1972 NCAA University Division basketball tournament

1972 NCAA University Division
basketball tournament
	NCAA logo from 1971 to 1979
Teams	25
Finals site	Memorial Sports Arena; Los Angeles, California
Champions	UCLA Bruins (8th title, 8th title game,; 9th Final Four)
Runner-up	Florida State Seminoles (1st title game,; 1st Final Four)
Semifinalists	Louisville Cardinals (2nd Final Four); North Carolina Tar Heels (6th Final Four);
Winning coach	John Wooden (8th title)
MOP	Bill Walton (UCLA)
Attendance	147,304
Top scorer	Jim Price (Louisville); (103 points)
NCAA Division I men's tournaments
«1971	1973»

The 1972 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of NCAA University Division (now Division I) college basketball. It began on Saturday, March 11, and ended with the championship game in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 25. A total of 29 games were played, including a third-place game in each region and a national third-place game.

Led by longtime head coach John Wooden, the undefeated UCLA Bruins won the national title with an 81–76 victory in the final game over Florida State, coached by Hugh Durham. Sophomore center Bill Walton of UCLA was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player;^[1]^[2]^[3] the first of two consecutive.

On a historically significant note, the Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns made the tournament in their first season of eligibility for postseason play; the next to achieve this feat was North Dakota State in 2009.^[4] SW Louisiana also made the tournament in 1973, but due to major infractions that resulted in the basketball program receiving the NCAA death penalty (and very nearly expelled from the NCAA altogether), both appearances have since been vacated and the records expunged.

This was the last year in which the championship game was played on Saturday; it moved to Monday night in 1973. This was also the last year the national semifinals were televised regionally on a Thursday or Friday night (The first game was televised to the Eastern and Central time zones and the second to the Mountain and Pacific time zones. Markets of participating teams were permitted to televise both games if the team of local interest was playing in the opposite window; in 1972, Louisville NBC affiliate WAVE broadcast both games live, as the Cardinals' semifinal vs. UCLA tipped off at 11:15 p.m. Eastern.).

Schedule and venues

The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1972 tournament:

First round

March 11
- East Region
  - Alumni Hall, Jamaica, New York (Host: St. John's University)
  - Jadwin Gymnasium, Princeton, New Jersey (Hosts: Princeton University, Ivy League)
  - William & Mary Hall, Williamsburg, Virginia (Host: The College of William & Mary)
- Mideast Region
  - Stokely Athletic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee (Host: University of Tennessee)
- Midwest Region
  - Pan American Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico (Host: New Mexico State University)
- West Region
  - ASISU Minidome, Pocatello, Idaho (Hosts: Idaho State University, Big Sky Conference)

Regional semifinals, 3rd-place games, and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

March 16 and 18
- East Regional, WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia (Host: West Virginia University)
- Mideast Regional, University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)
- Midwest Regional, Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa (Host: Iowa State University)
- West Regional, Marriott Center, Provo, Utah (Host: Brigham Young University)

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

March 23 and 25
- Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California (Hosts: University of Southern California, Pacific-8 Conference)

Teams

Region	Team	Coach	Conference	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	East Carolina	Tom Quinn	Southern	First round	Villanova	L 85–70
East	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Atlantic Coast	Third Place	Louisville	W 105–91
East	Penn	Chuck Daly	Ivy League	Regional Runner-up	North Carolina	L 73–59
East	Providence	Dave Gavitt	Independent	First round	Penn	L 76–60
East	South Carolina	Frank McGuire	Independent	Regional third place	Villanova	W 90–78
East	Temple	Harry Litwack	Middle Atlantic	First round	South Carolina	L 53–51
East	Villanova	Jack Kraft	Independent	Regional Fourth Place	South Carolina	L 90–78
Mideast
Mideast	Eastern Kentucky	Guy Strong	Ohio Valley	First round	Florida State	L 83–81
Mideast	Florida State	Hugh Durham	Independent	Runner Up	UCLA	L 81–76
Mideast	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	Southeastern	Regional Runner-up	Florida State	L 73–54
Mideast	Marquette	Al McGuire	Independent	Regional Fourth Place	Minnesota	L 77–72
Mideast	Minnesota	Bill Musselman	Big Ten	Regional third place	Marquette	W 77–72
Mideast	Ohio	James Snyder	Mid-American	First round	Marquette	L 73–49
Midwest
Midwest	Houston	Guy Lewis	Independent	First round	Texas	L 85–74
Midwest	Kansas State	Jack Hartman	Big Eight	Regional Runner-up	Louisville	L 72–65
Midwest	Southwestern Louisiana (Vacated)	Beryl Shipley	Southland	~~Regional third place~~	Texas	~~W 100–70~~
Midwest	Louisville	Denny Crum	Missouri Valley	Fourth Place	North Carolina	L 105–91
Midwest	Marshall	Carl Tacy	Independent	First round	Southwestern Louisiana	L 112–101
Midwest	Texas	Leon Black	Southwest	Regional Fourth Place	Southwestern Louisiana	L 100–70
West
West	BYU	Stan Watts	Western Athletic	First round	Long Beach State	L 95–90
West	Hawaii	Red Rocha	Independent	First round	Weber State	L 91–64
West	Long Beach State	Jerry Tarkanian	Pacific Coast	Regional Runner-up	UCLA	L 73–57
West	San Francisco	Bob Gaillard	West Coast	Regional third place	Weber State	W 74–64
West	UCLA	John Wooden	Pacific-8	Champion	Florida State	W 81–76
West	Weber State	Gene Visscher	Big Sky	Regional Fourth Place	San Francisco	L 74–64

