel, La Salle, Penn, St. Joseph's, Temple, and Villanova – were collectively shut out of the NCAA tournament. At least one of the teams had made the tournament the previous 18 years, and the city has only been shut out twelve of the 83 tournaments.
Announcers
Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, and Billy Packer - Final Four at Atlanta, Georgia; For the Final Four, Dick Enberg and Billy Packer called the first game while Packer teamed with Curt Gowdy for the second game. For the Championship Game, Curt Gowdy called the play-by-play while Dick Enberg and Billy Packer did the color commentary.
- Dick Enberg and Billy Packer - First Round at Pocatello, Idaho (UCLA-Louisville); First Round at Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Syracuse-Tennessee); East Regional Semifinals at College Park, Maryland; West Regional Final at Provo, Utah
- Curt Gowdy and John Wooden - First Round at Bloomington, Indiana (Michigan-Holy Cross); Mideast Regional Semifinals at Lexington, Kentucky; East Regional Final at College Park, Maryland
- Jim Simpson and Tom Hawkins - First Round at Tucson, Arizona (UNLV-San Francisco); Mideast Regional Final at Lexington, Kentucky
- Jay Randolph and Gary Thompson - Midwest Regional Final at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Marquette-Wake Forest)
References
- "Marquette wins 1st NCAA title, 67-59, in McGuire's last game". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 29, 1977. p. 1, part 1.
- "Basketball: NCAA Championship". St. Petersburg Independent. March 29, 1977. p. 2C.
- "Thursday pairings". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 17, 1977. p. 4, part 2.
- "Now Idaho State aims at Vegas". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. March 19, 1977. p. 4, part 2.
- "NCAA pairings". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 12, 1977. p. 2, part 2.
- Benson, Lee (March 18, 1977). "Utes fall short, Idaho State stuns UCLA". Deseret News. Salt Lake City. p. 6B.
- "ISU has greatest win". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Washington. Associated Press. March 18, 1977. p. 21.
- "UCLA becomes the obscure one". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. wire services. March 18, 1977. p. 1B.
- "Tark's ploy sends Rebels past Bengals". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. wire services. March 20, 1977. p. 1B.