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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.
NCAA logo from 1971 to 1979 | |||||
Season | 1973–74 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
| ||||
Winning coach | Norm Sloan (1st title) | ||||
MOP | David Thompson (NC State) | ||||
Attendance | 154,112 | ||||
Top scorer | David Thompson (NC State) (97 points) | ||||
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The tournament began on March 9, 1974, and ended with the championship game on March 25 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Until 2019, when Virginia defeated Texas Tech, it was the last tournament in which neither school had previously appeared in any national championship game at any level. 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
editThe UCLA – North Carolina State semifinal game made USA Today's 2002 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 team 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.
This was the last Sweet Sixteen appearance for Creighton and Oral Roberts until the 2021 tournament, when both teams returned for the first time in 47 years.
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.
Schedule and venues
editThe following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1974 tournament:
First round
- March 9
- East Region
- Mideast Region
- Midwest Region
- West Region
Regional semifinals, 3rd-place games, and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)
- March 14 and 16
- East Regional, Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
- Mideast Regional, Memorial Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Host: University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa)
- Midwest Regional, Mabee Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Host: Oral Roberts University)
- West Regional, McKale Center, Tucson, Arizona (Host: University of Arizona)
National semifinals, 3rd-place game, and championship (Final Four and championship)
- March 23 and 25
Teams
editRegion | Team | Coach | Conference | Finished | Final Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East | ||||||
East | Furman | Joe Williams | Southern | Regional Fourth Place | Providence | L 95–83 |
East | NC State | Norm Sloan | Atlantic Coast | Champion | Marquette | W 76–64 |
East | Penn | Chuck Daly | Ivy League | First round | Providence | L 84–69 |
East | Pittsburgh | Buzz Ridl | Independent | Regional Runner-up | NC State | L 100–72 |
East | Providence | Dave Gavitt | Independent | Regional third place | Furman | W 95–83 |
East | South Carolina | Frank McGuire | Independent | First round | Furman | L 75–67 |
East | Saint Joseph's | Jack McKinney | Middle Atlantic | First round | Pittsburgh | L 54–42 |
Mideast | ||||||
Mideast | Austin Peay | Lake Kelly | Ohio Valley | First round | Notre Dame | L 108–66 |
Mideast | Marquette | Al McGuire | Independent | Runner Up | NC State | L 76–64 |
Mideast | Michigan | Johnny Orr | Big Ten | Regional Runner-up | Marquette | L 72–70 |
Mideast | Notre Dame | Digger Phelps | Independent | Regional third place | Vanderbilt | W 118–88 |
Mideast | Ohio | James Snyder | Mid-American | First round | Marquette | L 85–59 |
Mideast | Vanderbilt | Roy Skinner | Southeastern | Regional Fourth Place | Notre Dame | L 118–88 |
Midwest | ||||||
Midwest | Creighton | Eddie Sutton | Independent | Regional third place | Louisville | W 80–71 |
Midwest | Kansas | Ted Owens | Big Eight | Fourth Place | UCLA | L 78–61 |
Midwest | Louisville | Denny Crum | Missouri Valley | Regional Fourth Place | Creighton | L 80–71 |
Midwest | Oral Roberts | Ken Trickey | Independent | Regional Runner-up | Kansas | L 93–90 |
Midwest | Syracuse | Roy Danforth | Independent | First round | Oral Roberts | L 86–82 |
Midwest | Texas | Leon Black | Southwest | First round | Creighton | L 77–61 |
West | ||||||
West | Cal State Los Angeles | Bob Miller | Pacific Coast | First round | Dayton | L 88–80 |
West | Dayton | Don Donoher | Independent | Regional Fourth Place | New Mexico | L 66–61 |
West | Idaho State | Jim Killingsworth | Big Sky | First round | New Mexico | L 73–65 |
West | New Mexico | Norm Ellenberger | Western Athletic | Regional third place | Dayton | W 66–61 |
West | San Francisco | Bob Gaillard | West Coast | Regional Runner-up | UCLA | L 83–60 |
West | UCLA | John Wooden | Pacific-8 | Third Place | Kansas | W 78–61 |
Bracket
edit* – Denotes overtime period
East region
editQuarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
NC State | 92 | ||||||||||
Providence | 78 | ||||||||||
Providence | 84 | ||||||||||
Penn | 69 | ||||||||||
NC State | 100 | ||||||||||
Pittsburgh | 72 | ||||||||||
Pittsburgh | 54 | ||||||||||
Saint Joseph's | 42 | ||||||||||
Pittsburgh | 81 | East Regional third place | |||||||||
Furman | 78 | ||||||||||
Furman | 75 | Providence | 95 | ||||||||
South Carolina | 67 | Furman | 83 |
Mideast region
editQuarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
Vanderbilt | 61 | ||||||||||
Marquette | 69 | ||||||||||
Marquette | 85 | ||||||||||
Ohio | 59 | ||||||||||
Marquette | 72 | ||||||||||
Michigan | 70 | ||||||||||
Michigan | 77 | Mideast Regional third place | |||||||||
Notre Dame | 68 | ||||||||||
Notre Dame | 108 | Vanderbilt | 88 | ||||||||
Austin Peay | 66 | Notre Dame | 118 |
Midwest region
editQuarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
Kansas | 55 | ||||||||||
Creighton | 54 | ||||||||||
Creighton | 77 | ||||||||||
Texas | 61 | ||||||||||
Kansas | 93 | ||||||||||
Oral Roberts | 90* | ||||||||||
Louisville | 93 | Midwest Regional third place | |||||||||
Oral Roberts | 96 | ||||||||||
Oral Roberts | 86 | Creighton | 80 | ||||||||
Syracuse | 82* | Louisville | 71 |
West region
editQuarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||
UCLA | 111*** | ||||||||||
Dayton | 100 | ||||||||||
Dayton | 88 | ||||||||||
Cal State Los Angeles | 80 | ||||||||||
UCLA | 83 | ||||||||||
San Francisco | 60 | ||||||||||
San Francisco | 64 | West Regional third place | |||||||||
New Mexico | 61 | ||||||||||
New Mexico | 73 | Dayton | 61 | ||||||||
Idaho State | 65 | New Mexico | 66 |
Final Four
editNational semifinals Saturday, March 23 | National Championship Game Monday March 25 | ||||||||
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 |
Announcers
editCurt Gowdy, Tom Hawkins, Charlie Jones, and Ross Porter - First Round at Terre Haute, Indiana (Marquette-Ohio, Notre Dame-Austin Peay) Final Four at Greensboro, North Carolina; Jones was used as a sideline reporter for the first round and Porter was used for the Final Four.
- Charlie Jones and Ross Porter - West Regional Final at Tucson, Arizona
- Jay Randolph and Pat Hernon - Midwest Regional Final at Tulsa, Oklahoma
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Mike Douchant – Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history. The Sports Xchange, published in USA Today, March 25, 2002