Steeped in Tradition A History of the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament
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A comprehensive and indepth history of the NCAA mens basketball Tournament offers a genuine look at individual and collective adversities and strengths. It is a looking glass for human hope excellence and positive social change. It is in short a microcosm of the human existence with all of its exuberance tragedy and triumph.
The excitement and tradition of March Madness as we know it today has been shaped by many significant events in NCAA tournament history: The first NCAA mens basketball tournament was held in 1939 with the first championship game held at Northwestern on March 27 1939. Only eight teams competed in two regions. Oregon defeated Ohio State in the championship and the West region held a thirdplace game.
Although the NCAA tournament now determines the national champion that was not always the case. Until the 1950s the NIT was considered a more prestigious tournament than the NCAA and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney. Because of this dichotomy two of the best centers of the 1940s never met in an NCAA tourney. George Mikans DePaul team traditionally entered the NIT while Bob Kurlands Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) won two NCAA titles. Several schools entered both tournaments. One such team City College of New York (CCNY) led by Irwin Dambrot won both in 1950. Ironically CCNY defeated Bradley University in the finals of both tournaments. Another school Utah in 1944 entered the NIT lost in the first round and then went on to win the NCAA title. Kentucky pulled off a similar accomplishment in 1949 losing in the second round of the NIT and then going on to win the NCAA Tournament.
In 1941 the East region added a thirdplace game into the schedule and in 1946 a national thirdplace game was held for the first time; the game would be a fixture until 1980. In 1951 the tournament expanded to 16 teams and in 1952 Seattle was the site of the first true Final Four with both semifinal games and the championship game in one city. It was 1956 when the tournament was divided into four regions. Some of the most astounding and telling events in college basketball were to follow: North Carolina defeated Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas 5453 in three overtimes to win the title in 1957. The legend of dominance emerged in 1962 when John Woodens UCLA team makes the first of 13 Final Four appearances over the next 15 seasons.
Reflecting the race and civil rights issues of the time Loyola (Illinois) was matched up with Mississippi State in a 1963 mens basketball tournament regional semifinal. Mississippi State an allwhite team fled the town in the middle of the night despite protests from the governor and state police of Mississippi to play a Loyola team that features four black starters. Mississippi State overcame an unwritten Mississippi rule against playing integrated teams with a cloakanddagger flight to the North just one step ahead of a court injunction. Triumphantly Loyola beat Mississippi State and went on to win the title. In 1966 Texas Western (now UTEP) with an allblack starting five defeats an allwhite Kentucky team to win the national title.
In 1973 with the championship game held on Monday night for the first time UCLA behind Bill Waltons 44 points on 21 of 22 shooting won its seventh straight championship defeating Memphis State. NC State led by David Thompson ends UCLAs title run in 1974 defeating the Bruins in the national semifinals in double overtime.
The following year the NCAA tournament expanded to 32 teams and then allowed more than one school from each conference to participate. Prior to this ruling the restriction prevented several great teams from competing in the tournament including the 1974 Maryland team.They finished the season nationally ranked #4 yet lost the ACC Conference final game to topranked NC State prior to the start of the tournament. After that the NCAA began to allow more than one team per conference to participate. In 1976 Bobby Knights Indiana Hoosier squad completed an undefeated season with a victory over Michigan in the championship game. The Hoosiers are the last team to go undefeated and win the title.
The tournament expanded to 40 teams in 1979 and teams were seeded for the first time. Magic Earvin Johnson leads Michigan State over Larry Bird and Indiana State to win the national championship. The game drew the attention of millions throughout the country; its 24.1 TV rating remains the highest ever for a college basketball game and is still considered one of the greatest matchups in NCAA Tournament history.
Expansion followed in 1980 to 48 teams and then in 1983 to 53 teams. In what many believe is the greatest Cinderella story in college basketball North Carolina States Lorenzo Charles dunks the ball as time expires in the 1983 championship game to lead the Wolfpack to a 5452 win over heavily favored Akeem Olajuwon and Houston. Perhaps no one figure in college basketball history more personified the spirit of March Madness than Coach Jim Valvano. His underdog North Carolina State Wolfpack did what many consider a miracle by making an incredible run through the 1983 Tournament. Culminating in the defeat of the highly touted Phi Slamma Jamma squad from the University of Houston Valvano was rocketed into the media limelight and quickly became the symbol of exuberance and enthusiasm. He discovered soon afterward that he had bone cancer and for a short time became a commentator for college basketball. Before his death at age 47 he was named the recipient of the Arthur Ashe award for courage at the first ESPN ESPY awards. It was at this time he announced the formation of the V Foundation for cancer research.
In 1985 the tournament expanded to 64 teams. A Villanova Wildcat team shot a 22 for 28 field goal percentage to defeat Patrick Ewing and defending champion Georgetown in the championship game. Villanova remains the lowest seed (#8) to win the championship. In 1991 Duke upset undefeated UNLV in the semifinals and went on to win the national championship. In 1997 Arizona led by Mike Bibby Jason Terry and Miles Simon becomes the first school to defeat three #1 seeds en route to the national championship winning against Kansas North Carolina and Kentucky.
The NCAA Tournaments popularity has grown to rival that of the World Series the Olympics and the Super Bowl. CBS Sports in 1999 negotiated an 11year $6 billion agreement for television radio Internet corporate marketing licensing publishing home video and Hoop City rights for the Division I mens basketball championship.
In 2002 the NCAA tournament committee developed a pod system for the first and second rounds. The system allows the top four seeds to play at a site as close to home as possible without regard t