1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Teams	52
Finals site	The Pit Albuquerque, New Mexico
Champions	NC State (2nd title)
Runner-up	Houston (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Georgia (1st Final Four) Louisville (6th Final Four)
Winning coach	Jim Valvano (1st title)
MOP	Hakeem Olajuwon Houston
Attendance	364,356
Top scorer	Dereck Whittenburg NC State (120 points)
NCAA Men's Division I Tournaments «1982  1984»

The 1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 52 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 2, 1983, and ended with the championship game on April 4 at The Pit, then officially known as University Arena, on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. A total of 51 games were played.

North Carolina State, coached by Jim Valvano, won the national title with a 54-52 victory in the final game over Houston, coached by Guy Lewis. The ending of the final is one of the most famous in college basketball history, with Lorenzo Charles' dunk at the buzzer off a high, arching air ball from 30 feet out by Dereck Whittenburg providing the final margin. This contributed to the nickname given to North Carolina State, the "Cardiac Pack", a reference to their often close games that came down to the wire — in fact, the team won 7 of its last 9 games after trailing with a minute left in the game. Both Charles' dunk and Valvano's running around the court in celebration immediately after the game have been staples of NCAA tournament coverage ever since. North Carolina State's victory has often been considered one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history.

Hakeem Olajuwon of Houston was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, becoming the last player to date to earn this award while playing for a team that failed to win the national title.

Locations

First and Second Rounds

• Boise, Idaho (BSU Pavilion)
• Corvallis, Oregon (Gill Coliseum)
• Dayton, Ohio (University of Dayton Arena)
• Evansville, Indiana (Roberts Municipal Stadium)
• Hartford, Connecticut (Hartford Civic Center)
• Houston, Texas (The Summit)
• Louisville, Kentucky (Freedom Hall)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (The Spectrum)
• Tampa, Florida (USF Sun Dome)

Later Rounds

Region	Site
East	Syracuse, New York (Carrier Dome)
Mideast	Knoxville, Tennessee (Stokely Athletic Center)
Midwest	Kansas City, Missouri (Kemper Arena)
West	Ogden, Utah (Dee Events Center)

