1974 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament

The 1974 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It was the first tournament to be designated as a Division I championship—previously, NCAA member schools had been divided into the "University Division" and "College Division". The NCAA created its current three-division setup, effective with the 1973–74 academic year, by moving all of its University Division schools to Division I and splitting the College Division members into Division II (fewer scholarships) and Division III (no athletic scholarships allowed). Previous tournaments would retroactively be considered Division I championships.

1974 NCAA Division I
Basketball Tournament

NCAA logo from 1971 to 1979
Teams	25
Finals site	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina
Champions	NC State Wolfpack (1st title, 1st title game, 2nd Final Four)
Runner-up	Marquette Warriors (1st title game, 1st Final Four)
Semifinalists	Kansas Jayhawks (6th Final Four) UCLA Bruins (11th Final Four)
Winning coach	Norm Sloan (1st title)
MOP	David Thompson (NC State)
Attendance	154,112
Top scorer	David Thompson NC State (97 points)
NCAA Division I Men's Tournaments «1973 1975»

The tournament began on March 9, 1974, and ended with the championship game on March 25 in Greensboro, North Carolina. As of 2017, it is the last tournament in which neither school had previously appeared in any national championship game (5 years later Michigan State would defeat Indiana St in each school's inaugural Division I National Finals, but Indiana State had previously contested and lost finals in the NAIA National Championships and the NCAA Division II National Championships). A total of 29 games were played, including a third place game in each region and a national third place game.

North Carolina State, coached by Norm Sloan, won the national title with a 76–64 victory in the final game over Marquette, coached by Al McGuire. This result ended UCLA's record streak of seven consecutive titles. David Thompson of North Carolina State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

This was the final year that only conference champions and independents could participate in the tournament. During the same time in 1974, the Collegiate Commissioners' Association held a tournament in St. Louis, Missouri. They invited the second-place teams from eight conferences to participate. In 1975, the NCAA would expand the field to include at-large bids for conference runners-up.

Tournament notes

The UCLA – North Carolina State semifinal game made USA Today's list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time at #13.[1] UCLA star Bill Walton calls that game the most disappointing outcome of his entire basketball career, given how UCLA lost a 5-point lead late in regulation and a 7-point lead in the 2nd overtime, before NC State rallied to win, 80-77. The game, played in Greensboro, was like a home game for the Wolfpack; UCLA had defeated NC State by 18 points in a neutral site game in St. Louis (where UCLA defeated Memphis State the previous March to win its seventh consecutive national championship) earlier in the season.

The Wolfpack became the fifth school in history to win the national championship playing in its home state. CCNY won the 1950 NCAA championship (as well as the NIT championship) at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Kentucky won the 1958 championship at Freedom Hall in Louisville, and UCLA won both the 1968 and 1972 championships at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. UCLA also would win the 1975 championship in its home state, at the San Diego Sports Arena. No team has accomplished the feat since then, although the Kansas Jayhawks won the 1988 championship in nearby Kansas City, Missouri, at Kemper Arena, which is closer to the KU campus in Lawrence, Kansas than Greensboro is to Raleigh.

Thanks in large part to the reclassification of Division I, the 1974 tournament is the last tournament to include a team no longer in Division I. The Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles spent one year in the modern Division I, winning the Pacific Coast Athletic Association before dropping to Division II.

Locations

Round	Region	Site	Venue	Host
First Round	East	Jamaica, New York	Alumni Hall	St. John's
	East	Morgantown, West Virginia	WVU Coliseum	West Virginia
	East	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	The Palestra	Drexel/Penn/Temple
	Mideast	Terre Haute, Indiana	Hulman Center	Indiana State
	Midwest	Denton, Texas	UNT Coliseum	North Texas
	West	Pocatello, Idaho	ASISU Minidome	Idaho State
Regionals	East	Raleigh, North Carolina	Reynolds Coliseum	North Carolina State
	Mideast	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	Memorial Coliseum	Alabama
	Midwest	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Mabee Center	Oral Roberts/Tulsa
	West	Tucson, Arizona	McKale Center	Arizona
Final Four		Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Memorial Coliseum	Atlantic Coast Conference

The city of Greensboro, in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, became the 13th host city, and the Greensboro Memorial Coliseum became the 14th host venue, for the Final Four. For the third time ever, this marked the only Final Four for the venue, although it has continued to host another thirteen tournaments since. It also marked the eighth time that the Final Four venue made its overall debut in the tournament, a tradition that has mostly died out since. 1974 saw six new venues host tournament games, including Greensboro, three regional sites and two other sites. For the first time, the tournament came to the state of Alabama and the University of Alabama, with games played at the Memorial Coliseum, home of the Crimson Tide basketball teams. The tournament also came to the state of Arizona and the University of Arizona for the first time, with games being played in its brand new McKale Center. The city of Tulsa became the first outside the Oklahoma City area in the state of Oklahoma to host games, at the Mabee Center on the campus of Oral Roberts University. For the first time, the tournament came to the city of Denton, lying at the north edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, to the University of North Texas's Coliseum, nicknamed the "Super Pit." And for the first, and to date only, time, the tournament came to Indiana State University to be played at the brand-new Hulman Center. Besides the Hulman Center, the 1974 tournament saw the last games for two other venues, the WVU Coliseum and Alumni Hall on the campus of St. John's University. The tournament would not return to the NYC area until the opening of the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey in the 1980s, and wouldn't return to the city proper until the 2014 tournament. To date, the tournament has not returned to the state of West Virginia.