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Finals

		North Carolina	92

		South Carolina	69
South Carolina	53

Temple	51
				North Carolina	73

				Penn	59
Penn	76

Providence	60
		Penn	78	East Regional third place

		Villanova	67
Villanova	85			South Carolina	90

East Carolina	70			Villanova	78

Mideast region

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Finals

		Minnesota#	56

		Florida State	70
Florida State	83

Eastern Kentucky	81
				Florida State	73

				Kentucky	54



		Kentucky	85	Mideast Regional third place

		Marquette	69
Marquette	73			Minnesota#	77

Ohio	49			Marquette	72

# - Minnesota vacated its appearance in the 1972 tournament.^[5]

Midwest region

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Finals

		Louisville	88

		Southwestern Louisiana	84
Southwestern Louisiana	112

Marshall	101
				Louisville	72

				Kansas State	65



		Kansas State	66	Midwest Regional third place

		Texas	55
Texas	85			Southwestern Louisiana	100

Houston	74			Texas	70

West region

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Finals

		UCLA	90

		Weber State	58
Weber State	91

Hawaii	64
				UCLA	73

				Long Beach State	57



		San Francisco	55	West Regional third place

		Long Beach State	75
Long Beach State	95			Weber State	64

BYU	90*			San Francisco	74

Final Four

National semifinals Thursday, March 23			National Championship Game Saturday, March 25

E	North Carolina	75

ME	Florida State	79
			ME	Florida State	76

			W	UCLA	81
MW	Louisville	77

W	UCLA	96	National third-place game


			E	North Carolina	105

			MW	Louisville	91

Announcers

Curt Gowdy, Tom Hawkins, and Jim Simpson (Final Four only) - First Round at Pocatello, Idaho (Long Beach State-BYU); East Regional Final at Morgantown, West Virginia; Final Four at Los Angeles, California

Jim Simpson and Bill Enis - First Round at Knoxville, Tennessee (Marquette-Ohio)
Jay Randolph and Pat Hernon - Mideast Regional Final at Dayton, Ohio
Bill Enis and Frank Dill - Midwest Regional Final at Ames, Iowa
Charlie Jones and Elgin Baylor - West Regional Final at Provo, Utah

References

^ Kirkpatrick, Curry (April 3, 1972). "Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny Oh!". Sports Illustrated. p. 30.
^ "Super soph Bill Walton sparkles; Bruins earn another NCAA title". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 26, 1972. p. 1, sports.
^ "It was the same old story-- Bruins win NCAA crown". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 26, 1972. p. 1D.
^ "Woodside hits jumper with 3 seconds left to push N. Dakota St. to Summit title". ESPN. Associated Press. March 10, 2009. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
^ "Forfeits and Vacated Games". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 30, 2024.

[ojojo-1] Kirkpatrick, Curry (April 3, 1972). "Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny Oh!". Sports Illustrated. p. 30.

[susoph-2] "Super soph Bill Walton sparkles; Bruins earn another NCAA title". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 26, 1972. p. 1, sports.

[sosbwc-3] "It was the same old story-- Bruins win NCAA crown". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 26, 1972. p. 1D.

[4] "Woodside hits jumper with 3 seconds left to push N. Dakota St. to Summit title". ESPN. Associated Press. March 10, 2009. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2009.

[5] "Forfeits and Vacated Games". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 30, 2024.

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v t e NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Tournaments	1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Structure	Selection process Venues No. 1 seeds First Four Elite Eight Final four
Champions & awards	List of champions Most Outstanding Player
Media & culture	Blue bloods Bracketology Broadcasting Tournament Final Four Cutting down the nets March Madness pools "One Shining Moment"
Records & statistics	Team records Bids by school Consecutive appearances Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Overall records Upsets Team appearances by seed
See also: Division I Women's Tournament, Division II Tournament, Division III Tournament

v t e 1971–72 NCAA University Division championships
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Until 1981–82, all championships for men only