Teams

Region	Seed	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	1	St. John's	Lou Carnesecca	Sweet Sixteen	4 Georgia	L 70-67
East	2	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Regional Runner-up	4 Georgia	L 82-77
East	3	Ohio State	Eldon Miller	Sweet Sixteen	2 North Carolina	L 64-51
East	4	Georgia	Hugh Durham	Final Four	6 North Carolina State	L 67-60
East	5	VCU	J.D. Barnett	Second Round	4 Georgia	L 56-54
East	6	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Second Round	3 Ohio State	L 79-74
East	7	West Virginia	Gale Catlett	First Round	10 James Madison	L 57-50
East	8	Southwestern Louisiana	Bobby Paschal	First Round	9 Rutgers	L 60-53
East	9	Rutgers	Tom Young	Second Round	1 St. John's	L 66-55
East	10	James Madison	Lou Campanelli	Second Round	2 North Carolina	L 68-49
East	11	Morehead State	Wayne Martin	First Round	6 Syracuse	L 74-59
East	12	Boston University	Rick Pitino	Preliminary Round	12 La Salle	L 70-58
East	12	La Salle	Lefty Ervin	First Round	5 Virginia Commonwealth	L 76-67
Mideast
Mideast	1	Louisville	Denny Crum	Final Four	1 Houston	L 94-81
Mideast	2	Indiana	Bob Knight	Sweet Sixteen	3 Kentucky	L 64-59
Mideast	3	Kentucky	Joe B. Hall	Regional Runner-up	1 Louisville	L 80-68
Mideast	4	Arkansas	Eddie Sutton	Sweet Sixteen	1 Louisville	L 65-63
Mideast	5	Purdue	Gene Keady	Second Round	4 Arkansas	L 78-68
Mideast	6	Illinois State	Bob Donewald	First Round	11 Ohio	L 51-49
Mideast	7	Oklahoma	Billy Tubbs	Second Round	2 Indiana	L 63-49
Mideast	8	Tennessee	Don DeVoe	Second Round	1 Louisville	L 70-57
Mideast	9	Marquette	Hank Raymonds	First Round	8 Tennessee	L 57-56
Mideast	10	UAB	Gene Bartow	First Round	7 Oklahoma	L 71-63
Mideast	11	Ohio	Danny Nee	Second Round	3 Kentucky	L 57-40
Mideast	12	Georgia Southern	Frank Kerns	Preliminary Round	12 Robert Morris	L 64-54
Mideast	12	Robert Morris	Matt Furjanic	First Round	5 Purdue	L 55-53
Midwest
Midwest	1	Houston	Guy Lewis	Runner Up	6 North Carolina State	L 54-52
Midwest	2	Missouri	Norm Stewart	Second Round	7 Iowa	L 77-63
Midwest	3	Villanova	Rollie Massimino	Regional Runner-up	1 Houston	L 89-71
Midwest	4	Memphis State (Vacated)	Dana Kirk	Sweet Sixteen	1 Houston	L 70-63
Midwest	5	Georgetown	John Thompson	Second Round	4 Memphis State	L 66-57
Midwest	6	Alabama	Wimp Sanderson	First Round	11 Lamar	L 73-50
Midwest	7	Iowa	Lute Olson	Sweet Sixteen	3 Villanova	L 55-54
Midwest	8	Maryland	Lefty Driesell	Second Round	1 Houston	L 60-50
Midwest	9	Tennessee-Chattanooga	Murray Arnold	First Round	8 Maryland	L 52-51
Midwest	10	Utah State	Rod Tueller	First Round	7 Iowa	L 64-59
Midwest	11	Lamar	Pat Foster	Second Round	3 Villanova	L 60-58
Midwest	12	Alcorn State	Davey Whitney	First Round	5 Georgetown	L 68-63
Midwest	12	Xavier	Bob Staak	Preliminary Round	12 Alcorn State	L 81-75
West
West	1	Virginia	Terry Holland	Regional Runner-up	6 North Carolina State	L 63-62
West	2	UCLA	Larry Farmer	Second Round	10 Utah	L 67-61
West	3	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	Second Round	6 North Carolina State	L 71-70
West	4	Boston College	Gary Williams	Sweet Sixteen	1 Virginia	L 95-92
West	5	Oklahoma State	Paul Hansen	First Round	12 Princeton	L 56-53
West	6	North Carolina State	Jim Valvano	Champion	1 Houston	W 54-52
West	7	Illinois	Lou Henson	First Round	10 Utah	L 52-49
West	8	Washington State	George Raveling	Second Round	1 Virginia	L 54-49
West	9	Weber State	Neil McCarthy	First Round	8 Washington State	L 62-52
West	10	Utah	Jerry Pimm	Sweet Sixteen	6 North Carolina State	L 75-56
West	11	Pepperdine	Jim Harrick	First Round	6 North Carolina State	L 69-67
West	12	North Carolina A&T	Don Corbett	Preliminary Round	12 Princeton	L 53-41
West	12	Princeton	Pete Carril	Second Round	4 Boston College	L 51-42

Bracket

===Preliminary Round===

East #12 Seed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 12  La Salle 70 12  Boston University 58

Mideast #12 Seed Dayton, Ohio 12  Robert Morris 64 12  Georgia Southern 54

Midwest #12 Seed Dayton, Ohio 12  Alcorn State 81 12  Xavier 75

West #12 Seed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 12  Princeton 51 12  North Carolina A&T 42

East region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Southwest Louisiana	53
	9	Rutgers	60
						9	Rutgers	55
						1	St. John's	66
											1	St. John's	67
										4	Georgia	70
						4	Georgia	56
						5	VCU	54
	5	VCU	76
	12	La Salle	67
																4	Georgia	82
																2	North Carolina	77
	6	Syracuse	74
	11	Morehead State	59
						6	Syracuse	74
						3	Ohio State	79
											3	Ohio State	51
										2	North Carolina	64
						2	North Carolina	68
						10	James Madison	49
	7	West Virginia	50
	10	James Madison	57