Teams

Region	Team	Coach	Finished	Final Opponent	Score
East
East	Furman	Joe Williams	Regional Fourth Place	Providence	L 95–83
East	NC State	Norm Sloan	Champion	Marquette	W 76–64
East	Penn	Chuck Daly	First round	Providence	L 84–69
East	Pittsburgh	Buzz Ridl	Regional Runner-up	NC State	L 100–72
East	Providence	Dave Gavitt	Regional Third Place	Furman	W 95–83
East	South Carolina	Frank McGuire	First round	Furman	L 75–67
East	Saint Joseph's	Jack McKinney	First round	Pittsburgh	L 54–42
Mideast
Mideast	Austin Peay	Lake Kelly	First round	Notre Dame	L 108–66
Mideast	Marquette	Al McGuire	Runner Up	NC State	L 76–64
Mideast	Michigan	Johnny Orr	Regional Runner-up	Marquette	L 72–70
Mideast	Notre Dame	Digger Phelps	Regional Third Place	Vanderbilt	W 118–88
Mideast	Ohio	James Snyder	First round	Marquette	L 85–59
Mideast	Vanderbilt	Roy Skinner	Regional Fourth Place	Notre Dame	L 118–88
Midwest
Midwest	Creighton	Eddie Sutton	Regional Third Place	Louisville	W 80–71
Midwest	Kansas	Ted Owens	Fourth Place	UCLA	L 78–61
Midwest	Louisville	Denny Crum	Regional Fourth Place	Creighton	L 80–71
Midwest	Oral Roberts	Ken Trickey	Regional Runner-up	Kansas	L 93–90
Midwest	Syracuse	Roy Danforth	First round	Oral Roberts	L 86–82
Midwest	Texas	Leon Black	First round	Creighton	L 77–61
West
West	Cal State Los Angeles	Bob Miller	First round	Dayton	L 88–80
West	Dayton	Don Donoher	Regional Fourth Place	New Mexico	L 66–61
West	Idaho State	Jim Killingsworth	First round	New Mexico	L 73–65
West	New Mexico	Norm Ellenberger	Regional Third Place	Dayton	W 66–61
West	San Francisco	Bob Gaillard	Regional Runner-up	UCLA	L 83–60
West	UCLA	John Wooden	Third Place	Kansas	W 78–61

Bracket

* – Denotes overtime period

East region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							NC State	92
							Providence	78
		Providence	84
		Penn	69
												NC State	100
												Pittsburgh	72
		Pittsburgh	54
		Saint Joseph's	42
							Pittsburgh	81
							Furman	78
		Furman	75
		South Carolina	67

	East Regional Third Place
	Providence		95
	Furman		83

Mideast region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							Vanderbilt	61
							Marquette	69
		Marquette	85
		Ohio	59
												Marquette	72
												Michigan	70
							Michigan	77
							Notre Dame	68
		Notre Dame	108
		Austin Peay	66

	Mideast Regional Third Place
	Vanderbilt		88
	Notre Dame		118

Midwest region

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Kansas

55

Creighton

54

Creighton

77

Texas

61

Kansas

93

Oral Roberts

90*

Louisville

93

Oral Roberts

96

Oral Roberts

86

Syracuse

82*

	Midwest Regional Third Place
	Creighton		80
	Louisville		71

West region

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
							UCLA	111
							Dayton	100
		Dayton	88
		Cal State Los Angeles	80
												UCLA	83
												San Francisco	60
							San Francisco	64
							New Mexico	61
		New Mexico	73
		Idaho State	65

	West Regional Third Place
	Dayton		61
	New Mexico		66

Final Four

	National Semifinals					National Championship Game
	E	NC State	80**
	W	UCLA	77
						E	NC State	76
						ME	Marquette	64
	ME	Marquette	64
	MW	Kansas	51			National Third Place Game
						W	UCLA	78
						MW	Kansas	61

See also

• 1974 NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament
• 1974 National Invitation Tournament
• 1974 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
• 1974 National Women's Invitation Tournament

References

1. Mike Douchant – Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history. The Sports Xchange, published in USA Today, March 25, 2002