1977 NCAA Division I basketball tournament
Season | 1976–77 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Teams | 32 | ||||
Finals site | The Omni Atlanta, Georgia | ||||
Champions | Marquette (1st title, 2nd title game, 2nd Final Four) | ||||
Runner-up | North Carolina (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) | ||||
|
The 1977 NCAA Men's 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, Georgia. A total of 32 games were played, including a national third place game. This was the final tournament in which teams were not seeded.
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 (now known by the shorter "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.
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]
Teams
Region | Team | Coach | Finished | Final opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
East | |||||
East | Duquesne | John Cinicola | Round of 32 | VMI | L 73–66 |
East | Hofstra | Roger Gaeckler | Round of 32 | Notre Dame | L 90–83 |
East | Kentucky | Joe B. Hall | Regional Runner-up | North Carolina | L 79–72 |
East | North Carolina | Dean Smith | Runner Up | Marquette | L 67–59 |
East | Notre Dame | Digger Phelps | Sweet Sixteen | North Carolina | L 79–77 |
East | Princeton | Pete Carril | Round of 32 | Kentucky | L 72–58 |
East | Purdue | Fred Schaus | Round of 32 | North Carolina | L 69–66 |
East | VMI | Charlie Schmaus | Sweet Sixteen | Kentucky | L 93–78 |
Mideast | |||||
Mideast | Central Michigan | Dick Parfitt | Round of 32 | Charlotte | L 91–86 |
Mideast | Charlotte | Lee Rose | Fourth Place | UNLV | L 106–94 |
Mideast | Detroit | Dick Vitale | Sweet Sixteen | Michigan | L 86–81 |
Mideast | Holy Cross | George Blaney | Round of 32 | Michigan | L 92–81 |
Mideast | Michigan | Johnny Orr | Regional Runner-up | Charlotte | L 75–68 |
Mideast | Middle Tennessee State | Jimmy Earle | Round of 32 | Detroit | L 93–76 |
Mideast | Syracuse | Jim Boeheim | Sweet Sixteen | Charlotte | L 81–59 |
Mideast | Tennessee | Ray Mears | Round of 32 | Syracuse | L 93–88 |
Midwest | |||||
Midwest | Arizona | Fred Snowden | Round of 32 | Southern Illinois | L 81–77 |
Midwest | Arkansas | Eddie Sutton | Round of 32 | Wake Forest | L 86–80 |
Midwest | Cincinnati | Gale Catlett | Round of 32 | Marquette | L 66–51 |
Midwest | Kansas State | Jack Hartman | Sweet Sixteen | Marquette | L 67–66 |
Midwest | Marquette | Al McGuire | Champion | North Carolina | W 67–59 |
Midwest | Providence | Dave Gavitt | Round of 32 | Kansas State | L 87–80 |
Midwest | Southern Illinois | Paul Lambert | Sweet Sixteen | Wake Forest | L 86–81 |
Midwest | Wake Forest | Carl Tacy | Regional Runner-up | Marquette | L 82–68 |
West | |||||
West | Idaho State | Jim Killingsworth | Regional Runner-up | UNLV | L 107–90 |
West | Long Beach State | Dwight Jones | Round of 32 | Idaho State | 83–72 |
West | Louisville | Denny Crum | Round of 32 | UCLA | L 87–79 |
West | San Francisco | Bob Gaillard | Round of 32 | UNLV | L 121–95 |
West | St. John’s | Lou Carnesecca | Round of 32 | Utah | L 72–68 |
West | UCLA | Gene Bartow | Sweet Sixteen | Idaho State | L 76–75 |
West | UNLV | Jerry Tarkanian | Third Place | Charlotte | W 106–94 |
West | Utah | Jerry Pimm | 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 5 ranked teams UCLA and UNLV. UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian had lost 3 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 State led by 11 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. This was the first time since 1963 that UCLA made the tournament but failed to get to the Final Four. UNLV went on to easily beat Idaho State 107-90.
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 St. | 76 | |||||||||||||
Michigan | 68 | |||||||||||||
Charlotte | 75 | |||||||||||||
Charlotte | 91 | |||||||||||||
Central Michigan | 86* | |||||||||||||
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 |
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.
- ^ a b c d e "Thursday pairings". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 17, 1977. p. 4, part 2.
- ^ a b c d e "Now Idaho State aims at Vegas". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. March 19, 1977. p. 4, part 2.
- ^ a b c d e "NCAA pairings". Milwaukee Sentinel. March 12, 1977. p. 2, part 2.