West region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Washington State	62
	9	Weber State	52
						8	Washington State	49
						1	Virginia	54
											1	Virginia	95
										4	Boston College	92
						4	Boston College	51
						12	Princeton	42
	5	Oklahoma State	53
	12	Princeton	56
																1	Virginia	62
																6	N.C. State	63
	6	N.C. State	69
	11	Pepperdine	67
						6	N.C. State	71
						3	UNLV	70
											6	N.C. State	75
										10	Utah	56
						2	UCLA	61
						10	Utah	67
	7	Illinois	49
	10	Utah	52

Mideast region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Tennessee	57
	9	Marquette	56
						8	Tennessee	57
						1	Louisville	70
											1	Louisville	65
										4	Arkansas	63
						4	Arkansas	78
						5	Purdue
	5	Purdue	55
	12	Robert Morris	53
																1	Louisville	80
																3	Kentucky	68
	6	Illinois State	49
	11	Ohio	51
						11	Ohio	40
						3	Kentucky	57
											3	Kentucky	64
										2	Indiana	59
						2	Indiana	63
						7	Oklahoma	49
	7	Oklahoma	71
	10	UAB	63

Midwest region

	First round					Second round					Regional Semifinals					Regional Finals
	8	Maryland	52
	9	Tennessee-Chattanooga	51
						8	Maryland	50
						1	Houston	60
											1	Houston	70
										4	Memphis State	63
						4	Memphis State	66
						5	Georgetown	57
	5	Georgetown	68
	12	Alcorn State	63
																1	Houston	89
																3	Villanova	71
	6	Alabama	50
	11	Lamar	73
						11	Lamar	58
						3	Villanova	60
											3	Villanova	55
										7	Iowa	54
						2	Missouri	63
						7	Iowa	77
	7	Iowa	64
	10	Utah State	59

Final Four

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	E4	Georgia	60
	W6	N.C. State	67
						W6	N.C. State	54
						MW1	Houston	52
	ME1	Louisville	81
	MW1	Houston	94

Game summaries

Mideast Regional Final March 26		Kentucky Wildcats 68, Louisville Cardinals 80			OT	Stokely Athletic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee Attendance: 12,489	CBS
		Scoring by half: 37-30, 25-32 OT: 6-18
		Pts: Jim Master/Melvin Turpin 18 Rebs: Melvin Turpin 9 Asts: Dirk Minniefield 9		Pts: Milt Wagner 24 Rebs: Rodney McCray 8 Asts: Scooter McCray, Milt Wagner 4
		Louisville advances to Final Four

Tournament notes

The Louisville vs Houston semi-final was a matchup of the #1 vs. #2 team. The #1 ranked Houston Cougars (nicknamed Phi Slama Jama) vs. #2 the Louisville Cardinals (nicknamed "The Doctors of Dunk") was considered likely to produce the national champion. It featured two strong offensive teams that specialized in the slam dunk. Both teams put on a show of offense, with Houston winning out over Louisville 94-81. This would have been the biggest game of the tournament had it not been eclipsed by the North Carolina State win over Houston in the championship game.

Another historically significant game in this tournament was the Mideast Regional final between Kentucky and Louisville, in-state rivals that had not played one another in basketball since the 1959 NCAA tournament, and had not played in the regular season since 1922. After regulation time ended with Kentucky tying the game at the buzzer, Louisville dominated the overtime to advance to the Final Four. This result directly led to the start of the Battle for the Bluegrass annual basketball series between the two schools that November.

A historically significant run in the tournament was that of Georgia, who became the last team to date to advance to the Final Four in its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. But the N.C. State team led by Jim Valvano became the archetype of the "Cinderella team", the underdog that many fans look to as a possible spoiler over top-ranked teams. This label has, since then, been applied to many programs, including Villanova in 1985, Gonzaga in 1999, George Mason in 2006, Butler in 2010 and 2011, and VCU in 2011. Not only did N.C. State beat Houston to win the championship, but they also beat #1 seeded Virginia on their way to the Final Four.